the bride being given away by another brother, H. M. Harvey, Esq., of Leytonstone, Essex. The bridesmaids, 7 in number, were the Misses Foyster, the Misses Grenside, Miss Cooper and Miss Anderson. A reserché breakfast was partaken of at the residence of the bride’s mother by about 30 guests, and as the bride had been a much beloved superintendent of the St. Mary’s Sunday School, the children of the same, together with those of St. Clement, were provided with a treat and a holiday. The bells of St. Clement’s and All Saints’ were also rung or the joyous occasion.
Maritime Casualties - Shipping Trade - The "Virginian Brothers"
On May 26th a Servant at Mr. Inskipp’s, in High street, having been scolded for misconduct, obtained from a chemist half an ounce of arsenic, swallowed the greater part of it, and being seized with violent vomiting and purging, the cause of which was unknown to her master, she was sent to her home in St. Leonards, where prompt remedies were applied by surgeon Fry, and death was averted. On the 29th of May, or the Royal Oak Day as the boys used to say in the years passed away, Mr. Hall, one of Mr. Neve’s workmen at St. Leonards, had the misfortune to fall a distance of 20 feet from a window at Mr. Lucas-Shadwell’s new mansion at Fairlight, and being seriously injured, was conveyed to the infirmary.
At about this time Mr. E. Bowmer, of 24½ George street, published four new views, namely, the interior of St. Mary’s and exteriors of St. Clement’s, All Saints’ and Halton churches.
On the 29th of May a young man named Steere while sailing with a pleasure party to Brighton in the new yacht British Lion, attempted to place his hat on the lute and fell overboard, Being unable to swim he struggled in the water for about three minutes until a boat could be lowered, when Bumstead, one of the owners of the yacht; jumped it and saved the young draper’s assistant from his perilous position.
In the month of May, Mr. Henry Winter (afterwards a Town Councillor, Mayor and Guardian) received his appointment as Sub-distributor of Stamps, in the room of Mr. W. Bailey, deceased.
On the 6th of July Mr. Frederick Foster was appointed master of Saunders’s Endowed School, as successor to Mr. W. Bevins, deceased. Thus in the same year and within two months of each other, the schools of both charities were compelled to have new masters in consequence of the death of the preceding ones.
Robert Hollond, the Liberal M.P. for Hastings, and Musgrave Brisco, the Conservative M.P. for ditto, both voted against Hume and Cobden’s Bill or Parliamentary Reform.
On the night of the 6th of July the Henry fishing lugger, known as Philip Kent's, was run down by what was supposed to be a large brig, such a vessel having been seen by other fishermen passing down Channel at about the time. The unfortunate men who were in the lugger were Mark White, aged 68, and J. Swain, aged 48 and others whose names were not known to me. White had a wife and 7 children, and Swain had 3 children.
On the following; day, at about three miles off Fairlight, the masts and some other tackle out of the ill-fated boat were picked up. The boat was found and raised a few days later, when it was discovered to be almost cut in two. The vessel which had caused the fatality and wreckage was believed to have sailed out of Rye harbour, with a bad look-out on board. Neither body was then found, but that of Mark White was washed ashore at Lydd a fortnight later, and was interred at All Saints on the 24th of July. The danger of collision to which our fishing-boats are exposed in the ”narrow sea” receives additional evidence in the fact that on the 17th of September, a boat called the Maria, and owned by fishmonger W. Breach, had to let go and lose her trawling net, worth £14, as the only means of escaping from being run down by a large ship. The “silver streak” is sometimes overcrowded with shipping, particularly after rough weather, and then it is also that our fishermen put to sea in full numbers with an endeavour to make up for compulsory idleness. On Sunday, Dec. 20th, it was computed that no fewer than a thousand sail passed Hastings after detention by gales in the Downs and eastern harbours. It may be imagined to what risks our fishermen are exposed at night in such a crowded sea-way.
