Biographical Dictionary of Well-Known British Columbians (1890)
Robins, Samuel Matthew, (Nanaimo), superintendent of the Vancouver Coal
Mining Company's Works, was born in Cornwall, England, on the 7th of July, 1834,
and educated partly in Cornwall and partly at Plymouth, Devonshire. His father
was engaged in business in connection with a number of large mining and manufacturing
enterprises and Mr. Robins was for a time associated with him. Prior to the formation
of the Vancouver Coal Company he went to London and while there in 1868 was appointed
secretary to this company. In 1884 he undertook the charge of the company's business
and came to British Columbia. Mr. Robins on arriving in Nanaimo found the company's
business in poor condition owing to incompetent management. He at once set to work to
place the mines on a paying basis and succeeded not only in doing this but in making
them extremely profitable. The work of development has gone on steadily since he took
charge and new seams have been opened. During the past five years the yield of coal
has been in excess of that of the previous twenty-three years. In 1863 Mr. Robins married
Miss Maria Slape, daughter of C. Slape, Esq., of London, England, for many years
underwriter of Lloyds.
[Dictionary, p. 278].
Biographical Dictionary of Well-Known British Columbians. With a Historical Sketch. By J.B. Kerr (Vancouver, B.C.: Kerr & Begg, 1890).