I have just come back from a very pleasant garden party at Ford Bank, together with many others from the Society. Many thanks to our generous hosts ! Enough to say it is an interesting example of, in effect, a forerunner of the English arts and crafts style. Below is a photo of the south, back side of the house from its garden. My camera is refusing to allow me access to the photo of the other, street side.
Ford Bank is a very large house at the inside corner of Albany Road, with its frontage facing north on the short leg leading to where The Green, Dane Road and Upper Maze Hill all meet. Its origins are mysterious, and I have not verified its planning application.
There are planning applications for 7, 9, 13, 15 Albany Road with DH/C/6/1/3025 [approved January 1884], and the earlier 2966 for no. 11 [May 1883]. The Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 2 February 1884, cited the Local Government Board, in a letter dated 16 January 1884, consenting to providing ‘water to five houses recently erected at Upper Maze Hill, four belonging to Mr Charles Hughes, and one to Mr Vipan’. This means that it was commissioned, as opposed to buying from a builder such as Hughes — unusual even for a wealthy individual. There is still, at the top of the downpipe on its eastern side, by the road, large CV initials.
The Hughes houses could be the 3025 houses above, and the 2966 house Vipan’s, but it would make a very strange numeration. A problem with the catalogue is that modern house numbering is usually, but not invariably, used for an old planning application. As usual I have not looked at actual planning applications at The Keep, Falmer. Hence I do not know the name of the architect.
The first firm connection of the Vipan family with Ford Bank is in the Hastings & St Leonards Advertiser, 8 May 1884, where, in an arrangement of residents by street, the sole resident of Dane Road West was ‘Mr and Mrs Vipan and fam’ at Ford Bank. Clearly that arm of Albany Road initially had a different name. They were listed there only until the 29 May 1884.
Charles Ryan Vipan was born on the 24 July 1849 at Islington, Middlesex, the second of three sons, with a sister. His father Thomas Curtis Vipan was a landed proprietor. In the 1871 census the family was in Brighton, where Charles was a medical student. He studied medicine at King’s College, London and became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1876.
On the 23 July 1878, at St Mary Magdalen, St Leonards, he married Mary Frances Jones. She was the daughter of Alfred E. Jones, Esquire, of 31 Eversfield Place. She too was born in Islington, so the families may have known each other there. There was a brief description of the ‘interesting’ wedding in the Hastings & St Leonards News, 2 August 1878:
At the conclusion of the service, Mendelssohn’s Wedding March and other appropriate music was performed by the organist, Mr A.E. Tozer, after which the bridal party proceeded in a number of carriages to the residence of the bride’s father, where the wedding breakfast was prepared. During the afternoon the bride and bridegroom left St Leonards for their wedding tour, whilst the wedding guests set out in their carriages for a country drive.
His mother Ellen had died in 1876, and his father died on Christmas Day 1878 at Addiscombe, aged 70. At probate in January 1879 the executors were a daughter and Charles, who was of Hurst Green, Kent. The reason he was in Hurst Green was given in the 1880 Medical Directory, which lists him as the Medical Officer of the Hurst Green District in the Ticehurst Poor Law Union.
In the 1881 census the couple were at Brighton, he a surgeon not in practice, with three servants. His entire medical career appears to have confined to his brief time at Hurst Green.
Besides the May 1884 residence at Ford Bank, the couple are listed at Aland House, [no. 7] The Mount, for all of 1885 in the newspapers. I cannot account for this unless perhaps they needed to move to allow for work on the house. As the middle son, and a doctor, it is surprising that they were able to afford to have built for themselves such an impressive house. They had no children, and it was just them and the servants.
There are other scattered mentions in the local newspapers. In January 1886 Charles joined a committee to form a local golf club; in April 1887 the couple arrived at 31 Eversfield Place, which was of course his in laws’ house; in June 1887, for the Jubilee Commemoration Fund, ‘Mr C. Vipan, of Ford Bank, St Leonards, has forwarded a cheque for £1 for the tin mugs for school children.’ It is only in 1888 that Ford Bank is mentioned in the local directory, Pike’s.
