The Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 7 December 1895, mentions the granting of planning permission for a detached villa, Plot no. 28, Boscobel Road, Mr F. Cruttenden, owner, per Mr P.H. Tree, architect. The permission was from the previous day and is numbered DH/C/6/1/5806 at The Keep, Falmer. Philip Henry Tree (1848-1922), born on nearby Norman Road, was the architect for many of the houses on Boscobel Road. Cruttenden was probably one of the builder family of that name.
The first family to live there were the Swanstons, but they initially moved from Putney to a different house in St Leonards. The Hastings Observer, 25 November 1894, states:
A NOTABLE ARRIVAL. – We are pleased to notice the arrival amongst us, with a view to residing and settling in St Leonards, of Mr George Swanston, C.B., and his family, late of St Austin’s Croft, East Putney. This gentleman has recently retired from the secretaryship of the Board of Trade, after an uninterrupted and distinguished service of over 40 years. Mr Swanston proved himself an officer of great ability, tact, and judgment, his special forte being matters connected with marine and fishery questions… [had been asked to be a member of government committees]… Mr Swanston has just taken a long lease of “Rosemount”, close to Mr Vandeleur Crake’s residence, The Highlands. We may add that our local Museum is greatly indebted to this gentleman for his loan of valuable enamels, china, bric-a-brac, etc., of which he possesses an unique and choice collection.
In the 1891 census the Swanston family had been at St Austin’s Croft, Portinscale Road, Putney. Rosemount was approximately opposite the present Crabtree House on Archery Road, with the larger The Highlands some way below it on the same road. These were the only substantial houses which bordered the Archery Grounds, and both were demolished in I think the 1960s to make way for the technical college, later to be replaced by recently built housing.
Sadly, George John Swanston died the following 4 August 1895 at the age of 62 at Rosemount. His widow was Charlotte, and she was the first inhabitant of St Austin’s Croft.
We know this as the annual Pike’s Directory for Hastings gives her as the householder in its street listings for the years 1899 to 1905. There is no entry in the 1898 volume.
She of course needed staff. The Hastings Observer, 1 December 1900:
WANTED, COOK, also House-Parlourmaid, three in family; kitchen on dining-room floor; boy for help; good wages; personal character required. – Apply St Austin’s Croft, Boscobel-road, Highlands, St Leonards.
The mention of three in in the household matches Swanston in the 1901 census at a new address in Putney: the mother and two daughters, served by cook, housemaid, and parlourmaid. It appears that the St Leonards house was a holiday retreat.
The 1901 Pike’s Directory lists seven (detached) houses on the western side of Boscobel Road, going from north to south. Kenmore was empty. Crake was son to the man at Highlands House. These houses were:
(Fairfield) Corry, Miss
(Boscobel) Gray, Stanton Esq.
(Seacroft) Duffett, Miss
(St Austins Croft) Swanston, Mrs
(Moreton) Rushout, Sir Charles, Bart.
(Kenmore)
(Highlands Cottage) Crake, William V. Esq.
I looked for the house in the 1901 census. A different family was there, and it was presumably being let out:
Marcus H. Voss, head, W[idower], 69, wharfinger, employer, at home, born Leicester, St Martin’s
Ada E. Voss, dau, S, 36, born Surrey, Streatham
Ellen E. Wood, serv, W, 56, housekeeper & cook (domestic), born N.K. [not known]
Emma F. Brown, serv, S, 38, house parlourmaid (domestic), born Essex, Halstead
The Swanston family continued to use St Austin’s Croft, as there was another advert, in the Bexhill on Sea Observer, 5 July 1902:
GOOD plain COOK wanted about the middle of July; good wages; age about 27. – Mrs Swanston, St Austin’s Croft, Boscobel-road, St Leonards.
The Hastings Observer, 17 February 1906, announced the auction of both St Austin’s Croft and the adjacent Moreton at the Edinburgh Hotel, Warrior Square, on the 20th March. Perhaps the Swanston family also owned Moreton. The ‘two artistically-built modern detached residences’ on The Highlands Estate were said to be standing at a good elevation in this favourite residential quarter and commanding magnificent views. We are not told anything about the interior. The 24th March 1906 issue stated that they did not reach their reserve prices. Frequently the houses were subsequently sold by ‘private treaty’, but there are no details of this.
As for Charlotte Swanston, in the 1911 census she was at 77 Pevensey Road, age 74, born Belgravia, living on private means with daughter Gertrude and three servants. She had had nine children. She died there in 1927. However, when her daughter Beatrice married Herbert Martin Mann at Madras Cathedral in 1906 we are told that the family was ‘formerly of St Austin’s Croft, Boscobel-road, St Leonards, and now of 25, Marina, St Leonards’ (Hastings Observer, 1 December 1906).
There was an advert by a Frenchman in the Hastings Observer, 5 January 1907:
Lost, on November 15th, between Tower-road West and Vale-road, Silverhill, a SCARF PIN, female head, with three small diamonds; one pound reward offered. — Jules Prenant, St Austin’s Croft, Boscobel-road, St Leonards
The 10 November 1906 issue had had an advert by a perhaps conceited Prenant asking for a situation ‘as valet or manservant, superior young Frenchman’, who speaks some English, writing from Mrs Marks, 24 Tower-road West. This was only five days before the loss of the scarf pin.