The fact of there being only two men on board of the ill-fated Henry, proves that they were not engaged in mackerel-catching, a pursuit which in the season of 1848 was said to be the most unsuccessful of its kind for twenty years. But if the mackerel season was bad, the herring season which followed was undeniably good; and if Mr. Kent’s wrecked fishing-boat brought loss to its owner, another of his boats brought him gain. It landed on a Sunday morning in November no fewer than 7 lasts (70,000) herrings, which realised a good price. One of Breach’s boats had brought to land, a few days previously, 46,000 herrings, which realised £70, whilst several other boats, with lesser quantities obtained an average price of £11 per last. Another £70 was earned by one of Breach’s boats on the 17th of October, by a “sivver” of 5 lasts (50,000) herrings. And now that I am treating of fish it will be appropriate here to state that on the 1st of July, a sturgeon was caught off Hastings which measured 5ft. 10 in. in length, and turned the scale at 68lbs in weight. It was purchased by Mr. T. Price fishmonger of St. Leonards, and sent off to London. Whether, as a “royal fish” this particular specimen ever graced the royal table I cannot say.
Writing to the owners of the sloop Mary and Theodosia of Hastings, of which he was master, James Coppard said “On Thursday last [July 20th] in passing through Boston Deeps we saw a schooner capsize. We took four men from her side, one of whom had a broken leg, and landed them at Hull. The master and his wife were both drowned.” This simple and unadorned statement was the only intimation which for a considerable time our townspeople received of the performance of a brave and humane act. It came afterwards to be known that in rescuing the men from the wreck, Coppard proceeded from his own craft to the disabled schooner in a punt only 12 feet long, and accompanied by a boy, leaving his own vessel in the care of only one man. A heavy gale, by which the schooner was capsized, was in progress at the time and the sea was very rough. Coppard’s heroic conduct was crowned with success, even to the surprise of Coppard himself, as he afterwards viewed it and wondered how he did it. This brave act of Coppard and his boy is a fitting accompaniment to that of Grace Darling and her father.
Of the maritime casualties nearer home was that of the sloop Caroline, of Caen. She had come ashore at the slipway near the Saxon Hotel to deliver her cargo, and before she could again get away to sea, a fierce south-west gale came on, which caused the sloop’s hawser to break and the vessel; itself to be driven on to the groyne. Among other damages which ensued were a rent in the hull and the breaking away of the ”fore foot.” The crew being strangers to the place, rigged up a sort of tent under the parade wall with spars and sails, and there passed the night after the turn of the flood tide. The date, I believe, was the 12th of November.
Another of the freaks of Neptune’s element was on the 25th of October, to get into a rage, thereby compelling a small yacht to be run ashore, where she broke her outrigger, filled with water, and but for good help being at hand, would have gone entirely to pieces. The said yacht was called The Mullet, and was built for the Earl of Ashburnham. It was regarded as a handsome boat and was ' launched from Messrs. Thwaites and Hutchings yard only three weeks before. About the same time the Victoria, a large dismasted ship passed Hastings with passengers from New York to London. On the 28th of September a ship’s boat, apparently of foreign build, was picked up at sea by the Isabel fishing-boat, of Hastings, and delivered to the Officer of Customs.
On the 7th of August a son of the Rev. William Davis, minister of the Croft Chapel, got into deep water while bathing, and was rescued from drowning by the exertions of Thomas Elliott and Frederick Cooper, who got hold of him and brought him ashore insensible. his restoration was effected by suitable means, and his rescuers were afterwards presented with medals by the Royal Humane Society. Cooper had similarly saved a life before.
If before the present enormous traffic by means of steam on land and sea, the sailing vessels in the merchant service were more numerous in days gone by, so also were the hoys and colliers, and chalk-sloops and timber- barges which were ever and anon loading or unloading on the Hastings beach. Even in the year '48, now under notice, the number of vessels which sailed to and from Hastings was not inconsiderable. There were sometimes as many as six or seven craft lying on the beach at one time; and that my readers may have some evidence of this I will enumerate the shipping arrivals during the first twelve days of July as a fair average of what they were in the summer months. They were the Milward, Fisher, master; the Phœnix, Palmer; the Pelican, Phillips; the Hastings, Piper; the Burfield Brothers, another Piper; the Thwaites, Picknell; the Queen Victoria, Young; the Perseverance, Winter; the London, Hibbert; the Mary Theodosia, Coppard; the Fairy, Piper; the Lamburn, Woodgate; the Imperial, Brett; and the Rock Scorpion, Phillips.
