interest at 5 per cent., as part payment on the contract As a provision for the larger portion, Messrs. Rawson W. F. Burton and A. Burton promised to advance £50 each, taking the Commissioners' bonds as security. In addition to these arrangements, the faggot groyne was ordered to be repaired for a sum not exceeding £25, together with the wall and steps, damaged by the sea near the Library. Mr. Charles Deudney was requested to superintend the work, and in the mean time (sic) Mr. Benjamin Homan was appointed Surveyor to the Commissioners at a salary of £10 per year. Another resolution passed at that meeting was to extend the parade about 134 feel further westward, and to meet the expense by a loan of £300. But as this was an undertaking for the next year, I must devote yet a little more space to the events of 1837.
Purchase of an Organ for the church - Origin of the Infirmary - Annual Races
Mr. Elford, who was the conductor of the St. Leonards Band which played in front of Seymour place when the widowed Queen arrived, had been industriously collecting donations towards the purchase of an organ for the Church, and on the fact becoming known to Queen Adelaide, Her Majesty caused her name to be placed on the subscription list for twenty guineas. This amount, with the sums of ten guineas each from Mr. Brisco,[[Joseph Planta (1787–1847)|Mr. Planta, Mr. Hollond, (sic) and one or more members of the Burton family, together with similar or smaller sums from other inhabitants, made up the purchase money, and the organ was immediately put up by Holditch, of London. The flutes, violins, and other instruments theretofore in use were then discarded, and on Wednesday, 15th of November, 1837, the organ was opened with a grand musical festival. Unfortunately, the weather was unpropitious, and the service was less numerously attended than was hoped it would have been. Among the professional vocalists engaged were Miss Woodyatt and Miss Hawes, from London; who with the gentlemen professionals and the church choir, performed their several parts in an admirable manner. Mr. Elford, as the appointed organists, in addition to his services in collecting subscriptions, gave a year's salary as his own contribution. As one of the almost indispensibly useful men in the early years of St. Leonards, the late Edmund Elford will probably lay me under contribution to speak of him again in my desire to render justice to whom justice is due; but for the present I will only relate the circumstance of his receiving the permission to use the name of Queen Adelaide as his patron. Mr. Elford was the author of a te deum service which became popular, and in a letter written by Lord Howe, as the Queen's secretary, and dated St. Leonards, Feb.23rd, was enclosed a sovereign[1], for two copies of the musical composition, with a written authority for the composer to use the patronage of Her Majesty. But the royal patronage was not bestowed solely upon Mr. Elford, nor was the Queen's generosity confined to the twenty guineas given to the organ fund. Her bounties to the poor during a semi--gay, semi-suffering season, in the midst of severe weather, were neither few nor far between, and her contribution to the fund proposed to be raised for an Infirmary, as well as her patronage at a later date to the Fancy Bazaar for the same object, were practical examples of a generous impulse. And now that I have mentioned the Infirmary, I may as well describe the origin of the project, the revival of which took place during Queen Adelaide's stay at St. Leonards.
