By chance I came across the following entry in the 1921 census (taken on the 19 June) for a three-roomed dwelling at 2 Villa Road, St Leonards on Sea. Only in the 1911 and 1921 censuses are we told how many rooms a dwelling had.
Grace Eliza Smith, 70 years 8 mos, S[ingle], born Surrey Bermondsey, home duties. “the rest of the house I let to Miss Heppel’s Miss Rogers & Miss Leigh. Miss Heppel’s & Miss Rogers on holiday, the freehold belongs to me”
It is very rare to have statements like this: a mention of absent members of the household, and of who owned the freehold. There was one more household at no. 2, in two rooms:
Dorothy Elizabeth Leigh, head, 25 years 9 months, S, butcher’s book-keeper and cashier, W. & F. Elphick (butchers), 21 London Rd St Leonards
The 1921 census is the only one where, besides stating an occupation, the name and address of the employer was asked for.
I was intrigued: just where had the absent residents of 2 Villa Road gone on their holiday ?
The Find My Past database lists the following voters at no. 2 in the 1920 (and 1921) electoral register:
Smith, Grace Eliza; Rogers, Mary Louisa; Heppel, Elise Anna Nancy; Heppel, Emily Ann.
From this, I was able to trace the Heppel sisters in the same census. They had not gone far for their holiday. They were at 121 Edmund Road, Clive Vale, only two miles or so away in Hastings:
Elise A.N. Heppel, head, 73 yrs 8 mos, S, born Leek Staffs, clerk retired, Prudential Asscn.
Emily A. Heppel, sister, 61 yrs 8 mos, S, born Madras India, head mistress secondary school retired, Council of St Mary’s College Paddington
Their father was John Mortimer Heppel, a civil engineer. In the 1911 census the sisters were at St Michael’s, Edmund Road, later identified as the same house. They were registered there as voters from 1922. Possibly they had moved out to allow repairs to their house.
The two inhabited dwellings at no. 2 in the 1921 census amounted to five rooms. Three inhabitants were absent: how many rooms did the house contain ? I looked at the 1911 census to see if the number of rooms was different. The number ten for the number of rooms was crossed out in the first entry in favour of four, with ‘owner of the house’ written in.
Grace E. Smith, one alone, 60, single, no occupation, private means, houses, investments, born Bermondsey London
There was also this four-roomed dwelling at no. 2:
Edith Elizabeth Bell, head, 53, married 23 years, 4 children, 3 alive, private means, born Louth Lincs.
Evelyne Isabella Bell, daughter, 16, single, born Louth Lincs.
Edith’s husband Charles, born in Calcutta, was in the same census at a lunatic asylum at Ticehurst as the resident medical officer.
And finally a one-roomed dwelling, making nine rooms in all (though the number ten had been crossed out):
Elizabeth Dyer, head, 63, widow, [occupation] nil, born Dunning Scotland
Jessie Dyer, daughter, 25, single, shop assistant (fancy), worker, born S. Norwood Surrey
How were the flats arranged ? The electoral registers in the late 1920s show that there were flats for the basement, ground and second floor, but do not mention the first floor.
Anyone interested enough could of course research these individuals further. What I give below is only a few details.
For example, Grace Smith the landlady died in 1941 at 12 Marine Parade, Hastings. In the 1901 census she had been boarding while living on private means at Finsbury Park, London. I was able to trace her father, George Cotton Smith, who had died at 2 Villa Road on the 10 December 1888, gentleman, with the same Grace named as an executrix at no. 2, along with a married sister of Grace, with her mother Mary Ann.
George was a Yarmouth, Norfolk-born master mariner. In the 1881 census he had been at 2 Hillenden Villas, at nearby Chapel Park Road, a shipowner. The itemised furniture of 2 Villa Road was advertised for sale in the newspapers in 1883 which was probably when the house was acquired. In the 1891 census Grace was at no. 2, a lodging house keeper, with the only other resident a 15-year-old house boy from Hastings, Frederick Richardson.
I could not identify Mary Louisa Rogers, the third absent lodger on holiday, in the 1921 census.
The advert below gives a few details of Grace seeking lodgers, a few months before the 1891 census. There were other adverts. In 1908, for example, the whole house was offered for sale for £750, or in exchange for a comparable London house, or two smaller local houses, while in 1909 the house was offered to let, unfurnished, for £40 (annually), with five bedrooms and three reception rooms (so 8 rooms ?), with half the house available if preferred.
