Deaths of the Founder of St. Leonards and his Numerous Family
Sickness and cold characterised the commencement of 1837, and the prolonged winter was succeeded by what has been termed the latest spring on record. It was for the most part a sad and gloomy time, and the gloom in St. Leonards was increased by the death of Mr. and Mrs. Burton, the found of St. Leonards, and his wife. The latter died on the 14th of January, and the former on the 31st of March. They were both born in the year 1761, and were consequently both in their 76th year at the time of their demise. Mrs. Burton was greatly beloved by her family and by the townspeople with whom she had associated in many acts of kindness. Mr. Burton, too, a man of extraordinary energy and enterprise for his age, was greatly missed in the town of his own creation - a town, the conception of which was due to a dream which the respected architect had before he even knew the site, so vividly pictured to him in Dreamland. As the venerable gentleman was ill for about three months before his death, it may be assumed that he never fairly rallied from the shock which he sustained by the death of his wife. At the Commissioners' meeting next after his decease, it was resolved,
"That this meeting, deeply lamenting the death of the late James Burton, Esq., the funder of St. Leonards, cannot separate without recording their deep sense of the loss which the Commissioners and the town generally have sustained in the removal of so able, honourable and excellent a man."
The deceased gentleman was of a family named Aliburton (sic), and related to the author of "Sam Stick" and other works, who, when staying at St. Leonards, laid the first stone of the Infirmary at White Rock. A mural tablet of black marble may be seen on the interior wall of the St. Leonards Parish Church, with the following inscription:-
In memory of James Haliburton, founder of the town of St. Leonards, lineat descendant from the Haliburtons of Newmains, on Tweeside, but better known under the abbreviated name of James Burton, Born 29th of July 1761, died 31st March 1837. Also, of Elizabeth, his wife. Born 12th Dec. 1761, died 14th of January, 1837.
The mortal remains of Mr. and Mrs. Burton were placed in a vault of a pyramidal form in the St. Leonards Burial-ground on the West-hill; and to several noteworthy coincidences which have occurred during the writing of this history, may be added the fact that just as I had arrived at the date when the death of Mr. and Mrs. Burton would have to be related, the family mausoleum was again opened, to receive the remains of their last surviving daughter. Mrs. Wood, who had principaly resided in St. Leonards from almost its commencement, died at North Lodge, in the 88th year of her age; and although she expired somewhat suddenly the feebleness which Time had wrought upon her constitution made the event not wholly unlooked for. The deceased lady had always taken a great interest in the growth and prosperity of the town, and was ever cheerful and communicative to the older tradespeople and to those other persons whose fortunes or misfortunes were associated with long residence. Sympathetic and benevolent as far as her means would permit, Mrs. Wood could not fail to be remembered as well as missed by many of the poorer inhabitants, whilst her death would also be regretted in the higher walks of life by those to whom her name and those of her daughters were a "household word." Mrs. Wood was among the first promoters of the National and Infant Schools, and her many little acts of kindness to the scholars are not forgotten by those who have since grown into men and women. As an instance of this - simple though it may be - a small card, about an inch square, lies before me which a person had treasured as the gift of Mrs. Wood to her when she was a schoolgirl. The miniature card has an ornamental border traced with red ink, and in its centre is written in very small characters "St. Leonards-on-sea: First stone laid, March 1st, 1828." This little memento, I believe, was given with other things, to each of the scholars as a treat on the occasion of the Queen's coronation. It helps to show the interest which the deceased lady evinced in her father's achievement, and to explain in some degree her anxiety to save the Subscription Gardens, which her father so much prized, from the ruthless hand of the speculative builder. In the annexed view which was sketched in 1830, the venerable founder of the town is represented as sitting beside the central piece of water watching some ducks.
Mrs. Wood's remains were conveyed in a hearse, first to the church - where a necessary lighting up of gas relieved, in some measure the gloom usually attendant on funeral obsequies - and, secondly, to the burial-ground already described. The hearse was followed by several private carriages, and the mourners included Messrs. A. H. Burton F. Fearon, Edmund Burton; Edgar Burton, and H. Pott (nephews of the deceased). No plumes were used, and the funeral was altogether devoid of ostentatious display. The coffin was covered with black cloth, and on the plate was inscribed
JANE WOOD
Born April 3, 1792,
Died Dec. 11, 1879.
The funeral service was impressively read by the Rev. G. G. Gardiner (rector) and the Rev. J. S. Davies (curate). The interior of the mausoleum was remarkably dry, and ws otherwise in an excellent state of preservation. It was built by Mr. Smith, the father of Mr. E. Smith, now of St. Leonards Green, and to whom was given the work of forming the cemetery, the Subscription Gardens, and the Archery Gardens. The same Mr. Smith, who built for himself three houses on the West Hill and one or two in Mercatoria, also excavated the cliff as a site for the St. Leonards Church.
The late Mrs. Wood was the relict of the late Thomas Wood, Esq., who died in 1867, and who, besides being for several years one of the St. Leonards Commissioners, was also one of the most active promoters of the Archery Society, at the time when Her Majesty became a patron of the same. To the father and mother of Mrs. Wood were born twelve children, most of whom rose to eminence in their procession or to esteem for their virtues in private life. One of them was the late Mr. James Burton (or Haliburton the original family name), the well-known Egyptian traveller, whose valuable collection of drawings and hieroglyphics is in the British Museum. Another son was Dr. Henry Burton, of St. Thomas's Hospital, one of the first physicians to introduce reforms and improved sanitation into hospital arrangements; and who, while labouring assiduously among his fraternity, fell a victim to the cholera epidemic of 1849. Another son was the late Alfred Burton, Esq., whose sudden death at the age of 75, we had to deplore in 1877, and who in his relations with the town was regarded as his father's worthy successor. The eldest daughter was Miss Eliza Burton, a quiet, unassuming, benevolent lady, who died at the age of 91, two months before her brother Alfred; and, as already stated, was interred in the family mausoleum. She was five years the senior of Mrs. Wood whose remains were placed beside those of her sister. The tenth child of the late founder of St. Leonards was Decimus Burton, Esq., the well known architect, of London, whose gift of ground and money for the St. Leonards National Schools, and other acts of beneficence will be noticed as I proceed. *See ante page
Notwithstanding the severe and prolonged winter of 1836-7, a thaw set in on the 2nd of January, and a thick fog prevailed extensively during the greater part of the month. At the commencement of the thaw there occurred a general outbreak of influenza. Easterly winds were predominant, and that aurorae were frequent. It is remarkable that the influenza also existed simultaneously at Sydney, the Cape of Good Hope, and on the Baltic coasts. About half the population were attacked in St. Leonards, Hastings, London, Hamburgh (sic) and Copenhagen; and of so severe a type was it that St. Leonardensis, who was one of the sufferers, did not recover from its effects for a long time, and was obliged to seek a change of air, a change of diet, and a change of employment. It is worthy of note that epidemics of influenza have usually followed very closely upon the heels of great extremes of weather, and attended by unwholesome fogs. The following facts, extracted from the History of Influenza in the Library of Medicine, and quoted in Pearce’s Weather Guide, may afford information to many of my readers.
Influenza Epidemics 1323 to 1837 - Attempted Act of Parliament
"The epidemic of 1323 prevailed throughout the whole of Italy, and, according to Buoni Segni, was attributed to a pestilential wind ... A similar disorder prevailed over all Europe in the autumn of 1557, after a -
