Many members of this society enjoyed a garden party at Glanymor, 3 Highlands Gardens today. This post is about the early history of that house. The name, by the way, is Welsh for ‘seaside’.
It is Grade II listed, and Historic England describes it and the neighbouring houses:
HIGHLAND GARDENS 1. 5204 St Leonards Nos 3 to 6 (consec) Including garden retaining wall to east TQ 7909 21/379 II GV 2. Circa 1880. 2 very large semi-detached houses in Scottish Baronial style. Each: stone with tiled roofs. 3 storeys, semi-basement and attic. Asymmetrical design. Rusticated quoins, stepped gables with finials, corbelled eaves and circular corner turrets with conical tiled roofs. Stone mullion/transom windows and canted bays.
Each semi-detached pair is linked by short 2-storey piece. Built high up above road and including stone garden retaining wall along road, with corbelled parapet at corner with gabled panel, and large circular stone gate-piers at ends.
Nos 3 to 6 (consec) and Wall to east form a group.
The map image below is from an Ordnance Survey map revised in 1897-98 and published in 1899. Nos. 5 and 6 are shown as a pair of semi-detacheds to the west of Highlands Gardens, with nos. 3 and 4 a pair further south. The big garden for no. 3 shows where 1 and 2 were supposed to go. The outlined blob at the far end of the garden marks a reservoir for the town.
The original planning application, “House”, dated 2 October 1874, is catalogued as for 3, 4 and 6 Highlands Gardens. Why not no. 5, an error ? This is numbered DH/C/6/1/1697 at The Keep, Falmer. It is unavailable to see for conservation reasons.
The Pevsner architectural guide “Sussex: East”, 2012, page 462, gives the architect as “probably Charles Smith sen., or his sons Sydney & Albert Smith, who continued the practice after Charles’s death in 1878.” Charles Smith senior died 14 Feb 1878, Hastings, age 65, as an architect and surveyor, with his office at 7 Havelock Road. His father was “Yorkey” Smith, an early builder at St Leonards.
The developer who financed the houses was Vandeleur Benjamin Crake, a barrister who was fond of the Scottish Baronial style. In the censuses for 1871, 1881 and 1891 he lived at The Highlands, a house which no longer exists, just off the bottom centre of the map, on the eastern side of Archery Road, and beyond the shown Rosemount, which also no longer exists. The whole area marked as Archery Gardens was redeveloped recently as housing, with some building still on-going.
Crake and the Smiths also built, in 1875, the Highlands Hotel on Boscobel Road, which is in a similar style. This is known by a newspaper account of the celebratory dinner on its completion.
The first directory entry for Highlands Gardens that I am aware of is from Pike’s Directory, 1880-81, where there is a mention of a ladies’ school run by Mrs Swatman at 6 Highlands Gardens.
The first implied mention of Glanymor is from the Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 16 December 1882:
Parlourmaid wanted. Mrs Leetham, the Highlands.
The first actual mention of Glanymor in the newspapers is in the Hastings Observer, 9 February 1884:
Combined cook and kitchen housekeeper required. Glanymor, The Highlands.
The link between Mrs Leetham and Glanymor is provided by the Hastings Observer, 22 November 1884. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts’ Ladies’ Association was to have its annual sale of useful and ornamental work on the 26-27 November at the Royal Concert Hall, St Leonards. The Society was promoting Christianity among the native women of India. One of the stalls was to be run by Mrs Leetham, Glanymor, The Highlands. This shows how a little clue — admittedly with a rare name — can be so helpful.
Pike’s Directory, 1885, has this entry for Highland Gardens:
3 Glanymore, Leetham, Mrs
She again took part in the same sale at the same venue in 1887. Sarah Leetham was a widow who died in Hassocks in 1902, although of an address in south Kensington. Her funeral service at St John’s, Pevensey Road, was described in the Hastings Observer, 1 March 1902, where was named as mother in law to the Canon H.D. Jones, the rector. This was by Jones’ first marriage. Henry David Jones had married, 1871, Hull, Emily Leetham, who died in 1881 at Finlay House, St Leonards. This is on Brittany Road. In the 1881 census Sarah Leetham was in York, in the 1891 census in London. Her late husband was a master mariner when they married, but who was a shipowner when, of Hull, he died in 1875 at Nervi in Italy.
The Brighton Gazette, 15 June 1889, reports a death:
On the 11th inst., at 3, Highlands, St Leonards-on-Sea, Henry M. Clarke, of 25, Mount Street, London, aged 81.
