The Lawn, St Leonards on Sea, consists of five pairs of semi-detached houses, numbered 1 to 10 as viewed from the road from left to right. The houses are Grade II listed and are described as follows on the Historic England website:
THE LAWN 1. 5204 St Leonards Nos 1 to 10 (consec) TQ 8009 22/409 TQ 8008 NW 11/409 II GV 2. Circa 1860 by Decimus Burton. 5 pairs of semi-detached villas. Stuccoed. Low-pitched slate hipped roof with wide bracketed eaves. 3 storeys, 4 windows plus 2-storeyed one window side wings slightly set back with entrances. Sashes without glazing bars, moulded architraves, small brackets to cills, 2nd floor cill band. Ground floor ogee-shaped canopies and ornate cast iron balconies, No 5’s canopy missing. No 1, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10 side wings raised later to 3 storeys. Included for group value and contribution to Burton’s St Leonards.
Nos 1 to 10 (consec) form a group.
Pevsner’s architecture guide to East Sussex says the road dates from 1854-56, but I think 1858 is more likely. Hastings planning application DH/C/6/1/266, dated 4 September 1858, is catalogued as follows in The Keep’s catalogue:
7-10 The Lawn, gd plan of drainage ?
I am not sure why only two of the five pairs are mentioned, but clearly proper drainage was necessary before building would occur. I suspect that the road being in the St Leonards’ Commissioners domain, rather than Hastings council, has meant that planning applications for the houses were not preserved, unlike those for Hastings. The drainage may have gone to the east, into Hastings’ territory, hence this document.
This is thin documentation indeed, but the newspapers provide a little help. Below I summarise three adverts from the Hastings and St Leonards Observer which shed some light on the age of the street. The lease date is only for the plot, of course, and building may have occurred later. It is probable that the purchase price included architectural plans by Decimus Burton, and that a condition was to use those plans in order to maintain a high standard for the neighbourhood.
2 September 1871. Auction at The Mart, London, by Jones, Lang & Co., of nos. 9 and 10, held on a nearly 500-year lease, one let to a long-standing tenant, the other with possession, together rental £160 p.a.
21 February 1891. Sale by auction, by Vidler & Clements, of leaseholds of 3 and 4 The Lawn, instructions of H.W. Elphinstone, 3 March. Lease of 500 years from 24 June 1858. No. 3 is let for £70 p.a., a tenant is willing to hire no. 4 on same terms.
2 February 1895. By order of the executors of the late Miss Stephen. John & A. Bray to sell by auction the charming semi-detached property of 6 The Lawn, held on lease for 500 years from June 1858 at a low ground rent.
The 500-year leases are interesting. The Burton estate had, I believe, only used 90-year leases in the late 1820s and in the 1830s, which at least gave plenty of incentive to build rapidly.
The first mention of The Lawn in newspapers that I am aware of is in the Sussex Agricultural Express, 17 December 1859. Lavinia Collins, vagrant, was before the magistrates. She had begged first at 37 Eversfield Place, then at 10 Upland Views [presumably The Uplands, but it is only numbered 1-6 !], then 7 The Lawn. Harriet Crouch, a servant at 10 The Lawn, also gave evidence.
In April 1861 we have the census. I list here all the occupants, with M signifying married, S single, and W widowed.
No. 1. Frances J. Guy, head, W, 32, schoolmistress, born Derbyshire Ashton
Joseph A. Guy, son, 6, scholar, born London St Johns Wood
Augusta M. Guy, dau, 4, scholar, born London St Johns Wood
John A. Guy, son, 3, born Sussex St Leonards
Charlotte A. Stack, niece, 14, pupil, born Lincolnshire Gainsburgh
Emma J. Jebbott [?], governess, S, 17, governess, born London Christ Church
Ellen Bartlett, boarder, 14, pupil, born Berks Abingdon
Harriett Slocomb, serv, S, 20, cook, born Somerset Wivelscombe
Eliza M. M’Court, serv, S, 18, housemaid, born Kent Keston
Mary M’Court, serv, S, 16, nurse, born Kent Keston
No. 2. Caroline F. Webber, head, W, 68, fundholder, born Notts Cromwell
Elizabeth F. Clynton, sister, S, 75, born Notts Gainsboro [sic]
Margaret Pearson, companion, W, 42, companion, born London Marylebone
Sarah Cruttenden, serv, S, 26, parlour maid, born Sussex Bexley [sic]
Fanny Huggins, serv, S, 22, cook, born Kent Hawkhurst
No. 3. Anne L. Pepys, S, 72, fundholder, born London Marylebone
Maria Baker, serv, S, 34, lady’s maid, born Lincoln
Sarah Dean, serv, S, 34, cook, born London Marylebone
Elizabeth Cook, serv, S, 17, housemaid, born not known
John Greenfield, serv, S, 25, footman, born Shropshire Chesterford
No. 4. Elizabeth J. Elphinstone, M, baronet’s wife and fundholder, 55, born Sussex, Northiam
Howard W. Elphinstone, son, M, 30, landed proprietor and proprietor of houses, M.A. Cambridge, born Middlesex, St George’s Hanover Sq
