Gerald Davis: architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

, graphic design

Graphic design

Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...

er, postal historian

Postal history

Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of postage stamps and covers and associated material illustrating historical episodes of postal systems...

 and philatelist. His 1971 Burma Postal History is a classic study, both readable and comprehensive.

Life

Davis learned the basics of stamps and philately while helping out with his father's stamp shop in Baker Street

Baker Street

Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid the street out in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, who lived at a fictional 221B...

, Marylebone

Marylebone

Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....

, Westminster

City of Westminster

The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...

. As an adult he formed an extraordinary collection of the postal history of Burma, including the Japanese

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

 post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

s in Burma and the overland routes to China and Thailand.

Burma

After Dunkirk

Operation Dynamo

The Dunkirk evacuation, commonly known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, code-named Operation Dynamo by the British, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France, between 26 May and the early hours of 3 June 1940, because the British, French and Belgian troops were...

 Davis went to India with the British Fourteenth Army, a multinational force comprising units from Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

 countries during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. After the Battle of Imphal

Battle of Imphal

The Battle of Imphal took place in the region around the city of Imphal, the capital of the state of Manipur in North-East India from March until July 1944. Japanese armies attempted to destroy the Allied forces at Imphal and invade India, but were driven back into Burma with heavy losses...

 he served in Burma, present-day Myanmar, where he took part in the Chindwin River

Chindwin River

The Chindwin River is a river in Burma , and the largest tributary of the country's chief river the Ayeyarwady . It flows entirely within Burma and is known as Ning-thi to the Manipuris.-Source:...

 valley campaign and the surrender of Rangoon in May, 1945.

In 1990, Robson Lowe

Robson Lowe

John Harry Robson Lowe , Robbie to his friends, was an English professional philatelist, stamp dealer and stamp auctioneer.- Life and career :...

 commented, "Besides acquiring much of his modern collection from villagers who preferred cigarettes to British currency, his negotiations after the formal enemy capitulation in August, with Burmese postal officials, for stamps which have since become collectible, by his own account comprised his most active service."

Using the first-hand knowledge of the country gained from his military assignments, and building on foundations laid by W. Renouf, Jal Cooper

Jal Cooper

Jal Manekji Cooper FRGS was an Indian philatelist, and an expert and authenticator of the postage stamps and postal history of India. Cooper was also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the author of several philatelic handbooks. He was both a stamp dealer and a collector and was...

 and Vernon Rowe, Gerald Davis' studies and presentations of Burma's postal history brought the country to its present day attraction for collectors and philatelists. Davis was a fellow and member of the Society of Postal Historians, the India Study Circle and Kingston Philatelic Society.

Awards

• Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London (FRPSL), elected 1972.
• Tilleard Medal for excellence in exhibit presentation, 1975.
• Rowland Hill Award for Journalistic Excellence for 2001.

Publications

• Gerald Davis and Denys Martin
  Denys R. Martin
  Colonel Denys Richard Martin . ranks among the most distinguished philatelists of the Twentieth century. As a systematic scholar and prolific writer, Martin illuminated some of the most difficult topics and set a high standard for the study of the postage stamps and postal history of India and...
  
  , Burma Postal History, including the 1987 Supplement. Robson Lowe, Ltd., Woods of Perth, Scotland. (1971)