I have been on Wikipedia for the past ten years, making approximately six edits per day (on a broad average). Initially my work was mainly on the honorifics and post-nominals of British officeholders. Later I branched out to uploading images for pages without them, and later still I came to focus mainly on heraldry.
Though my formal education has mostly been aimed at the sciences, my edits here have generally avoided pages on those topics and focused instead on my hobbies of politics and heraldry - one tends to lead to the other, especially in Britain.
I have made many thousands of small edits to the biographies of British politicians, especially the infoboxes at the top and succession boxes at the bottom. I have been keen to make sure that the honorific prefixes (mostly the presence or absence of
United Kingdom general election, 2015) when I dedicate a great effort to remove the MP post-nominals from every politician who had them immediately following dissolution. On election night, I of course have to go around putting most of them back again. In April 2021 I devised a different, hopefully less laborious, manner of achieving this goal
, but it is too early to tell whether it will catch on more widely.
My file uploads are legion. In addition to photographs taken on my own cameras I have incorporated many photographs from other sources (such as parliamentary portraits) whenever I have found them with the right licence, as well as adding fair use photographs to hundreds of the deceased.
Heraldry eventually emerged as the principal passion of my contributions here. I have produced and published over a thousand illustrations of coats of arms and am always on the lookout for new sources of blazons.
Policies
Putting the names of senior ministers in the infoboxes of their junior ministers [[8]], and the names of real ministers in the infoboxes of their corresponding shadow ministers [[9]].
Wikiphilosophy
Illustration
It is always better for an article to have a likeness of its subject than not to have it. Obviously a clear high-resolution photograph is best, and preferably from the time of the events for which the subject is most notable. The image should be placed in the infobox or, for short articles, on the top line of code. In particular:
Where a photograph does not exist of a person, it is acceptable to substitute a painting or drawing - even a satirical caricature - providing the likeness is good.
When a person is deceased and no free images apparently exist it should be acceptable to add a non-free image through fair use, and editors should not have to wait for arbitrary time periods or jump through onerous administrative hoops to justify this.
Free images of fictional characters from even remotely recent media obviously cannot exist, so fair use of one image in each respective article (or even sub-article) should be granted as a matter of course. For literary characters it is advisable to use images from film and television adaptations even if those are not the main focus of the article, for it is easier to justify fair use on those images than on book illustrations.
If a phenomenon is strongly associated with a particular image then that image - in minimal necessary resolution - should be granted fair use on its article.
In the absence of any likeness, it is acceptable to use a person's arms, cognizance or other recognisable insignia as the primary image.
If no likeness or insignia can be found at all, it is acceptable to use a photograph of a person's grave, but pointless to use one of their alma mater.
Where several photographs are available for the same person, a choice should be made to use the one that is the most relevant to each particular usage.
Honorifics
Styles such as The Honourable, His Excellency, or military ranks should be placed in |honorific_prefix for the infobox but not included in the lede.
Post-nominals should be listed with commas in the lede but without in |honorific_suffix.
The titles of Sir and Dame should be treated as part of the name, appearing as the first word in the lede (bold along with the rest of the name) and at |name in the infobox.
All peers below the degree of marquess have the honorific style of The Right Honourable regardless of privy council membership.
The post-nominal letters PC should be used for all peers, regardless of degree, who are also privy council members. For commoners they should be used in the lede but not the infobox.
The post-nominal letters Kt to be used for all peers - and even courtesy peers - who are also knights bachelor.
Articles for living people should, in both lede and infobox, use their current styles and titles. Articles for dead people should use the styles and titles that applied in their last moment of life.
References to a person in succession boxes and historical accounts should refer to them by the identity which they had at the time.
Officeholders
The period for which an MP, MSP, AM, MLA or similar represented a particular constituency should be defined as beginning when the result was declared for their first election - which in most cases is one day after polling - and ending when the legislative body dissolved for the election at which they retired or were defeated.
If a person has held a large number of offices, their infobox should be split into collapsible sections in order to prevent it running down the whole page.
. While on the surface this was to help me pass my examinations with the expected grades, there was also a benefit for himself, for the field of Decision Mathematics was relatively new and Charles had not yet encountered students who had learned it. By tutoring me he was also training himself to work with his next cohort.
Unfortunately he never had the opportunity to use his newly-developed expertise as that August, before the new academic year started, Charles collapsed while jogging in Winnipeg. He was found to have suffered a fatal heart attack. My parents attended his memorial service at the University of Leeds. In 2016 I applied to study there and in November I attended a UCAS day at their School of Chemistry. My father used the occasion to collect some boat components which Charles had left.
Though I am so far yet to attain notability in my own right, I do have one, rather depressing claim to fame: I was Professor Read's last ever pupil. I expect that later in my academic career I will be able to meet many other leading figures in their fields, so I can only hope that Charles' demise is not repeated, lest I be responsible for killing off all of Britain's finest - although it would open up space for me at the top...
Gave an interview to a group of students as part of his pilgrimage of prayer. We were told of how God must make himself known, how the name of marriage would not solve the problems faced by sexual minorities, how religion is so often contrived as an excuse for war and how the traditions of the first century prevented the consecration of women in the twentieth.
Hosted a talk about youth engagement in politics and the EU referendum. Upon learning that I intended to study Chemistry at university she remarked that I could be the next Margaret Thatcher. She quickly caught herself and clarified that she was not calling me a Conservative.
