Samuel Crisp’s Room

Samuel Crisp started life as a sawyer in rural Suffolk, England. His story almost makes one wonder if transportation shouldn’t be reintroduced as a beneficial alternative to present day incarceration.

Samuel’s crime was stealing a sheep from a neighbouring farmer to feed his starving family. Sentenced to transportation for life and arriving in Van Diemen’s Land in 1828, aged 24, the young Englishman behaved himself so well that his wife and children were soon allowed to join him. Having earned his ticket of leave, he set out to make his fortune in the timber business.

He married twice and by the time of his death, aged 84, had 12 children, 80 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Two of his sons, including Alfred who inherited the business and built Corinda, served as Mayor of Hobart – not bad going for the offspring of a poverty stricken convict.

Sleep Tight!
The bed in Samuel’s room is a full King size. It has a handmade interior sprung mattress with quilted latex overlay handmade for us right here in Hobart by A H Beard, a specialist bedding firm founded 120 years ago. The sheets and pillowcases are of finest quality Egyptian cotton.

Furniture
The furniture is antique, much of it of local origin. The tall Gothic wardrobe is of native cedar and dates from about 1860. On the mantel shelf stands a quaint antique weather vane with a windmill that activates a pit saw just like the one Samuel operated as a young man. Among the many interesting pictures in the room is a drawing by Viv Webb, made in about 1920, of the last lioness to be held captive in Hobart Zoo.