Members of the Society enjoyed a garden party at 9 Maze Hill today. Many thanks to our generous host. Here are some stories connected with the address.
Below is a photo of the house, with 1832 carved in stone at the top of the street facade.
At first the house appears to have been rented out for short periods of time judging from scattered mentions in the newspapers. This changed when the Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 7 July 1877, noted that Dr Trollope had moved from 35 Marina to 9 Maze Hill. He was a relative of the famous novelist.
Shortly afterwards, on the 4 September 1877, the Hastings and St Leonards Independent had a story about James Blackman, working for Messrs. H. and C. Hughes of St Leonards, builders. He was repairing the house and was ascending a ladder when it broke, and as he fell the top half struck him on the head. We are told ‘He was picked up and was examined by Dr Trollope, who ordered him to be taken to the Infirmary, where he was seen by Dr Penhall, who found that the unfortunate man had broken his left leg just above the ankle.’
Thomas Trollope was a consulting physician at Hastings Hospital for nearly 40 years. Sadly, his wife Esther Sarah died not long after they moved into no. 9, in 1880, age 46. They do not seem to have had any children. He died on the 21 April 1905 at 9 Maze Hill, age 74. He was a Tory, a Churchman, and a leading Freemason.
He left an estate of £51457. The newspapers noted that he made many charitable bequests, and 50 private legacies. He left £1500 to his butler, George Vidler. He left the leasehold of 9 Maze Hill and its furniture, and an annuity of £30, to his housekeeper Frances Crouch, on condition that she looked after his pets. She was the daughter of a Crowhurst agricultural labourer.
The housekeeper had been with him a long time. In the 1871 census she was the 20-year-old cook at 35 Marina. Crouch was with him at 9 Maze Hill in three censuses: in 1881 (as cook), 1891 (as housekeeper) and 1901 (as cook again). She only enjoyed her good fortune for a few years, as she died on the 2 June 1909 at 9 Maze Hill, age 57, leaving an estate of £364. Some might wonder why he was quite so generous to his servant… and who checked that the pets were being looked after ?
Following her death the furniture was in July moved to 52 Marina and offered for sale, while the house was offered for sale or lease. In December 1909 Frances Bates, a beggar accompanied by a child who was not her own, was charged with stealing two shrubs from the garden of the empty 9 Maze Hill, which was the property of John Bray, estate agent. She said she hoped to place the child in the workhouse, but the bench, mentioning three previous offences by her, said she only used the child to gain sympathy. She was sentenced to seven days hard labour and, temporarily, the child was indeed taken to the workhouse (Hastings Observer, 4 December 1909).
While not exactly a story, the 1911 census is interesting in that it gave the number of rooms in each household. 9 Maze Hill was divided into three households, with 14 rooms in all. In eight rooms there were James George Pugh, 58, ‘apartment house keeper’, who presumably was renting out the other flats, with his wife Mary Ann, 60, boarder Harriet Wakeley, and Frances Shaw, servant. Two woman cousins were in three rooms, Mary Ann Spearing, 67, and Sophia Maria Garratt, 81, both living on private means. The third household, also with three rooms, was of two Duffett sisters in their forties, also living on private means.
There is one deliciously naughty story which was told in the Hastings Observer, 14 April 1906. Major J.L. Gant of Chiddingly recalled an incident from 75 years before when he was living with his father Colonel Gant on Maze Hill, in the house “lately occupied by my lamented friend, Dr Trollope.” He was in fact not J.L. but John Castle Gant (1816-1916), his father also being a John Castle Gant.
He went bathing in an area where this was prohibited unless a bathing machine was used, leaving his clothes on a groyne (rather than in a machine). His clothes were removed by a zealous town crier, ‘in all the pride of his uniform’. Gant continues:
I called after him but he paid no notice, so I had to go home something like Adam.
On arriving at my father’s house one of the maid servants was cleaning the entrance steps, and when she saw me she jumped up and ran into the house, exclaiming: “Oh, Master John !”
I am pleased to report that the summons was dismissed by the Mayor, Dr Rankin. The town crier was fined 5s, and ordered to return the clothes.