W Reginald Bray

If you have found your way to this web page then I hope it is because you are interested in the postal activities of Willie Reginald Bray.

Reginald (he hated the name Willie) lived for most of his life in Forest Hill, Kent from birth in 1879 to 1938/9 before moving to Croydon where he eventually passed away in 1939. His lifelong passion was to send items through the post that, in one form or other, challenged the Postal system. He even had himself "delivered" by two postman having paid the requisite postage. After experimenting with a number of postal curios his main focus was on the collection of autographs through the post. He sent out thousands of cards to all types of people, ranging from the Pope to the local Station Master, asking for them to return the relevant item duly autographed.

Over the years Reginald amassed over 15,000 autographs, declaring himself the Autograph King - a title that was undisputed by his peers.

I have set up this website with two purposes in mind - to share information about Reginald and his postal curios, and to invite anyone to contribute their knowledge to help build as complete a picture as possible. Here you will find information about a number of Reginald's postal curios, many of them with supporting images. There is a page dedicated to the various types of pre-printed postcards he used to collect autographs and another listing his known locations. Over the years Reginald posted over 30,000 curios/requests, most of them being numbered (to help Reginald with his records). These numbers can either be found written in pencil in the front of the card or in the appropriate place on the back of the pre-printed card.

I would be delighted to receive any information and/or scans from anyone who can add to the knowledge base.

Home

Curios and Autographs
Autograph Postcard Types
Where he lived
Some photographs
Scrapbook
Cartoon by Michael Leigh

Other links and references