During the
2017 election she appeared at a debate with BBC Look North
Gave a presentation entitled "What is Politics?" in which he explained the importance of politics and British democracy as well as describing his role in the House of Lords. After the session had finished, he fulfilled my request for a photograph of him which could be used in his own Wikipedia page.
At university I attended several talks and gatherings put on by him.
Gave a presentation to the college about his career path to NASA and his experience in space. The speech was interrupted by a fire alarm, so we concluded his encounter in the car park. He told me that space travel would really kick off once valuable commodities could be mined from other planets.
Represented her party at the debate. She put forward Theresa May as an asset in European negotiations and praised her courage in tackling the problems of social care funding. She said she identified with the Conservatives for their support of low taxation and free markets.
, at several conferences beginning 27 February 2021. On 30 May I finally spoke to him (from my bed, at 2am) to ask about the length of the blazon for the Principal Presbyterian Theological College - which wanted the supporters to represent different races, sexes and academic disciplines. He replied that he had left it short by just saying "representative of inclusion".
Alexandra Fol also attended the latter conference, though we did not directly interact.
, on 3 June 2021. I asked him how Westminster differed from Holyrood regarding the involvement of religion in politics and public life. He regarded both legislatures as being equally religious, the main difference being the greater ceremonial formality and consistency in the Commons.
Professor D'Arcy Boulton, director of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, on 25 August 2021. I asked when supporters began to be used in corporate heraldry, and he said that the livery companies of the City of London had them by Elizabeth I's accession.
, on 17 November 2021. He gave a lecture on heraldry through the ages, and I inadvertently lectured him on the emergence of the English peerage system.
Professor Lin Foxhall, Rathbone Chair of Ancient History and Classical Archaeology at the University of Liverpool, on 28 January 2022. She hosted a presentation on the history of interment maintenance in England.
Canon David Monteith, Dean of Leicester, was part of that presentation. He spoke of his experience organising the reburial of Richard III.
Sir Tony Blair counted as English or Scottish for heraldic purposes and she said "I don't think going to Fettes
is enough." and that Garter would probably assume he was English. In a talk by the Oxford University Heraldry Society on 26 January 2023 I asked if she knew any statistics on the proportions of English and Scottish people who were armigerous. She said there were no reliable statistics, but she had a hunch that the proportion of Scots with legal arms would be higher due to the lower cost of official registration and the stricter prohibition against unofficial usage.
Dr Dominic Sandbrook, journalist and historian, spoke to the International Churchill Society on 21 April 2022. I asked if any later prime ministers save Thatcher would get a ceremonial funeral. He said Blair was the most likely contender but would probably decline, while other prime ministers tended to regress into obscurity.
Professor Caroline Barron, President of the British Association for Local History since 2016, lectured on Women in Medieval London to the Guildhall Library on 10 May 2022. I asked her if the economic privileges she found exercised by medieval women had fallen away during the early modern period. She said that they were pushed to the employment margins by the dramatic population rise of the early sixteenth century, the Protestant emphasis on homemaking and the movement of manufacturing to industrial premises.
Professor the
Lord Rees of Ludlow, former President of the Royal Astronomical Society, gave a lecture
to said society on 17 May 2022 about the search for extraterrestrial life.
Robert Watt, Chief Herald of Canada 1988-2007, gave a lecture to the Royal Heraldry Society on the arms of Canadian prime ministers. I mentioned my difficulties maintaining a Wikipedia page on the topic.
Dr
National Archives
on 16 November 2022 about her Fairmile series. I asked how close to the present she would consider setting a book. She said she had wanted to go up to 1920, but it would take more books than she anticipated.
The Honorable
Administrative Law. I asked what measures existed to guard against regulatory capture
of executive agencies. He said he had once been worried about it but no longer considered it a real problem.
. She said the ruling would have still been the same and that assent could have been reaffirmed as soon as Parliament sat again so it wouldn't have made much difference.
Tracy Borman, Joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces, plugged her book Crown & Sceptre: a new history of the British Monarchy on 10 June 2022. I asked how much the current royals were influenced by the Scottish side of their pre-1603 ancestry. She said that the whole of Britain's modern constitutional model resulted from the Stuarts' attitudes to government.
Gina Page, assistant private secretary at the Lord Speaker's office, received and complimented a report I had written about Professor Norton's visit to Wilberforce College in November 2016 (see above). The next month she sent me a tourist information pack about the House of Lords.
At some point in February-April 2020, one of the late
Lord Patel of Bradford
. (The file, along with its discussion page, has since been deleted.)
Janet Cunningham, personal assistant to
Sir Michael Sydney Perry
, emailed me on 5 November 2021 to ask me to redraw my illustration of his armorial achievement.
User Rank History
Styles of Robin S. Taylor
Reference style
Veteran Editor IV
Alternative style
Tutnum of the Encyclopedia
Informal style
Robin
Service Awards
16 February - 15 March 2014:Signator or Registered Editor
15 March - 1 February 2015:Burba or Novice Editor
1 February 2015 - 18 January 2017:Novato or Apprentice Editor
18 January - 28 October 2017:Grognard or Journeyman Editor
28 October 2017 - 6 September 2018:Grognard Extraordinaire or Yeoman Editor
6 September 2018 - 22 July 2019:Grognard Mirabilaire or Experienced Editor
22 July 2019 - 17 September 2020:Tutnum or Veteran Editor
17 September 2020 - 3 December 2021:Grand Tutnum or Veteran Editor II
3 December 2021 - 18 September 2022:Most Perfect Tutnum or Veteran Editor III
18 September 2022 - present:Tutnum of the Encyclopedia or Veteran Editor IV
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