About two years anterior to the time of which I am writing, in consequence of the numerous accidents which befel (sic) the men engaged at the new buildings, as well as in cutting down the cliff constructing the sea-wall and forming the road between the Archway and the White-rock brewery, an attempt was made to create a fund for the purpose of erecting a structure to be called the East-Sussex Hospital, and to unite the funds of the Hastings and St. Leonards Dispensaries for supporting a small establishment for the treatment of accidents only. But the project was received by some people in the old town with so much apathy, and by others with such decided opposition, apparently because the scheme had emanated from the western part of the borough, that only three persons could be got to promise subscriptions to the extent of ten guineas, Mr. Troup was one of these, Mr. Elphinstone, M.P., was another, and Mr. North, M.P., was the third; although the last-named gentleman expressed an opinion that such an institution was not then required. In 1837 his views had undergone some modification, and it was thought that his support might be reckoned upon. The public were, however, advised to see that the project was placed under proper management, so as to prevent the jobbery which to some persons appears to be perfectly natural. In the original proposition it was suggested that the provisional committee should consist of the Protestant Clergymen and Dissenting Ministers of Hastings and St. Leonards together with the Mayor and two Members of Parliament for the time being. But the apathy which was evinced, or the hitch which occurred in the negociations (sic) not only impeded the work, but also shut out the £500 and the proceeds of showing Bodiam Castle, which had been offered by John Fuller, Esq., of Rose Hill. Some progress, however, was made with the scheme between its revival in November 1837, and another meeting which was held on the 30th of May following. Narrow as the views of the provisional committee were said to be, a sum of £1200 had then been given or promised, but the site which at the Town-hall meeting was proposed by Dr. Cooke and supported by Dr. Duke, and afterwards advocated by Mr. North in letters to the county newspapers, was decidedly disapproved by Lieut.-Col. Williams, of Hastings, and the Rev. S. Widdrington, of St. Leonards. It was argued that however competent Dr. Cooke might be to give lectures on anatomy in the theatre of the proposed building, a discerning public could not accept his choice of a site on the Priory swamp[a]. Of Dr. Cooke's anatomical lectures I shall introduce something amusing by-and-by; and so now again to my subject. Mr. Troup now doubled his original donation, thus making it £21, and added thereto ten guineas from Mrs. Troup. He also promised to make one of three gentlemen to purchase an acre of land on a suitable site if valued as agricultural land, or if an appropriate spot of building-land were selected he would give building-land of proportionate value in exchange, and present it to the institution. Meeting succeeded meeting but the unhappy jealousy which existed between the two towns, aided on the one hand by the repeated attempts of the Trustees of the Eversfield Estate to found an intermediate town, and on the other by Mr. Troup's determination that his property should not bear the name of St. Leonards, gave rise to much contention on the subject which the arguments, pro et con, both in oral and written discussions, exhibited almost as much bitterness as did the harbour question and the battle of the roads, all of which were floating or floundering at the same time. The Infirmary project was not allowed to drop, however, for, notwithstanding the mutual jealousies which were so prominent, a further period of six months found a number of ladies holding a "Sale of Fancy Goods" in the Pelham Arcade with the object of adding to the fund which had already been collected or promised. The Sale took place on the 17th, 18th and 19th of December 1838, ostensibly for "building and endowing the Infirmary." The bazaar was in every way worthy of the occasion, and realised a sum which exceeded the expectation of the promoters. The stall-keepers were Lady W. Fitzroy (with whose husband St. Leonardensis had had an unamiable contention), Lady Micklethwaite (whose husband was made a baronet for stopping the runaway horses of the Princess Victoria when at St. Leonards) Lady Ashburnham (who once gave her old lodge-keeper a half-a-crown in fulfilment of his dream, with the hope that his dream would not be repeated), Mrs. Milward (who declared that she got capital prices for her sixpennyworth's of rubbish), Mrs. M. Brisco (a generous friend to the poor), Miss North (the respected proprietor of Croft House), Miss Birch, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Wrench, Mrs. Druce, the Misses Rush and Mrs. W. Duke. The Queen Dowager was pleased to grant her patronage to the Sale, and also contributed several articles of value. The first day's receipts were £371; the second (with wet weather) £175; and the third, £92; total, £638.
I have here gone somewhat ahead of my chronology that I might show the origin and preliminaries of the Infirmary, and that I might also conveniently associate therewith the name of the Queen Dowager. I will now take leave of that august personage by saying that she left St. Leonards, with her attendants, on the 1st of March, 1838, carrying with her the merited regard of all classes.
