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Plumb, Mr Samuel Elphinstone

"Samuel Plumb, Sutton's first teacher, with a salary of $36 per annum, was an individualist. Inclined to drink, Plumb was a clever man, given to writing long letters in the Goulburn Herald, ignoring all departmental correspondence and requests for unsent official returns or documents. He was given, albs, to annoying people. Atone time and exasperated inspector reported that the only way to keep Plumb sober was to starve him, which was duly done by withholding his salary. Plumb continued to exercise his qualities so well that by September 1871 he left the school, as so many children had been withdrawn by offended parents."
[Sutton School Centenary 1871-1971. Souvenir Programme, compiled by C Bayliss. 1971]

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