Charles was also involved in civic affairs. In 1889 he was elected to the Board of Guardians (to administer the poor law) for the St Mary Magdalen ward. At the same time he was named to the Silverhill School Board, and also as its school treasurer. He also became a JP. In addition, he found the time to become a member of the Linnean Society, and was an active worshipper at nearby St John’s.
In the 1891 census Mary was at Ford Bank with a cook, parlourmaid, and housemaid. She was ‘living on her own means.’ It was not numbered, and was the first listed for the street, followed by no. 11, which was the number attributed to the 1883 planning application.
I could not find her husband in that census. Perhaps he was on detached duty, as he had become a militia officer as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade on the 1 November 1890. He was over forty, and most of his fellow officers had begun such service in their twenties. He soon moved on to the Buffs, the East Kent Regiment. The Kent Mid-Weekly, 23 August 1921, in its obituary for him, stated that:
He served with the 3rd Buffs in South Africa in 1900, and was mentioned in despatches and awarded a medal with clasps. He won the D.S.O. in the same year. He retired from the Army in 1904.
The same article stated that his father in law was Alfred James, omitting his surname of Jones. This mistake was repeated in at least one other newspaper.
The Dover Express, 5 June 1903, gives us considerable detail, and implies that he served throughout as a militia officer – always full-time ? – commanding part-time volunteers, rather than as a regular.
Captain Vipan, D.S.O., the senior company commander in the 3rd Battalion Buffs (East Kent Militia) at Canterbury, has been granted the honorary rank of Major in the Militia force on completing the qualifying period of service as an officer. Major Vipan has been an officer of the old East Kent Militia since 1894, and previously served in the 7th Battalion Rifle Brigade (the King’s Own Tower Hamlets Militia) at Dalston, in which he became Captain in 1892, and was instructor of musketry to the Corps.
A January 1900 newspaper mention had him accompanying the 3rd Battalion to Ireland, probably to Cork. The 2nd Anglo-Boer War had started in October 1899, and they were relieving the Liverpool Regiment, which had left for Gibraltar. The need for soldiers in what was initially an unsuccessful campaign meant at some point that Vipan’s battalion was posted to South Africa. Mrs Vipan, meanwhile, contributed ten shillings to the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families Association in February 1900, and an additional five pounds in June 1900.
The Folkestone Chronicle, 15 December 1900, reported that Captain Vipan had returned from South Africa on the Dunottar Castle. That ship was a Royal Mail liner which had been requisitioned as a troopship in the war. The reason for his return was mentioned in a long and interesting letter by a member of his battalion, writing from South Africa about his experiences, including in combat, as published in the Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald, 6 April 1901:
Captain Vipan had to leave us from Bloemspruit for home, he had been suffering from an internal complaint for some time and at last had to give in.
In the 31 March 1901 census we have the households of both Ford Bank and its stables next door, to its east, now an independent house. The coachman was married to a cook, which would make two cooks for the Vipans. Presumably Jane Hastings was a day worker for another household.
Ford Bank:
Charles Vipan, head, M[arried], 51, Captn 3rd Batt. The Buffs, born Middx London
Mary F. Vipan, wife, M, 61, born Middx London
Emily Caudle, serv, S[ingle], 45, cook (domestic), born Herts Stanstead Abbots
Sarah E. Smith, serv, S, 40, parlourmaid (domestic), born Beds Houghton Congar
Ford Bank Stables:
Albert E. Hastings, head, M, 38, coachman (domestic), born Sussex Hailsham
Jane Hastings, wife, M, 39, cook (domestic), born Worcester Broadheath
Dorothy M. Hastings, dau, S, 6, born Sussex St Leonards
Albert E. Hastings, son, S, 5, born Sussex St Leonards
The Hastings Observer, 28 February 1903, reported on a chimney fire at the house:
A call was received by the local Fire Brigade on Tuesday evening from Ford Bank, Albany-road, Upper St Leonards, the residence of Captain Vipan, D.S.O. As there was a high wind blowing at the time, Councillor Captain Cruttenden dispatched Sections 3 (Mercatoria), 5 (Bohemia), and 6 (King’s Road) to Ford Bank, with three hose reels, two escapes, and a steamer, in order to promptly overpower any conflagration. On arrival at the premises, however, the fire was found to be of a light character, being confined to the chimney. Captain Cruttenden and Foremen Whiteman, Winser, and Dyer were present. Lieut. Goddard and Mr J. Farnham (Water Manager), who were at a Masonic banquet at the Castle Hotel, on hearing the news immediately started for the scene of the fire; they were stopped on the road. The Foremen in charge of the Sections were Messrs. Whiteman, Dyer, and Winser.
