The Hastings and St Leonards Observer contains a vast amount of information on visitors to St Leonards, usually cited as “Arrivals” or “Fashionable intelligence.” The newspaper, with many others, can be searched online for a specific address, either on the British Newspaper Archive or, using the same data, on the Find My Past database, both […]
Author Archives: Stephen van Dulken
I have been researching the houses on my road, Vale Road, Silverhill, and found on a family tree on the priced Ancestry website an interesting photo. It showed a woman holding a baby while seated in the sidecar of a motorcycle, with an older boy behind her. It was thought to be from 1922, […]
Genealogy very often results amassing information such as dates and places of birth, marriage and death. It is rare that one is able to add flesh to the bones, so to speak. Sometimes, though, newspapers or books can add to this. In this case, a great deal. The 29 July 1853 issue of the Hastings […]
The Hastings Museum acquired in 1947 a peepshow of St Leonards on Sea, numbered 947.43. This is full of interest, as it shows an unusual view of the seafront, looking west from the archway. The Museum very kindly let me have photos of it. First we have the front, with a small hole of the […]
Electoral registers are often a neglected source for house histories. Quite apart from giving the names of voters living there, they can provide extra information. For example, you can sometimes gather information on who owned freehold property. Occasionally a tenant is given. Directories give the occupant, but directories are few before about 1885. The priced […]
The Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 12 October 1918 issue, contained the following brief notice: Edward van Biene, late manager (3 ½ years) St Leonards Pier, open for employment in similar capacity. 10 Maze Hill. It is odd that he quit (or was he fired ?) before he found a suitable job. The same issue […]
Houses with a name may sound easy to research. They can, however, cause problems, as in the case of James Farish Danvers’ devotion to the name of Swithland. He lived in four houses named Swithland, three of them in St Leonards. The name probably comes from Swithland Hall, Leicestershire, which was lived in by a […]
I was looking for someone in the 1901 census when I came across an unusual household at 37 Pevensey Road, St Leonards on Sea. Matthew Makalua, age 35, surgeon, born Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian subject, was married to wife Annie, 39, born Oxfordshire, with his son James, 10, born London. There was also a visitor and […]
This is the first posting of the Society’s new blog, which is an exciting development. While I will be the blog editor, I hope that other members will also write postings. These may cover history or modern conservation efforts – really anything about the heritage of St Leonards on Sea. My own interest in house […]