Gilbert Harrison was a British philatelist who was one of the "Fathers of Philately" entered on the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists

Roll of Distinguished Philatelists

The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists is a philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921...

 in 1921.

He joined The Philatelic Society, London, now The Royal Philatelic Society London, in February 1889 and was an expert on the stamps of Afghanistan, Portuguese India, Kashmir, and on United States postal stationery

Postal stationery

A piece of postal stationery is a stationery item, such as a stamped envelope, letter sheet, postal card, lettercard, aerogram or wrapper, with an imprinted stamp or inscription indicating that a specific rate of postage or related service has been prepaid...

. It was reported in The London Philatelist

The London Philatelist

The London Philatelist was first published in January 1892 and is the journal of the Royal Philatelic Society London.It is published ten times annually and includes coverage of worldwide philatelic and postal history topics...

 that Harrison had spent over £4500 on his United States stamped envelope

Stamped envelope

A stamped envelope or postal stationery envelope is an envelope with a printed or embossed indicium indicating the prepayment of postage. It is a form of postal stationery.-Use in the United States:In August 1852 an act of the U.S...

 collection alone but still lacked many varieties. He won a gold medal at the London Philatelic Exhibition 1890

London Philatelic Exhibition 1890

The London Philatelic Exhibition 1890 was held 19-26 May at the Portman Rooms, Baker Street, London. It was one of the first international philatelic exhibitions anywhere and it was the exhibition at which the Duke of Edinburgh announced that Prince George of Wales, later King George V, was a stamp...

 for his display of U.S. stamped envelopes.

He died on 9 November 1894, at Ferriby, at the age of 36.

His notes for a work on the early postage stamps of Afghanistan, uncompleted at the time of his death, were handed to Edward Denny Bacon

Edward Denny Bacon

Sir Edward Denny Bacon was a British philatelist who helped the enlargement and mounting of collections possessed by rich collectors of his time and became the curator of the Royal Philatelic Collection between 1913 and 1938.- Early life :Edward Bacon was the son of a malt producer of London,...

 and the book was eventually published by the Philatelic Society of India

Philatelic Society of India

The Philatelic Society of India was formed in 1897 by a group of, mainly, expatriate Englishmen resident in the country as the first all-India philatelic society...

 as The Postage Stamps of Afghanistan.

Publications

• Portuguese India. London: Stanley Gibbons, 1893. (With Lieut. F. H. Napier, R.N.) Reprinted from articles in Stanley Gibbons' Monthly Journal.
• The Nesbitt Stamped Envelopes and Wrappers of the United States of America. A supplement to The London Philatelist
  The London Philatelist
  The London Philatelist was first published in January 1892 and is the journal of the Royal Philatelic Society London.It is published ten times annually and includes coverage of worldwide philatelic and postal history topics...
  
  , Volume IV, 1895, compiled by Harrison and edited and completed by Edward Denny Bacon.