Hastings and St Leonards News, 23 April 1852:
DEPARTURES.
Lady Wallscourt, 42, Marina, on Monday.
Lady Williams, Upland Views, on Monday, after six weeks sojourn.
Lady Hay, 25, Marina, on Tuesday.
Hon. Mrs Edgcumbe and family, 16, Grand Parade, on Monday.
Mr Hollond, M.P., and Mrs Hollond, Allegria, for London, on Monday.
A SERIOUS CHARGE AGAINST DRINK. – Ann Blackman, 25, pleaded not guilty to the indictment of stealing, on the 1st of April, in the parish of St Mary Magdalen, one toilet-cover and a towel, the property of Thomas Ross, her employer.
We have given the evidence in this case, on a recent occasion when the prisoner was committed.
Prisoner, in her defence, said that she had taken the towel home to wash; and denied that she had made the towel-cover into an an apron, as stated by the constable.
The Recorder having summed up,
The Jury, after a short consultation, returned a verdict of Guilty.
The prisoner begged for mercy, and said she had been deceived by a young man with whom she had walked seven years, and that had driven her to drinking. Up to that time her character was good. She had lived five years in one place.
This being the third time the prisoner had been convicted of felony, the Recorder sentenced her to seven years’ transportation.
Hastings and St Leonards News, 30 Apr 1852:
VAGRANCY. – John Mullens, an Irishman, was brought up, charged by police-constable Hayward with begging in St Leonards.
Prisoner, on being committed to gaol for seven days, very innocently enquired whether he should have anything to eat ?
VAGRANCY. – Cornelius Murray, Jerry Bryan, James Smith, Frederick Mills, Jeremiah Crowly, and Timothy Sullivan, six Irishmen, were charged with sleeping in a cow-shed belonging to Mr Robert Deudney, at St Leonards.
Police-constable Pocock deposed that he found the prisoners and fourteen or fifteen more in the shed. They had turned the cows into the yard, and taken the fodder from the bins to lay upon.
Sullivan and Crowly, being old offenders, were committed to Lewes to hard labour for one month; the rest were discharged, with orders to leave the town.
Sussex Advertiser, 4 May 1852:
SATURDAY – Before the Mayor.
John Collins was charged with begging.
Police Constable Collins deposed that about a quarter past six on Friday evening he saw prisoner at White Rock Place. A gentleman had just arrived in a fly, and prisoner followed him to and fro from the house to the fly; he took prisoner into custody, and the gentleman said he was begging. Witness saw prisoner in the afternoon at Warrior Square, there were 10 or 11 beggars in that neighbourhood at the time.
Prisoner was committed for seven days.
Hastings and St Leonards News, 14 May 1852:
ORDER OF REMOVAL. – An order was made to remove Mary Trench from the parish of St Mary Magdalen to Beckley.
Page 3. THE ROAD BETWEEN HASTINGS AND ST LEONARDS. A memorial, extensively signed, was received from the owners and occupiers of property adjacent to the road between Hastings and St Leonards, representing that since flies had been stationed on that line, the road had been found inconveniently narrow. As they understood that the Eversfield parade, which was parallel to the road, was about to be altered, they solicited that the railings might be placed further seaward, so as to widen the carriage way to the extent of ten or twelve feet, which would be a great improvement to so busy a thoroughfare, which was likely to become still more crowded… [Carried, nominal cost only].
Hastings and St Leonards News, 21 May 1852:
PUBLIC SALE. – The beautiful freehold residence of R. Hollond, Esq., M.P., the “Allegria,” was sold in London on Wednesday, by Mr Gadsden, at the Auction Mart, opposite the Bank of England, for £4,950 [This was apparently an error, as the Morning Chronicle, 7 June, stated that it had not been sold and was available by private contract. It was offered for sale at the same venue in the News, 24 June, in an auction on the 30 June; and again was offered for private sale in the Morning Herald, 26 October. It was yet again offered for sale in the Morning Herald, 26 May 1853, at an auction at The Mart on the 30 June. Visitor information in the newspapers show that a Mr and Mrs James Coster were the subsequent owners. In the 1851 census the couple were at Hill House, Streatham Common, he age 65, silk merchant, with nine servants. James died at Allegria on the 9 September 1857. His widow Frances Maria died at Allegria on the 9 November 1860. His firm’s bookkeeper had carried out fraud, and he was in prison, and the firm went bankrupt].
