Walter Morley (1863-1936) [1] was a pioneering English philatelist, stamp dealer and philatelic author.
The first address known for Morley is 186 West Green Road, Tottenham, London N. In 1898 his address is given as 15 Brownhill Gardens, Hither Green, Catford, London S.E. [2] and by 1910 as 325 Brownhill Road, Catford, London S.E.
Morley was responsible for many early works on revenue, railway and telegraph stamps, as author or publisher. His 1910 revenue catalogue lists his numerous exhibition medals, including Silver in Paris 1892, Gold in Paris 1894, Silver in London 1897 and Gold in Paris again in 1900, all for displays of Fiscal or Telegraph stamps. [3] Morley also won many other medals and awards during his career.
He published, with Fred G. Lundy, The Fiscal Philatelist and Revenue Stamp Guide: a monthly journal devoted to fiscal collectors, which ran from December 1892. [4]
In 1898 he and G.C. Lundy produced an Album for the Revenue Stamps of the British Colonies in two volumes. [2]
Later, he was responsible for Morley's Philatelic Journal, A Monthly Paper For Collectors of Postage, Revenue, Telegraph and Railway stamps between 1900 and 1908 which was edited by A. Preston (Volume 1) and then Lionel Fulcher.
Morley was Vice-President of the Fiscal Philatelic Society until it ceased in 1928 [5] and a member of the founding committee of the City of London Philatelic Club. [6] Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal for 30 January 1892 (p. 199) records his membership of the Amateur Stamp Collector's Club.
According to a report in The London Philatelist, journal of the Royal Philatelic Society London, Morley presented an example in black of the famous Prince Consort Essay to the Tapling Collection which is now housed in The British Museum. [7] He also offered a copy for sale in the June and July 1902 issues of Morley's Philatelic Journal at a price of 50 shillings, ten shillings more than he was then asking for a mint Penny Black. [8]
Walter Morley's roles as author or publisher often overlapped and it is likely that he was a contributor to many works where he is only credited as a publisher, hence all works published or authored by him are included here:
Philatelic literature is written material relating to philately, primarily information about postage stamps and postal history.
A revenue stamp, tax stamp, duty stamp or fiscal stamp is a (usually) adhesive label used to collect taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, and many other things. Typically, businesses purchase the stamps from the government, and attach them to taxed items as part of putting the items on sale, or in the case of documents, as part of filling out the form.
The Cinderella Stamp Club was founded on 5 June 1959 in London, England, and is an association of philatelists, amateur and professional, whose interests lie in local stamps, telegraph stamps, railway stamps, revenue stamps, fiscals, forgeries, bogus and phantom issues, Christmas, Red Cross, TB and other charity seals, registration labels, advertisement and poster stamps and many other items - all of which are the so-called "Cinderellas of Philately".
Telegraph stamps are stamps intended solely for the prepayment of telegraph fees. The customer completed a telegraph form before handing it with payment to the clerk who applied a telegraph stamp and cancelled it to show that payment had been made. If the stamp was an imprinted stamp, it formed part of the message form.
A stamp dealer is a company or an individual who deals in stamps and philatelic products. It also includes individuals who sell postage stamps for day to day use or revenue stamps for use on court documents. Stamp dealers who sell to stamp collectors and philatelists are of many kinds and their businesses range from small home operations to large international companies.
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Alfred J. Forbin was a pioneering French stamp dealer who wrote an all-world catalogue of revenue stamps that has never been surpassed.
The Fiscal Philatelic Society was an early twentieth-century British philatelic society that is seen as a predecessor to today's The Revenue Society. The principal object of the society was the study of fiscal stamps, or, as they are more usually called today, revenue stamps.
The International Philatelic Union, formed 1881, was an early international philatelic organisation formed for the study of stamps and the promotion of philately generally. Its office was located in London. The society survived to see its jubilee in 1931, and an exhibition was held to celebrate the fact, but its later history is unclear.
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Alexander Berridge Kay was the founder, with E.J. Bridger, of the stamp dealers Bridger and Kay in 1897 or 1898 and a leading figure in the Fiscal Philatelic Society. In 1910, Kay identified used copies of the Italian forgery of the British grey-green Victorian 10 shilling stamp watermarked anchor and perforated 14. His letter to The London Philatelist, published in November 1910, warned the philatelic community of its existence.
Lionel William Fulcher B.Sc. was a British philatelist who co-edited, with Stanley Phillips, Gibbons Stamp Monthly, was Vice President of the International Philatelic Union and was a key figure in the Fiscal Philatelic Society. He was an expert on the early stamps of Japan and also studied Venezuela, Peru, Nicaragua, Papal States and Norway.
Percival Loines Pemberton, Pem to his friends, was a British philatelist and stamp dealer who signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1921. He was the son of Edward Loines Pemberton (1844–1878) who was also an eminent philatelist.
William Amos Scarborough Westoby M.A. (1815–1899) was an English philatelist who was one of the "Fathers of Philately" entered on the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1921. His obituary in The London Philatelist stated that he had "...fairly earned the title of the Grand Seigneur of Philately." By profession, Westoby was a barrister of Lincoln's Inn.
Albert W. Hilchey was an expert on the revenue stamps of South America and Liberia. He collected during a period when revenue stamps were not well appreciated in the philatelic world and produced several important stamp catalogues of neglected areas. His The Revenue Stamps of the Dominican Republic was the first catalogue of its type since Walter Morley's work of 1904. His 1966 Guatemala Fiscal Handbook was privately produced and circulated and formed the basis for James C. Andrews' posthumously published work of the same name published by the International Society of Guatemala Collectors in 2000 after completion by Cecile Gruson. In 2010 Clive Akerman produced a new edition of Hilchey's 1968 The Revenue Stamps of Bolivia.
Governing authorities in the Philippines have issued a variety of stamps for internal revenue taxes and other fiscal taxes since 1856. Prior to 1856, internal revenues were collected via stamped paper. Revenue stamps for the Philippines were issued by the Spanish East Indies government (1856–1898), the revolutionary government of the First Philippine Republic (1898–1901), the Insular Government of the United States (1901–1935), the government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the Philippine Executive Commission (1942–44) and the Republic of the Philippines (1946–present).
John Barefoot is a British philatelist, stamp dealer, and publisher, best known for his catalogues of revenue stamps which are known collectively as the "Barefoot catalogue".
