burial that the latter gentleman's fourth daughter (Sophia) found an abiding place in 1870, after living out a span of 66 years. Nor should I forget that, some ten years earlier the beloved wife of the Rev. Richard Whately, Archbishop of Dublin, finished her career at Hastings and that her body found a sephulchre (sic) in the churchyard at Halton. It is worthy of note that although this crowded home of the dead contains no very elaborate memorials of specially distinguished personages, it at least furnishes us with the simple records of many who have gone before us as representatives of local or other institutions. Among these deceased persons are Thomas Baker Baker (late Clerk-of-the-Peace), who died in 1857, at the age of 57; Mr. James Cox (the well-known town-crier), and Elizabeth, his wife, who died within a year of each other, and within a year of each other's age; Mr. William Ransom (the grandfather of the local press) and Mary his wife, who died, the one in '55 and the other in '68, at the respective ages of 59 and 69; Mr. Henry Beck (the founder of Wesleyan Methodism in Hastings), and Sarah, his wife, who at the respective ages of 84 and 77, severally resigned their spirits unto God in the years '62 and '68; Mr. W. McPherson Rice (for 47 years one of H. M. naval architects), and Fanny, his wife, each dying at the age of 71, and the latter on the 52nd anniversary of her wedding day; Miss Maria Marshall (for 22 years the respected Matron of the Hastings Industrial School), who died in the year 1871; Mr. Tyhurst (the young and respected organist of the new church at Blacklands), who was unfortunately drowned while bathing; and last but not least, the highly esteemed Frederick North, Esq. (who, besides having been a Mayor, a Justice of the Peace, a member of the Hastings Town Council, and a member of the St. Leonards Board of Commissioners, represented the borough of Hastings in no less than eight Parliaments between the years 1831 and 1869. He died on October 29, in the year '69, and at the age of 69. His wife, Janet had preceded him to her long home, fourteen years previously, at the age of 59, and his father, who had passed over to the silent majority in the year 1821, was laid beside the father's father in the little church of Ore.
Ancient site of St. Andrew's Church - Burial place of suicides
Then there is another representative class, which deserves to be noticed, if only to show that however humble may be one's station in life, it is likely to obtain suitable recognition of personal worth and length of service. In the Halton burial-ground lie the remains of Edward Tree, who died suddenly at Broomsgrove, in the parish of Ore, at the age of 52, and to whose worth a monumental stone was erected by a mistress whom he had served with great fidelity for 15 years. At the same spot were interred the remains of Emma Cannon, who was taken off at the age of 26, but who had served her master and mistress so honourably that said master and mistress, Mr. and Mrs. Browning, erected a monumental stone to perpetuate her name. A similar respect was paid to the memory of Elizabeth Robinson "by an attached master and mistress, whom she had faithfully served." Probably nowhere in so small an area is there to be found among the death memorials a greater manifestation of generous sympathy between one representative class and another than in the little cemetery at Halton. Probably also in no other graveyard of the same limited dimensions can there be found a greater average rate of age. I have already referred to many whose ages ranged from 69 to 84, and I will now cite a few more as a further illustration. - Sarah, wife of Samuel Enefer, 69; James Veness, and Ann his wife, each 69; Henry Cruttenden, 69; Mrs. Bonniwell, 70; George Ticehurst, 70; Esther Thomas, 72; Mary, wife of John Tutt; 72; Catherine Mary Barker, 73; Thomas Vine, and Mary, his wife, each 73; Caroline Batley 74; Charlotte, widow of Abraham Wood 75; Selina Schaedtler, daughter of the Rev. Thos. Fuller, 75; George brother to John Coussens, 76; Elizabeth, wife of John Duly, 76; Capt. Richard Turner, 76; Mary, wife of Samuel Sinden, 77; John Lee and Mary, his wife, each 77; Isaac, father of George Curling Hope, 77; James Drurey, 78; Sarah Wybourn, 79; Anne Golding, 79; Sarah Hustwick, 80; Thomas Perkin, 80; Maria wife of J. M. Close, 81; James Putland (a quiet man of business and consistent Wesleyan) 81; Dinah, wife of Thomas Hunt, 81; Sarah Marshall, 81; John Tutt, 82; John Coussens (a facetious innkeeper) 82; Samuel Sinden, 82; Mary Hore, 83; James Hay and Ann, his wife, respectively 83 and 84; Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. John Fuller 84; Thomas Hunt, 86; Sarah Shoesmith 87; Mrs. Judith Druce (many years of 3 Wellington square) 87; Lydia Lemon (many years servant to E. Milward Esq.,) 88; Mary Ann, widow of William Dugdale, 90; and Eliza, wife of Thomas Perkin, 93.