Hastings and St Leonards News, 23 July 1852
A FEARFUL SIGHT. – Last Saturday a child, only about two years old, strayed on to the South-coast Railway a little beyond Bopeep. While the child was on the rails, its father, a Coast Guard living near, perceived its dangerous position, and beheld a train rapidly approaching. He ran towards his child, and snatched it off the rails at the very moment the engine was close by the spot. It is even said that the train brushed against the clothes of the Coast Guard. A female who witnessed the scene from the Coast Guard cottages, went off into hysterics.
Sussex Advertiser, 31 August 1852:
ANNUAL LICENSING DAY… The first application considered was that of John Towner, for a license for a new house, being 1, Union Road, St Leonards.
Mr Langham supported the application. The situation is at the end of Alfred Street, at the junction of that street with Union-road, and among a number of new houses which have been, within the last few years, erected in Gensing field. Mr Langham presented a memorial signed by several inhabitants in favour of the application [This became the Carpenters’ Arms, now 27 Alfred Street, and now definitely not ‘at the end’ of Alfred Street].
William Bennett applied for a license to a new house in Caves-road, St Leonards.
Applicant submitted a sectional plan of the house to the Bench, which showed that the house had every accommodation necessary for a public-house. Applicant had held a license for the Sussex tap, but that building had been taken in as part of the Sussex Hotel. The building sought to be licensed is adjacent to the Sussex Mews. The applicant supported his claim with a memorial signed by several respectable inhabitants [This became the Marina inn, which was on the corner of Caves and Sussex roads. The Sussex Hotel was 110 Marina].
John Curtis applied for a license for No. 3, St Clements place, St Leonards.
Mr Langham, in support of this application, explained that the object was to make the above house a place for the reception of commercial travellers, there being no house of this kind in St Leonards. A memorial was put in, in favour, signed by several inhabitants.
A counter memorial signed by the inhabitants of Undercliff, was read. This document showed the great injury that would be likely to accrue to this property, by licensing the house in question, and that there were four public houses already existing, at very short distances from No. 3, St Clements-place, and within the circle of these four houses there was not a single new dwelling occupied to create a public want for an additional licensed house [This became the Commercial, later the British Hotel, now rebuilt as the blue building at the bend where East Ascent joins Mercatoria].
John Smith renewed an application for a license for the house 22, London Road, St Leonards.
Mr Langham failed to prove that the necessary notice had been given.
The Bench therefore held that the applicant had no locus standi [The 22 London Road address would become the Old England. Licenses were granted to the other applicants given above].
Hastings and St Leonards News, 8 October 1852:
Result of voters’ lists. ST MARY MAGDALEN… John Wister, supported by Mr Cooper, claimed for two houses in succession, Norman Road East and Mercatoria.
The occupation was made out and the vote allowed.
William Dabney was objected to by Mr Cooper on the ground of non-payment of poor rates.
Dabney is the owner of two cottages at Bohemia terrace. These were conjointly rated at £8. Just previous to the making the October rate, Mr Dabney expressed a wish to have his houses rated higher, and £18 was fixed on. At the time of making the rate this alteration was attended to, but the rate-book not revised, and the cheque book was made out on the old rating. This Mr Dabney paid to the collector’s daughter. Subsequently Mr Everett called at Mr Dabney’s house to demand the other portion of the rate, leaving a printed form at the house. Dabney denied that a demand had been made; but, inadvertently, among some receipt cheques, exposed this identical printed form in court.
The Barrister held that the rate had not been paid, and allowed the objection.
John Gibson, master of the National school, was objected to by Mr Cooper, on the ground that the dwelling-place of Mr Gibson was part of the school-house, and in the occupation of the committee.
