Sir (Laurence) Dudley Stamp, CBE, DSc, D. Litt,

LLD Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...

, Ekon D, DSc Nat ( – ), was professor of

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and one of the internationally best known British

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

s of the 20th century. Educated at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, he specialised in the study of

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other Astronomical object, astronomical objects, the features or rock (geology), rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology ...

and

and taught at the universities of

(1923–26) and

(1926–45). From 1936 to 1944 he directed the compilation and publication of the report of the

Land Utilisation Survey of Britain The Land Utilisation Survey of Britain (also Land Utilisation Survey of Great Britain) was a comprehensive survey of land use in Great Britain in the 1930s. The survey was the first such comprehensive survey in Britain since the Domesday Book surve ...

. He worked on many official enquiries into the use of land and planning.

Early life and education

Stamp was born in

Catford Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green and Catford South wards. The population of Catford, includ ...

, London, in 1898, the seventh child of a shopkeeper; his elder brother Josiah became the banker Lord Stamp of Shortlands. He attended

University School, Rochester A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

(1910–13), where he joined the Rochester and District Natural History Society. He then studied for a BSc at

, graduating with first-class honours in 1917. Following military service he returned to King's as a demonstrator. His friendship with a student, his future wife Elsa Rea, led to an interest in geography. They both sat for the BA in 1921, Stamp again taking a first. He was awarded a DSc in the same year.

World War I

Stamp served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

from 1917 to 1919. Whilst away his research paper on the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleoz ...

Clun Forest Clun Forest is a remote, rural area of open pastures, moorland and mixed deciduous/coniferous woodland in the southwest part of the English county of Shropshire and also just over the border into Powys, Wales. It was once a Royal hunting forest ...

was read on his behalf to the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

Professional and academic career

Stamp spent the early 1920s as a

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

in the then

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, marrying and becoming professor of geology and geography in the new

University of Rangoon '') , mottoeng = There's no friend like wisdom. , established = , type = Public , rector = Dr. Tin Mg Tun , undergrad = 4194 , postgrad = 5748 , city = Kamayut 11041, Yangon , state = Yangon Regio ...

in 1923. In 1926 he returned to the UK, becoming

Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

Economic geography Economic geography is the subfield of human geography which studies economic activity and factors affecting them. It can also be considered a subfield or method in economics. There are four branches of economic geography. There is, primary sect ...

at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

(LSE). In the 1930s Stamp formed the Land Utilisation Survey of Britain, a major project to survey of the whole country using volunteers including colleagues, students, school teachers and pupils, on a scale of 6 inches to a mile. Publication of maps and reports began in 1933 and was completed in 1948, after interruption by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Stamp reported on the reaction of a farmer who came across a school class doing land-use survey on his land. Angry at first, the farmer was pacified by the explanation of the schoolmaster, and then later wrote approvingly to his local newspaper that this approach was valuable both to the pupils and the community. Stamp went on to act as a consultant to many national governments and prepared a general scheme for a world land use survey which was adopted by the

International Geographical Union The International Geographical Union (IGU; french: Union Géographique Internationale, UGI) is an international geographical society. The first International Geographical Congress was held in Antwerp in 1871. Subsequent meetings led to the estab ...

.Coleman, A & Maggs K.R.A (1965), ''Land Use Survey Handbook'', fourth (Scottish) Edition, Isle of Thanet Geographical Association Stamp became professor of

in 1945 and moved to the chair of

Social geography Social geography is the branch of human geography that is interested in the relationships between society and space, and is most closely related to social theory in general and sociology in particular, dealing with the relation of social phenomen ...

in 1948. Whilst at LSE Stamp held senior posts at many organisations, including presidency of section E of the

British Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...

(1949), the Geographical Association (1950), the

(1952–56) and the

Institute of British Geographers The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scie ...

(1956), and vice-presidency of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(1954–56). He also acted as a government advisor – as vice-chairman of the Scott committee on land utilisation in rural areas (1941–42), as chief adviser on rural land utilisation in the

Ministry of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

(1942–55), developed the idea of land classification which was officially adopted for planning purposes and was a member of the Royal Commission on Common Land (1955–58). He retired in 1958.

Retirement

Besides DIY work at home in Bude,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, Stamp acted as a director of the family grocery firm Cave Austin and Company Ltd and was president of the Institute of Grocers (1960–63). His work as a geographer and government advisor however was far from over. He was a member of the

Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Nat ...

from 1958, chairman of the British National Committee for Geography (1961–66) and president of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

(1963–66). Stamp's wife Elsa died in 1962. In 1964 he chaired the organising committee of the Twentieth

Congress in London; a keen

philatelist Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is possi ...

, he successfully argued for a set of commemorative stamps. In 1965 he chaired the National Resources Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources. Stamp died of heart failure in 1966 at a conference in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

; he is reputed to have just completed a quest to visit every country in the world. He was buried in Bude.

Legacy

Much of the development of government policy for land-use control in Britain may be traced back to Stamp's land utilisation survey and analysis of land-use changes.

Second Land-use survey

A second land utilisation survey was initiated by

Alice Coleman Alice Mary Coleman (born 8 June 1923) is emerita professor of geography at King's College London. She is noted for directing the 1960s Second Land Use Survey of Britain and for analyses of land use planning and urban design which have influence ...

(later professor of geography at Stamp's ''alma mater'' King's College London) in 1960, following Stamp's approach of the use of volunteers. Although around 3000 volunteers completed much of the field work, only a limited amount was published at 1:25,000 due to printing problems.

