Samuel Stocks


Samuel Stocks and his son Samuel Stocks, jun were businessmen in the early days of the Colony of South Australia.
Stocks was a citizen of Heaton Mersey, near Manchester, where he was senior partner of the bleaching firm of Stocks and Tait which failed during the Panic of 1847. He contested, unsuccessfully, the parliamentary seat of Stockport before migrating to South Australia. He arrived in Adelaide via Sydney on the Dorset on 27 August 1843.
At some stage he returned to England and arrived back in Adelaide with his wife Barbara on the Zealous on 26 May 1848.
He was a dedicated churchman; secretary of Christchurch Sunday School, and a member of the Diocesan Synod.
He was appointed to the Destitute Board in 1852

Family

In later life he married Frances Driver widow of Charles John Driver on 29 June 1858. Details of any earlier marriage are not yet available. His children included:
He died of "English cholera".

Samuel Stocks, jun.

His son, Samuel Stocks, jun., was born in Stockport, Cheshire and arrived in Adelaide on the Glenarm on 1 December 1842 and immediately plunged into the business world of the young Colony. It was at a time of economic gloom but he invested heavily in the South Australian Mining Association which was prospecting for copper at Burra, north of Adelaide. Their company won rights to the northern section "Wheal Grey", which proved to be fabulously rich; the "Princess Royal" section to the south, won by the "Nobs", proved valueless except to the pastoralist. Stocks was appointed to its first board of directors, was elected its first chairman then appointed site manager, when the position of chairman fell to Charles Beck.
He laid out on section 1283, Hundred of Light in 1845, naming it Stockport for his birthplace.
He was an active member of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society and was often called upon as chairman of its social functions.

Obituary

The South Australian Register published this notice on the death of Samuel Stocks jun.:
A petition was raised by some 150 people calling for the sacking of editor John Stephens. A counter-petition in his support was signed by some 2500. Significantly, Samuel Stocks supported the editor.

Recognition

Their portraits were captured in caricature by S. T. Gill.