Colonial Despatches

Florence Maria Seymour, nee Stapleton, was born sometime before 5 November 1832 in Kent, England. Florence was the daughter of Sir Francis Jarvis Stapleton, the 7th Baronet of the Leeward Islands and the wife of Governor Frederick Seymour.1 Florence and Frederick married on 27 January 1866 before their arrival on Vancouver Island.2 Mrs. Seymour accompanied her husband from England to San Francisco and then boarded the USS Active to Vancouver Island, landing on 7 November 1866.3

Florence was known to have, with the patronage of both her and Governor Seymour, organized altruistic social functions such as a hospital benefit for the sick and needy.4 Florence remained on Vancouver Island until she was widowed by her husband's sudden death on 10 June 1869.5 After the death of her husband, Florence arranged to travel back to England; on 13 July 1869, she boarded the Gussie Telfair to return home.6 Upon departure, the Daily Colonist stated that Mrs. Seymour would always be remembered kindly by the inhabitants of Vancouver Island, always to be held in high regard.7 Florence lived the rest of her life in England until her death in 1902.

• 1. Florence Maria Seymour, WikiTree Geneologies.
• 2. Margaret A. Ormsby, Frederick Seymour Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
• 3. Arrival of Governor Seymour, The Daily Colonist, November 8 1866, 3.
• 4. Theatre Tonight, The Daily Colonist, December 5, 1866, 3.
• 5. Leveson-Gower, Granville to Hankin, 17 June 1869, NAC, 218.
• 6. Departure of Mrs. Seymour, The Daily Colonist, July 13, 1869, 3.
• 7. Ibid.