1840 was only £74, the cost at the Infirmary for the same number had been nearly £103. He therefore placed an order in the Visitors’ Book that the rugs in future be purchased from Mr. Johnson, and in such quantities as will command wholesale prices, He admitted that the order was not in conformity with the rules, but it was done to save the funds. It was not acted upon by the medical officers, so on the 12th of June he made another entry in the Visitors’ Book. In addressing the meeting, Mr. Duke contended that a charge had been made by Troup which had not been substantiated, that the medical officers had prescribed improper quantities, from which it might be inferred that they knew nothing about their business. Mr. Gorringe, as a chemist, vindicated the trade from insinuations of high charges, and Mr. Murton did the same. Then, after further personal allusions and recriminations, in which Mr. Troup’s autocratic orders in the Visitors’ Book and his paragraphs in newspapers were condemned, a resolution, moved by the Rev. W. Pearce, was carried, “ that the entries in the Visitors’ Book reflecting on the decisions of the Committee, as well as drawing invidious distinctions of professional ability, are irregular on the part of a weekly visitor, and that the same be erased.” As already stated, this stormy meeting took place on the 8th August, and it was on the 24th of the same month when the Town Hall was crowded by persons desirous of hearing the charges of assault brought by Mr. Troup against George Prior (the dispenser) Mr. Duke and Dr. Duke. Mr. Langham appeared for the complainant, and Mr. Baker for defendants. The investigation was a long one, Mr. Langham stating the case with his usual legal acumen, and Mr. Baker showing that the whole affair was a fabrication; for vindictive ends. It was proved, however, that during this storm in a tea-pot the dispenser had rudely snatched a paper out of Mr. Troup’s hands, and for this he was fined 20s, with costs while the surgeon and the physician came out of the conflict unscathed.
A large and brilliant Comet - Electric and Magnetic Activity
It happened that a gentleman named Wilson, residing at St. Leonards, had rendered himself obnoxious to boys and hobbledehoys who delight in a ”scrimmage,” and it also happened that the more staid inhabitants did not feel particularly hurt at seeing a ”reconnaissance in force” on a particular night in the month of March. This resulted in an epistle of twelve foolscap pages being sent to the Council, containing charges against the police and the magistrates for not having done their duty on the 28th of March, when a lawless mob of 400 or 500 persons assembled at the Undercliff and burnt an effigy of the writer's son. A magistrate (Col. Jeffries) lived next door, and did not attempt to enforce the law; neither did other magistrates after the outrage was perpetrated make any sign. To this Mr. Deudney remarked that he went by, and instead of their being 400 or 500 persons present there were about 40 boys. Mr. Southall had also witnessed the transaction, and he described Mr. Wilson’s letter as being full of inaccuracies and exaggerations. As might be expected, the Council passed on to other business.
The year 1843 was noted for the efforts that were made to obtain railway accommodation and postal facilities. Alderman Burton at the April meeting of the Council moved that the Postmaster-General be memorialised for a day-mail. No fewer than 320,000 letters, he said, passed through the Post-office from Hastings and St. Leonards during the past year, and he thought that a representation from the Council would have more,weight than the petition previously sent by the inhabitants. The subject was again brought up at the next meeting, when Mr. Emary abruptly terminated the discussion by saying that the Post-office had positively declined to accede to the memorial.
Against the refusal of the Postmaster-General to grant a day-mail there was, of course, no appeal; but as regarded the question of railway accommodation, the townspeople urged their claims with greeter persistency. The South-Eastern Company in their reply to the promoters of a Hastings and Rye branch, stated that they intended to carry out such a scheme, but that just then, with three Bulls already in Parliament, they could not undertake any new project until their works were in a more forward state. This reply did not satisfy the promoters, and it was therefore resolved to carry out the proposal as an independent line. In the mean time the new turnpike road known as the Hawkhurst Junction, was being rapidly proceeded with, and on Monday the 21st of August the men in the employ of the trustees haying cut their way through, a new coach named the Hawkhurst Junction was started from the Swan and Saxon hotels on an experimental trip over the said road to meet the South Eastern Railway at Staplehurst. It entered the new road at Bodiam, and as it passed through Sedlescomb and adjacent hamlets with its red-coated buglemen, and drawn by four noble steeds, the villagers greeted with a loudly expressed welcome the first stage coach ever known to pass that way. The experiment was held to be a success, and in lest than a month the Hawkhurst-junction had attracted a magical popularity. It was still in an unfinished state, yet there were no fewer than three four-horse coaches, an omnibus and a luggage-van, besides post-chaises and private carriages, making use of the road to and from the Staplehurst station, Every train was directed to stop at that station, as the best outlet to St. Leonards and Hastings from London and Dover. The new road also opened up a beautiful part of the country which was previously almost inaccessible.
Apropos of coaches, it may be mentioned that the coach-proprietors Chamberlin, Emary and Hutchings, with their own contributions and collections from other persons, raised the sum of £76 17s. for the widow of Levi Osborne, who, as my readers have been told, was killed by the overturning of a coach near the Saxon Hotel. The poor widow, however, only received the net balance of £6 14s, 10d., the other portion having been paid for funeral expenses, rent, and tradesmen’s claims.
