Crompton and Sons

Joseph Crompton (17 January 1840 – 27 April 1901) was a vigneron, manufacturer and exporter who founded several companies in the early days of the colony of South Australia. The eastern foothills suburb of Stonyfell was named after the property he bought in 1858, on which vineyards were established. Stonyfell Winery still exists today, although the grapes are sourced from Langhorne Creek. Crompton also established olive groves and set up businesses manufacturing soap, and exporting animal skins and plant resins to Britain.

He was born in Liverpool, England, the youngest of the four sons of Woodhouse Crompton and his wife Lucy (née Fletcher). After the death of his parents, he was brought up by his maternal aunts at Rivington Hall, the Fletcher family home in Lancashire. After attending a boarding school in Knutsford he decided to emigrate to South Australia in the hope of improving his health and making a fortune. To help in this second ambition he carried an introduction to the family of Francis Clark, who were also Unitarians, as he was.

He sailed on SS Great Britain, arriving in Melbourne on 24 September 1860 and Adelaide a month later.

In Adelaide, he found employment working with Henry Septimus Clark in his capacity as engineer and secretary for the East Torrens District Council, and took over many of his duties, while forming a close friendship. (This council covered the area from the East Parklands to the Mount Lofty Ranges and as far north as Norton Summit.)

In 1857 Henry bought an Adelaide Hills property, dubbed "Stonyfell" (meaning "rocky hill") by his fiancée, Annie Montgomery Martin. Together with Henry Clark, Crompton established Stonyfell Vineyards in 1858, and by 1862 he and Robert Slape had planted some 34 acres (14 ha) of vines and largely completed the two-storey cellars. On 21 May 1862 Henry formed a partnership with his brother Sidney and Joseph Crompton. Henry died in 1864 and in 1873 Joseph (who had meanwhile married Susan Mary Clark) bought out Sidney's share, becoming sole owner, but retained the business name "Clark & Crompton" until 1880. Joseph and his family moved into Stonyfell Cottage which had been built in 1838 by the previous owner James Edlin. According to Department of Mines records, there was a quarry opened in 1837 by James Edlin in the area, to supply slate and building stone.

In 1901 the whole family, with the exception of H. W. Crompton, was still living there.

Clark & Crompton employed as winemaker Henry Tyler, who produced a dry red Burgundy, a dry white Hock, a light red and a Muscat from their own and other growers' grapes, producing in the 1870s around 9,000 imperial gallons (41,000 L; 11,000 US gal) each vintage. With the sale of the property in 1888, Francis Crompton had no further interest in winemaking, but Henry Martin and his son Ronald took over the winemaking business from Dunstan in 1902 and in 1934 purchasing vineyards and cellars from the Dunstan estate.

In 1874 he founded the Stonyfell Olive Company Ltd. with William Mair and Sidney Clark on 130 acres (53 ha) of Stonyfell land. This business became largely owned by the family of Owen Crompton after his marriage to Sarah Simpson, daughter of A. M. Simpson, who settled on her the whole of his considerable stake in the company. With the inexorable expansion of Adelaide's suburbs, the land was sold to developers.