# Champion Brothers

Francis Henry Champion (c. 1817 – 29 March 1902) and Richard Champion (c. 1802 – 17 January 1870) were soap makers in South Australia who in an important legal case were sued by a neighbouring property owner for odours produced in the practice of their trade.

## History

Francis Champion emigrated to South Australia in 1855; his elder brother Richard Champion emigrated with his family around the same time, possibly on the same ship. Francis Champion, and perhaps also his brother, worked for a time at the Sturt Street soap and candle factory of Moore & Tidmarsh (nominally 1849–1859, but in reality Tidmarsh's company from 1852), and left their employ to start his own factory.
They purchased Lot 1866, of Section 354 in the township of Bowden (Gibson Street?) from Edward Kelly in 1860 and immediately set about erecting buildings and installing the vats necessary for rendering fat and tallow from butchers' scraps.
A civil action was brought before the local court by one Dixon against the company for damages, claiming loss of enjoyment and loss of value of their residence occasioned by the smells emanating from the factory, situated some 200 or 300 yards (or metres) distant. The case was heard on 20 April 1864, and non-suited after a greater number of witnesses claimed not to have been inconvenienced, and to the fact that the smell was not injurious to health. The case was brought to the Supreme Court before Justice Boothby the following June, when Mr. Dixon revealed that he was being backed financially by John Howard Angas, and they intended using the courts to break the Champions financially if they could not force them to relocate. Dixon also objected to the sign on the Champions' building, which he found offensive. Angas had purchased from his father the fine residence "Prospect Hall" on nearby Torrens Road at the corner overlooking the Park Lands (not to be confused with J. B. Graham's "Prospect House", aka "Graham's Castle" on Prospect Road, Prospect). The court found for the plaintiff, but only awarded him damages of one shilling. The case aroused a great deal of public sympathy, and in response to an advertisement a well-attended public meeting was held at the Hotel Europe chaired by the Mayor Sam Goode. Speakers decried the ability of the well-heeled to control where and how tradesmen could pursue their trades, and considered this case the "thin end of the wedge". A collection was held to defray the Champions' court costs. The case gained some importance in the field of town planning.
The partnership was dissolved October 1864, and with the announcement the brothers thanked their supporters. By 1867 F. H. Champion had re-established the factory on River Street Hindmarsh, where other businesses of a similar nature, such as Peacock and Son, and Bean Brothers, were already established.
The business operated until 1882, when it closed, hastened perhaps by the appearance on nearby Adam Street of the Apollo Soap and Stearine Company, a large interstate competitor. George Wilcox (1838–1917) was managing director of Apollo's Adelaide factory, which was taken over by Burford's in 1887, with Thomas Mossop (c. 1818–1896) as manager, after an economic recession which closed many businesses.