Frederick Stanley Phillips (31 Dec 1891 - 29 Mar 1954) was a British philatelist and prolific philatelic author who signed 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...

 at Folkestone in 1937.

Stanley Phillips was the son of William Henry Phillips (Assistant Managing Director of Stanley Gibbons), and the nephew of Charles James Phillips

Charles James Phillips

Charles James Phillips , of London, England, and New York City, was a philatelist highly regarded in both England where he started his philatelic career and in the United States, where he emigrated to in 1922.-Philatelic activity in England:...

.

Military service

Phillips served in the British Army during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 including in Gallipoli

Gallipoli

The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...

, Egypt and Palestine. He was granted a commission in the King's Royal Rifle Corps

King's Royal Rifle Corps

The King's Royal Rifle Corps was a British Army infantry regiment, originally raised in colonial North America as the Royal Americans, and recruited from American colonists. Later ranked as the 60th Regiment of Foot, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire...

.

Career at Stanley Gibbons

Stanley Phillips joined Stanley Gibbons in 1906 and rose to become Chairman of the firm.

Returning to the firm after the end of World War One he was asked to create the Stanley Gibbons Monthly Circular and from 1922 he was the Editor of all Stanley Gibbons publications. In 1926 he became joint Managing Director with William Hamilton Andrews and after Hamilton Andrews retired in 1946 Phillips became sole Managing Director. After his cousin Frank Phillips died in July 1953, Phillips became Chairman of the company.

In 1934 he created the "Simplified" catalogue at Stanley Gibbons which has since become the key work "Stamps of the World".

Organised philately

Phillips served on the council of the British Philatelic Association.

In 1933 he was awarded the Congress Cup at the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain

Philatelic Congress of Great Britain

Each year the Association of British Philatelic Societies holds a national congress, the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain.- History :The first Congress was held in 1909 in conjunction with a stamp exhibition at Hulme Town Hall in Manchester...

for his paper "Philatelic Literature".

Writing

Phillips has been called a "crusader for philately" and he was particularly noted for his many books on Stamp Collecting that introduced a whole generation to the hobby. His titles were usually for the beginner and always referred to stamp collecting and not philately.

Selected publications

• Great Britain: the Harrison & Somerset House Printings (1911-12) and How to Distinguish Them, Stanley Gibbons Limited, 1913.
• The Stamps of Great Britain (1911-21)
• Stamp Collecting for All
• Stamp Collecting and How to Enjoy it
• Stamp Collecting
• The Splendid Book of Stamps
• The Beginner’s Book of Stamp Collecting
• Fascination of Stamp Collecting
• Stamp Collecting for the Million
• How to Arrange and Write up a Stamp Collection (with C.P. Rang)

And some of his numerous magazine articles:

• "Denmark Stamps for the Moderate Specialist" in Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal, October 1926. Reproduced here.
• "The First Issue of the Yemen" in Gibbons Stamp Monthly, July 1932. Reproduced here.

External links

• Profile at Who Was Who in British Philately