The separate position of the building was proved, and the Barrister disallowed the objection… [Cooper was the Liberal solicitor, so Wister was a Liberal, who had moved from Mercatoria to Norman Road East, while both Dabney and Gibson were Conservative supporters. William Dabney was formerly Color Sergeant of the Grenadier Guards. The national school was where the mosque is now. At the time, many strange rules were used to decide who could have the vote, besides having to be male. ‘Succession’ meant that a vote could be transferred from a former address].
Sussex Advertiser, 2 November 1852:
RATES. A borough rate at 4d in the £, and a poor rate at 3d in the £ were signed for the parish of St Leonards. This was the first poor rate levied in that parish for 12 months [Rates were assessed as an amount against an actual or notional rent. Hence a large house, assessed at £100, paid in this case 7 pennies in the pound, or nearly three pounds].
Sussex Advertiser, 23 November 1852:
ACCIDENT. – On Wednesday morning, a team with four horses, belonging to Mr Henry Reeves of Bexhill, started off near the Victoria Hotel; they were stopped at the South Colonnade, but not before the carter (William Gower), had been thrown from the shafts, and receiving a cut in the head and a bruise on his leg. Mr Gardiner was soon at the scene of the accident, dressed the poor fellow’s wounds and sent him on to the Infirmary [The South Colonnade was on the promenade, opposite the east end of Marine Court].
Sussex Advertiser, 7 December 1852:
Hastings and St Leonards Chronicle. THE INHABITED HOUSE DUTY, if suffered to be levied, as proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his budget, will be very severely felt by the tradesmen, lodging-house keepers, and working classes of this borough. There are about 500 houses now subject to the duty, out of the pockets of the occupiers of which will have to come some £1740 extra by the exaction of a double duty. There are also about 480 or 490 houses above the annual duty of £10, and under £20 value, which are to be brought under the scope of this tax (if carried) from the occupiers of these, chiefly labourers and small tradesmen, will have to come the sum of about £370. Together making upwards of £200 extra to be taken annually from the inhabitants of Hastings and St Leonards alone. A pretty good price for the remission of the window tax [The window tax was abolished on 24 July 1851. The new duty, which did come into force, was charged at different rates depending on whether the house was occupied for business or residential purposes, and its assessed annual value. Notice the shameless lifting of material from another newspaper].
Sussex Advertiser, 18 January 1853:
[Hastings Quarter Sessions] ROBBING LABOURERS. Wm. Morgen was arraigned on three separate charges of stealing, viz., on November 4th, a coat and hankerchief, the property of Alfred Tapp. November 5th, a waistcoat, the property of Peter Pearson. November 6th, a coat, the property of Wm. Lamb.Prisoner pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Alfred Tapp deposed that he was working at the Fountain Inn, St Leonards, on the 4th of November last. Between nine and ten o’clock, he hung his coat behind a door; the room was empty. At 12 o’clock he looked for it and ‘twas gone. There was a silk hankerchief, a pipe, and two pieces of stone used for sharpening tools in the pockets. He had had the coat for about six months. Witness produced a piece of cloth and a button, both of which came off the coat. He did not see the prisoner about the premises.
Richard Selden, a dealer in clothes, living in High-street, deposed that prisoner came to him on the afternoon of the 4th of November and offered the coat for sale for 1s 6d (which the previous witness identified). Prisoner said it was his partner’s coat, and not his. Saw no one in company with prisoner.
By Prisoner – I won’t swear that you did not say it belonged to a person named Buss.
Serjeant Ginner proved to receiving the coat from Selden on the 9th of November. He apprehended prisoner on the evening of the 6th.
Prisoner’s defence was that some young man whom he saw in the Fishmarket asked him to sell the coat for him, and he consented to do so; the man took the coat off his back, leaving only a waistcoat on, and he (prisoner) of course thought it was his own.
The Recorder summed up, and the jury found prisoner guilty.
The evidence to substantiate the next charge was very similar. Peter Pearson, a labourer, was at work at the Carlisle Parade on Friday, the 4th of November. He hung up a waistcoat, together with his dinner basket and bottle, under an arch. At eleven o’clock he saw them safe, and at twelve o’clock the waistcoat was missing. At about two o’clock on the afternoon of the same day prisoner sold a waistcoat to Mr Selden for 1s 6d. The waistcoat was produced and identified by Pearson.
