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Neville Watterson

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Far East, Featuring The Neville Watterson FRPSL Collection of Sarawak, Cavendish Philatelic Auctions, London, September 2017.

Walter Neville Watterson (1919 - 18 February 2017) was an English civil engineer and philatelist who was a specialist in the stamps and postal history of Sarawak, Borneo, and Brunei. He wrote a two volume history of the mails of the Japanese prisoner of war camps of Borneo during the Second World War.

Early life and family

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Walter Watterson was born in Wolverhampton in 1919.[1] He married Betty Taylor in Newmarket, Cambridgeshire, in 1949.[2] They had a daughter Claire.[3]

Career

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Watterson worked as a civil engineer in Sarawak in the 1950s, kindling a lifelong interest in the country that was expressed through his philatelic collection.[4]

Philately

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Watterson wrote a two volume history of the mails of the Japanese prisoner of war camps of Borneo during the Second World War, the first volume published in 1989 generating such a response from philatelists and former POWs that a second volume was produced in 1994. His collection of Sarawak was sold by Cavendish Philatelic Auctions in London in September 2017.[5]

He was a stalwart of the Northamptonshire Philatelic Society, the East Midlands Federation of Stamp Clubs, the Sarawak Specialists' Society and the Postal History Society.[3][6] He and Betty were both fellows of the Royal Philatelic Society London.

Death

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Watterson died in Northampton General Hospital on 18 February 2017. He was pre-deceased by Betty.[3]

Selected publications

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  • Sarawak: The issues of 1871 and 1875: Plating studies and postal history. 1989.
  • Borneo: The Japanese P.O.W. Camps - Mail of the Forces, P.O.W. and Internees. 1989. ISBN 978-0951495100
  • Borneo: Pt. 2: Japanese P.O.W. Camps - Mail of the Forces, P.O.W. and Internees. 1994. ISBN 978-0951495131
  • Sarawak Officials: A Survey. 1996. ISBN 978-0951495148
  • Sarawak: The De La Rue Story. Brock Publications, 2000. ISBN 978-0951495155
  • Sarawak & Brunei: The De La Rue ink colours. 2004.
  • Labuan: The beginnings, & 'the Crowns'. Brock Publications, 2008. (With Betty Watterson & Leslie Brueckheimer)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Walter N Watterson England and Wales Birth Registration Index. Family Search. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  2. ^ Walter N Watterson mentioned in the record of Taylor and Walter N Watterson. Family Search. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  3. ^ a b c "Walter Neville Watterson - a Tribute", Colin Fraser, The Sarawak Journal, Vol. 70, No. 3 (September 2017), Whole No. 279, pp. 66-67.
  4. ^ "The Walter Neville Watterson FRPSL Collection of the Stamps & Postal History of Sarawak, 1869-2007", James Grimwood-Taylor in Far East, Featuring The Neville Watterson FRPSL Collection of Sarawak. Cavendish Philatelic Auctions, 2017, p. 7.
  5. ^ Far East, Featuring The Neville Watterson FRPSL Collection of Sarawak. Cavendish Philatelic Auctions, 2017.
  6. ^ "Neville Watterson, Obituary Part II", Bill Batty-Smith, The Sarawak Journal, Vol. 70, No. 3 (September 2017), Whole No. 279, p. 67.