Thomas Tapling

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Thomas Keay Tapling (October 30, 1855 – April 11, 1891) was an English cricketer, businessman, politician and philatelist.

Thomas Keay Tapling
1855-1891

Born in Norwood, Surrey ^[1], Tapling's father was a Lincolnshire born businessman who made a fortune in London from the manufacture of carpets,^[2] pianos and other furnishings. Tapling was educated at Harrow^[3] and attended university at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he played first-class cricket, turning out for Trinity College, Cambridge, Trinity College Long Vacation Club and Cambridge University Long Vacation Club. He played for the MCC against Cambridge University in 1886 (his sole official first-class match), and toured India and Ceylon with George Vernon's side in 1889/90. ^[4]

Tapling was a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for the Harborough Division of Leicestershire from 1886 to 1891, while also running the family business.

Tapling began collecting stamps as a schoolboy in 1865. During the 1870s and 1880s he purchased existing collections from other philatelists, including that of W. E. Image. 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 of India. He joined the Philatelic Society in London in 1871, serving as its vice-president from 1871 to 1881.

Tapling's extraordinary collection was bequeathed to the British Museum. It currently forms The Tapling Collection in the Philatelic Section of the British Library.^[5] ^[6] The collection features these rarities:

The rarities include: 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"; India: 1854 4 anns blue and pale red, error head inverted, two copies used on cover, unique; Mauritius: 1847 1d red used on cover and 2d blue, the "Post Office" issue; Spain: 1851 2 reals, 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 Australian: 1854-55 4d blue, error frame inverted.^[7]

Tapling died at the age of 35 of pleurisy at Gumley Hall in Leicestershire.