Cricket Ground were used before being replaced with polling booths as a
result of the Ballot Act 1872. Because the Firm has the Poll Books for the
elections (formerly the property of the local auctioneer the late Arthur Dunk
and found by him in the Observer Buildings in Claremont) it is possible to
correct two very small errors in Historic Hastings by Manwaring Baines. The
election was on the 17 and not the 18 November. More important, Mr U.J. Kay-Shuttleworth won the election and not Mr P.F. Robertson - who did not
therefore have the last laugh.
Elizabeth Scrivens died on April 24th, 1870 and the local papers paid warm tributes to her generosity and kindness. In March 1871 her trustees repaid £2,000 to Thomas Bayley Potter MP - possibly the repayment of part of her marriage settlement following her death without children. Her death appeared to have affected the health of William Scrivens and hastened his own end. He died on 9th September 1871 in his fourth year of office. Indeed, he is one of the few Mayors in the history of the town to have died in office. The Town paid elaborate respects to him. There were no less than sixty carriages in the funeral procession that left from the High Street to Fairlight Church where the service was held. Six hundred people crowded into the churchyard for his burial. Most of the town's shops closed for the day. The two brothers, who both died without issue, are buried side by side with their wives in simple graves in Fairlight Churchyard. George Scrivens is described as of Pelham Place, Hastings and "for many years a banker in that town", while his brother is simply described as of Hastings and "universally regretted".
In his obituary, the warmth with which he was held within the town is recorded in these emotional words, The bell that on Sunday morning tolled the sad tidings in our ears that his large and kindly heart had ceased to beat, that his genial homely face was rigid in death, rang out one knell of universal sorrow. There are many now in the town who we all esteem, but there is perhaps not one whose demise, however we should sorrow for him, could call forth such general heartfelt sympathy as the death of Mr Alderman Scrivens.
His will was signed on the 14th April 1871. It was witnessed by his servant Alfred Thomas Botting and by W.H. Goodwin (later a partner in the Firm - see Chapter 8). It was proved at Lewes by W.B. Young and showed a personal estate (including leaseholds) of less than £10,000. He appointed his brother to be his sole executor and, after leaving small legacies (including £40 each to his relatives Ann and Jane Gill of Gensing, Station Road, Hastings), he left all his estate to his brother George Scrivens.
George Scrivens (1807 - 1887)
In l832 George Scrivens followed his father into banking as a clerk with Tilden & Co. In 1838 he married his brother’s sister-in-law Ann Potter. His marriage settlement is also in Hastings Borough Museum. By 1843 he was a partner in the Hastings Old Bank.
George and Ann Scrivens were sociable - the Chronicle for January 1849 recording their presence at a ball in the Assembly Rooms. The reporter noted the enthusiasm for the modern dances, the most popular being the new 'polkas, valses and quadrilles'. The dance progressed with 'great spirit to the last'.
George Scrivens was Mayor of Hastings twice - in 1844 and 1849. In 1850 Thomas Farncomb was Lord Mayor of London. He had been born in Hastings (and is buried at Fairlight) and left the town to become a successful merchant and ship owner. In January he invited 100 guests from Hastings and Rye to a Mansion House dinner. A special train of first class carriages ran from St Leonards to London Bridge Station. There the Lord Mayor's private coach was available to take George Scrivens, as Mayor of Hastings, and the Mayor of Rye to the Mansion House where 162 people sat down to dinner. The Chronicle was quite carried away with the magnificence of the occasion:
- On entering the Egyptian Hall, a scene of much splendour and dazzling magnificence was presented to view. The dimensions of the hall, the crystal chandeliers, the floating of the banners, the richness of the gold and silver plate with which the tables were laid, the enlivening strains of the band (the band of the Coldstream Guards) and the brilliant assemblage were well calculated to astonish and delight those who for the first time, and it might be the only time in their lives, were the honoured guests of "the chief magistrate of the greatest city in the world”.