Land-Use UK

In 1996 the Geographical Association organized a further survey with the participation of around 50,000 school pupils.

Dudley Stamp Memorial Fund

The

's Dudley Stamp Memorial Fund provides small grants for geographers to assist them in postgraduate research or study travel likely to lead to the advancement of geography and to international co-operation in the study of the subject.

Stamp Papers

The Stamp Papers, held at the department of geography,

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

, contain much information on his organisation of the Land Use Survey, together with personal and professional papers which illustrate his life and career.

Selected published works

* Stamp, L.D. (1919), The highest Silurian rocks of the Clun-Forest District (Shropshire). ''Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society'' LXXIV-3 (295); pp. 221–246. *Stamp, L.D. (1925), The Vegetation of Burma from an Ecological Standpoint. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co. * Stamp, L.D. (1927), Wandlungen in Welthandelsverkehr: Atlantischer oder Stiller Ozean? (Changes in World Trade Flows: Atlantic or Pacific Ocean?), ''Zeitschrift für Geopolitik'', 4 (12), 1927, pp. 64–66. (in German, English translation by Rolf Meyer to be published 2009). * Stamp, L.D. (1929), ''The World: a general geography'', London: Longmans, Green & Co. * Stamp, L.D. (1930? to 1932) The New Age Geographies Junior Series (with his wife Elsa C. Stamp) and the New Age Geographies Senior Series for schools * Stamp, L.D. (ed) (1933), ''Slovene Studies: Being Studies Carried Out by Members of the Le Play Society in the Alpine Valleys of Slovenia (Yugoslavia).'' * Stamp, L.D. (ed) (1937), ''The Land of Britain. The Report of the Land Utilisation Survey of Britain''. * Stamp, L.D. (1940), The Southern Margin of the Sahara: Comments on Some Recent Studies on the Question of Desiccation in West Africa, ''Geographical Review'', Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 297–300. * Stamp, L.D. (1946), ''Britain's Structure And Scenery'',

New Naturalist The New Naturalist Library (also known as ''The New Naturalists'') is a series of books published by Collins in the United Kingdom, on a variety of natural history topics relevant to the British Isles. The aim of the series at the start was: "T ...

Series, London: Collins. * Stamp, L.D. (1946), ''Physical Geography and Geology'', London: Longmans Green and Co. * Stamp, L.D. (1948), ''The Land of Britain: Its Use and Misuse''. London: Longmans, Green and Co. * Stamp, L.D. & Kimble G.H.T. (1949), ''An Introduction to Economic Geography'', Toronto, New York and London: Longmans, Green and Co. * Stamp, L.D. & Wooldridge S.W., eds (1951) ''London Essays in Geography''. London: (Longmans, Green & Co., for London School of Economics). * Stamp, L.D. (1952), ''Land for Tomorrow: the Underdeveloped World'', Bloomington: Indiana University Press * Stamp, L.D. (1955), ''Man and the Land'', New Naturalist Series, London: Collins. * Stamp, L.D. (1957), ''India, Pakistan, Ceylon and Burma'', London: Metheun & Co. Ltd. * Stamp, L.D. (1959), ''A Regional Geography, Part I: The Americas''. (9th ed 1959), Longman. * Stamp, L.D. (1960), ''Applied Geography''. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin. * Stamp, Sir L.D. (1961), ''A Glossary of Geographical Terms'', London: Longmans, * Stamp, L.D. (ed) (1961), ''A History of Land Use in Arid Regions'', UNESCO Arid Zone Research Publication XVII, Paris:

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

. * Stamp, Sir L.D. (1962), ''The Land of Britain: Its use and misuse''. 3rd enlarged ed. * Stamp, L.D. (1962), ''Britain's Structure And Scenery'', Fontana * Hoskins, W.G. & Stamp, L.D., (1963), ''The Common Lands of England and Wales'', New Naturalist Series, London: Collins. * Stamp, L.D. (1969), ''Nature Conservation in Britain'', New Naturalist Series, London: Collins. * Stamp, Sir L.D. (1969), ''Our Developing World'', London: Faber and Faber, .

Awards

Stamp was appointed CBE in 1946 and knighted in 1965. He received the Daniel Pidgeon award of the

Geological Society The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

(1920) and the gold medal of the Mining and Geological Institute of India (1922). Later he received the Founder's Medal of the

(1949), the

American Geographical Society The American Geographical Society (AGS) is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the ...

's Charles P. Daly Medal (1950), the

Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography The Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography (SSAG; sv, Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi) is a scientific learned society founded in December 1877. It was established after a rearrangement of various sections of the Anthropo ...

Vega medal The Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography (SSAG; sv, Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi) is a scientific learned society founded in December 1877. It was established after a rearrangement of various sections of the Anthropo ...

(1954), the Tokyo Geographical Society's medal (1957) and the

Royal Scottish Geographical Society The Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) is an educational charity based in Perth, Scotland founded in 1884. The purpose of the society is to advance the subject of geography worldwide, inspire people to learn more about the world around ...

's Scottish Geographical Medal (1964). The Town Planning Institute elected him to honorary membership in 1944. Honorary degrees included

from

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

(1963) and DSc from

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

(1965).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stamp, Laurence Dudley 1898 births 1966 deaths Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society British geographers Alumni of King's College London Alumni of University of London Worldwide Alumni of the University of London Presidents of the International Geographical Union Presidents of the Royal Geographical Society Academics of the London School of Economics Commanders of the Order of the British Empire New Naturalist writers University of Yangon faculty 20th-century geographers