samuel hatty r.i.p.

I mentioned around three and a half years ago that I'd give you details on the death of Samuel Hatty when the anniversary came up. But first a couple more things about Hatty. As we discovered last year, Hatty was a married father of two (I was confused for a while thinking that he had another child, poor little Victor Baden-Powell Hatty who died aged 2 years 2 months - his death recorded in the Age 9 July 1902 p. 1- but I now think that as per the war memorial's website, Samuel Hatty Jr was born in 1890 and more likely Victor was Samuel Hatty Sr's son).* Anyway that's not important to the story of the death of Samuel Hatty, Basically, F. N. Campbell, a driver employed by Haddy and Co and living at 12 Little Curzon St North Melbourne (now the site of a big warehouse), offered Hatty (who at this time was living in Spotswood) a lift in his motor lorry which he was driving to the Port Phillip Stevedores' Association rooms. The road was wet and as it turned from Flinders St under the viaduct to cross Queen's Bridge it 'swung' and Hatty fell, the rear wheel of the truck passing over his head. He died a few minutes after being admitted to Melbourne Hospital. (Melbourne Age 22 July 1925 p. 15).** 

*Victor had lived at 127 Jeffcott St West Melbourne (where the prison is now), as had Samuel Hatty Sr's wife Elizabeth who died four months before he did (her funeral notice is in the Age for 27 February 1902, p.10) I don't understand what was going on there. 

** Samuel Hatty Sr (I'm assuming - same name, had a son called Samuel) had died in the same hospital on 26 August 1906 (Age 28 August 1906 p. 1). 

Picture of Melbourne Hospital 1910 from the SLV. 

He's in Fawkner Memorial Park apparently. 

samuel hatty what a dick

You may recall in late 2021 I relayed the story of Samuel Hatty getting put in jail for a month for ripping up a flag. Well I don't know much about Samuel Hatty but I know he got in the news periodically and usually for doing worse things than that. In September 1924 Hatty was charged with robbing John Anderson, an elderly engineer from Yallourn, of £10 and having used 'personal violence'. Hatty was living in Roden st, West Melbourne at this time (Melbourne Herald 12 September 1924 p. 7) So apparently John Anderson turned up at the Waterside Hotel with a lot of money and shouted the bar twice but then refused to do so the third time. Hatty, who was otherwise just a drinker in the bar, struck Anderson on the side of the face and he fell to the floor. Hatty then put his hand in Anderson’s trouser pocket, then stood on his stomach. He stole two £5 notes. Barman Ivan Mitchell didn't tell the court that he saw Hatty steal the money but he did say that Anderson was half drunk and Hatty was very drunk. Hatty told the court (I guess this was his excuse - ?!) that he was a married man with two children* and he had spent most of his wages at the hotel that day. ‘The police gave Hatty a good character’. He was fined £5 and £1 costs.   

(‘Country visitor in town’ Melbourne Age 16 September 1924 p. 13)

*This was a mistake on the part of the reporter or Hatty was lying or something else because his (and his wife Honora's) grave at Fawkner cemetery only claims one child - a daughter, Dorothy. 

The picture above, by Graeme Butler, is of the Waterside Hotel (obvs) in 1985, from here

samuel hatty again

 

Melbourne Age 27 June 1924. 

samuel hatty's service medals

 

Laura found Samuel Hatty's service medals at work, where they were 'among the unloved items we use for school students to handle and learn from'. It gives her sinister coincidence (what the Finns call synkkä yhteensattuma) vibes but I think more likely Samuel himself was something of an unloved item who put his head above the parapet enough to still make a little impact a hundred years later for someone (me) who likes a bit of arcana, but also, he was probably not that cared about after he died so something like this could well end up as a will-I-throw-this-out-or-will-I-see-if-the-Shrine-wants-it situation for his widow or some other relation.