In an earlier portion of this history I described the site and building of the St. Leonards poor-house, and I remarked at the time that probably few persons are now living who would be able to point out the spot. That statement has received a partial verification in the fact that only a few years since, one of the oldest dames and at the same time one of the oldest inhabitants, told me she thought I was wrong about the poor-house. She never recollected St. Leonards having a poor-house. Now, it happens that in the year of which I am treating, the said poor-house was publicly sold, the establishment of the Union-workhouse in Cackle street, having rendered the separate parochial work-houses no longer necessary. The sale in question was decided upon at a meeting in the vestry-room of the St. Leonards church on the 19th of October, 1837, at which meeting the Rev. Sidney Widdrington was chairman. The motion was as follows :-
"Resolved by ratepapers and property-owners present that the meeting consent to the guardians selling off by auction at the St. Leonards Hotel, by Mr. George Mitchell, all that piece of freehold land, containing one rood, a little more or less, together with the cottage or tenement thereon, in the parish of St. Leonards, and lately used as the poor-house, but now unoccupied; the sale to be effected under the provision of an Act passed in the 5th and 6th years of the reign of William IV., entitled an Act to facilitate the conveyance of Workhouses and other property of parishes, &c. and the said sale to be for the permanent advantage of the parish as the Poor-Law Commissioners shall direct.
— Signed: Sidney Widdrington, John Painter, Chas. Overy, Alfred Burton, and Hy. Edlin."
I need hardly say that the Rev. Sidney Widdrington was the then Incumbent of the Church, or that Mr. Edling was the lessee of the Victoria hotel, still less need have I to explain who was Mr. Alfred Burton; yet it may not be supererogatory to state that Messrs. Painter and Overy were the overseers who had in the same year succeeded Messrs. Chas. Deudney andEdward Farncomb, and whose parish meetings continued to be held at the "New England Bank," the site of which is now occupied by the approach to the West-Marina railway station. It was there that the said overseers made two sixpenny poor-rates during 1837, to raise about £50 each, and a shilling[2] borough-rate, to raise £73. These figures when compared with what a sixpenny or a shilling[3] rate now produces, will show the marvellous growth of the town during the intermediate period. If I mention also that the parochial disbursements included the separate charges of Colbran and Campbell as constables, the Union charges, the County rate, the Borough-rate, the Lewes-House-of-Correction rate, the "crying of notices in church," etc., an idea may be acquired as to the different forms of taxation at the two epochs.
Jealousy of the Rival Towns - New Roads - Death of Wm. Lucas
The Hastings and St. Leonards Races, held on the Bopeep Salts, were in those days regarded as one of the greatest events of the year, and in 1837 they were chiefly noteworthy for their meteorological associations and contrasts. The first day, Sept. 28th, was as wet and uncomfortable as could well be imagined, the attendance being in consequence, extremely meagre. The second day was altogether the reverse, and its enjoyable fineness brought together one of the largest and most brilliant assemblies ever witnessed on that ground. The principal stakes competed for were the Town-plate of £50; the Sweepstakes of £3, with £40 added from the fund; the St. Leonards Plate of £50; and Mr. Brisco's Plate of £50. For these prizes the competition was so spirited and the running horses were so evenly matched, as to necessitate not fewer than three or four heats to each race before the victor could be declared. Dusky night therefore began to show itself ere the grand equipages and the humbler vehicles could well get off the ground. And that these were very numerous may be imagined; for, what with the presence in St. Leonards of royalty, nobility and gentry, the town was fuller of visitors than it had ever been since its formation. The throng of carriages, horses and pedestrians along the only available road was immense, and there were several narrow escapes from serious mishaps. The something more than semi-darkness of the road which connected the Archway and the White Rock revived on that occasion the slumbering complaint about a two-years existence of lamp-irons without lamps or lights, -
- ↑ An explanation of old currency and coinage may be found at the following website Pre-decimal currency, accessdate: 16 June 2022
- ↑ An explanation of old currency and coinage may be found at the following website Pre-decimal currency, accessdate: 16 June 2022
- ↑ An explanation of old currency and coinage may be found at the following website Pre-decimal currency, accessdate: 16 June 2022
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