Unusual Deaths

• Sir Frederick Baker died after being struck in the head by the sweeps of a windmill at Fairlight . Sir Frederick had gone for a ramble and ascended the steps to the mill-stage on Mr. Edward Milward's property to view the countryside. The miller, unaware of Sir Frederick's presence, set the sweeps in motion, fatally injuring Sir Frederick.

• In 1830, a surgeon named Charles Miller accidentally inoculated himself with poisonous matter while amputating a woman's leg and died as a result . He was the parish surgeon for St. Mary’s-in-the-Castle.

• In 1832, six people in Hastings died within a week, and their combined age was 464 years . The deceased were Mrs. Dunn (88 years old), Mr. Baker (69), Mrs. Lock (81), Mr. Lock (71), Miss Maria Milward (77), and Mrs. Deeprose (77). Five of these individuals were said to have used the contaminated water of the Bourne.

• In 1833, two children named Howe were fatally burnt in a fire at the Priory while their mother was away .

• In 1833, a woman named Ann Hunter, 63 years old, caught fire and died after having a fit while drinking tea .

• In 1835, a fisherman named Galloway died from suffocation after he and a fellow fisherman, May, made a fire in the fore-room of their fishing boat and closed the hatch . May was found near death.

• In 1837, a female servant of Lady Lubbock named Mary Ann Lucas, who had lost her reason through a supposed love affair, drowned in a well .

• In 1840, Mr. Vine, master of Mr. Hollond’s yacht, died suddenly while sleeping in his chair after dinner .

• In 1841, a son of Mr. Pilcher of the Warrior's Gate Inn drowned after falling overboard from a brig that had sailed to Newcastle for coals .

• In 1841, Coppard and six other people drowned while sailing to Plymouth .

• In 1842, a woman named Mary Ann Back fell over a fence on Mrs. Milward's property and was killed .

• In 1849, Judith Wood, the mother of a publican, died suddenly from an apoplectic fit.

• In 1849, Mary Mercy, the widow of John Glandfield, died after having a fit at her shop door when she saw that her son, who had a mental disability, had been brought home drunk.

• In 1849, Mercy White died suddenly after walking to Hollington and back.

• In 1849, Henry Stace died within 30 minutes of falling out of Mr. Stubberfield’s hayloft.

• In 1849, two young men, George Collins (19) and John Fowler, drowned while swimming off Carlisle Parade when Fowler attempted to save Collins, who was struggling in the water.

• In 1850, a man named Thomas May died very suddenly after eating two mussels, two pickled onions, and a glass of vinegar . The vinegar went down his windpipe.

• In 1852, Thomas Farncomb Edgerton died of starvation after his chemist accidentally sent him Burnett's Disinfecting Fluid instead of Dinneford's fluid magnesia.

• In 1853, Philadelphia Christian, 77 years old, was buried at Bexhill by four of her sons, who were Savages, and followed to the grave by seven of her other sons, who were Christians.