A pleasant sequel to the alarm was an address by Captain Vipan to the men, in which that Officer highly complimented the Brigade on its promptitude, and expressed himself more than satisfied with the way in which they had responded to the call. He had been for many years a subscriber to the Brigade, and he felt himself sufficiently repaid. Captain Vipan then presented the men with a substantial recognition of their services.
The Hastings & St Leonards Advertiser, 3 March 1904, stated that Vipan took a great interest in the work of the local branch of the Society for the Blind, and was elected President at their AGM.
The same newspaper, 19 January 1905, mentioned Vipan joining a committee of twelve men who were planning to oppose (unsuccessfully) the running of trams along the sea front. They were regarded by many, specially those running boarding houses, as noisy and unsightly. Vipan himself suggested starting a petition.
The Hastings Observer, 2 November 1907, mentioned Vipan as President of the Hastings branch of the Dickens Fellowship.
The same, 19 March 1910, in a list of donations to Hastings Hospital, has Mrs Vipan donating two guineas and Major Vipan donating £50.
The same, 11 March 1911, mentioned him attending a drawing room meeting at Madame Wolfen’s house, 6 Warrior Square Terrace, in connection with the Anti-Socialist Union of Great Britain. He was also involved with the Ratepayers’ Association.
The 1911 census was the first to give the number of rooms for each household, with 13 for Ford Bank. The couple had three servants. There were three rooms in the next door stables, with the same coachman as in 1901: Edward Hastings, 48, born Hailsham, coachman, his wife Jane, and their children May, 16, an apprentice dressmaker, and Edward, 15, at school.
To add to his many activities, when World War I broke out the Major felt he had to play his part. He was Chairman for a ‘Great Mass Meeting’, clearly a recruitment drive, at St Leonards’ Royal Concert Hall (close to Warrior Square station) on the 30 December 1914. The advert for it, in the Hastings Observer, 26 December 1914, mentioned free admission, patriotic chorus songs, and that the Caledonian Scotch Pipers Band would march there from the High Street, while the Royal Sussex Southdown Battalion would come from Cooden with their brass and bugle bands.
Earlier, in the same, 19 September 1914, ‘C. Vipan’ wrote from Ford Bank asking that an article by Archibald Hurd in the Daily Telegraph be reprinted. While the newspaper declined to do so, it did quote extensively from the article, which basically protested against the poor pay that the Royal Navy’s sailors were receiving, with many paid less than one pound a week, leading to much hardship for their families. With World War I having started about six weeks before, it is interesting that both Hurd and Vipan thought this an important issue to spend money on.
In June 1917, in his capacity as Chairman of the local Society for the Blind, Vipan asked in the Hastings Observer for donations, as their income in the war had been hit ‘very hard.’
At about the same time, the 14 June 1917, in the Hastings and St Leonards Advertiser, there were four tantalising photos on its front page. Titled ‘Potato spraying at St Leonards’, the caption is as follows:
Four views at the demonstration of the use of the “Mysto” Knapsack Sprayer at Major Vipan’s residence, St Leonards, last week under the auspices of the Ratepayers’ Association.
Postcards of the same were available from the publisher. None of the photos show the back of the house (the gardens are on the south side), and below is an AI enhanced, and colourised, version. I am guessing that three were showing views to the east where there was a field, and the fourth, showing a neighbouring house, to the south. I am not aware of any old images of Ford Bank itself.
