Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp
Encyclopedia
Josiah Charles Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, Bt
, GCB
, GBE
, FBA
, (21 June 1880 - 16 April 1941) was a British
civil servant, industrialist, economist
, statistician
, writer
, and banker. He was a director of the Bank of England
and chairman of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
.
Josiah was born in London, the third of seven children; his youngest brother L. Dudley Stamp
became an internationally renowned geographer. At the time of his birth his father owned and managed a provision and general shop in London. Josiah left school at 16 and joined the Civil Service as a boy clerk in the Inland Revenue
Department, where he rose to become assistant secretary in 1916. Meanwhile he was studying economics as an external student. He was awarded a first class degree (1911) by the University of London and a doctorate (1916) by the London School of Economics. The thesis, published as British Incomes and Property, became a standard work on the subject and established his academic reputation.
Stamp met his future wife, Olive Jessie Marsh, a soprano and student teacher, when he was seventeen. Pursuing their work and studies separately for several years until their marriage in 1903, they engaged in a correspondence that gives us a rich sense of Stamp's formative years (Jones 1964). Between 1904 and 1917 they had four sons, Wilfred, Trevor, Maxwell and Colin.
In 1919 Stamp changed career, leaving the civil service for business, to join as secretary and director of Nobel Industries Ltd
, from which Imperial Chemical Industries
developed. He was knighted in 1920. In 1926 he became Chairman of the LMS
and was instrumental in getting William Stanier
appointed as Chief Mechanical Engineer to resolve the locomotive problems of the Company. In 1928 he was appointed a director of the Bank of England. He was raised to the peerage in 1938 as Baron Stamp
of Shortlands.
Stamp was often called to serve on public commissions, committees and boards: he was a member of the Royal Commission on Income Tax, 1919, the Northern Ireland Finance Arbitration Committee, 1923-24, the Committee on Taxation and National Debt, 1924, the Dawes Reparation Commission's Committee on German Currency and Finance, 1924, the Young Committee in 1929 and the Economic Advisory Council
, 1930-39.
Stamp was widely regarded as the leading British expert on taxation, and took an active part in the work of the Royal Statistical Society
, serving as president from 1930 to 1932.
Stamp refused to be moved out of his house at Shortlands
, Kent because of German bombing during The Blitz
and he and his wife were killed by a bomb on 16 April 1941. His son Wilfred was killed at the same time, but English law
has legal fiction
that in the event of the order of deaths being indeterminable, the elder is deemed to have died first. Legally therefore, Wilfred momentarily inherited the peerage: and as a consequence the family had to pay death duty twice. The peerage passed to the second of Stamp's four sons, Trevor.
A well known quote from Stamp (often referred to as Stamp's Law) is:
Another quote often attributed to Stamp is:
A biography emphasising Stamp's management of the LMS railway
There is a sketch of Stamp on the National Portrait Gallery website
There is more information on the AIM25 record
Record at the British Academy
to which Stamp was elected in 1926
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
, GCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, GBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, FBA
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
, (21 June 1880 - 16 April 1941) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
civil servant, industrialist, economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
, statistician
Statistician
A statistician is someone who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. The core of that work is to measure, interpret, and describe the world and human activity patterns within it...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, and banker. He was a director of the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
and chairman of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
.
Josiah was born in London, the third of seven children; his youngest brother L. Dudley Stamp
Laurence Dudley Stamp
Sir Dudley Stamp, CBE, DSc, D. Litt, LLD, Ekon D, DSc Nat , was professor of geography at Rangoon and London, and one of the internationally best known British geographers of the 20th century....
became an internationally renowned geographer. At the time of his birth his father owned and managed a provision and general shop in London. Josiah left school at 16 and joined the Civil Service as a boy clerk in the Inland Revenue
Inland Revenue
The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation tax, petroleum revenue tax and stamp duty...
Department, where he rose to become assistant secretary in 1916. Meanwhile he was studying economics as an external student. He was awarded a first class degree (1911) by the University of London and a doctorate (1916) by the London School of Economics. The thesis, published as British Incomes and Property, became a standard work on the subject and established his academic reputation.
Stamp met his future wife, Olive Jessie Marsh, a soprano and student teacher, when he was seventeen. Pursuing their work and studies separately for several years until their marriage in 1903, they engaged in a correspondence that gives us a rich sense of Stamp's formative years (Jones 1964). Between 1904 and 1917 they had four sons, Wilfred, Trevor, Maxwell and Colin.
In 1919 Stamp changed career, leaving the civil service for business, to join as secretary and director of Nobel Industries Ltd
Nobel Industries
Nobel Industries can refer to:*Nobel Industries - A company established by Alfred Nobel in Scotland and merged into Imperial Chemical Industries in 1927...
