(Material researched & presented by Barbara Armstrong)

[1823 - 1890]

Landon Fairthorne was born at Abbey House, St Albans, Hertfordshire, England on February 13, 1823. He was one of a large family of 16, born to Thomas and Sarah Fairthorne. According to England's 1841 census, Thomas was a solicitor living in St Peters Street, St Albans.

According to Landon's obituary, it was intended that he would also become a solicitor, and for a period he worked in his father's office. However, he concluded that 'there were too many in the family' and decided to seek his future elsewhere. It would appear from his varied career over time that he was also an adventurous and restless soul.

As a 15-year-old he travelled via the ship "Platina" to South Australia, arriving on 15 February, 1839, just after his 16th birthday. For a period he worked on a farm or 'station' in the country. However, by May 1841 he and his brother Thomas, who had arrived in April that year, are recorded as being in King William Street, Adelaide. Landon was working as a law writer and Thomas as a civil engineer.

By 1842 Landon was in Launceston, Tasmania, working for a firm of solicitors. However, he did not enjoy legal work and so he took a position working for two doctors who had a large medical practice with a private hospital and a pharmacy. Initially he worked as their bookkeeper, but after their existing dispenser died, the doctors encouraged him in his knowledge of the pharmacy and its laboratory work, creating and dispensing their own prescriptions.

While some references call Mr Fairthorne 'Tasmania's first chemist', this is not strictly true. There were several other chemists already in business in Tasmania. However, in 1842 Tasmania passed an act which required chemists to become registered. This pre-dated the English act and other colonial pharmacy acts. As such, Tasmania was the first colony of the British Empire to have a compulsory examination of chemists. Mr Fairthorne passed his examination before the Court of Examiners at Hobart on January 6, 1846. The 1846 published list of people who possessed the credentials entitling them to practise as apothecaries, included Fairthorne and five others - 3 in Hobart and 2 others in Launceston. Fairthorne doubted that the other pre-existing chemists had to pass the examination to become registered. By 1886 he considered that he was probably the oldest registered pharmacist in business in the British Empire.

By 11 March 1846 he had opened his first pharmacy at Longford. Ten days later he married Maria Emily Cooper [1816 - 1897]. (She was previously married to a Mr Gellard.) Nine months later, on 19 December 1846 their son, Frederick Kirk Fairthorne, was born. (Prior to this time there was a Mrs Gellard in Launceston who ran a preparatory school for young gentlemen under 9 years of age. The school opened in 1839 and ceased operation in February, just prior to Maria's marriage, so it is possible that this might have been her school.) Landon and Maria eventually had two more children, both girls.

By May 1847 Fairthorne had moved his business to Launceston.

He had other business interests, however, including being a director of the Mersey Coal Company. As a result of his desire to experience other pursuits, several times he sold his pharmacy business, only to reclaim it either a few months or a few years later. He also became a land holder at Mount Edgecombe, Point Rapid, West Tamar, where he became a trustee of the West Tamar Road District. He owned two farms - one of 400 acres and the other of 240 acres. In 1860 he advertised both as being available to let. However, the homestead at one of the farms was burned to the ground in October 1860.

According to his obituary, in 1861 he chartered a ship, loaded it with wheat, and moved to Sydney where he intended to settle. However, there being no suitable work for him there, he decided to join the shipping trade, operating between Melbourne and Sydney, and between New Zealand and Launceston. During 1863 there were advertisements for him as a Ship and Commission Agent based at 102, and later number 100, Collins Street West, Melbourne. He purchased some ships and chartered others. In 1864 he was appointed to the committee of the Victorian Shipowners' Mutual Insurance Association. However, according to one of his obituaries, this ended in 'disastrous losses'.

In 1865 he returned to Launceston and finally settled down to his pharmacy business there, having re-purchased it once again. After his son, Frederick, passed his examinations as a chemist in 1871, they formed a partnership to run the business.

For nearly six years Landon Fairthorne was an alderman of Launceston and was elected Mayor 1884 - 1885. In 1883 he was made a Justice of the Peace. He became a director in the Cornwall Insurance Company and the Mount Bischoff T.M. Company, and according to his obituary he had always been a strong supporter of the mining industry.

In 1886 Mr Fairthorne was the Launceston delegate to an Intercolonial Pharmaceutical Conference which was held in Melbourne. (Mr E.H. Ash was the delegate for Hobart.) Mr Fairthorne, 'being the senior pharmacist of the conference' was unanimously chosen as president. The aim of the Conference was to set in motion activities which would eventually result in common standards and rules for the training and registration of pharmacists throughout all the colonies of Australia.

In 1888 Landon retired from the business due to poor health. The following year he took a trip to England, but returned soon afterwards because of the extreme cold there. He returned in a weak state, and then developed a tumour on the neck which was excised by a surgeon in Melbourne.

His residence, called "Highbury", was at 97 Arthur Street, Launceston. Advertisements for the property state that it was originally built in 1856. The western section was later constructed for Mr Fairthorne. It was there that he died on 17 August 1890. Maria Emily died there on 18 June 1897. The house has been subdivided into 6 self-contained apartments and is now called "Highbury Apartments".

(For more details see the document on Homœopathic Pharmacies, Dispensaries & Manufacturers)

©   Barbara Armstrong

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