The landing of passengers and mails from abroad was also a practice not wholly extinct, although they were reduced to a condition more few and far between by the regular services to and from foreign countries and the large British ports, The arrival at Hastings of Mails by private ships in 1848, so far as I have an account of them were as follows :— On the 9th of May the Monarch, from Calcutta, landed bags of letters and upwards of 20 passengers from Calcutta. The Coromandel, from the Mauritius, also sent a passenger ashore. On the next day the Renown landed three passengers from Port Philip, and the Australasia four passengers from Van Dieman’s Land. On the 21st of June 6 large boxes of letters were landed by the Antilla, from Port Adelaide. To get these boxes unsealed, unpacked stamped and despatched to St. Martin’s-le-grand must have been to the officials a work of no small amount of labour and anxiety, the instructions from the head office being “On no account must the mail be delayed.” As post-clerk for several years in the Hastings office prior to the date here named, when the arrivals by private ships were even more numerous, I had stamped with the words “Ship-letter” or ”Indian letter,” and sometimes with blistered hands, thousands upon thousands of foreign missives thus imported.
Apropos of the Post-office, a memorial was sent to the Postmaster-General in the month of October for increased accommodation in the Priory district, which brought a prompt reply that two receiving houses would be opened as soon as arrangements could be made.
Ere I close my notices of the maritime occurrences of 1848, it will be a fitting association to review the acquatic(sic) sports of that year. On the 29th of Sept. the regatta was well carried out and the races admirably contested in the most charming weather and a favourable sea. The SAILING-BOATS arrived at the goal in the following order:— E. Cubby’s Rosaline, H. Cobby’s Planta, Page’s Helen, Curtis's Sea Flower, Oliver’s Lively, Waters’s Patriot, May’s Queen, Nash’s Admiral, and Golding’s Nancy. The final positions of the PAIR-OARS were Haddon and Kent in French’s Venus, Swain and Enefer in Amoore’s Snowdrop, Brazier and Fryman in Cobby’s Jerry, Page and Carpenter in Stroud’s Prairie-bird, R Brazier and Mann in Nash's Jenny Lind, and Burfield and Stevenson in Wingfield’s Vernon, The succession of AMATEUR PAIRS at the winning post was Delves and Farrol in the Snowdrop, Beck and Orton in the Swift, Hutchinson and Wingfield in the Jerry, Chandler and Thwaites in the Vernon, and Baldock and Tapsell in the Prairie-bird. In the race for SINGLE SCULLS Tom and Jerry were first and second, they being rowed respectively by Enefer and Carpenter. The others were the Snowdrop, by Swain; Venus, by Hadden; Fawn, by Buxted; Prairie-bird by Page; Twin by Mann; and Vernon, by Wingfield. In the TUB RACE, of ten competitors, the lads Hide and Stonham were first and second. In the DUCK HUNT, “Devil“ Taught caused immense amusement by the way in which he eluded his pursuers—Alfred Beck and William Orton (St. Leonards) and T. Vidler (Hastings). The umpires were Charles Amoore and ”Jemmy” Roper.
Excellent as was the above regatta, upon the lines of the old arrangement, it was far surpassed by one that took place on the 29th of October, mainly through the instrumentality of Mr. Charles Amoore. It was, in fact, the most interesting and enjoyable series of aquatic sports ever held in Hastings, the deviation from the old track being a course of about half the distance, with a greater number of turns. This arrangement brought the competitors within the unbroken view of the spectators, and kept up an undimished(sic) interest. The weather was magnificent and the parade was crowded.
The first among the other events of an amusing or festive character was the dinner, on the 19th of January, to about 400 persons, to signalize the rearing of the mansion[a] at Fairlight, known as The Hall. On coming to the estate, end taking the name of his late uncle, Mr. W. D. Lucas-Shadwell determined to erect a stately mansion from the designs of Mr. J. Cooke, of Carlton Chambers. It was to be in the Tudor style of architecture and to be completed within and without in the true Elizabethan order. The guests at the rearing dinner included the whole of the contractors’ workmen and the tradesmen engaged in the erection. The Fairlight band played at intervals, and at the conclusion of the feast, many toasts were proposed and speeches made. The health of the contractors (Benjamin Tree and Charles Neve) was proposed by Mr. Lucas Shadwell, that of Mr. and Mrs. Stent by Mr. Batley, and that of Mr. Lucas-Shadwell by the Rev. W. Pearce.