The Hastings and St Leonards Pictorial Advertiser, 16 March 1916, had a photo of ‘Pte A. Funnell, 5th Royal Sussex, sent by his niece at Ford Bank, Albany Road.’ The niece was probably May Hastings, daughter of the coachman, as her mother had married with the surname of Griffiths, at Hollington, in 1893.
The same, 7 March 1918, had a photo of Edward Hastings, the son, as a Lance Corporal in the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment. He had been gassed on the 7 June and wounded on the 21 September 1917, and was now in Italy. He was the only son of Mr and Mrs Hastings, Ford Bank Lodge, St Leonards. In 1921 he became an Aircraftsman in the RAF, and in 1923 was a Corporal when he married a school teacher at Orford, Suffolk, where he was based; both he and his father’s full names were in fact Albert Edward.
Following the war, the same, 20 November 1920, had a brief advert for the sale of ’15 Fruiting Bush Apple Trees’, four years old, for six shillings apiece by Major Vipan of Ford Bank.
The 1921 census listed Ford Bank as having 12 rooms, and Ford Bank Stable three rooms. The households:
Charles Vipan, head, 71, M, born MDX Islington, Major retired
Mary Frances Vipan, wife, 81, born MDX Islington, none
Winifred Annie Vidler, servant, 22, S, born Newenden Kent
Gladys Mary Vidler, servant, 19, S, born Northiam SSX
Edith Mary Cloute, servant, 21, S, Northiam SSX
Ford Bank Stables
Albert Edward Hastings, head, 58, M, born Hailsham SSX, coachman, private, working for Ford Bank
Jane Hastings, wife, 59, M, born Broadheath, Worcester, home duties
Dorothy May Hastings, dau, 26, S, born St Leonards o s, dressmaker, own account, at home
Bertha Emily Bennett, visitor, 31, S, born East Pennard SOM, domestic servant, private
On the 15 August 1921 Major Vipan died. The Hastings Observer, 20 August, had a detailed obituary and summary of the funeral arrangements. ‘Like many another good soldier, Major Vipan did not seek the limelight, but he did much good work in a quiet way.’ Also, ‘One of the founders of the Ratepayers’ Association, he was succeeded as President in 1919 by Mr T. Heron, and was also chairman of the committee until poor health ensued.’ The first part of his funeral was at St John’s, which included five servants from the house, and his coffin brought in covered by a Union Jack. A full length oak calvary cross ornamented the lid. Then the coffin went by road to Highgate, where he was buried in the family vault. He left £3759 in his estate, his widow being the executrix.
In the same, 7 October 1922, the report on the Brassey Museum’s AGM included this mention:
Mrs Vipan had kindly presented to them twenty-five pieces of porcelain and pottery from the valuable collection formed by the late Major C. Vipan, D.S.O., and herself. The gift was intended as a memorial of Major Vipan, who for many years took a great interest in the Museum.
On the 22 November 1924 his widow Mary Frances died at Ford Bank. She left a much larger estate than her husband, £102,311, suggesting that it was her family who were responsible for the apparent affluence of the couple, and for Ford Bank itself. This was equivalent to about five and a half million pounds today.
The Hastings Observer, 24 January 1925, had an advert for the sale of ‘remaining furniture’ by order of the executors. This included 500 ounces of old and modern silver. The freehold of the house, with vacant possession, was available by private treaty (and so not the usual auction means). There were three reception rooms and three bedrooms, and excellent stabling.
The new owner was Herbert Macminn Richardson. He was born in Westminster in 1868, where his father was the station master of Charing Cross station. In 1910, when he married in Cheshire, he was 42, a merchant, of Carlisle Mansions, Westminster. His bride was Ida Tuffnell, 30, daughter of a merchant. In the 1921 census they were at Hove, he a wine shipper in London, she, born Manchester, performing household duties. They had two daughters, Beryl, 9, and Margaret, 7, both born in Croydon, and two servants.