He had presumably been working for the new householder, Edward Sewell, who appears in the 1907 Pike’s Directory.
Another valet wrote from St Austin’s Croft in the Bexhill on Sea Observer, 28 May 1910:
YOUNG Swiss wishes a Situation as VALET or useful man.
The 1911 census cited the number of rooms inhabited by each household. In this case it was 13 rooms. It also asked the intrusive questions of how many children had been born to the couple, and how many were still alive:
Edward Sewell, head, 80, W, 6 children, 3 alive, private means, born Kennington Surrey
Constance Sewell, dau, 50, S, private means, born Ilford Essex
Sarah Silk, visitor, 49, S, private means, born Kinsale Ireland
Lillan Hill, servant, 31, S, domestic servant cook, born Holsworthy Devon
Florence Jones, servant, 24, S, domestic servant housemaid, born Enfield Middlesex
Yet another advert appeared for a servant wanting a new situation in the Hastings Observer, 18 May 1912:
COOK, single handed; town preferred; Roman Catholic; 11 years’ character; wages £26 to £28; private family; St Leonards or Bexhill. – E.R., St Austin’s Croft, Highlands, St Leonards.
We will never know who E.R. was. There was a need, of course, for a new cook, though I only found it in the Sussex Express, 7 March 1913:
WANTED, a good COOK-GENERAL; House-Parlourmaid and Manservant kept; must have good reference; wages, £18-£20. – Apply Miss Sewell, St Austin’s Croft, Highlands, St Leonards-on-Sea.
The Bexhill on Sea Observer, 4 October 1913:
WANTED, at once, a respectable MAN, to look after an elderly invalid gentleman, and to make himself generally useful in the house. – Apply Miss Sewell, St Austin’s Croft, Boscobel-road, St Leonards.
Edward Sewell died on the 25 August 1914 at the house, aged 83. His estate was £13276, equivalent to just under £1.3 million today. In the 1939 Register, for rationing purposes, Constance the daughter was at 18 Chapel Park Road.
There were no entries in Pike’s for the house in 1915-21, and then in the 1922 edition the householder was Lady Jane Kenney-Herbert. In the 1921 census, with 12 rooms, the household was as follows:
Jane F.A. Kenney-Herbert, head, 63, W, born East Ferry, co. Cork, Ireland, [occupation] none
Doreen E.E. Kenney-Herbert, dau, 36, S, born Aylesbury Bucks, none
Margaret Williamson, visitor, 75, S, born Keswick Cumberland, schoolmistress (retired)
Alice M. Morice, visitor, 52, M[arried], born St John’s Wood London, none
Alfred J. Gent, servant, 43, M, born Arundel Sussex, domestic servant, private
In 1925 the house was advertised for sale by order of Lady Kenney Herbert. The Hastings Observer, 17 October 1925, describes it as available with vacant possession on sale, a ‘modern detached non-basement freehold residence in splendid order, three reception, two bah, eight bed, and offices, attractive garden.’ She owed her title as ‘Lady’ to being a daughter to the 3rd Earl of Bantry. She was the widow of Edward Kenney, from 1875 Edward Kenney-Herbert, whose entry in Wikipedia is due to playing cricket for Oxford, who was later an HM Inspector of Schools. He had died in 1916 at Ealing. His widow died in 1946 near Burgess Hill.
The next family to move in was the Coaks. In the 1921 census they were at 17-roomed The Wilderness, St Helen’s Park, Hastings. Both parents were Norfolk-born, in their fifties, and Herbert the husband did not give an occupation, so was presumably independently wealthy. Two sons, two daughters and three servants rounded off the household in that census. In the 1926 electoral register the parents and the two sons, but not the servants, appeared at St Austin’s Croft. Herbert Coaks died at the house on the 12 December 1929. His widow Charlotte Ellen, of St Austin’s Croft, died at the Buchanan Hospital on the 20 September 1931. Both were buried at the Church in the Wood, Hollington.
Tragically, her son Evelyn Latimer Coaks committed suicide on the 16 July 1932. He was buried at the Church in the Wood, Hollington. There is an account which I warn my readers is painful to read in the Hastings Observer, 23 July 1932:
TOOK RAT POISON. REMARKABLE CONVERSATION BEFORE COMMITTING SUICIDE. TRAGEDY OF UNFITNESS. An extraordinary story of a casual conversation on ways and means of committing suicide only a few hours before he took his life was related at the inquest on Evelyn Latimer Coaks, aged 39, a bachelor, of no occupation, held at the Silverhill Schools on Monday.
Shortly after the conversation Mr Coaks purchased a packet of vermin killer at a chemist’s, returned to the flat which he had recently taken at 6, Markwick-terrace, St Leonards, and committed suicide behind a locked door.