, from which Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
developed. He was knighted in 1920. In 1926 he became Chairman of the LMS
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
and was instrumental in getting William Stanier
William Stanier
Sir William Arthur Stanier, FRS was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.- Biography :...
appointed as Chief Mechanical Engineer to resolve the locomotive problems of the Company. In 1928 he was appointed a director of the Bank of England. He was raised to the peerage in 1938 as Baron Stamp
Baron Stamp
Baron Stamp, of Shortlands in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1938 for the civil servant, industrialist, economist, statistician and banker, Sir Josiah Stamp. The second Baron, Wilfred Carlyle Stamp, holds the record for having held a peerage...
of Shortlands.
Stamp was often called to serve on public commissions, committees and boards: he was a member of the Royal Commission on Income Tax, 1919, the Northern Ireland Finance Arbitration Committee, 1923-24, the Committee on Taxation and National Debt, 1924, the Dawes Reparation Commission's Committee on German Currency and Finance, 1924, the Young Committee in 1929 and the Economic Advisory Council
Economic Advisory Council
Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India is a non-constitutional, non-permanent and independent body constituted to give economic advise to the Government of India, specifically the Prime Minister. The council serves to highlight key economic issues facing the country to the...
, 1930-39.
Stamp was widely regarded as the leading British expert on taxation, and took an active part in the work of the Royal Statistical Society
Royal Statistical Society
The Royal Statistical Society is a learned society for statistics and a professional body for statisticians in the UK.-History:It was founded in 1834 as the Statistical Society of London , though a perhaps unrelated London Statistical Society was in existence at least as early as 1824...
, serving as president from 1930 to 1932.
Stamp refused to be moved out of his house at Shortlands
Shortlands
Shortlands is a ward of the London Borough of Bromley, located less than a mile from Bromley town centre. Historically, Shortlands was known as Clay Hill. It became known as Shortlands around 1800, after the fields which, at this point of the Ravensbourne river, ran at right angles up the slopes...
, Kent because of German bombing during The Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
and he and his wife were killed by a bomb on 16 April 1941. His son Wilfred was killed at the same time, but English law
English law
English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries and the United States except Louisiana...
has legal fiction
Legal fiction
A legal fiction is a fact assumed or created by courts which is then used in order to apply a legal rule which was not necessarily designed to be used in that way...
that in the event of the order of deaths being indeterminable, the elder is deemed to have died first. Legally therefore, Wilfred momentarily inherited the peerage: and as a consequence the family had to pay death duty twice. The peerage passed to the second of Stamp's four sons, Trevor.
A well known quote from Stamp (often referred to as Stamp's Law) is:
- "The government are very keen on amassing statistics. They collect them, add them, raise them to the nth power, take the cube root and prepare wonderful diagrams. But you must never forget that every one of these figures comes in the first instance from the chowky dar (village watchman in India), who just puts down what he damn pleases." (Stamp recounting a story from Harold CoxHarold CoxHarold Cox was a Liberal MP for Preston from 1906 to 1909.-Early life:The son of Homersham Cox a County Court judge, Cox was educated at Tonbridge School in Kent and was Scholar and later Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge where he took a mathematics degree in 1882...
who quotes an anonymous English judge).
Another quote often attributed to Stamp is:
- "Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take away from them the power to create money and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money." (Said to be from an informal talk at the University of Texas in the 1920s, but as yet unverified.)
Books by Josiah Stamp
- British incomes and property 1916
- The fundamental principles of taxation. 1921
- The National Income 1924 with A. L. BowleyArthur Lyon BowleySir Arthur Lyon Bowley was an English statistician and economist who worked on economic statistics and pioneered the use of sampling techniques in social surveys....
1927. - Some Economic Matters in Modern Life (1929)
- The Science of Social Adjustment (1937)
Life
- Beveridge, ‘Stamp, Josiah Charles, first Baron Stamp (1880–1941)’, rev. Jose Harris, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
- A. L. Bowley Lord Stamp Journal of the Royal Statistical SocietyJournal of the Royal Statistical SocietyThe Journal of the Royal Statistical Society is a series of three peer-reviewed statistics journals published by Blackwell Publishing for the London-based Royal Statistical Society.- History :...
, Vol. 104, No. 2 (1941), pp. 193-196. - J. Harry Jones, M.A., LL.D., Josiah Stamp, Public Servant: The Life of the First Baron Stamp of Shortlands, London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, 1964, 365 pp. With an Epilogue by his youngest son, Colin, from a talk broadcast over Springbok Radio from Johannesburg, South Africa, 5 October, 1960.
External links
Brief notes on Stamp's life- Stamp, Josiah Charles at economia.unipv.it
A biography emphasising Stamp's management of the LMS railway
There is a sketch of Stamp on the National Portrait Gallery website
There is more information on the AIM25 record
Record at the British Academy
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
to which Stamp was elected in 1926