There is still another matter in connection with coaches that ought not to be overlooked. It wilt be remembered that in treating of the events of the preceding year, I described the disreputable system of touting which was prevalent, and the temporary death-blow that was given to it through cases of assault which were taken before the magistrates. But the new mode of travelling by road and rail appeared to stimulate certain rival tradesmen to & revival of the annoying practice, and this gave rise to the publication of the following lines :—
A touter is a tramping scout—
A lazy, sneaking, hateful lout—
A beggar in disguise;
A fellow who, despising work,
Throughout the town is seen to lurk,
A nuisance to all eyes.
A touter’s practice is to lie,
His neighbour’s name to vilify,
And bully where he can;
With insolence upon his face,
He thinks dishonour no disgrace,
Audacity’s the man.
There have been several occurrences during the year in which I am writing that serve as reminders of similar events in the year 1848, among which are the recent storms and the comet. But first let me state as a corroboration of an editorial in the Hastings News in which it is affirmed that teetotalism has existed in Hastings for at least 43 years, that on Wednesday, the 17th of May, 1843, there was a gathering of teetotallers in the Baptist Chapel, under the presidency of the Rey. Mr. Cramp, when 80 persons partook of tea and several new members were added to the pledge-roll.
On the 12th of January a terrific wind swept over the town and other parts of the south coast, blowing down fences and walls, tearing up a large number of trees, hurling down chimney-stacks, and partially unroofing houses and other buildings. This hurricane was even more severe than that which has recently occurred (Oct. 24th), and nearly equalled in strength that of Nov. 29th, 1836.
Another reminiscence of 1843 is the comet which on favorable opportunities is now (1882) visible from 4 till 6 a.m., and which some astronomers have identified as that which made its appearance so suddenly on the evening of March 17th, 1843[a]. I hope to be free from the imputation of arrogance, or presumption in venturing to put in a claim as the first person in Hastings — and perhaps in England — who discovered the celestial stranger. It was a fortuitous circumstance which placed me in an advantageous position to see in broad daylight what I first imagined was a slowly moving meteor trailing against the sky, but which afterwards burst upon the vision as a large and brilliant comet. In calling at the house of an acquaintance at Cavendish place, I had to pass into a narrow passage which divided two houses known as Isabella cottages, when, casting my eyes upward, as was my wont, I observed a somewhat faint but well-defined streak of light. My friend was not at home, and I therefore hurried away to St. Leonards, but on reaching the Government Ground at the Priory I saw my friend, in company with the late Mr. Giles, an organist, standing upon the new wall which Messrs. Hughes and Hunter had built for the Woods and Forests’ Commissioners, as against the inroads of the sea, and which afterwards was known as Carlisle parade. Here the trio stood for some time, expatiating upon a scene of unusual beauty. The sun was just setting, as it were, behind the South Downs, and the varied soft tints of the sky, graduating from pink to purple, reminded us of some paintings of Italian scenery. At the same time, a broad ray of white light shot upwards from the direction of the sun,which caused me to describe the trail of a large meteor which I supposed I had previously seen. The party separated, but as I resumed my journey westward, I fixed my attention on this luminous streak until I became self-assured that the object was nothing less than a gigantic comet. On reaching what was then 17, but is now 69 Norman road, some young women whose employment was that of making chest-expanders invented by Dr. Harwood, had formed themselves into a group of observers, and were enquiring of every passer-by the nature of the startling object then in full view. Some declared it to be the “ shay” of a great fire somewhere; others opined that it was the reflection of the South-down lime-kilns; but Mr Chandler, a schoolmaster, had settled the question by stating that it was a lunar rainbow. Notwithstanding this absurd dictum of a schoolmaster — the beautifully fine warm air and the position of the moon rendering such hypothesis nugatory — the question was re-opened as soon as I joined the group of enquirers, and the more palpable idea of a comet was received and propagated with avidity. It was on a Friday evening that this great comet first became visible in England, but as news and newspapers did not travel so fast in those days as in the present it was not until the following Sunday or Monday morning that the public could read the letter (along with many other reports from different parts of the country) which I despatched to the London press. It should be here stated that I was still under the impression of having seen a large meteor an hour or two previously, and in something that I have written before this the supposition has. been insisted upon. Of late, however, after a more matured review of the whole circumstances, including the peculiar position from which I viewed the object, and recollecting that the comet had been seen by daylight at the Cape of Good Hope — the report of which had not reached England at the time when the phenomenon was first seen in England — I have arrived at the conception that the supposed meteor-trail was really the comet as seen by myself in broad daylight.
