Josiah Stamp
Toronto Daily Star, May 26 1933
Josiah Stamp (1880-1941) was a number of things: industrialist, economist, civil servant, statistician, writer, and banker, as well as being the 1st Baron Stamp. He was also stubborn: he refused to leave his suburban London home during the Blitz, which was the Nazis' Second World War bombardment of the city. This stubbornness killed him and his wife when their air-raid shelter was the victim of a direct hit from a German bomb.
The Stamps had four sons; the eldest, Wilfred, died with his parents. However, due to a technicality in British law, the elder Stamp was deemed to have died first. This meant that Wilfred was briefly the second Baron Stamp and that the Stamp estate had to pay two sets of death duties. The second son, Trevor Stamp, became the third Baron.
Created September 20, 2025.