Passing over some minor amusements, I come to a pic-nic, which took place in the second week in July, an allusion to which was thus described in a county newspaper;—
“Bright eyes, clear skies and shady groves, together with quadrille, polka and country dance, to the strains of Brett’s St, Leonards Band, kept the “gipsies” in a merry mood until ten o’clock, when instead of falling out, they fell in, for a march homewards; and, being led on by the spirit-moving quickstep of the band, they formed a chain of delightful association.”
Among the most popular entertainments of 1848 were those of the ” Virginian Brothers,” a small troupe of niggers and the first local company of the kind established in the borough. Their first performance Was at the Mayor’s dinner on the 9th of November, 1847, when Mr. Ticehurst was elected a second time to the civic chair, That gentleman, being aware of their existence, and gratified by their performance at a private rehearsal, had arranged for their sudden and unannounced introduction to the mayoral festivities as soon as the loyal toasts had been got over. So taken by surprise and so pleased with their performance were the company present as to make the darkie band from that time the lions of the evening. A considerable sum of money was voluntarily collected, and the vocalists, not unnaturally, conceived that they had plunged into popularity at a single bound, Thus encouraged, they doubled their efforts for increased efficiency, meeting alternately at Hastings and. St. Leonards,and getting up as good a repertory of songs, jokes and conundrums as might suffice for frequent entertainments and changes of programme, Then followed a succession of performances in the Swan Assembly Room - or, we might say, Rooms, for so overflowing was the large room on most occasions as to necessitate the placing of chairs and forms.-in the adjoining room, with the folding doors thrown open. On the 3rd of May the ”Brothers” performed at Rye, relating to which was the the following newspaper paragragh(sic):-
”The Virginian Brothers of Hastings and St, Leonards consisting of Messrs. T. B. , and H. Brett, W. and G. Winter, W. Edwards, T. Collins; — Chatfield and Master Lewns (the latter of Rye) gave a grand performance on Wednesday at the George Hotel to a numerous and gratified audience, Their vocal and instrumental pieces were executed in an admirable manner, which was proved by the rapturous plaudits of the company and the several demands for encores. The entertainment was divided into two parts, in the first of which the niggers appeared in black dresses, and the second part in the white and red costume of the natives of India. Between the parts Mr. T. B.,Brett. who had hitherto been ensconsed behind a Screen, executed a difficult but pleasing overture on the guitar, in which he exhibited some dextrous manipulation and produced a variety of good harmony. We wish the Virginian Brothers all the success that their excellent training entities them to expect,”
In another report, which appeared in the Hastings News, it was said :- ”Altogether, the Virginian Brothers may be considered to have fully established their claim as Nigger melodists.” The editor of the News also remarked in his notice to readers and correspondents that ”A letter from Rye, signed by an Inhabitant [probably Mr. R, E. Kidd] arrived when we were already full, or it would have appeared. The Virginian Brothers of Hastings and St. Leonards will be pleased to learn that the Inhabitant has written to testify to the general satisfaction given at Rye by their nigger performances.”
On the 28th of the same month of May a second grand concert of sacred music in aid of the St. Leonards parochial schools was given in the Assembly Rooms under the management of Mr. E. Elford, who was assisted in the instrumental department by Messrs B. Wood and W. Giles (violins), J. Wise (tenor), Fleming (violoncello), T. Elliott (double-bass), J. Elphick (clarionet), T. Elliott jun. (flute), J. Meadows (horn and cornopean), and F French. ophecleide), The vocalists were the Misses Whiting, Wood, Sinden White and Edwards; Masters Elford and Eaton; and Messrs. Beck, Goddard, Walker, Whiting, Winter, Giles, Parks, Hide, Tutt, Richardson, and Tindall. “ We are glad [said the Hastings News] that these towns possess so great an amount of musical talent as was displayed on this occasion.
For out-door amusements there were the Hastings Band, under the management of Messrs, Wood and Eliott, and the St. Leonards Band, under the management of T. B. Brett The latter commenced its summer season’s performances on the 13th of June, and the former on the 24th of July.
On the 8th of August. a vocal entertainment was given in the Swan Assembly Rooms by Henry Russell the celebrated composer; and on the 22nd of September, equestrian performances by Cooke's Circus troope were commenced on the Priory Brooks.
Archaeological Meeting - Meeting against the Income Tax
Harmonic Societies and Free-and-Easies were much in vogue at the several inns, and in the month of Oct. most of them had commenced their winter sessions, The one at the Royal Oak Hotel began on the 10th. The Virginian Brothers also commenced their second 181H -
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