Percy de Worms

Percy de Worms
Born (1873-11-03)3 November 1873
Died 2 April 1941(1941-04-02) (aged 67)
Nationality English
Occupation Philatelist
Religion Jewish
Spouse(s) Nora Samuel
Parent(s) George de Worms, 2nd Baron de Worms
Louisa de Samuel
Relatives Mayer Amschel Rothschild (paternal great-great-grandfather)
Solomon Benedict de Worms (paternal grandfather)

Percy George de Worms (1873–1941) was an English aristocrat and philatelist.

Perkins Bacon Records by Percy de Worms.

Biography

Early life

Percy George de Worms was born on 3 November 1873.[1][2] His paternal grandfather was Solomon Benedict de Worms (1801-1882), owned large plantations in Ceylon and was made a Hereditary Baron of the Austrian Empire by Franz Joseph I of Austria (1830-1916), and his paternal grandmother was Henrietta Samuel.[3] His family was Jewish.[4]

Career

He was a Barrister by profession.[2]

Philatelic life

He was prominent in the Royal Philatelic Society London where he was a member of the Council and the Expert Committee.[2] In 1927, he won the society's Tapling Medal for his paper "The Local Surcharges of Ceylon 1885" published in The London Philatelist which was judged the best of the year.[2] A year later, in 1928. he was admitted to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1928.[2] He also served as the Honorary Librarian there between 1935 and 1941.[2]

He was an expert in the stamps of Ceylon, to which Sir John Wilson said every philatelic conversation with him eventually led.<ref "name=PBR">de Worms, Percy. Perkins Bacon Records, Royal Philatelic Society London, 1953, Foreword by Sir John Wilson p.x.</ref> The De Worms family had interests in coffee estates in Ceylon.[2]

Typical pages from Perkins Bacon Records.

In 1935, the original firm of Perkins Bacon went out of business and its records were acquired by Charles and Harry Nissen and Thomas Allen. The records were subsequently transferred to the Royal Philatelic Society London and in January 1936 around fifty packing cases of records were delivered to the Royal. De Worms was given the task of reviewing the records to ascertain their philatelic value. This was completed by 1937 and a decision was taken to publish the records of the 19th century by 1940. The detailed nature of the records, the Second World War and de Worm's death in 1941 all conspired to prevent this and it was not until 1953 that the records were eventually published in an authoritative two-volume work of over 900 pages.[5] The work de Worms compiled was one of meticulous philatelic scholarship and in the foreword to the published edition, Sir John Wilson commented that "Possibly nobody but de Worms would have had the courage to attempt it..." .<ref "name=PBR">de Worms, Percy. Perkins Bacon Records, Royal Philatelic Society London, 1953, Foreword by Sir John Wilson p.ix.</ref>

Personal life

He married Nora, only daughter of Sir Harry Simon Samuel MP on 25 July 1900.[1][3] They had one son and one daughter.[1]

Publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Peerage: Percy George de Worms
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Who Was Who In British Philately
  3. 1 2 Marquis de Ruvigny (Editor), The Nobilities of Europe, London, 1909.
  4. Yale Center for British Art: De Worms family scrapbook, 1912-1913
  5. de Worms, Percy. Perkins Bacon Records, Royal Philatelic Society London, 1953, Introduction by John Easton, p.xv.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, April 21, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.