William Thompson Sabben (14 Jan 1813 – 3 May 1890) was Adelaide's first Town Clerk and was Mayor from December 1858 to January 1859,[1] his term being cut short when he was indicted on charges of forgery and uttering, found guilty, and sentenced to six years with hard labour.
Sabben was a resident of Portsmouth, England, and emigrated to Victoria, thence to South Australia, where on 24 March 1849 he was admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court.
[9] Sabben was convicted in March 1859 of having forged a document[10] in the name of one Thomas Braddon, a landholder of Angaston and Mount Remarkable, used as collateral to obtain a bank loan during a time of recession.
[11] He was sentenced to six years' hard labour, which was generally considered over-severe,[12] commencing February 1859 and was released in November 1861.
He then moved to Queen's Own Town (now Finniss, South Australia), where his daughter Marian Cowling lived, and died at their home, the schoolhouse.