What do we now experience as the apparent effect of cometary visitation? Just that which has so often been noted by careful observers on previous occasions. During September—a warm month, after a cool summer—there was much electric and magnetic disturbance, including earthquakes, volcanic activity, and an unusual number of destructive thunderstorms. Since then we have experienced periods of unusual cold, repeated downpours of rain, intermittent hail and snow in many localities, and floods of extraordinary depth and breadth. These are the usual concomitants of cometary visitation. Mr. Pearce, in his Weather Guide, states that comets have very great influence on the weather; high temperature and dryness being observed to occur coincidently with the approach of large comets, and a re-action on their departure from the solar system. As an instance of this, he points out that in June, 1861, a large comet appeared, and that the average maximum temperature of May, June, July, August and September was 82 degrees, or 10 degrees higher than that for the corresponding months of 1860. Mr. Pearce might also have instanced certain conditions of the weather before and after the presence of the comet in 1864. It was in that year that a small number of persons made use of Mr. W. H. White, a veteran meteorologist, to propagate a new weather theory, the essays and predictions upon which were published in the St. Leonards Gazette, and were, afterwards published, as revised by myself at Mr. White’s request, in a volume of nearly 400 pages, under the title of The Science of the Weather, ”Edited by B.”. I could not agree with some of Mr. White's deductions from erroneous premisses(sic), and some of my criticisms appeared in the said volume, as they had previously appeared in the Gazette as foot-notes. But that which mostly pertains to cometary influence at present under consideration is a private letter to Mr. White, dated August 23rd, 1864, a copy of which is before me, and from which I extract the following sentences:—
“It appears, my dear sir, that you have forgotten to take into account the effects of the comet, now receding from the Sun and Earth — a point on which you have yourself dwelt before now, when refuting the statement of Mons. Arago that comets have no influence or the weather, and in reitering(sic) your own statement that ‘a violent meteoric action is said by astro-meteorologists to predominate during cometary visitations, manifesting itself in heat and drought as comets approach the sun; and in cold, wet, storms, earthquakes, &c., during their presence and on their departure from our system.’ Now I have been telling the folk hereabouts that the weather would remain hot and generally dry until after the perihelion passage of the comet on the 16th inst., when a re-action would ensue in a period of wet and cold. This has really been the case, and to such an extent as to become a topic of general conversation. .... Again, let me say that the comet has had much to do with the late heat and dryness, as well as with the present cold and wet. Up to the 16th inst., as I pre-intimated, we had generally warm weather, but on the 17th, the day of the Grand Archery Meeting, the weather changed to a wintry temperature. . . . On Sunday again the air was very cold, and at the time I am writing to you the cold rain and wind from the east which continued all day yesterday and throughout the night,threatens an intensified continuance.”
I have dwelt on cometary influence because of the similarity of coincidences at the time I am writing with those which have been observed before as constituting what may be regarded as cause and effect. When the present comet was approaching the sun in 1843 — if it be the same comet — there was much mild and stormy weather in January and February, and on its recession there followed a very fickle, showery and unsettled summer. But perhaps one of the most noteworthy instances of support to the theory here advanced was that in connection with the magnificent comet of 1811. I possess a record of many interesting features of that year, both of a local and general character, which on a future occasion may find a place in this history, but I will now conclude this subject by merely noting the fact that during the presence of that comet the heat exceeded that of any similar period for many years, that even in November the gardens were decked with blossoming trees as in May, and that the comet's departure was followed by a very cold, stormy and ungenial spring and summer: the reaction thus commenced culminating in the winter of 1813-14 with terrific gales, extraordinarily high tides and severe frosts. During that winter the old Battery at Hastings was undermined, the stade greatly torn up, and the Elizabethan pier-piles and cross-ties laid bare to an extent said to have seen never before, end certainly never since, equalled. The Priory brooks were covered with water and frozen over on the 10th of January, while a fair was held on the Thames, and the snow in some parts of Kent and Sussex was from 10 to 16 feet deep.
In the enumeration of parochial officers for 1843 I find that I only gave those for St. Leonards parish and consequently omitted those of St. Mary Magdalen. The latter were George Voysey and John Carey, overseers; John Austin and Nelson Andrews, highway surveyors; William Noon and Newton Parks, assessors; John Austin and Stephen Putland, lighting inspectors; and John Phillips, vestry-clerk.
The lighting-rates as then levied by the parish were severally 4d. and 5d. in the £; the poor-rates, two in number, were 6d.; and for watering the roads between White Rock and the Archway the sum of £35 was voted to be paid out of the highway rate. It was in that year that an Act, passed in the reign of George III, was adopted at a vestry meeting to assess owners instead of occupiers, whose rent was between £6 and £20 per annum. The vestry-meetings were usually well-attended, the number of parishioners present being on some occasions as many as from 30 to 40, which with the then comparatively scarce population were in excessive proportion to the numbers at the meetings of later times. It afforded a little amusement, however, to see that a considerable number who were not over proud of their calligraphy invariably walked off at the conclusion of the business without subscribing the minutes. I am not aware that there was any special feature of interest in the year’s transactions except a legal contention between the overseers of St. Mary Magdalen and those of Shepton Malet(sic). On behalf of the former, Mr. Voysey was requested to go to Portsmouth to obtain evidence of Michael Perfect’s settlement there. An order for removal being subsequently obtained, 1t was appealed against, whereupon our home authority gave instructions to defend the action and to employ Counsel to argue the case. I forget what was the result, but as the family (Perfect by name and imperfect in behaviour) continued to reside at St. Leonards, it is probable that the appellants were successful.
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