campaign, to which the Hastings News referred in the following paragraph :—
“This band of eccentrics performed on Monday evening, Oct, 2nd, to 8 large assembly in the Swam room, — We are told that our Hastings darkies are au fait in their business, and sing their songs in good style.”
Of the fashionable assembles the two most prominent were a grand ball given at Coghurst on Tuesday, Nov. 7th, by Musgrave Brisco, Esq., M. P. and an equally brilliant ball given on Friday, Nov. 17th, at the Allegria, by Robert Hollond, Esq., M.P.
Having already treated of the ”Virginian Brothers” and of the Hastings and St. Leonards Bands, it may not be out of Place to quote a letter concerning the latter which appeared in the Hastings News of May 26th, 1848.
“Sir,
—As the managing member of the St. Leonards Band, I think it right to intimate that the ‘ Occasional Visitor ’ noticed in your last week's paper, must have been wrongly informed respecting what he calls the illiberality of the St. Leonards tradesmen towards the support of their band. Permit me to say that, to the best of my belief, the St, Leonards tradesmen, as a body, have ever shown a desire to establish and uphold whatsoever may have been deemed conducive to the welfare of the town; and, in all probability there will be no lack of the proper spirit when the time shall arrive for the re~appearance of the band on the parade. Not the illiberality of the tradesmen, but the rivalry between two or more bands, through an unfortunate misunderstanding has been the greatest evil. But even that, I trust, is now at an end. It might not be altogether inappropriate to suggest the idea of convening a meeting for the purpose of adopting some better method of collecting subscriptions and of appointing the hours and places of performance. Such, if adopted would, I think, secure the regular attendance of the band and afford a better Opportunity to its supporters of knowing when and where to find it.
—I am, sir, yours respectfully,
T. B. Brett ”
The rivalry here alluded to was that of a German Band, with which a few energetic persons sought to supplant both the old Hastings Band and the newer St. Leonards Band, the said latter bands, however, being ready and willing to meet the Germans before competent and unbiased judges for a test of ability. As regards the St. Leonards Band an accidental trial was afforded, when the palm was given to the local musicians by their being retained to play to nobles and gentles, whilst the foreigners were sent to play to the labourers.
Among the public meetings of the year other than those for mere amusement was one at the Town Hall presided over by Mr. Ticehurst, as Mayor, who, in opening the proceedings, said it was time the people of Hastings raised their voice against the Income Tax as an unjust imposition. It might be, he continued, a Radical doctrine, but for all that he would say to the Government, Reduce your expenses and the general expenses of the country. There was, he contended, no good reason to be frightened by the bugbear of a French invasion — Messrs. James Emary and Stephen Thwaites quite agreed with the Mayor in his views of the Income tax, which, being first proposed tor three years, and collected without difficulty, was now found to work unjustly. — Mr. Stephen Putland was not unfavourable to a system of direct taxation, and would willingly pay the tax in question, but only in a just proportion. The year was one of great misfortune and the tax was a disgrace to any Minister.—Mr. Cooper thought that in such a movement to oppose the tax it should not be permitted to go forth to the public that the middle class had no care or consideration for the lower.— Mr, Savery suggested the adoption of a sliding-scale a system of which as applied to other duties, Sir Robert Peel was so fond. - Mr. Rock would heartily support such a suggestion, He felt the oppressiveness of such a measure greatly, there having been no fewer than 1,600 carriages put down when the tax was first imposed; and by the proposed increase of the tax, the coach-builders, gentlemen’s coachmen and other persons would be punished still further. — Mr. H. N. Williams had always been of opinion that direct taxation was inimical to the country at large. — Mr. Kelland [who, as a draper, never bought but one ball of string, and kept a remaining portion of it under a glass shade] was in favour of direct taxation, — Mr. Lucas-Shadwell was sorry he could not help them with his signature, although agreeing with a portion of the petition, that the principle of direct taxation was injurious to industry and the national strength. — Notwithstanding the expression of these somewhat divergent views, the meting, on the motion of Mr. George Scrivens, adopted the petition to Parliament, ”That this meeting views with great apprehension, alarm and mistrust, the proposition to increase the Income-tax from threepence to fivepence per cent. a tax at all times odious and unjust in principle, being a direct tax on industry, and pressing with peculiar severity on the middle classes.”
