Author Archives: Stephen van Dulken

Amy Louisa Wolfen, campaigner

The 18 March 1911 issue of the Hastings and St Leonards Observer had the following letter. AGAINST WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE. RESULT OF A POLL OF HASTINGS WOMEN VOTERS. Madame Amy Wolfen, of 6, Warrior Square-terrace, asks us to publish the following: — As the Conciliation Bill proposes to enfranchise the women municipal voters, the Hastings and […]

George William Spice, cab driver

In the 1 February 1947 issue of the Hastings and St Leonards Observer we have the following interesting autobiographical account. Veteran Driver’s memories WHEN BOROUGH HAD ONE MOTOR BUS. Days of the horse cabs and the town’s only motor bus, which plied between Hastings Station and the Fishmarket, are recalled by Mr George William Spice, […]

The dramatic rescue of the crew of the J.C. Pfluger in 1891 at St Leonards

There is a dramatic account of the (successful) attempts to rescue the crew, and the captain’s family, from the Pfluger when it ran aground at West Marina, St Leonards on Sea, on the 11 November 1891. Sometimes accounts refer to the ship as the H.C. Pfluger, sometimes the (correct) J.C. Pfluger. This is from the Sussex […]

St Leonards on Sea and the 1873 Return of Owners of Land for Sussex

The Radical and Quaker MP John Bright (1811-89) used the 1861 census to charge that there were only 30,000 land-owners, and alleged that “fewer than one hundred and fifty men” owned “half the land in England,” and that it was a “practical monopoly on land “. Edward Henry Stanley (1826-93), the 15th Earl of Derby, […]

Gratitude for being saved from drowning in 1874

The Rye newspaper the South Eastern Advertiser, 26 September 1874, has the following article: NARROW ESCAPE FROM DROWNING. – A female servant had a narrow escape from drowning on Sunday morning last, whilst bathing from the bathing machines at Warrior-square. Neglecting the warning of the attendant not to leave go of the rope, she did […]

The Intoxicating Liquors (Sale to Children) Act of 1901: the reaction of St Leonards landlords

The Intoxicating Liquors (Sale to Children) Act of 1901 provided, briefly, that: A landlord must not knowingly sell to children under 14 any liquor, except in sealed and corked bottles, and he cannot supply less than a reputed pint to such children; nor must he sell spirits to any person apparently under the age of […]