instructor was engaged. The foregoing view shows the front of the exterior since its alteration for more utilitarian purposes, and although such alteration does not much detract from the noble proportions of the edifice, it may be well also to present the reader with the original design.
Ere I closed the account of the Reform dinner and the later ball I might have said that they were closely associated with the names of two reformers—one a veteran in the field, and the other a sort of lieutenant, who was destined to make his way to the front against a strong tide of family influence The latter gentleman, I need hardly say, was the greatly respected Mr. North, who spent so many years of his after life in the conscientious discharge of parliamentary duties in connection with his native town.
I had only intended to make a passing allusion to the last-named event, fearing that my early recollections of the old town would keep me too long away from matters more directly pertaining to the new; but I feel it incumbent on me to refer to one other similar event, if only in simple justice to a name of which St. Leonards, for many years, had the honour of a resident representative. One of the early reformers was Mr. (afterwards Sir) Howard Elphinstone, and although in 1832 he contested a seat for Hastings unsuccessfully, he gave a dinner in the Pelham Arcade on the 20th of Nov. to 200 of his supporters; and on the 28th of May preceding he presided at a "Reform Dinner" at the King’s Head Inn, which was served up under the direction of host Dunk. Mr. Elphinstone afterwards sat for Hastings 1835-7, and for Lewes 1841-7.
In a paragraph, cut from a county newspaper of June, 1832, I read "There are several more magnificent buildings in course of erection at St. Leonards, and extensive preparations are making for the coming season, which is expected to be a gay one." The buildings here referred to must have been 65 to 72 Marina, 9 to 12 Maze Hill, end 3, 5, 7, and 9 West Hill, which as I have before stated, were all built in that year. I have also stated that what is now 3 West Hill, or West-hill cottage, was first tenanted by Edward Smith, and kept by him as a beerhouse; but I have not said that attached to that house was the first baker’s oven in St. Leonards, wherein was baked the bread that was sold at a shop in the South Colonnade; nor have I stated that the rating of the said house, which is now probably £80 or £90 was then only £13, inclusive of the garden.
The house below that together with a garden, rated at £10 a year, was at that time occupied by the Rev. Joseph Wood, a dissenting minister, who preached in the adjoining place of worship known as Quadrangle Chapel. I have given some account of this chapel already, and my main object in referring again to a now non-existing place of worship is that I may give credit to its first minister as a successful trainer of youth. The sons of several of the earliest tradesmen of the town received instruction from that gentleman, and it was he who here first taught a system of mental calculations. I believe Mr. Samuel Chester was one of his most apt pupils; and it is not improbable that Mr, Chester’s great success in commercial pursuits was in a great measure due to his ability when a boy to outstrip all his schoolfellows in mental calculations and arithmetical problems. Mr. Chester was not the only man among my acquaintances who rose in the commercial world as much by smartness of calculation as by other fitness for business.
I am not forgetting that the newspaper paragraph above quoted states that the coming season (1832) ‘is expected to be a brilliant one.’ The paragraph in question was written just at the time of the passing of the Reform Bill, and I have already described some of the gay doings of the period. I am able to add that in fashionable circles the season was indeed a brilliant one, thus realising as it were, to the full, the expectation of the paragraphist. With such distinguished families as those of the Duke of Buccleugh, Sir Frances Burdett, Lord Brougham, Duke and Duchess of St. Alban’s, Sir Francis and Lady Sykes, all residing at one time in St. Leonards, my readers can well imagine the many balls, dinners, and evening parties that were held, and the bright prospects of success which were opened up to the tradesmen and other inhabitants of so young a town thus brought into note.
