William George (Bill) Crampton (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 served as a president of Fédération internationale des associations vexillologiques, the International Federation of Vexillological Associations.

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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. In 1963, he was appointed as an adult education organiser for the West Lancashire and Cheshire Workers Educational Association.

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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.

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In 1995, he obtained a first-class Doctorate from the University of Manchester after 10 years of part-time study.

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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.

Source: Wikipedia