This was Henry Mathew Clarke, whose probate index entry says that he died at 3 Highlands but was late of 25 Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, whose large estate of £185515 (equivalent now to over £16 million) was proven a month later by the sole executor, his brother the Rev. Charles Leopold Stanley Clarke of 3 Highlands. He was buried at St Peter’s Bexhill, and was incorrectly said to be of St Mary’s in the Castle. He had been of the China Establishment in the East India Company, living mainly at Canton, but also at Macao and in India.
Rather oddly, Vandeleur Crake the developer wrote a letter from 3 Highlands Garden to the Hastings Observer, 5 October 1889. He was suggesting that Hastings emulate Boulogne by having a local museum. The Hastings Museum and Art Gallery was founded a few years later, in 1892, and occupied what is now the Public Library on Claremont, moving to its present location in 1927.
In April 1891 we finally have a census entry, the first for the street. Henry Mathew Clarke’s brother was head of the household.
Charles L.S. Clarke, head, married, 73, clerk in holy orders, born Surrey, Dorking
Anne E.I. Clarke, wife, 63, born Middlesex
Evelyn S. Clarke, dau, single, 37, born Sussex, Lodsworth
Emily Clarke, dau in law, widow, 42, born India, Cawnpore
Margaret M. Compton, visitor, single, 52, born Wiltshire, Salisbury
Rebecca Russell, servant, single, 52, housekeeper, born Sussex, Ludgershall
Mary East, servant, single, 26, lady maid, born Hertfordshire, Hemel Hempstead
Hannah Lade, servant, single, 30, parlour maid, born Kent, Sandhurst
Alice Smaxhall [?], servant, single, 26, housemaid, born Sussex, Hartfield
Lucy Barnett, servant, single, 17, kitchen maid, born Kent, Wittersham
Alfred Haydon, servant, single, 35, butler, born Warwickshire, Kempsey
The family surname in his case (not his brother’s) appears to be Stanley Clarke rather than just Clarke. Charles Leopold Stanley Clarke was the eighth son of William Stanley, an East India Company director. After Winchester and Christ Church, Oxford, he was a fellow at New College during 1837-49. He was vicar at Lodsworth, Sussex, 1846-76, and rector at Bexhill, 1876-89. He had been presented to Lodsworth by Lord Egmont, to whom he had been Domestic Chaplain. His father in law was the Right Hon. Sir Lancelot Shadwell, Vice Chancellor of England, and briefly Conservative MP for Ripon.
Evelyne, the eldest daughter, appears to have been interested in education. The Hastings Observer, 6 June 1896, notes the Local University Extension Association’s Annual Meeting, held at Wellington College. Miss Clarke was the hon. Secretary, and was thanked for her “energetic efforts”. Subscriptions to the Association, and syllabuses, were to be directed to Miss Stanley Clarke, Glanymor, Highland-Gardens, St Leonards.
On the 23 Aug 1896 the Rev. Charles Leopold Stanley Clarke, of 3 Highland Gardens died at the age of 79. He left the very sizeable estate of £139329. The Hastings Observer, 29 August 1896, says that he died of gangrene, which had first appeared in his left foot. He had suffered from chronic rheumatism for some years and had been confined to the house since the previous summer.
There is a detailed obituary and account of the funeral in the Bexhill Observer, 29 August 1896. It stated that he had been an invalid for several years and had retired in 1889 due to ill health. He had been responsible for the building of St Barnabas, Sea Road, Bexhill with a generous gift of £6000. The obituary states “he took up his abode at the Highlands, West Hill, in March, 1889”.
The account says that when the body was conveyed from Highland Gardens to the cemetery “the coffin was placed in a beautiful hearse, through the windows of which the massive oak coffin and the floral tributes covering it were visible to the people who stopped on the way to watch the cortege pass by. In the carriage which followed rode Miss Clarke and the nurse, Mr R. Clarke, and the Rev. H. Phibbs.” The servants were “also present”, and they also presented floral tributes. These were, from the servants, “with much sympathy”. From the coachman and gardener, “with respectful sympathy”. The Hastings paper adds that a private carriage in the procession belonging to Mrs Crake, of The Highlands. This would be the widow of the developer.
Evelyne died at 3 Highlands, 1 Feb 1899. She left the substantial estate of £44235. Her executor was (brother) Ronald Stanley Clarke, solicitor. She has an obituary in the Bexhill Observer, 4 February 1899. She was very charitable and was very involved with the “Institute”, founded on the occasion of the Queen’s Jubilee. Despite the move from Bexhill she continued to be involved with St Barnabas, and was Secretary of the local branch of the Missionary Association and a district visitor. She had gradually been getting weaker since September.