The above meeting was held on the 24th of February, and it may be remembered by some who read this account that the parliamentary session which opened three weeks previously under the premiership of Lord John Russel, did not find in the budget proposal that evidence of financial skill which in the preceding session was exhibited by Sir Robert Peel. The proposed increase of the Income tax was really from 7d. to 1s. in the pound, but in consequence of the strongly worded petitions against it which went up from Hastings and other towns, the proposition was withdrawn and the Exchequer deficiency was met by two million pounds of borrowed money.
Within a week of the Hastings meeting, the Premier, with Lady Russell and two children, were staying at the Victoria Hotel, St. Leonards.
The next meeting of importance was that of the Sussex Archaeaogical Society on Saturday the 3rd of June, under the presidency ot Sir S, B. Peckham-Michaelthwaite, a gentleman who had been knighted for stopping the runaway horses of royalty at St, Leonards. The meeting was held in the Swan Assembly Room, on which occasion Alderman T. H. Maw, an ex-mayor, was present with his family. Of Mr. Maw and his family a somewhat exhaustive account was given in the 26th Interpolatory section of the 38th chapter of this History at the time of his death, in Shropshire, at the age of 86 years, and it needs to be to be only said here that at the meeting under notice Mr. Maw exhibited some etruscan vases, and peteræ, three antique gems from the Poaiatowski collection, three ancient engraved drinking-glasses, a Raffaelle-ware dish, a dish of early majollica (Italian) ware; an oak miseré carved with the ”Veronica,” a carved oak frame similarly embellished, some vine jugs in old Flemish pottery, two drawings of Michelham Priory, and one of old houses in Sinnock’s Square, Hastings. Mr. J. G. Shorter also exhibited three drawings of old Hastings houses. Mr. T. Ross contributed eight rubbings from monumental, brasses, whose lengths were from 7 to 9 feet, together with some recently discovered mediaeval pottery of the locality. Mr. Brooke showed a number of sketches by his own pencil, including twelve different views of the Hastings old churches. Mr. J. S. Cooper exhibited a curious collection of ancient coins, some of them found in this neighbourhood. Papers were read by Sir H. Ellis, W.D. Cooper, Esq., and W.H. Blaaw, Esq., a resume of which will be given in my next instalment. After the meeting, the members of the Society visited the churches, the Castle, the museum of the Literary Institution and a few other places, and then proceeded, by invitation of Mr. Maw, to West-hill House, where they were generously entertained by that gentleman.
