Thomas Tapling
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Thomas Keay Tapling (30 October 1855 – 11 April 1891) was an English businessman and politician. He played
first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...
and was also an eminent
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 possi ...
who formed one of the greatest
stamp collection Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is an area of philately, which is the study (or combined study and collection) of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth ...
s of his era.


Early life

Tapling was born in
Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half of ...
, London."Tapling – The Man Behind the Collection" by Ron Negus in ''The London Philatelist'', Vol.116, No.1343, March 2007, pp.39–47. He was educated first at home and then at
Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...
from age 15. Later he attended
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
, graduating BA and LL.B in 1880 and MA and LL.M in 1883. His father, also Thomas Tapling, was a businessman who made a fortune from the manufacture of carpets and household furnishings. His mother was Annie Elizabeth Tapling (née Keay). Tapling originally intended a career in law, and he was called to the bar at the
Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...
as a
barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
. In 1882, however, Thomas Tapling senior died and his son was forced to drop his plans and take over the family business of Thomas Tapling & Son. This does not appear to have been a burden and the business prospered and expanded, providing him with the money to travel and build his stamp collection. He had a reputation as an enlightened employer, who emphasised temperance and thrift to his employees.


Cricket

Tapling played first-class cricket at the
University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, turning out for Trinity College, Trinity College Long Vacation Club and Cambridge University Long Vacation Club. He played for
Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...
(MCC) against
Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
in 1886, a match which has been retrospectively rated first-class by some sources; it was his sole appearance in top-class cricket. He was a right-handed batter and a
wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...
. Tapling was invited to join
George Vernon George Frederick Vernon (20 June 1856 – 10 August 1902) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Middlesex County Cricket Club. He also played one Test match for England during the first-ever Ashes tour in 1882-83. Biog ...
's team in the 1889/90 tour of Ceylon and India. He accepted but was late joining the squad after a close friend was taken ill in Italy and he opted to stay with him. Tapling arrived in India just before Christmas 1889 and played in six matches between then and the end of February.


Politics

Tapling was a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for the Harborough Division of
Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
from 1886 to 1891. He was a member of the Standing Committee on Trade.


Philately

Tapling began collecting stamps as a schoolboy in 1865. During the 1870s and 1880s he purchased existing collections from other philatelists, including those of
William Image William Edmund Image FRCS DL JP (18 May 1807 – 26 September 1903)"William Edmund Image: An appreciation." in ''The London Philatelist'', Vol. XII, November 1903, No. 143, pp. 260-263. was an English surgeon and early philatelist. Early life Im ...
, W.A.S. Westoby, Edward B. Evans, and Gustave and Martial Caillebotte. By 1887 his collection was second only to that of Philippe Ferrari de La Renotière. Among his holdings were many world-famous rarities, including both values of the "Post Office" Mauritius and three examples of the
Inverted Head Four Annas Inverse or invert may refer to: Science and mathematics * Inverse (logic), a type of conditional sentence which is an immediate inference made from another conditional sentence * Additive inverse (negation), the inverse of a number that, when a ...
of India. It is the only intact private collection formed during the Nineteenth century, with examples of practically every stamp issued world-wide up to 1889. In 1870 or 1871 Tapling joined the Philatelic Society in London (which subsequently became the
Royal Philatelic Society London The Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) is the oldest philatelic society in the world. It was founded on 10 April 1869 as ''The Philatelic Society, London''. The society runs a postal museum, the Spear Museum of Philatelic History, at its he ...
), being elected to its Committee in 1876. He became Vice-President in 1881 following the death of the former incumbent in a railway accident. The Tapling Medal, in silver, was created in his memory by the RPSL and first awarded in 1920. His name was recorded on the
Roll of Distinguished Philatelists The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists (RDP) is a Philately, philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921. The Roll consists of five pieces of parchment to which the signatories add their n ...
in 1921 as one of the original "Fathers of Philately".


Death and legacy

Tapling died at the age of 35 of
pleurisy Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity (pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant dull ache. Other sy ...
at Gumley Hall,
Market Harborough Market Harborough is a market town in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, in the far southeast of the county, forming part of the border with Northamptonshire. Market Harborough's population was 25,143 in 2020. It is the adm ...
in Leicestershire. His collection was bequeathed to the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
. It currently forms the
Tapling Collection The Tapling Collection of postage stamps was donated to the British Museum from the estate of Thomas Tapling in 1891. The probate value of the Tapling collection was set at £12,000 but on arrival Richard Garnett (assistant keeper of Printed Book ...
in the
Philatelic Collections of the British Library The British Library Philatelic Collections is the national philatelic collection of the United Kingdom with over 8 million items from around the world. It was established in 1891 as part of the British Museum Library, later to become the B ...
. The collection includes these rarities: * Gold Coast: 1883 (May) 1d on 4d magenta, unique; * Great Britain: 1858–79 1d red, plate 77, one of a few known; * Hawaii: 1851–52 2 cents to 13 cents (both types), the "
Missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
"; * India: 1854 4 annas blue and pale red, error head inverted, two used on a cover, unique; * Mauritius: 1847 1d red used on cover and 2d blue, the "Post Office" issue; * Spain: 1851 2 reales, error of colour, one of three known; * Switzerland: Zurich: 1843 4 rappen, the unique unsevered horizontal strip of five; * Uruguay: 1858 120 centavos blue and 180 centavos green, in tête beche pairs, two of five known; * Western Australia: 1854–55 4d blue, error frame inverted. The collection also includes a significant number of colour varieties of early United States postal issues.''A Sharp Eye on collecting US Classics'' (Sharp Photography Publications, 2021) ASIN B091MBTGJ7 (read online, page 29)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tapling, Thomas 1855 births 1891 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1886–1892 British philatelists Philately of India People from Dulwich People educated at Harrow School English cricketers Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British barristers Fathers of philately Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers American Philatelic Society