Town Lot 10

Cliff Street, between High Street and Croke Lane

Town Lot 10 originally granted to John Hobbs, but very soon became the property of Lionel Samson, and it is where he built the family home. Lot 9 also passed from Hobbs to Samson and is where the family business building still stands.

The home survived an early fire, unlike the business premises, which had to be rebuilt. Now known as 'Fanny Samoson's Cottage' it is used as a museum.

J.K. Hitchcock writing in 1869, recalls that, in 1869 ...
Next came the private residence of Mr. Lionel Samson, which is still standing, and is now occupied by Messrs. Calthorp Bros. as a warehouse. Adjoining was the warehouse and offices of L. Samson and Son, which have since been demolished and rebuilt. This is probably the oldest firm in the State, its founder having arrived and started business in 1829. He died in 1878, and was succeeded by his youngest son, W. F. Samson, who died in 1900. Like the genial J. H. Payne, who now guides the destinies of the firm, the original Samson wore a perennial smile upon his benign countenance, and had a cheery word for everyone. It is recorded in racing annals that at the first race meeting in the State, which took place near Fremantle on October 2. 1833, Mr. Samson ran a horse which he entered under the expressive, if not euphonious name, of “More in Sorrow than in Anger.” This little whimsicality was quite characteristic of the kindly old gentleman.

References and Links

Fremantle History Centre. Look for the PDFs called:
Purchasers of Fremantle Town Lots 1829-1837
Purchasers of Fremantle Town Lots 1855-1879

Hitchcock, J.K. 1919, [[../books/hitchcock1919.html|'Early Days of Fremantle: High Street 50 Years Ago']], Fremantle Times, one of a series of articles on 'Early Days of Fremantle' publ. 21 March - 20 June 1919.

Freotopia

This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 3 December, 2022 and hosted at freotopia.org/lots/10.html (it was last updated on 11 December, 2022), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.