Or perhaps he never picked them up in the first place, which presumably a lot of people didn't?  

probably not THE samuel hatty

Our Samuel Hatty was 31 when this happened on 24 September 1921, so this is probably someone just trying to crash the Samuel Hatty party, but thought it was slightly worth mentioning. You're welcome. 

samuel hatty's sister's husband william fraser livingstone

2 Eades Place in 2021

So you may remember last December I mentioned Samuel Hatty and his turning the red bit of a union jack into a red flag and getting put in prison for a month for that. Well, when Samuel Hatty went to war in 1915 he gave his sister's address, 2 Eades Place, West Melbourne as his residence which presumably it wasn't (it might have been - he was orphaned when his mother died in 1906 when he was 15-16, but he was 25 in 1915) but it was the closest thing he had to one. 

I don't know anything more about this sister, Margaret, except that she died in Geelong in 1975 but I tell you who I wouldn't want to be and that's William Fraser Livingstone, who was Margaret's husband. Three awful things at least happened to him, which you probably want to hear about. 

On 9 am on the 7 February 1913 (yes that's right, exactly 109 years ago - look, be fair, all anniversaries are tenuous/meaningless) William Livingstone and two other labourers in his 'stacking gang' were instructed to stack cargo from the Australind at No. 19 shed at Victoria Dock and, while he was lifting a girder, it slipped and fell on his feet. One of them was crushed and the other fractured. He was in hospital until the 15 March and was permanently disabled. He sued the Victorian Stevedoring and General Contracting Co., and received £351 compensation (Age 20 August 1913, p. 12). 

I'm guessing this is the Australind in question, but can't be certain

On 19 November 1916 he was sufficiently recovered to undertake a public service almost no-one on earth would have wanted to do, which was retrieve the bodies of two brothers who drowned in West Melbourne Swamp. There's been a little fad lately for romanticising the West Melbourne Swamp but like most things that's a little simplistic, at least, we like to think if we had the beautiful West Melbourne Swamp AKA Blue Lake still today we'd treat it right and wouldn't let young boys drown in it, but then, we also like our creature comforts etc - you know the argument. In 1916 apparently there was still 8 ft of water somewhere there, more than enough for Frederick (14) and Edmund (11) to drown in (along with their two other brothers, they'd been looking for bullfrogs). Livingstone was described in the Weekly Times' account of the coroner hearing as a 'labourer'. ('Coroner's Inquests: Brothers Die in Swamp' Weekly Times 2 December 1916 p. 34). 

One of the many famed Oswald Barnett images from the 1930s. I am not sure in what sense the swamp was 'made from [a] rubbish tip' but I bet it was often used as one. It was all very close to North Melbourne.

He then had bad luck around 3pm on the 24 April 1926 when he was on a tram turning from Elizabeth St into Lonsdale St when the grip 'suddenly flew back' hitting the tramway grip man, William Jones, in the chest and knocked him to the floor. Jones had fractured ribs; Conrad Bates, 72, of Abbotsford St North Melbourne received facial abrasions and William Livingston bruised his leg, which incidentally (so the newspaper says) he had broken a year earlier. ('Cable Tram Jolted', Melbourne Argus 26 April 1926 p. 10). 

Cable tram in Lonsdale St near Elizabeth in the mid-1930s. 

WFL died just after the second world war and is buried in St Arnaud. He didn't make 60. 

samuel hatty acting out

This is a picture of a man called Samuel Hatty from West Melbourne who embarked on the HMAS Shropshire on 20 March 1915. His address was given as 2 Eades Place West Melbourne. Whether this is the same Samuel Hatty as discussed below, I don't know but how many Samuel Hattys do you think died in Melbourne in 1925?

Melbourne Age 19 December 1921 p. 8 

Maybe Trimble had some other reason for wanting to get Hatty a hundred years ago today. To be clear I do not think this is a heinous offence. One month in prison for tearing a stupid flag. So many things to fix when I get my time machine. Butterfly effect though. Maybe without Trimble's bold heroics we'd all be walking round speaking anarchy.* 

Sydney Morning Herald 20 December 1921 p. 9

Sadly or otherwise as he seems to have been a bit of an arsehole, Samuel Hatty is no longer with us. I'll tell you what happened to him when the anniversary of his passing comes around in three and a half years, it's not pretty. 

* Yes I know the red flag is communist not anarchist.