The widow continued to live at Glanymor, as Pike’s Directory, 1901, has for Highland Gardens an entry for her. However, the family were absent in the April 1901 census (I have not been able to find out where). The household consisted of four servants:
William A. Buck, head servant, single, 33, butler, born Kent, Maidstone
Jane Freeman, servant, widow, 60, cook, born Hampshire, Kingsclere
Mary Gladman, servant, single, 26, housemaid, born Suffolk, Woodbridge
Lily Page, servant, single, 18, kitchenmaid, born N.K.
The butler is mentioned in the Hastings Observer, 22 March 1902:
Respectable LAD for morning work; boots, knives, etc.; go out with donkey chair. – Apply Butler, Glanymor, Highlands, St Leonards.
There was a need for labour. The Hastings Observer, 13 Oct 1906:
WANTED, HANDY MAN, knives, etc., good knowledge of flower gardening, attend to pony and chaise; good character required. — Mrs L.S. Clarke, Glanymor, The Highlands, St Leonards.
And then the Hastings Observer, 13 Aug 1910, making it clear that Mrs Clarke was a demanding mistress.
KITCHENMAID wanted; strong, active, good health, early riser, age about 18; very good character required; small family; six servants. — Mrs L. Stanley Clarke, Glanymor, Highlands.
The April 1911 census gives the number of rooms in each household. In this case it was 17 rooms. The household was:
Anne Elizabeth Isabella Clarke, 83, widow, private means, born Harley St., Marylebone, London
Ronald Stanley Clarke, son and visitor, 51, married, at home, no occupation, born Lodsworth, Sussex
William Antrum Buck, servant, 39, married, butler, born Maidstone, Kent
Edith Archer, servant, 46, single, lady maid, born Hadleigh, Essex
Charlotte Page, servant, 56, single, cook, born St Leonards, Sussex
Emily Press, servant, 32, single, housemaid, born Coltishall, Norfolk
Dora Lilian Hughes, servant, 19, single, housemaid, born Kensworth, Bedfordshire
Mabel Perry, servant, 17, single, kitchen maid, born St Leonards, Sussex
William Antrum Buck the butler had married between the two censuses. Yet his wife was absent. He had married, 24 April 1905, at West Firle, Mary Gladman, daughter of an agricultural labourer. She was the housemaid in the 1901 census ! The marriage certificate gives William as a butler, from the parish of Upper St Leonards, son of a bootmaker.
Mary Buck was in the same census at Elliris, The Mount, a 16-room house about 100 yards away from Highland Gardens.
That house’s head of household was a married jobbing gardener and caretaker named Ernest Cresswell Buffard. Her three-year-old girl and one month old son were both born in St Leonards. All three were “visitors”. Instead of Suffolk, as in the 1901 census, she said she was born at Berwick, Sussex. The 1912 Pike’s Directory shows the resident as James Castello, Esquire. There is no obvious connection between the two houses or their masters.
In the 1921 census William the butler was with his wife and the same children Vera, aged 13, and [John] Bernard, 11, at 35 Church Road, St Leonards. He was butler, she was housekeeper. The masters were Harlow and Frances Lena Stanley Harloe-Phibbs. Harlow was a clergyman, and died in December 1932, a week after his wife. The Harloe-Phibbs couple were unusually accommodating in allowing their butler’s wife and daughter to reside with them, although admittedly the wife was the housekeeper. There was in fact a connection between the Bucks and the Harloe-Phibbs family. The Rev. Harlow’s wife, Frances, was a daughter of the 3 Highland Gardens family, William Antrum Buck’s former masters, and they had married in 1889 in Deptford, Kent.
The widow, Anne Elizabeth Isabella Stanley Clarke, died on the 29 May 1912 at Glanymor. There is an obituary in the Hastings Observer, 8 June 1912. The funeral was at Christ Church, and she was buried in the churchyard of St Leonard, Hollington on the 3 June, aged 84.
The West Sussex Gazette, 22 Aug 1912, shows that her son Ronald, at least, remembered the staff. I wonder if the pub on ‘branches’ was intentional. Such adverts were common.
GARDENER. R. Stanley Clarke, Esq., highly recommends the late Mrs Stanley Clarke’s GARDENER. Highly experienced in all branches. Excellent references. Married. A.L., Glany-mor, The Highlands, St Leonards.
The Hastings Observer, 6 Nov 1912, has an advert by Dawson & Harden regarding the selling by auction on the 19th, at one o’clock, presumably at Glanymor, 3 Highland Gardens itself as no other address is given, of “surplus furniture”. This included, it stated, “bedroom fittings, invalid’s bed table, fine Persian carpet, Brussels stair and other carpets, nearly new linoleum, three oak bookcases, pedestal writing table, set of eight mahogany dining chairs, oak sideboard and dinner wagon, and culinary effects.”
There is much more that could be said about the house but I will conclude with that sale.