The paper read by Sir H Ellis at the Archaeological meeting was “Concerning the Religions and Political Sentiments of the Sussex Justices of the Peace in 1587.“ — the year, it will be remembered, immediately preceding the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and the paper read by W. H. Blaaw, Esq., was “On the Wages paid to the Crews of the Cinque Ports Vessels at Dublin by Edward I, Mr. Blaaw was of opinion that although the Cinque Ports vessels assisted the Crown in all cases of direct need, there were some among the crews who were little better than pirates, for they appropriated to their own use all that came within their reach. Unfortunately for their credit there are not wanting proofs of the rapacity of some of the Cinque Ports crews, although we fain hope they formed an exception to the rule. The paper read by Mr. Durrant Cooper at the same meeting “ On the Descent of the Castle, Rape and Honour of Hastings” went to show that the Pelhams were possessed of the Rape and of the three manors of Crowhurst, Burwash and Benilham by grant from Henry IV., after the death of Ralph, Earl of Westmorland, who held the Honour of Richmond for life. Also that in 1427 Sir John Pelham, who was then in possession of the Rape, re-leased the rents and services of its lands to the Abbey of Battle; but that in the 23rd of Henry VI. the Castle and Honour were granted to Thomas Hoo (Lord Hastings) to whose feoffees Sir John Pelham, in the 24th of Henry VI., conveyed the Rape, while reserving the manors Sir Thomas Pelham, by his will, directed his feoffees to sell the Castle, Honour and Rape to raise the marriage portions for his daughters, and in the 1st of Edward IV., the feoffees accordingly granted the Castle, &c., to William Lord Hastings, which grant was confirmed by the King. Mr. Cooper further showed that as disputes still subsisted as to whether the three manors did or did not form part of the Rape, William, Lord Hastings, on the 28th of January, in the 6th of Ed. IV., confirmed the three manors to the Pelhams; and that it was an error of Dugdale to state that in the 9th of Henry IV. Humphrey, Lord Stafford, who was attainted and executed for not assisting the Earl of Pembroke, died seized; for on examining the escheat toll it turned out that he had no estates in Sussex. Consequently, from the 1st of Edward LV. to the 33rd of Elizabeth (1691), the Castle, Honour and Rape remained in the Hastings family, and then Henry, Earl of Huntingdon alienated them to Sir John Pelham. The lords of the Honour had but little property in Hastings besides the Castle, the manor of Brede being retained by the Abbot of Fecamp. This manor extended over a large portion of All Saints and St. Clement’s parishes, from Mr. Amoore’s house in High street to the reservoir of the waterworks and the Minnis Rock. The Abbot also retained the patronage of the churches, although the Crown had taken Rye and Winchelsea into its own hands. After the dissolution of alien priories, in the 22nd of Henry VI., the manor of Brede was granted to the newly founded monastry of Sion, and on the dissolution of that religious house, Henry VIII. granted the honour of Gostion and Brede to Anthony Browne, Viscount Montague, who had before received a grant of Battle. This was the first time that Brede and Battle were in the same hands, and that the privileges of Gostion and Battle were the same. Gostion was not, as stated by Camden, a branch of Battle. Mr. Cooper remarked that one point in the early history of Queen Mary’s reign had not been mentioned so favourably by any historian as the facts warranted. Francis, Earl of Huntingdon, whose son had married the Lady Catherine Dudley, joined the Duke of Northumberland in proclaiming, and afterwards in entering the field to support Lady Jane Grey. The Earl had an indictment found against him for high treason, and on that occasion not only did Mary, on the 9th of November in the first year of her reign, grant him a free pardon, but also, on the 28th of the same month, directed a writ to Sir Thomas Bromley, Chief Justice of the Queen’s Bench, not to award any process on the indictment; and in the following month of January she made the Earl a lieutenant of the counties of Leicester, Warwick and Rutland.
At the 18th anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, held at the Swan Hotel on the 5th of September, the Rev, Mark Cooper (deputation) moved, and Mr. George Scrivens seconded, “ That this meeting expresses its thankfulness to Almighty God for the success which has attended the efforts of the Society throughout the world, and especially in this locality.” The other speakers at that meeting were the Revs. T, Vores (Episcopahan), W. Davis (Independent), and J. Bromwell and S. Coley (Wesleyans). Although, except the last-named, these gentlemen have passed away, their names and their virtues are remembered by many townspeople with pleasurable feelings.
The next noteworthy meeting of the year was that of the Society of Friends, who held a public service amidst a crowded congregation in the Swan Assembly Room on Sunday evening, Sept. 24th. The congregation was addressed by two Friends with all the simplicity and gravity of Quakerism. On the following evening the same room was occupied to a similar extent by an audience wishful to hear Mr. J. Glyde’s lecture on Temperance, the lecture being interspersed with temperance melodies.
