I came across this citation in the Hastings and St Leonards Times (HSLT), 23 April 1898:
A PROPERTY sale was held by Messrs John and A Bray, at their Auction Rooms, Claremont, on Tuesday afternoon. The following properties were put up for sale: Nos. 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, and 56 Marina. The bidding was very slow, and all the properties were withdrawn with the exception of 43 Marina, which was knocked down at £2,800.
A large sale like this gives us a lot of evidence about ownership of a long street like Marina, and I wanted to know more. The actual buildings were erected in about 1830 to plans by James Burton, the original developer of the town.
Two days before, the 21 April 1898 issue of the Hastings and St Leonards Advertiser added that no. 43 had been sold to a Mr Addison, and that nos. 36-44, and nos. 50-56, were for sale (the first named citation omitted nos. 41 and 55). That is a total of 16 properties. The fact that these were blocks of connected rather than scattered properties suggested that they had been originally bought on a single occasion, rather than one by one.
The Mr Addison mentioned was W.S. Addison, a confectioner at 43 Marina in the 1898 Pike’s Directory, who had purchased his own building’s freehold. Walter Addison was there in the 1901 census with his family, age 51, born in Rye. That directory lists commercial premises at each address, with five lodging houses on the upper floors at nos. 94, 41, 50, 52 and 56.
To the east of the Royal Victoria Hotel is nos. 36-44, with the later Marine Court building from the late 1930s immediately to their east. Nos. 50-56 are immediately to the west of the hotel. The Greeba Hotel, replaced after bomb damage in World War II by Greeba Court’s block of flats, was later at nos. 55-56. Beyond, and not for sale, Crown House was and is no. 57, and is quite different in appearance from its neighbours, and was the first house to be built by James Burton in the development of the town. Allowing for the Greeba, the houses involved in the auction all have, today, the same arched, colonnade appearance at ground level.
So who sold these 16 properties ? The HSLT, 16 April 1898, has a notice stating that nos. 36-44 were one lot, with a rental value of £1229, and nos. 50-56 another lot, rental value £800. They were being sold by the executors of W.H. Goodwin. ‘Particulars appear in an advt.’, which is shown below. Sorry, it’s not very clear.
William Henry Goodwin was a solicitor who had died in 1887 – eleven years earlier ! — at White Rock House, Hastings, aged 60. He was a partner in Young and Goodwin, the solicitors at Bank Buildings, Hastings. Judging from newspaper mentions, the firm did a great deal of conveyancing of property.
Sometimes the newspapers have other details. In this case only one property had been sold at the auction. For example, on the 21 May 1898, in the Hastings Observer, Bray offered to sell by private treaty nos. 36, 39, 40 and 42, all first class shops with a capital house over, and all let on long leases, with a combined annual rent of £627.
We still don’t know when Goodwin purchased the properties, of course.