Samuel Richard Hamersley (1842–1896) was a

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

n pastoralist, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for six years.

Biography

Early life

Samuel Hamersley was born in

Guildford, Western Australia Guildford is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, 12 km northeast of the city centre within the City of Swan. Guildford was founded in 1829 as one of the earliest settlements of the Swan River Colony. It is one of only three towns in the ...

on 12 October 1842. The Hamersleys were a well connected family, and he was related by blood or marriage to a number of prominent Western Australian farmers and politicians. His father,

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

, was one of the leading Western Australian landholders of his day; his brother

also became a Member of the Legislative Council;

William Locke Brockman William Locke Brockman (1802 – 28 November 1872) was an early settler in Western Australia, who became a pastoralist and stock breeder, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council. Biography Born in Kent, England, in 1802, Wi ...

was his uncle; his sister

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

married Sir

John Forrest Sir John Forrest (22 August 1847 – 2 SeptemberSome sources give the date as 3 September 1918 1918) was an Australian explorer and politician. He was the first premier of Western Australia (1890–1901) and a long-serving cabinet minister in ...

; and his wife Matilda was sister to Maitland Brown. At the age of one, he went with his family to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The family returned to Western Australia in 1850, building a home in Guildford. In his youth, he farmed in Toodyay,

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

and

Swan Districts The Swan Districts Football Club, nicknamed the Swans, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The club is based at Bassendean Oval, in Bassendean, an eastern suburb ...

under a system of

tenant farming A tenant farmer is a farmer or farmworker who resides and works on land owned by a landlord, while tenant farming is an Agrarian system, agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating Ca ...

Career

In 1863, he was a member of an exploring expedition to the Glenelg River. From about 1865 until 1868, he managed the family's ''Richmond'' property at Williams; he then spend some time at ''Wungong'' in the

Canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although under ...

district, before returning to Guildford in 1870. In 1873, he was running a

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale ...

ing business, and in 1875 he inherited his father's ''Haseley'' property in Toodyay. Western Australia having obtained

representative government Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy or electoral democracy, is a type of democracy where elected delegates represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies funct ...

in 1870, he stood for election in 1874, and on 2 October, he was elected to the Legislative Council seat of Murray and Williams. He held the seat until 12 February 1880, when he was succeeded by

Septimus Burt The Hon Septimus Burt KC (25 October 1847 – 15 May 1919) was a Western Australian lawyer, politician and grazier, the son of Sir Archibald Burt. Burt was born on 25 October 1847 at St Kitts in the West Indies, and educated at a private schoo ...

. In February 1889, he contested the seat of Toodyay but was defeated by the incumbent

George Shenton Sir George Shenton (4 March 1842 – 29 June 1909) was a prominent businessman in colonial Western Australia, the first Mayor of Perth, and a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for over thirty years. Early and family lif ...

. The following May, he won the seat of Swan in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

, but was only required to hold it for five months before the Legislative Council was reformed with the advent of

responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive br ...

Personal life and death

In 1865, he married Matilda Brown, daughter of Thomas Brown and sister to Maitland and

Kenneth Kenneth is a given name of Gaelic origin. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a byna ...

. They had three sons and three daughters; one of his sons was

Vernon Hamersley Vernon Hamersley (1871–1946) was an Australian politician. He served the longest term ever as a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council. Biography Early life Vernon Hamersley was born in Guildford, Western Australia. The son of S ...

, who became the longest-serving Member of the Legislative Council ever. He died on 1 October 1896 in Guildford, Western Australia.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamersley, Samuel 1842 births 1896 deaths Politicians from Perth, Western Australia Explorers of Western Australia Colony of Western Australia people Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council 19th-century Australian politicians