his time, died at half-past three at Walmer Castle on Tuesday, Sept. 14th. On the following Sunday, the Mayor and Corporation attended church in deep mourning. For attendance at the Duke’s funeral see Town Council meeting, Sept. 14th, and Oct. 1st. (pp 197-ʾ8). Nearly all the shops were [closed] on the 18th of Nov., the day of the funeral.
A Sudden Death. — On Thursday, Oct. 28th, Mrs. Charlotte Jones fell down stairs at 4 Claremont, and was so injured with loss of blood from compression of the brain that although she apparently slept during the night, she died the next morning.
Another Sudden Death occurred, two days later, this time at the house of Mr. Woods, the Hastings postmaster, where she had been lodging in delicate health. She was a private tutoress, and her name was Elizabeth Campbell. Deceased was not in the habit of taking supper, but that evening she partook of scalloped oysters which had been sent to Miss Lloyd, who had been living with her. Soon after she was seized with violent headache and sickness. Dr. Gabb was sent for, who gave her an emetic of mustard, and whilst he went back to get a powder, the poor lady died. A post mortem revealed a chronic disease of the heart and an attachment of the right lung.
Vestry Meetings
At a vestry meeting of the Holy Trinity parish, on the 8th of April a poor-rate at 2d. in the £ was agreed upon; and at a vestry of All Saints on the 13th of Aug., an exceptionally high rated at 10d. was levied. The arrears of the latter parish being heavy, the collector was ordered to summons all defaulters. At the time of writing (Sept. 1898) the poor-rate for All Saints is 1/4 and said to be the highest on record. If, however, one takes a leap back to the beginning of the century — namely 1800, he will find that, under the old system of parish workhouses, the poor rates for All Saints amounted to 6s. for the year, there being six books made between April and March, and each book considered as a shilling[1] rate, whilst half a book was a 6dy rate and a quarter book a 3dy rate. In 1801, when Mr. Milward sold to the parish three loads of wheat at the reduced price of £30 per load, whilst the market price was £40, there were five poor-rates at 1s. in the pound. In 1802 there were five whole books at 1/-; in 1803 there were seven books; and in 1804, no fewer than eight books, which would be equal to a half yearly rate of 4/- in the pound. The only modifying circumstance was that the rents and assessments were lower than they now are, and almost every house had a garden, running down to the Bourne or up to the hill, nearly all of which are now covered with cottages or other human habitations.
Footpaths
In the spring of this year a number of letters appeared in the local and county Press, complaining of the stopping up of footpaths. In one of them “A Constant Visitor” wrote “The neighbourhood of Hastings was formerly famous for its beautiful walks. Many of these have been stopped, and some of them deprived of all beauty by high walls and palings. There is -
- ↑ An explanation of old currency and coinage may be found at the following website Pre-decimal currency, accessdate: 16 June 2022