The John Tutt above referred to, who died in his 83rd year, was of an old Hastings family, and the first of four brothers to succumb to the iron grip of death. His brothers, William, Thomas and George, departed life at a later date at the respective ages of 78 ,79 and 88. The last named, as a clever boat-builder, had some remarkable experiences, details of which will be found in an obituary.
It may be opportune to associate with these death memorials a brief notice of Thomas Russell Bissenden, who whilst this was being first written in 1880, closed his mortal career on the 7th of September, in the 87th year of his age. The deceased was of humble birth and bearing, whilst his educational attainments were of an exceedingly rudimentary character. Yet, although living in comparative obscurity, he was a genius in his particular way, and had often been of practical service to those who moved in a higher sphere. Mr. Bissenden came to Hastings about 60 years before the time of his death, and for some time he resided in the Rope-walk, the present site of Carlisle parade. He was clever in shell-work, and was the first lapidary of whom Hastings could boast. His son John followed the same occupation for 33 years at the St. Leonards Archway, and died in 1887. Both men were frequently consulted by geologists, pebble collectors and others, and the father, I remember, once constructed an organ and gave the public an opportunity of hearing its tones and judging of his handiwork. He was a somewhat ardent politician of the Liberal school, and took a pride in preserving a roll of names printed in gold - his own among the number - who, in 1844, voted for the Liberal candidate, Robert Ross Rowan Moore, Esq., nicknamed by his opponents "Rory O'Moore." Mr. Bissenden ended his days at Castle-cross Cottage; and as a matter of history, it may be interesting to know that the house was so named because in one of its walls was inserted a cross which was taken from a grave-stone dug up when the foundation was prepared. The stone itself was placed in front of the said house, or in a narrow avenue leading to it. Some blocks of Caen stone, part of the ruins of St. Andrew's church, it used to be said, were also incorporated with the materials of Castle-cross Cottage. In Horsfield's Sussex it is stated that "The ruins of the Church of St. Andrew stood within the last fifteen years a few yards north of Wellington square, and the site was sold and desecrated to building purposes, in violation of the dead and of the patronage of the rectory, although vested in the corporation by royal grant, and confirmed by act of Parliament." It is also stated in Ross's Guide that "the bones exhumed while digging for Castle terrace were buried in a hole dug for the purpose at the corner of those buildings."
At a more recent date, while the foundation was being prepared for the Railway Mission House, on the west side of Castle-Cross Cottage, some skeletons were also discovered. These might have been the remains of some of those persons who were buried without the rites of Christian burial, one of whom was May Pope, a widow, who, in 1678, was buried "in St. Andrew's Churchyard, under the Castle, who died excommunicated." Another was the body of George Franklin, "servant to William Underwood, without the funeral offices, he having hanged himself." A third person was Ann, the wife of John Hadden, who in 1704, was buried "in a place near the Castle, she having hanged herself."
To return to Mr. Bissenden, it may be remarked that for an old man, who had cut many a cross from the Hastings pebbles, to finish his days in a house in which was imbedded an ancient cross, and thence to cross that bourne whence no traveller returns, is perhaps, not altogether inappropriate; but it must be understood that the subject of this obituary was in no way responsible for the desecration spoken of by the Sussex historian. He came to Hastings at about that time; but as already stated, he took up his abode at the Priory. In 1838, he and his family might have been found at 2 Cobourg cottages; and this reminds me that although I have here again been digressive, I am still supposed to be writing of the events of 1839. It will be apposite then to append to the foregoing death memorials a few obituary notices of that year.
About the middle of January the death was announced of Mrs. Rachel Buckland, the second daughter of Mr. Thomas Daniel, the well-known landlord of the Anchor Inn, in George street. The Public had sympathised with the family two years before, when Mr. Daniel's eldest son was drowned, and now, in his second bereavement, the same genuine sorrow was evinced. Of Mrs. Buckland it was said that she was an exemplary wife, an affectionate parent, and a generous friend. Her death then, and at a valuable period of life, was felt to be more than an ordinary loss to the family. Of her brother, Capt. T. B. Daniel, I gave some account when narrating the events of 1836, and I will now simply say that he was washed overboard, on the11th of March while rounding Cape Horn in a terrific gale. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel consisted of five sons and five daughters; and as the family name was of Hebrew origin it need not much surprise us that the Christian names were mostly those that are found in Scripture, and that the others were from a classical source. I do not remember them all, but there was Thomas, the maritime captain who was drowned; Elizabeth, who died in 1870 at Watford; Rachel, who died in 1838 as Mrs. Buckland; Gabriel, deceased, who spoke six or seven languages, received valuable presents from the family of Louis Phillipe and other notables for services rendered, and whose third son was in 1879 Mayor of Queenstown; Alphonso, who, before his death, was one of the principal citizens at the antipodes; Theophilus, who was a Freemason, an Oddfellow, an ex-Mayor, a teetotaller, and the holder of other important offices at Riverton, New Zealand.
