John French (1746-1823)
| Born | 19 October 1746 |
|---|---|
| Died | 1823 |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret Adams (1745-1820) |
| Parents |
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Born and baptised in Salehurst during 1746[1], John French perhaps began the transformation of Hastings West Hill in the nineteenth century. In 1799 he had built what became known as French's Mill on the old tile kiln/pest house site on the corner of Croft Road and Priory Road, in St Clement’s parish, on the opposite corner from the last mill in the parish, some 180 years earlier[2].
John married Margaret Adams in St. Clement's Church on the 16th of August 1767[3].
John French was more a baker by trade, having had a house and bakehouse in the Suburbs (George St.) since 1771. He ventured into milling in about 1785, probably at Deudney's Mill on the Hastings Museum site (sometimes mis-named Bohemia Mill). After 5 or 6 years he “disappears”, then in about 1795 he opens a baker’s shop in the High Street (then called Market Street). He retained the baker’s business when he had the mill built[2].
In 1804 misfortune struck: a three-year-old child “was at play near the mill at which her father was grinding, the swifts struck her, and occasioned her death almost immediately afterwards.” The father was not John French, and research showed he was his son-in-law, so it was John French’s granddaughter who was killed; a very sad family tragedy. John French retired and sold the mill in 1820; his wife, Margaret dying in the same year[4]. He died in 1823. His estate went to his five surviving children, although the share of one of them went to that son’s children, he being “abroad as supposed in the East Indies”. John French's wife pre-deceased him and the mill had been leased out, but his will had provided that she “should not attempt to carry on the millering business beyond a reasonable time after [his] death”[2].
