William Crampton

William George (Bill) Crampton, PhD, MEd (5 May 1936 – 4 June 1997) was a British vexillologist. His chief legacy, the Flag Institute, has hundreds of members in the UK and overseas. He was recognised as Britain's foremost authority on flags by government agencies, the flag trade, the media, publishers, librarians and vexillologists of all ages and backgrounds. He was also renowned internationally, and his status was recognised by his election as President of Fédération internationale des associations vexillologiques, the International Federation of Vexillological Associations.

Life

He was educated at Wallasey Grammar School and then – after National Service in Egypt in 1954-56 – at the London School of Economics where he studied sociology. He became a teacher at Gravesend Technical College, and in Ghana, and in 1963 was appointed as an adult education organiser for the West Lancashire and Cheshire Workers Educational Association.

When asked when he first became interested in flags, Crampton responded that it was like being asked when he started breathing. He was fascinated by flags from an early age, and began research as a 14-year-old schoolboy, when he realised that some flags in his atlas were obsolete. Thereafter he devoured all the flag knowledge he could find, scouring libraries and bookstores for every available book. At university, in the army, and while working overseas, chances for flag research were limited but he nevertheless took every opportunity to gain more knowledge.

In 1963, while working in adult education, he was able to resume vexillology and contacted Whitney Smith, the foremost American flag expert and "father" of the international vexillological movement. In 1967 Smith held a meeting in London at which Crampton met others devoted to flags, including Ted Barraclough, then editor of the standard British reference book Flags of the World. The meeting was Crampton's launching pad. Active in the Flag Section of the Heraldry Society, he edited its newsletter from its introduction in 1969. In 1971 he formed the Flag Institute and became its director, with Barraclough as chairman. The newsletter became the Institute's journal Flagmaster. In the same year, at the Fourth International Congress of Vexillology in Turin, Italy, the Flag Institute joined the FIAV and successfully proposed that the 1973 Congress be held in London.

The Congress placed the Flag Institute firmly on the international map. Meanwhile, Crampton was producing booklets and improving Flagmaster. He was invited to assist with editing The Observer's Book of Flags published by Warne. He worked with Barraclough on a new edition of Flags of the World, as well as providing information and advice on a wide variety of flag projects. The Flag Institute's services to the flag trade, its members and non-member bodies steadily increased.

At FIAV's tenth congress at Oxford, 1983, Crampton was elected Congress Secretary and at the 1985 Congress in Madrid, Spain, he was awarded a diploma by the Soviet Flag Society. In ensuing years he achieved a near monopoly in Britain as a flag-book editor, producing many new books and new editions of established titles. His tour of duty as Congress Secretary ended in 1989. In 1991 he was awarded the "Vexillon", an award for excellence in the promotion of vexillology. In 1993 he was elected President of the International Federation of Vexillological Associations, a post which he held until his death.

Crampton early realised the potential of the internet. He acquired an email address in 1994 and started a website in 1996. In 1995 he gained a first-class Doctorate for his thesis Flags as Non-Verbal Symbols in the Management of National Identity, after ten years part-time work.

In 1995 the growth of the Flag Institute and the volume of business prompted the formation of a trading company, Flag Institute Enterprises, with Crampton as managing director. The approaching millennium and the bicentenary of the Union Flag in 2001 stimulated other major projects including a campaign to have the Union Flag adopted as the UK's national flag, the establishment of a Flag Centre to house the Institute and the hosting of the 19th Congress in 2001 in York.

Following his death in 1997, the newly opened Library of the Flag Institute in Kingston upon Hull was named in his honour as the William Crampton Library in 1999.