Ronnie Spafford

Major Ronald Norman Spafford (29 July 1928 – 6 October 2014[1]), known as Ronnie Spafford, was a British army officer and philatelist who was an expert in the stamps and postal history of the Falkland Islands and developed a deep interest in those islands.

Ronnie Spafford, around 1972.

Early life

Spafford was born in Bristol, but due to bombing during the Second World War the family moved to nearby Weston-super-Mare, where Spafford had his home for the rest of his life. Spafford was educated at Sherborne School in Dorset and originally intended to become an artist, which horrified his parents. Instead he was called up to do his National Service in the Army which equally horrified Ronnie. He graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, found that he enjoyed the military life and decided to become a career soldier, serving in the Royal Artillery and rising to the rank of Major.[2]

Philately

Spafford had collected stamps as a child and decided to rekindle his interest while he was in the Army when he saw a colleague arranging his collection. He selected the Falkland Islands because it was possible to complete a collection of the basic stamps of the islands. When he had done that he moved on to more specialised philately. He was vice-president and co-founder of the Falkland Islands Philatelic Study Group[3] and in 1980 he was an adviser to the BBC television series In the Post, made in Bristol.[2] In 2009, The London Philatelist erroneously reported Spafford's death, causing a correction to be published in the next issue. Spafford was said to have taken the incident with good humour.[4]

Philatelic awards

Association with the Falkland Islands

Introduced to the Falklands through their stamps, Spafford first visited the islands in 1977 and was there again on the eve of the Argentine invasion in 1982.[2] He was a passionate defender[9] of the islands and their way of life and held a number of positions related to the Falklands. He was vice-president of the Falkland Islands Association, the military member[2] of the Falkland Islands Emergency Committee set up to lobby the British government on the sovereignty issue, and a trustee and former chairman of Falklands Conservation.[10][11] In his later years he ran trips to the islands through his business Falklands Experience.[12][13]

Selected publications
  • The 1933 Centenary Issue of the Falkland Islands. Picton Publishing, 1972; ISBN 0902633139.
  • Harry Hayes (ed.), The Falkland Islands Philatelic Digest, No. 2, 1979.
  • "Jeremiah Thomas Fitzgerald Callaghan CMG, Governor of the Falkland Islands 1876–1880", The Falkland Islands Journal, 1994.
  • "Falkland Islands Philately: The Earliest Days", The Canadian Philatelist, July/August 1999.

References
  1. "Funeral arrangements of Major Ronnie Spafford announced", Falkland Islands Association. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
  2. Richard West, "In love with the Falklands", British Philatelic Bulletin, Vol. 41, No. 8, April 2004, pp. 252–253.
  3. Ronnie Spafford. Falkland Islands Philatelic Study Group, October 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  4. "Sincere Apology to Major Ronnie Spafford RA FRPSL", The London Philatelist, Vol. 119, p. 18.
  5. "Capex '96", The London Philatelist, Vol. 105, pp. 213–14.
  6. "Ilsapex 98", The London Philatelist, Vol. 108, p. 77.
  7. "The Stamp Show 2000", The London Philatelist, Vol. 109, pp. 211–12.
  8. "Philatelic Newslines", The London Philatelist, Vol. 110, p. 317.
  9. Ronald N. Spafford and Jonathan M. Bates, "Riches in the Falkland Islands", The Times, 2 April 1982, p. 15.
  10. "FIA Vice-President Ronnie Spafford has died", Falkland Islands Association. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  11. "Falklands Conservation Up-Date", Merco Press, 6 December 2000. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  12. International Business Publications USA. (2014). Falkland Islands Business Law Handbook Volume 1 Strategic Information and Basic Laws. Washington: International Business Publications. p. 283. ISBN 978-0-7397-3092-8.
  13. Nigel Fountain, "The practicals", The Guardian, 28 February 1998, p. B64.
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