Prisoner was also found guilty on this charge.
The third charge for stealing Wm. Lamb’s coat, on the 6th of November, was then gone into.
Lamb, on the morning in question, hung his coat under one of the arches near to where Pearson’s waistcoat was; soon after Lamb missed his coat, and at about half past three in the afternoon of the 6th, prisoner sold the coat to John Penny, a clothier, in All Saints Street, for 1s 3d.
Prisoner acknowledged selling the coat, but said it was for another man.
The Jury, without hesitation, returned a verdict of guilty in this case also.
Prisoner was then sentenced for the first offence to six weeks’ imprisonment and hard labour, the last week solitary; at the expiration of that term, to be further imprisoned to hard labour for two months, the last week of each solitary; and at the expiration of the second term to be further imprisoned to hard labour for three months, the last week of each of the two last months solitary [James Gower stole a hankerchief from Henry Davis on the 11 November. Davis was at work near Verulam Place. Prisoner asked for a job, was referred to the employer. Work involved wheeling barrows of dirt. Prisoner pleaded guilty. Arrested at Bexhill. He had previously been convicted on the 3 January 1849 at Lewes for felony, when he was sentenced to 14 days’ imprisonment. He now received a sentence of three months’ imprisonment and hard labour, the last week of each month solitary].
Sussex Advertiser, 22 March 1853:
COLLISION IN THE ST LEONARDS TUNNEL.
A collision took place on Saturday morning last, which might have been attended with serious consequences, but which, we are happy to state, did not result in injury to any one. The 8.50 a.m. South Coast Company’s train, which is an express, started from Hastings at its usual time, and traversed the first of the two tunnels in safety, and entered, at a moderate rate of speed, into the second tunnel. This tunnel lies between the South Eastern Company’s St Leonard’s station and the South Coast Company’s station for the same time. The former is called the Gensing station [later Warrior Square], the latter the Bopeep station. When about two thirds of the distance through the tunnel, the express ran into a ballast train, which was going at a slow pace, and the engine of which was “slipping.” A buffer of the express engine was broken, and some of the ballast wagons thrown across the line. Fortunately there were no passengers in the train. The driver and fireman were much shaken, but not otherwise hurt, so as to incapacitate them from returning to Hastings with the train. The line was cleared in about an hour, and the “express” was taken up by the 9.50 mail train. Since this tunnel has been used for the double traffic belonging to the South Coast and South Eastern companies it has been a rule not to admit a train into it until the particular line of rails on which a train is running is signalled from the opposite end as being clear from any other train. Whether such signal was not given on the present occasion, or being given, was disregarded by the driver of the express train, is not at present clearly ascertained [The signalman at Bopeep, Elon Samson, had worked for the South Eastern Railway for three years. There was a long trial at Hastings Town Hall on the 14 April during which the Company said they would not employ him again, but would give him a reference. Samson was fined 40s].
London Gazette, 29 March 1853:
Insolvent debtors. Solomon Stubberfield, of Silver Hill Terrace, St Leonards on Sea parish, brick maker, grocer, general shopkeeper, & beer retailer, late of the Plasterer’s Arms, St Mary Magdalen, beer retailer, and of Silver Hill Terrace, during part of the time in the business of a brick maker and potter at Battel [Battle], in partnership with William Mantel Eldridge, of Silver Hill Terrace [The Plasterers’ Arms, later the Prince Alfred, was at the corner of the Crystal Square car park. Eldridge is the subject of my post, William Mantell Eldridge, St Leonards brewer and public house owner].
Hastings and St Leonards News, 8 April 1853:
EDUCATION. 8, Eversfield Place, St Leonards.
MRS HODGES and MISS WOOLNOUGH beg to announce they receive young ladies, who are carefully instructed in every branch of a well-finished education. French constantly spoken.
Private lessons on the Piano-forte, and in English and Italian singing, given in the house by a Pupil of Cruvelli and Herz.
Vacancies for parlour boarders.