Frank Walton shows Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II around the new library of Royal Philatelic Society London.
Frank Walton passed away April 1 after a short illness, and just five weeks after the closing of the London 2022 show that he had so successfully organized.
A philatelic obituary appeared in The London Philatelist (May 2022) and many other tributes have been written, so this short piece is to recognize some of Frank’s achievements in philatelic literature and to reflect on his lasting contribution to philatelic libraries and research.
Frank was a prolific philatelic writer, producing more than 200 journal articles and over 30 books and monographs. His first publication was The Postmarks of Sierra Leone, 1854 to 1961 for the West Africa Study Circle in 1990. The mammoth six-volume De La Rue Collection (RPSL, 2014) was meticulously edited by Frank and this work epitomizes much of his approach; collaboration (more than 100 specialists contributed to the project) and the dissemination of information (the collection was also made available online on the RPSL website). For his work on this project, he deservedly received the Medal for Exceptional Philatelic Study and Research from the Federation of European Philatelic Associations (FEPA).
Frank was a driving force in making the Perkins Bacon archives freely available for researchers. He produced the Perkins Bacon Facsimile, Editions 1-4, and had been planning to produce further volumes, as well as continuing in a goal to make all of the Perkins Bacon Archive available online. He was passionate about the information still to be uncovered in this collection and even requested scans to enable him to continue with his research from his hospital bed.
In 2018, Frank’s work on The Sub-Office Postmarks of Sheffield was published by the Stuart Rossiter Trust as a free PDF download, again demonstrating his generosity as an author and his belief that knowledge and information should be shared. This action also sparked interesting discussion about e-publishing vs. the traditional print publishing of philatelic literature.
Frank was instrumental in the success of many other publications, not only because of his role on the RPSL Publications Committee but because he was known for being approachable, a reliable critical friend and an imaginative thinker. This was combined with extensive technical skill and a generosity to share his knowledge and to give so freely of his time and expertise. A quick glance through many philatelic literature shelves will reveal mentions of Frank in the acknowledgements.
After 15 years as honorary editor of Cameo (the journal of the West Africa Study Circle), Frank became editor of The London Philatelist from 2001 to 2014, stepping down to become president of the RPSL. As president, Frank would spend his spare time between meetings and official functions volunteering in the library. This would be anything from using his vast contact list to suggest potential book reviewers to adding security tags to the books in preparation for a move to new premises.
Frank was an FIP literature judge and delegate to the FIP Literature Commission. He also was a member of the committee that awards the RPSL’s Crawford Medal for philatelic literature. Indeed, the idea of the upcoming Crawford Festival began as a conversation with Frank about how we could further promote excellence in philatelic research and celebrate its achievements.
Many of the philatelic librarians reading this will have worked with Frank on the Global Philatelic Library (GPL). Frank was one of the co-founders of the library and was its global chairman. Its success is largely due to his leadership and drive, in partnership with the technical help and tenacity of Steve Jarvis. On hearing of Frank’s passing, one librarian commented how exciting it had been to have someone who asked librarians what they needed and then found a way to make that happen. Frank always showed great respect to the library professionals he worked with, from his own career as a senior IT manager he understood the importance of the integrity of data and was always enthusiastic to learn about bibliographic cataloging practices.
Frank will be greatly missed by philatelic librarians for his talents as a writer, an editor, a literature judge and for his immense technical knowledge, but equally he will be missed as a mentor, supporter and friend who always greeted us and our problems with enthusiasm and a beaming smile.
Call for Writers
The Philatelic Literature Review depends on APRL and APS members, who provide much of the content of this journal. We would like to encourage more people to join our roster of philatelic writers for the Philatelic Literature Review. The journal publishes a wide range of articles, on topics that include the following: how to conduct philatelic research; old and new philatelic literature; archives and library collections; book reviews; writing and research advice; profiles of philatelic figures; the future of philatelic research, and more. If you have an idea for an article or are interested in becoming a regular contributor, please send an email to plrarticle@stamps.org. For information about APS writing guidelines, visit aps.buzz/writeap.