EJP

(Bill Atmore Remembered by Steve Jarvis & Paul Wright, BWISC Bulletin March 2004)

Bill Atmore has died at the tragically young age of 39. He was a serious student of Jamaican philately and his knowledge and wisdom will be sorely missed. We first met Bill, introduced by Mike Hamilton, at one of the many Jamaica sales held at Cavendish in the 1990s.

Steve recalls: I was immediately impressed with his single minded approach to acquisitions. Not for him the accumulation of run of the mill stamps or covers, they all had to be top notch and have significant visual impact, estimates were ignored, he knew what he wanted, knew top items would always resell and was a heavy-hitter on those lots targeted. I vividly remember being out-psyched by him at the Vokins sale where we started competing for a double bisect on cover, I gave up at an early stage (well, 50% over estimate) knowing from his body language that he was determined to have the cover. I often wonder how high he would have gone.

From that time the three of us were in regular touch by e-mail and always huddled together at BWI meetings. Bill was a particular expert on the early cancellations on adhesives and he was always our first port of call whenever we wanted some information or advice. He offered his knowledge liberally, producing a series of occasional newsletters entitled "Land of Wood and Water" and contributing articles to the BCPSG Journal, in particular ‘Temporary Adhesive Cancelling measures 1860-1886’ & ‘Dry Harbour A Mystery solved’.

Paul has similar memories of his style: In his collecting approach I would single out his self-disciplined, meticulous and exacting approach, adding perfect single items rather than splurging in all directions as too many of us do. And he always wanted to learn everything there was to learn about each item. He carried this approach to his research, concentrated in C19th postal history, especially on early registration, the early use for cancellation of date-stamps and manuscript provisionals and his scarcity listings of single ring and squared circle cancellations. He also wanted to reach the people behind covers - for example, researching Major Kent. Jackie, his wife, tells me that she shared some of this background research work, indeed, when he died they were working to find out more about a letter from a Jamaican nurse who came to London for training in the C19th.

Our thoughts are with his wife Jackie and their young daughter Evelyn at this time.