Stamp, Captain Edward
b. 1814
d. 1872
Edward Stamp was born in England in 1814. In 1851, he obtained his master's certificate. He involvement in the lumber trade brought him to Puget Sound in 1857.1 He was married to Maria Stamp, and they had a daughter and four sons.2
In 1859, Stamp volunteered to be a man sent on a gun boat to Barclay Sound, in the role of a government superintendent of the settlement. He was not employed by the Government so the cost of Stamp's travel aboard a naval vessel was debated.3
Stamp sent a proposal for a mail service from San Francisco to Vancouver Island in 1859.4 Necessity of this service was recognized by George Hamilton.5 In 1859, Stamp sent a letter to Carnarvon begging to be the contractor and he received an interview.6 In correspondence between Carnarvon and Douglas, Douglas says that Stamp is a great ship owner and master, and is generally considered to be a respectable and perfectly trustworthy person.7 Stamp did not get the position because the conversation was delayed when he went to London.8
He did, however, get permission to build a lumber mill in Puget Sound or on Vancouver Island. By 1860, he had negotiated a location with Douglas and began building the mill in Alberni Inlet, Port Alberni. This mill had access to 15,000 acres of timber as well as 2,000 acres for building a settlement and the mill itself. Operations ceased in 1864: the timber in the area was too large and Stamp's principles did match that of his work.9
After the mill shut down, Stamp began mining for copper along the inlet before turning back to the lumber industry by the end of the year. In 1865, Stamp assisted in forming the Vancouver Island Spar, Lumber, and Saw Mill Company on Burrard Inlet.10 Stamp stopped his work there in 1869, due to having different principles yet again. He was sued for $14,000 and sold the site which became Hastings Mill (the centre of the soon-to-develop city of Vancouver).11 In 1871, Stamp discovered the fish curing industry and travelled to England to establish a company to pack salmon. In 1872, while developing this promising endeavour, Stamp died of a heart attack in London.12
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