Monthly Archives: August 2025

An 1862 property auction in St Leonards on Sea

The 12 July 1862 issue of the St Leonards and Hastings Gazette & Visitors’ Vade Mecum reported on the sale of a ‘block’ of 13 houses and a plot of land at an auction at the Warrior’s Gate pub, the site of the present Post Office on London Road. The account is unusually detailed, and […]

The Matrimonial Causes Act, 1857, and St Leonards on Sea

The Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857 marked the first step towards making divorce much easier, and also protecting the property of women who were divorced, separated or deserted by their husbands. This post tells two stories of the act being invoked, as first encountered in local newspapers. The first was an attempt to get a […]