Stanley Henry De La Mare died on 12th January, 1962, at the age of 85.
He was educated at Forest School, Walthamstow, and at Weymouth College. After service with the British South African Police in Mashonaland in 1897, Mr. De La Mare was employed for some months on the Beira Railway in Portuguese East Africa, in the locomotive department. During the South African War he served with the Imperial Yeomanry as a corporal, and was severely wounded.
From 1901 to 1902 he was engaged as a prospector on the Gold Coast by Messrs. Lake and Currie for West African Lands, Ltd., and subsequently worked in their drawing office and accounts office. He went to Rhodesia in 1904 for Rhodesia Exploration and Development Co., Ltd., as sampler in Bulawayo and at the Eldorado mine until 1906, when he returned to England to take a course in sampling at the London office of Mr. G.T. Holloway, also surveying in Cornwall under the tuition of the Penzance School of Mines. He rejoined Rhodesia Exploration and Development Co. Ltd., in 1909, sampling and surveying and later managing Skipper and Dream Claims mines. Mr. De La Mare went to Spain in 1912, assisting with a report on the Cordova copper mine; in 1913 he was employed as engineer and manager of the Tzui Shui copper mine in North China, and in 1914 worked on the Romanian oilfields.
On the outbreak of war he returned to the United Kingdom to join the Montgomery Yeomanry; he was seconded to the Royal Engineers, Tunnelling Coy., in 1915, serving with the B.E.F. in France, and was made acting captain in 1916 and acting major in 1917. He was mentioned in despatches.
On demobilization in 1920 Mr. De La Mare took charge of a mining party to the Nuba mountains for Sudan Cotton, Fuel and Industrial Development Co., Ltd. Four years later he again visited Sudan for Tanganyika Concessions, Ltd., as mining engineer examining and reporting in East Mongalla. During 1926-27 he was employed in Southern and Northern Nigeria on lead and tin development and prospecting for Nigerian Base Metals Corporation, Ltd.
He returned to England and settled in Sussex, carrying out occasional examinations on gold mine reports. Since 1932 Mr. De La Mare had been engaged in local council work in Ifield Parish, Horsham Rural District and Crawley Urban District. He was a leading member of the A.R.P. during the 1939-45 war in the position of chief warden.
Mr. De La Mare was elected a Student of the Institution in 1902 and transferred to Associate Membership in 1910.
Vol. 72, Trans IMM 1962-63, pp.677-8
[Walter de la Mare – worked for an oil company in London, 1899-1908. Oxford Lit Guide to British Isles].