On the 3rd of October, whilst the meeting in St. Leonards was being held to discuss the proposal to form a Mechanics' Institution, a meeting was held in Hastings in aid of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, with Earl Waldegrave in the chair, and the Rev. J. G. Foyster as one of the speakers Mr. Lucas-Shadwell, in pleading for the Society, remarked that as the Society was supporting 300 missionaries, and as the tide of emigration was setting in, soon to increase, Christian men and women should not allow their fellow-beings to leave the country without the means of salvation. Peculiar blessings were just then the happiness of England, seeing that she was then in the enjoyment of peace, while continental nations were being racked with revolutions.
The next meeting of any importance was that of the members of the Hastings Mechanics Institution, who, with their friends, on the 6th of October, held a soiree at the Swan Hotel, the presiding member being Mr. George Scrivens, who expressed the belief that the good order which just then prevailed between the employer and the employed was in a great measure due to Mechanics’ Institutions It was with pleasure that he had seen, a week ago, an announcement that the West Ward was about to establish a similar Institution. He was sure that the movement would meet with the good wishes of all present. The other speakers were Messrs. Jas. Rock, J. Banks, V. Crake, W. Chamberlin, T. Edwards, H. Dunk and F. Webster, the last-named of Battle Abbey. The other items in the evening's entertainment consisted of tea, music, singing and dissolving views.
Spurred on, as it were, by the promised success of the new Institution at St. Leonard, there appeared an excellent article in the Hastings News from which the following is extracted:-
“The use of education is the rule, the abuse is the exception, Here, then, we see the value of Mechanics’ Institutions, where a wise fraternization accomplishes what the unit alone could not do, and the works of the greatest minds are placed in the hands of the humblest labourer. . . Perhaps there are not many of these societies better managed than the one at Hastings. It has now, we believe, two hundred members; can boast of a good library; and is possessed of a respectable quantity of apparatus. This institution has already been of incalculable benefit to many a young man, — moulding the character in early life into the consistency of enduring integrity and active benevolenee. The erudition of a GODLER, the patient industry of a BANK, and the steady purpose of many a local savan besides, will long be held in grateful remembrance by numbers who have entered as gatherers of the fruit into the chosen field of labour of those worthy men.”
Having referred to the soiree of the Hastings Mechanics’ Institution and the founding of the like association at St. Leonards, two conspicuous events of 1848, I may here say that at a qaurterly meeting of the former the number of members was reported to be 214, and the financial condition £20 to the good. At the same meeting, on the motion of Mr. W. Ransom, it was resolved to revise the bye-laws, notwithstanding the objection that as the institution had flourished many years under the original laws, there was no need for change. Mr. Ransom’s contention was that many of the laws were obsolete and some others were ungrammatical. Apropos of bye-laws, I have a notion that at the time of writing the committee of the St. Leonards Mechanics’ Institution are contemplating the adaptation of their bye-laws to also a standard more in keeping with modern requirements.
The Hastings Institution (now defunct) had in its palmy days as one of its early members, young Isaac Todhunter, who, in 1838, resided with his mother at 3 Waterloo Passage, where on more than one occasion I visited him and spent an evening with him in companionship. Before their removal to Waterloo place (then better known as “the Upper Lane“) Mrs. Todhunter and her family resided at 2 Burdett place, [[George Street|George street], where I first became acquainted with them. Although Isaac Todhunter owed much to the moral suasion, the pious intelligence, and the general amiability of his mother, he was naturally studious as a boy, and 1 was not greatly surprised when I afterwards heard he had become Senior Wrangler of St. John’s College, Cambridge. Ten years after our companionship, Mr. Todhunter revisited Hastings, and stayed with the Rev. William Davis, at 1 Gloucester place. Since that time all the civilised world has read or heard of the learned Isaac Todhunter, whose unassuming merit raised him from humble life and comparative obscurity to an elevated position of honour. The having had fellowship with such a student is to me a pleasing reminiscence.
Coincidently with Mr. Todhunter’s visit to Mr. Davis, in 1848, was the rescue of the latter’s son from drowning, he having got out of his depth while bathing. Seeing his peril, Frederick Cooper swam out to him and, with Thomas Elliott's assistance, landed the insensible youth, who afterwards recovered.
