Robin "Bob" F. Schoolley-West (born 12 December 1937, Brighton, died 14 July 2012, Dartford, Kent) was a former Head of the Philatelic Collections at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

(originally part of the British Museum). He joined the Museum in 1973 after he investigated, as a police officer, the theft of items from the

philatelic Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. While closely associated with stamp collecting and the study of postage, it is possibl ...

collections by James Mackay. In the mid-1980s he took an active part in tracking down forgeries of classic stamps made by ''Pro-Phila Forum'' in Germany based on photographs taken by a visitor to the Library."Library uncovers fake stamp haul" by Sarah Jane Checkland in

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

, 25 November 1987, p. 6. Schoolley-West retired in 1991 and was succeeded at the British Library by his former assistant,

David Beech David Richard Beech MBE (born 1954) was the curator of the British Library Philatelic Collections from 1983–2013. He is a fellow and past president of the Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL). In 2013, it was announced that Beech was to r ...

References

Publications

*''Stamps'',

, London, 1987. *''The Care and Preservation of Philatelic Materials'', British Library, London, 1989. (With T.J. Collings) Employees of the British Library Metropolitan Police officers 2012 deaths British philatelists Year of birth unknown Fellows of the Royal Philatelic Society London British Library Philatelic Collections 1937 births {{UK-philatelist-stub