Reginald Moses Phillips, CBE, Hon LL.D. (1888–1977) was an English businessman,

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

and

philatelist Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is pos ...

. In 1966, after negotiations with

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, ...

, the

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsibl ...

, he donated his comprehensive 46 volume collection of British Victorian stamps to the nation, together with £50,000 for its upkeep, where it formed the centrepiece of what was then (1966–1998) the National Postal Museum and is now

The British Postal Museum & Archive The Postal Museum (formerly the British Postal Museum & Archive) is a postal museum run by the Postal Heritage Trust. It began in 2004 as The British Postal Museum & Archive and opened in Central London as The Postal Museum on 28 July 2017. Si ...

. Having achieved success as a businessman Philips returned to his childhood hobby of stamp collecting in his fifties. He then set about assembling the most complete collection of Victorian stamps and meticulously cataloguing it. After donating his British Queen Victoria collection to the nation, he collected other areas such as King George V Seahorses. During his life he also made donations to help with the education of deaf children.Mr. Reginald M. Phillips CBE Hon LL.D. (1888-1977)
Sussex Deaf History, 24 March 2010. Retrieved 19 July 2013
Archived here.
/ref> Phillips also instituted the Phillips Gold Medal for

postage stamp design Postage stamp design is the activity of graphic design as applied to postage stamps. Many thousands of designs have been created since a profile bust of Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria was adopted for the Penny Black in 1840; some ...

which has been awarded since 1969.

References

1888 births 1977 deaths British philatelists Philately of the United Kingdom 20th-century British philanthropists {{England-bio-stub