Constance M.A. Elphinstone, dau in law, M, 19, born Middlesex, St George’s Hanover Sq
Thomas Couchman, serv, M, 54, butler, born Kent, Sandhurst
Charlotte Couchman, serv, M, 54, cook, born Kent, Marling
Betsey Turner, serv, S, 18, housemaid, born Kent, Marling
Sarah J. White, serv, S, 68 [?], lady’s maid, born Gloucestershire, Cirencester
Thomas Couchman, serv’s child, 8, scholar, born Sussex, St Mary in the Castle, Hastings
No. 5. Caroline Craven, head, S, 50, fundholder, born Middlesex, Stratford
Hannah Skevens [?], serv, S, 25, cook, born Kent
Elizabeth A. White, serv, S, 33, housemaid, born Middlesex
No. 6. Maria Muller, head, M, 39, silver mines S. America, born Chile South America
Wilhelmina Muller, dau, S, 16, scholar, born Chile South America
Henrietta Muller, dau, S, 14, scholar, born Chile South America
William Muller, son, 11, scholar, born Chile South America
Eveline M. Muller, dau, 8, born Chile South America
Fanny C. Burdon, cousin, S, 47, governess, born Warwick Henley in Arden
Salome Bulton, serv, S, 28, ladies maid, born Sussex Hastings
Ellen Young, serv, S, 25, cook, born Kent Tonbridge
Pricilla Gutsell, serv, S, 26, housemaid, born Sussex Westfield
No. 7. Maria Martin, head, S, 42, fundholder, born Kent Keston
Charles J. Baker, visitor, M, 52, barrister, born London St George’s Bloomsbury
Marianon [?] Baker, visitor, M, 29, born Cambridge
Madeline C. Baker, S, 9, born London St George’s Bloomsbury
Hannah Chitty, serv, S, 29, cook, born Kent Hayes
Sarah A. Whynne, serv, S, 23, housemaid, born Kent Farnborough [sic]
No. 8. Susan E. Arkwright, head, S, 26, fundholder, born Essex, Latton
Gertrude Arkwright, sister, S, 22, fundholder, born Essex, Latton
Charlotte Stafford, serv, W, 59, housekeeper, born Sussex Steyning
Harriett King, serv, W, 57, cook, born Kent Sandhurst
Charlotte Shelland [?], serv, S, 20, housemaid, born Warwick Kenilworth
No. 9. Maria Hamilton, W, 77, fundholder, born Calcutta
Maria C. Hamilton, granddau, 16, born France, Boulogne
Alfred D.H. Hamilton, grandson, 5, born London, Paddington
Frances Refoy, serv, S, 59, ladies maid, born Sussex Hendon [sic]
Ann Peacock, serv, S, 57, cook, born Gloucester Teston
Mary A. Rowland, serv, S, 39, housemaid, born Gloucester Stroud
Sarah A. Theobald, serv, S, 28, nurse, born Essex Romford
Charles Cole, serv, S, 29, coachman, born Sussex Mayfield
No. 10. Martha Snepp, W, 66, fundholder, born Sussex, Salehurst
William L. Noakes, brother, S, 63, visitor, born Sussex, Salehurst
Mary N. Noakes, niece, S, 33, visitor, born Sussex, Dallington
Mary A. Noakes, serv, S, 19, general servant, born Sussex, St Leonards
Every single household had a woman as head, although two husbands were absent. Seven householders had fundholders as heads. There were 52 women and 12 men, so a total of 64 (plus the two absent husbands, so 66), hence a little over 6 people in each house. Eight were young children (defined as younger than teenagers). Including governesses and companions, there were 32 servants, half of the population. Most of the servants were born in East Sussex or Kent, while the families of the house.
At no. 4, the absent husband, who I could not find in the same census, was barrister Sir Howard Elphinstone, 2nd Baronet. He was a Liberal MP for Hastings and later for Lewes. The link is to his Wikipedia article, with a portrait. His wife was a Curteis, a family which owned nos. 6, 9 and 10 during World War II, as shown in my post The Lawn, St Leonards in World War II.
It is interesting to see that his butler and the cook, the Couchmans, were married, and that they were allowed, unusually, to keep their child in the house. They had married in 1847 at All Saints, Hastings. In the 1851 census they were at Ore Place, he a footman, she a cook, for Florence Elphinstone, who was mother to the absent master of the house in 1861; she died at Ore Place in 1858. In the 1871 census the couple were at 5 London Road, he a retired butler, the son an 18-year-old watchmaker.
The Muller family at no. 6 is intriguing. I could not find the husband in the same census, but in 1871 the family was at Ridge, Hertfordshire. William Muller was 62, a JP, landowner of 120 acres with 7 men and boys, born Bremen, Germany, with 9 servants. At his death in 1881 he left the equivalent of £20 million today. He may well have made his money in silver, as the census implies, but Chile was famous for nitrate mines as well.
As for no. 10, both a brother and a niece were called Noakes… as was the servant.
By the 1911 census, the first to state the number of rooms, each house had 10 or 11 rooms except for no. 6, with 13. No. 6 had had a planning application for ‘additions’ in 1889, DH/C/6/1/3769. The addition can be seen on the Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1897, published 1899.
Thanks Stephen, some great additional material.