Colonial Despatches

Edward Hammond King, newspaper publisher, was born on 12 July 1832 at Stoke Damerel, Devonshire, England. He entered the army in 1851, became lieutenant on 3 March 1854, transferred to the 27th Regiment in February 1855 and took the post of paymaster of the 59th Regiment on 10 August of that year.1

After serving in India and China, he retired from the army on 16 October 1857. In 1859, King brought his family to Vancouver Island and became a printer and publisher, joining Leonard McClure to produce the Government Gazette for the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia; the first issue appeared on 10 September 1859, and they sold the paper to George Elmes Nias on 13 March 1860. King also published the New Westminster Times from 17 September 1859 to 3 March 1860; with the assistance of Coote M. Chambers, King and McLure launched the second Victoria Gazette on 5 December 1859. King sold it to Nias on 16 April 1860, and it ceased publication in July of that year.2

In 1860, Edward Edwards Langford accused King of publishing a parody of his election address and sued him for libel. King was cleared of the charge, but on leaving the court, assaulted Edward Graham Alston, a barrister who had been watching the trial, and was arrested and sentenced to one month in prison for contempt of court. He was pardoned on 17 November. King died on 7 March 1861 from gunshot wounds received while hunting near Dodger Cove in Barkley Sound.

• 1. Sydney G. Pettit, King, Edward Hammond, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.
• 2. Ibid.
• 3. Ibid.