Herbert Cyril Coaks, of Littlegate Farm, Beckley, said his brother had been delicate from birth and was of a quiet and reserved temperament. He was invalided out during the war as a private. Later he joined with a commission, but he was again invalided out. His unfitness preyed on his mind, and in 1915 he had a complete nervous breakdown. Then he developed septic pneumonia and was not expected to live. He lived with his mother until her death last September…
The conversation had been with a man who was fitting a stove at the flat, Robert Avery. A police officer found a notebook in a pocket of Coaks’ jacket containing a signed suicide note: ‘My life has been so utterly lonely since the death of my dear mother that I feel quite unable to go on living.’ On the 4 September 1914, as an articled solicitor’s clerk, he had enlisted in the Public Schools Battalion, Middlesex Regiment. He was discharged as medically unfit on the 20 November 1914. He later served briefly in the Army Service Corps. Like his parents, he was buried at the Church in the Wood.
A few days later, on the 27 July 1932, a planning application for converting St Austin’s Croft into flats was approved. The new owner was Mr W.A. Thomas, and the architect was P.H. Oxley, of Hastings. It is numbered DH/C/6/1/11480 at The Keep. The 1933 Pike’s Directory only lists E. Jones, a caretaker, but the 1934 edition, besides for the first time giving the address as 28 Boscobel Road as well as St Austin’s Croft, lists the householders of four flats:
1 Pendlebury Rev. Jn. Roger M.A.
2 James Ernest Alfd
3 Phillips Harold J. M.D.
4 Williamson Arth. Edwd
With four households from now on, the remainder of this account will only mention a few individuals.
The Rev. John Roger Pendlebury, of Flat 1, died there on the 12 July 1936, age 75. He had been a clergyman in Oxfordshire.
In the 1936 Pike’s Directory R.E. Darby of Flat 4 appeared for the first time. This was Rupert Edward Darby, an official in Queen Anne’s Bounty which was a scheme to improve the income of Anglican ministers whose livings paid relatively little. His wife Ethel died at St Augustine’s, Upper Maze Hill, on the 14 April 1936.
On the 30 September 1939, a few weeks after World War II began, what is simply called the Register was compiled. This was an attempt to list by address all civilians in the UK for rationing purposes. Six were in the building:
1 Menear Arthur E. Born 9 Aug 1879, married, chief accountant 3 companies
Menear Mary S., born 30 Jan 1883, married, unpaid domestic duties.
2 [Crossed out is a Parks couple]
Woods [crossed out, Openshaw) Hilda. Born 10 Apr 1915, single, dressmaker
3 Empty
4 Darby Rupert E. Born 14 June 1883, widower. Higher Executive Officer, Queen Anne’s Bounty.
Darby John R. Born 16 Aug 1917, single. Bank clerk.
Darby Margaret P. Born 8 Dec 1919, single. Housekeeper.
The Parks couple had probably moved out. The crossing out of Woods and its replacement with Openshaw meant that Hilda Woods had later married a Mr Openshaw; this was a few months later, in Cheshire. ‘Unpaid domestic duties’ is an accurate description in my opinion.
Rupert Darby died in 1950 at 14 Knoll Rise, St Leonards. His son John, listed above, served as a Captain in the East Lancashire Regiment in World War II and although a bank official at the time of his father’s death later became a Technical Officer in the General Post Office. He died at Eastbourne in 2014, age 97.
The Hastings Observer, 20 October 1945, contains a waspish letter by Sidney Macer-Wright (1882-1959) of Flat 1. It was an attack on proposals by Sidney Little, the Borough Engineer. Here are a couple of extracts:
The vandalic project of a “double track miniature electric railway” to Ecclesbourne Glen ? The debasement of the glen itself by the creation of a tea garden ? And when this is achieved, what next ? A zoo, as an inducement to patronise the tea garden ? Or a Great Wheel from which the wondrous works of the Borough Engineer can be surveyed ?… Let the Borough Engineer exercise his talents by improving the front and those shopping streets which obviously cry for improvement, but forbid him to touch our beauty spots lest, little by little, our town becomes a blatant, restless and vulgar fun fair.
Sidney was a journalist for the Daily Telegraph, and also edited an anthology of Dickens’ works. His father was owner and editor of the Hastings and St Leonards Times.
On the 11 Apr 1950 a planning application for a greenhouse was approved, DH/C/40/50/144.
I will conclude with Lilian Annie Mansel, who died on the 21 February 1958, age 86, late of 6 The Mount and formerly of Flat 3, 28 Boscobel Road. The Hastings Observer, 1 March 1958, has a detailed obituary with a photo. She was the daughter of Alderman F.A. Langham, and had married in 1899 Dr H.R. Mansell, who was a general practitioner on West Hill, Hastings. They had nine children. She was active as an Anglican and a Conservative. When her husband retired they moved to 25 St Saviour’s Road, St Leonards. During World War II she broke her arm in a Bromley air raid shelter, and was also at Pangbourne and Crowborough. After the war she lived at Winchester House, Pevensey Road West, before moving to 28 Boscobel Road.