Estcourt House
| Frederick Estcourt Bucknall | |
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| Born | 1838 London, England |
| Died |
4 June 1896 (aged 57) North Adelaide, South Australia |
| Occupation | South Australian politician, businessman |
Frederick Estcourt Bucknall (c. 1838 – 4 June 1896) generally known as F. Estcourt Bucknall or F. E. Bucknall was a publican, brewer and politician in the early days of the colony of South Australia.
He was a member of the Estcourts of Estcourt, an influential old family, in the counties of Gloucester and Wilts, but born in London, where his father, William Bucknall of Crutched Friars, was Commodore of the Royal Thames Yacht Club.
Shortly after arriving in South Australia around 1860 via Melbourne, the original Torrens Dam was nearly completed, and he built a fleet of fine pleasure craft which he placed on the lake for hire, but the dam failed and was washed away, putting paid to his enterprise. He built a boatshed on the Port River to the south-east of where the Jervois Street bridge was later built, and created a great deal of interest in sculling on the Port River. He gained approval as a Licensed Victualler and built the South Australian Club Hotel in Vincent Street, Port Adelaide near the site of his boatshed. He married the widow of Mr. H. Haussen, of Haussen & Catchlove, proprietors of the Hindmarsh Brewery. Subsequently he became a partner in the business with F. S. Botting, which continued as Haussen & Co.
In 1878 Bucknall and Arthur Harvey (later to be his parliamentary colleague) formed the Grange Land and Investment Company, to develop the suburb of The Grange.
The business prospered and he became a wealthy man, in 1883 building a magnificent mansion "Estcourt House" on the seafront between The Grange and Glanville. He and Mrs. Bucknall went on a visit to England. While they were away the land boom turned to bust, and with the failure of the Commercial Bank of South Australia in 1886, he lost much of his fortune and was forced to relinquish his mansion to the AMP Society and find employment in the office of E. Benda and Co. of Grenfell Street.
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