Richardson ran his own wholesale wine business, from at least 1898 from Mark Lane and by 1921 at St Dunstan’s Hill. Having an unusual name, like Vipan, can provide intriguing details. In 1893, at a fancy dress ball for 300 at the Buxton Hydropathic, he was dressed as a Cossack officer (Derbyshire Times, 2 September 1893).
The Hastings Observer, 19 September 1936, has an advert for the sale on the premises on the 28 September of remaining furniture, by order of the owner, as shown below. The house, it states, had already been sold. It was normal at the time to sell (much of ?) the furniture when moving.
The 30 September 1939 Register, a list of all civilians in the country, lists the Richardson household in Lymington, Hampshire, with their daughters and no servants. In March 1940 Herbert died there, with his middle name Macminn being misspelt as Macmina by the probate authorities. He left £98,317, equivalent to £4.8 million today. His widow died in the area in 1965.
The 1938/39 electoral register, for 30 Albany Road, listed these voters:
Spink, Charles Frederick
Lloyd, Lilian Beatrice
Lobb, William John
Lobb, Dorothy Winifred
I wondered if William Lobb was the chauffeur, and Lilian Lloyd a housekeeper or cook.
Mr Spink does not seem to have lived there long. The Hastings Observer, 14 January 1939, had a small advert offering for sale a 1936 Studebaker saloon from Spink of Ford Bank.
In the same, 27 May 1939, there was an advert about selling furniture from Ford Bank on the premises on the 14 June, with some interesting details. The mention of Egyptian antiquities is picked up later about his abiding interests in antiquities.
In the 30 September 1939 Register, rather than listing inhabitants, no. 30 has a dash against it, meaning that it was empty.
Spink died on the 16 June 1945, at Worthing. An advert asking for claims against his estate very helpfully said he was formerly of Ford Bank which is how I found it. It probably means he wrote the will when living there. He was 87. He left an estate of £5,796, equivalent to £222,000 today.
I then tried to identify his family. As the electoral register did not mention another person of the same surname, this suggested to me that he was either a widower or a bachelor. The probate data for the will listed the executors as Eva Grace Pulford, wife of Stephen Edward Pulford, and Kathleen Alice Hofer, wife of John Jacob Hofer. I guessed that they were his married daughters. I needed to carry out detective work.
Using the useful FreeBMD webpage, which is indeed free, I found that in 1918 or 1919, at Bromley, Kent, there was the Spink-Hofer marriage. In 1920, at Islington, London, there was the Spink-Pulford marriage.
I asked the priced Ancestry database for a John Hofer in the 1921 census in England and there were only four such. We were very lucky that the married couple were visiting Charles Frederick Spink at his home in Penzance. Charles was 63, born St Peter’s Cornhill, London, his occupation being ‘expert in Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities, retired’ — an unusual occupation — but also employed as director of Spink & Son, Limited, 6 King Street, London. This company continues to trade today as a noted auction house specialising in banknotes, coins and philately. It was established by John Spink, a goldsmith, and traded as Spink & Co. from at least 1772, although its website claims its origins were in 1666. Until a few decades ago members of the family continued to be involved in its operations.
The other census details are that Spink’s wife was Jennie, 55, born Forest Hill, Kent. His daughter Kathleen Hofer was 26, born Chislehurst, Kent, and his son in law was 29, born Zurich, Switzerland, ‘resident Swiss’, that is, residing in this country. His occupation was ‘engineer, Travelling Representative for Brown & Sharp, machinery manufacturers, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A.’ There was also another visitor (a 35-year old single woman), and a servant. Only the 1921 census has this level of information on occupations. It suggests that his directorship and perhaps inherited income financed his leisure as an antiquities collector, while in earlier censuses Hofer’s job would have been simply described as ‘travelling salesman’ and the like, perhaps adding the words ‘in machinery.’
Jennie Spink died in 1937 in Hastings, age 71. She did not leave a will and her death is not recorded in the local newspapers.
