That’s him there.

“…the accident might have been caused by the deceased’s falling off the verandah to the ground: the distance would be about twenty-four feet. ”

— Maitland Mercury, 10 June 1875

 On 6 June 1875 Samuel Fairhall, a patient in the Maitland Hospital, was ‘found dead with his neck broken’ on the grounds below the front verandah of the hospital.

Kerrie Steward with her Dad, Carl Brossman, 2007.

Kerrie Steward and her Dad, Carl Brossman, discovered the story of their ancestor, Samuel Fairhall, a number of years ago. Kerrie has continued to find out more about him.

Harriett Emmeline Brossman (nee Fairhall), 1952.

Harriett Brossman is the granddaughter of Samuel Fairhall, mother of Carl Brossman and grandmother of Kerrie Steward.

Kerrie Steward shares what she has discovered so far about Samuel Fairhall.

Samuel Fairhall is my paternal grandmother's grandfather. He was christened in Brede, Sussex, England in 1817.

In June 1838, at the age of 20, he left England for Australia with his parents, William and Anne Fairhall, and his six brothers and sisters. In a bizarre coincidence the ship they sailed on was called the Maitland.

Nicholas Camillieri (1762-1860), Ship “Maitland” comming [sic] into Malta, 1835

watercolour on paper

On the journey out to Australia 35 people died of scarlet fever or typhus, including a baby to William and Anne. When the ship arrived in Sydney on 6 November 1838, it was immediately quarantined, a scenario we understand in 2021.

The Maitland was detained for 23 days and released on 29 November 1838. It was not quite the hotel quarantine as we know it in 2020: the passengers and crew had to sleep either on board or on the shore ‘under canvas’ as the Quarantine Station at North Head had no available space.

After their release, Samuel and the family proceeded to Morpeth. I have not yet found out why they went to Morpeth, although we know the family were involved in the assisted immigrant programme and therefore would have received some financial assistance from the English government. I have established, however, that in April 1844 Samuel married Mary Ann Gill. They went on to have 13 children including one set of twins. Three of the children died as infants.

Edward Close, painting of Morpeth in the 1840s

(Ann Beaumont)

The family stayed in the district. In the late 1860s Samuel Fairhall appeared a couple of times before the local police court charged with being drunk and disorderly.  

In 1872, both Samuel and Mary Ann were before the local court. Mary Ann was remanded on ‘suspicion of insanity’ and ‘on a charge of labouring under circumstances denoting a derangement of mind’. Samuel was brought before the courts for ‘wife desertion’ and, a few days after that, Mary charged her husband ‘with having on several occasions, used threatening expressions toward her, through which she was afraid he would do injury’. ‘The defendant was bound over to keep the peace for a period of 12 months.’

Move ahead to June 1875 and we find Samuel a patient of the Maitland Hospital. He had ‘been ailing for 18 months off and on’, had ‘been a patient of the hospital for 2 months’, and was under medical treatment for disease of the liver and stomach and also suffering from pneumonia. On admission his case was regarded as ‘hopeless’.

Val Anderson’s drawing of the front of The Maitland Hospital as it probably looked when Samuel Fairhall was a patient. He fell from the first floor verandah.

The back of the building in May 2019. This was the first building on The Maitland Hospital site.

On the evening of his death, Samuel Fairhall was given his medicine at 8 pm by the nurse. This consisted of two ounces of pale brandy. It was to be given to him every eight hours.

The matron returned to give him a dose at 1.30 am. She

…found him absent, but she took no notice because he was in the habit of going to the fire at night, near which he used to sit in a stooping position.

A search began and a convalescing patient, Owen Griffiths, assisted. During the search the nurse held a candle she carried over the balcony, and Griffiths said:

‘That's him there’ as the light fell on the face of a man on the ground below.

References and resources

Bruce Fairhall’, Home Page - history of the Fairhall family.

Maitland Mercury, 17 October 1867, 2 December 1869, 27 April 1872, 4 May 1872, 7 May 1872, 10 June 1875.

NSW Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1830.

NSW Registers of Coroners’ Inquests, 1796-1820.