Francis Stainforth

An old engraving of All Hallows Staining where Stainforth and fellow philatelists used to meet. The Reverend Francis John Stainforth (1797 – 3 September 1866 ) was an early British philatelist, conchologist, and collector of books by women writers. He was the Perpetual curate of All Hallows Staining church in London, where Mount Brown compiled large parts of his catalogue. The church was believed to be the one mentioned by Charles Dickens in Dombey & Son.

Stainforth had an older brother, George, born in 1796, who was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, and was President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1816. He died at Cadogan Place, Belgravia, on 24 August 1820, aged 24.

On 23 January 1823, at Benares, Stainforth married Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of Dr Frazer, of London. She died young. Stainforth in particular was said to have had a very fine collection which largely formed the basis for Brown's catalogue.

The group that met at the church were thought to be the most serious British collectors of the day and have been credited with being the nucleus that eventually formed The Philatelic Society, London, which subsequently became the Royal Philatelic Society London, the oldest philatelic society in the world. Stainforth was never a member of the Society as he died before it was formed in 1869.