The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser (SA : 1880 - 1954) Fri 10 Jul 189658158

Death of Mr. Alfred Champion.
An Old and Worthy Colonist.
Great surprise and genuine regret were
expressed throughout Mount Barker on
Saturday morning last when it became known
that late on the previous night Mr. Alfred
Champion had died through stoppage of the
heart's action. It was hard to realize at first
that our well-known old townsman, with his
strong physique and active habit, had without
any premonitory illness passed away and
closed his life of steady industry. The end,
indeed, came very unexpectedly, for Mr
Champion did a good day's work on Friday
and spent the evening in accordance with his
usual custom, retiring to bed shortly after
supper-time, and it was only an hour or two
later that the pulsation of his heart gradually
weakened, and between 11 and 12 o'clock
death peacefully ensued. Dr. Bickle, who
was called in, gave the necessary certificate of
burial. The community naturally sustained
a shock on hearing of the decease of such a
hale and cheery man as Mr. Champion, who
had the respect, esteem, and goodwill of a
very wide circle of friends and acquaintances.
The late Mr. Champion, who was 66 years
of age, was born in Berkshire, England, and
came to the colony with his parents in the ship
Trafalgar in 1850. He was the son of Mr.
Richard Champion, who died at Kadina some
15 years ago. For the first 12 years after
arrival Mr. Champion was in the employ of
the late Mr. John Dunn, sen., and during
this period he distinguished himself as an
excellent ploughman, winning many prizes at
competitions in the surrounding districts.
After leaving Mr. Dunn's service he entered
into partnership with Mr. Robert Buffham
(now of Mount Brown Creek), and they
conducted a general carrying business between
Adelaide and Mount Barker, while they also
ran coaches and had the contract for the
mails. When Mr. Buffham retired and
became the licensee of the Mount Barker
Hotel Mr. Champion continued the carrying
trade till the busy days of milling ceased.
He had been in the practice of constructing
his own wagons, and he now occupied him
self as a maker of vehicles of a lighter kind.
Although not a blacksmith or wheelwright by
trade he was very successful in this direction,
and evidence of his good workmanship has
been seen in a large number of wagonettes
and buggies. As time went on he erected
several houses in Mount Barker North, where
he had resided ever since he came to the
town with which he had been so long
associated.
Mr. Champion was a very prominent
member of the Wesleyan Church and for
many years was an energetic superintendent
of the Sunday-school, while he was the
enthusiastic leader of the church choir and
took great pride and pleasure in the musical
portion of the religious work. In earlier
years he had taught himself music, and when
he had gathered a family around him the
singing of himself and his daughters was
quite a feature of the church anniversaries.
When the Dunn Memorial Church was
opened and it became necessary to obtain an
organist for the large new instrument Mr.
Champion's services were to some extent
acknowledged by his being made the recipient
of a handsome presentation from the members
of the church and Sunday-school. He was also
a valued local preacher and on occasion filled
the pulpit of the Primitive Methodist Church
in addition to preaching in the Wesleyan
chapels, and of late years he had done a good
deal of travelling in the capacity of visitor to
the Sunday-schools throughout the circuit.
Mr. Champion was interested in most local
undertakings, and he had borne his part in
regard to working for the good of Mount
Barker, having been a member of the district
council in 1888 and 1889. He was a very
old member of the Loyal Britannia Lodge of
Oddfellows and of the Prince of Wales Lodge
of Freemasons. The deceased leaves a widow
(a sister of Mr. Isaac Prater, of Brompton),
two sons (Amos, of Adelaide, and Thomas, of
Mount Barker), five married daughters (Mrs.
R. Tonkin, of Macclesfield, Mrs. J. W.
Walkom, Mount Barker, Mrs. S. Cameron, of
near Nairne, Mrs. J. Paterson, Balaklava, and
Mrs. E. Hussey, Middleton), and a number
of grandchildren.