Ernest Beaumont

Who was Ernest Beaumont?

In 1918 Captain Ernest Godfrey Beaumont bought 160 acres of Discovery Island, British Columbia, Canada. Captain Beaumont and his wife built a house designed by Francis Rattenbury, who designed the Parliament Buildings in Victoria, near the centre of the island. He had a 40-foot yacht named the Discovery Isle which he had had built in Hong Kong in 1930, and which he would use to go to and from the island. Beaumont used to say "I know where all the rocks are. I bumped into all of them and once in a while I bump into them again to remind myself of their presence". The Discovery Isle met its end on December 5, 1950 when it struck a rock in Enterprise Channel. Beaumont had to abandon ship and barely managed to make it ashore.

Beaumont was always inviting Scouts, cadets and all kinds of youth to the island and he always loved it. He claimed to have hosted 20,000 over his lifetime on the island. He keep fit into his 90’s and used to row around Discovery Island and the Chatham Islands, as well as to the Royal Victoria Yacht Club.

In 1967, after spending 50 years on the island, Captain Beaumont died at the age of 91.