Ancestry is very good at suggesting other records that it believes to be related, such as using age as well as full names. It suggested a link with a property named Southcombe at Sidmouth, Devon, in the 1939 Register. This listed Spink as a widower, born 1858, retired antiquarian, and also the Lobbs from the electoral register, confirming that William was indeed the chauffeur. Although relationships are not given, the presence of Daphne Lobb, born 1932, at school, suggests that the coachhouse had housed a daughter as well as his wife, and we are even told that she married a Mr Pittock, as her surname is crossed through and that surname added. This practice continued for a few decades.
The household in Southcombe was extensive — ten persons, including a blanked out line after Daphne Lobb, meaning that this person is still alive and their details are confidential, probably another Lobb child. Lilian Lloyd from the electoral register was indeed a housekeeper. There was a widower named Edwin Corin, born 1863, living on private means, possibly a brother in law, as Spink’s wife was Jennie Corin on their marriage in 1889 in Lewisham. After theorising this, I came across The Spinks of Gracechurch Street, with much genealogical information, where Edwin Corin is stated to have married Charles’ own sister Annie just before Charles and Jennie Corin married. Hence he was a double brother in law. That website says that Hofer was a cousin, and Irene Spink, who died in 1934, a third sister, also married a Hofer cousin.
Other names and occupations in the entry suggest that either they were all in a boarding house or, probably more likely, that the Spink household was letting out rooms.
There is one more intriguing mention in the Register. Underneath Spink’s entry there was a Sybil N.P. Close, born 1872, independent. Close is crossed through and replaced by Spink. Sure enough, she became his second wife a few months later. She died in 1953 in Surrey.
I could have kept on adding more details, but decided to call a halt after looking for the presumed other Spink daughter in the 1921 census. Stephen Pulford was at nearby St Ives, Cornwall, aged 26, a poultry farmer born in Tuffnell Park, London. Eva his wife was 28, born Chislehurst, like Kathleen Hofer, which by itself would have strongly suggested she was also a daughter. Boarding with them was James Hanson, poultry farmer and ‘partner with above’, his wife, and their baby son. The website mentioned above states that Stephen later became a clergyman. The 1939 Register shows the Pulford family at Nutley, near Uckfield, where he was the Vicar, though this is crossed through and replaced with ‘Moravian’, a Protestant sect. This is a long way from Ford Bank, and a distraction…
Returning to Ford Bank itself, the typed bomb damage records at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery list the house as damaged on the 5 January 1944. Its occupants were described as ‘Military’, and its owners were (ironically) The Church Army, 55 Bryanston Square. The damage was given as a plaster ceiling and some panes. Both the fact that soldiers — officers ? — were living there, and the Church Army ownership, are intriguing. The Church Army is an Anglican organisation which both evangelises and carries out work among the poor. It was perhaps meant as a local base. It is unlikely to be a coincidence that in 1958 the Church Army advertised locally ‘valuable freehold building land’ on Albany Road, with planning consent for three detached houses, or with potential for flats. As the road was mostly built up by then, I presume that the land was the playing field in the 1954 Ordnance Survey map of the area, to the east of the Ford Bank Coachhouse (noted as no. 32). This is now flats, called Capel Court.
I will conclude this history with the fact that by the 1953 edition of the local Kelly’s directory the house had been divided into flats, as the householders are listed as follows:
Bargh Jas. A. (flat 1, Ford Bank)
Bevington Geoffrey (flat 2, Ford Bank)
Jordan Miss Marjorie Goldsworthy (flat 3, Ford Bank)
I would have expected to find a planning application for the conversion. I resisted the temptation to try to identify these people, as they would be yet more rabbit holes.
Astonishingly penetrative detail, I commend the determination revealing customs & detail’s of Ford Bank’s
many householders. Thank you
Astonishingly penetrative detail, I commend the determination revealing customs & detail’s of Ford Bank’s
many householders. Thank you
Goodness, Stephen! Such remarkable detail of the history of the people and circumstances of the home where we now live since October 2024. I have learned so much and have greatly enjoyed looking through the historical window. I found some photos on line of Ford Bank which I will happily share with you.
Grateful thanks for your dedication in producing this significant piece of work.
A lovely conclusion to the Society Summer Garden Party at Ford Bank!