Samuel Griffiths – Brickmaker
Samuel was born in a little town known as Overton. His father, a coalminer, in 1861 found his nine year old son, Samuel, a job minding a set of doors underground (these doors served the purpose of isolating parts of the underground workings when fires or explosions occurred). Later he was taken into the brick yards by his father to learn the trade. During the 1860’s through to the early years of the 1870’s, Samuel alternated between earning a living making bricks or mining. He did return to the mines on one occasion with his brother, Thomas. He married Mary Jane Williams on January 31, 1874. Mary was born on December 6, 1847 in a village named Cefnbychen – the same place in which Samuel had been raised. Her mother died when Mary Jane was a child and she was brought up by her Grandmother. She spent twelve years in Manchester as a young woman before entering into marriage with Samuel Griffiths. Her new husband continued his habit of switching between jobs – due mainly to the fluctuating wages in the mines until 1881, when he decided to immigrate to Queensland. By this time, he and Mary Jane had produced two daughters.
The immigrant ship “Windsor Castle” set sail from Plymouth Harbor on March 31, 1881, and arrived in Brisbane on June 25. Samuel Griffiths and his family had made a safe passage.
A man by the name of Thomas Benson learned of Samuel’s profession, sought him out, and employed him to produce bricks for the Boggo Road prison then under construction. However, some problem occurred in the firing process which caused the bricks to be of poor quality. Samuel decided to go his own way. He and his family arrived in Gympie on August 3, 1881. According to his grandson Samuel Cloyde, “this was three days before the railway was opened to Maryborough”. Samuel found work with the local brick making firm of Dudley Bros. The following Saturday, part of Mary Street was burned down and “things brightened up in the brick making trade”. He stayed with Dudley Bros until the early months of 1882. He then started a brickyard for himself, and soon after, he had won contracts to supply bricks for the Gunidah and Tiaro sawmills.
In 1888, he produced 300,000 bricks for the Gympie Hospital project for which he was awarded a first-class certificate by the Government.
By 1890, he was hard at work producing 185,000 bricks for the construction of the Bank of New South Wales (located near the Widgee Shire Offices).
Another large order came to hand, when in 1892, he did a run of 85,000 bricks when the Bank of Australia was being built.
Samuel Griffiths could be described as a simple hard-working man and no doubt, a master of his profession. In his lifetime, the total number of bricks produced by him could only be estimated. It is known that hundreds of thousands of them were produced by him for mine works, and numerous other jobs. Large quantities of his output was also railed from Gympie to other centres.Upon retirement, Samuel lived a quiet existence near the old brick gardens in Pine Street. He passed away in 1936 around 85 years of age only a year after his wife of sixty years, Mary Jane, who preceded him on August 10, 1935. Note that his grave surround is constructed of bricks he had made, and they make a fitting tribute to this industrious fellow’s life. No opulence here, just simplicity of design and practical application of the material used. No doubt, a reflection of the remarkable man himself.
Update: It had been Samuel’s wish that bricks which he had made be used on his grave and it wasn’t until the demolition of the Hospital Building in 1985 that the family were able to able to fulfill his wish.
This story was written by Jack Crowe and it appeared in the Society Newsletter in 2004.
Sources: Shipping Index 1880 – 1889; GRIFFITHS, Samuel Cloyde, 1943 – Samuel Griffiths – transcribed from a hand written account; Sundowner Extracts Aug 77, p29; GFHS Burial Register & Headstone Inscription Register.
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