The large white house at the top of St Leonards Gardens was not always called Gloucester Lodge. Thomas Brandon Brett, the St Leonards chronicler, stated that it was formerly called Castellated Villa, then Gloucester House, then Gloucester Lodge (St Leonards and Hastings Gazette, 17 August 1878). It seems however also to have been named North Villa, and I have found no evidence for Gloucester House. Incidentally, old sources vary between locating the house on Maze Hill or on Quarry Hill (which it is now).
The Historic England entry for this Grade II house reads as follows.
1830. By James Burton, probably designed by Decimus Burton, as part of the original lay-out of St Leonards. L-shaped house in Tudor/gothic style. Stuccoed. Three storeys. Three windows.
The main front faces south-east across the original Subscription Gardens, now St Leonards Gardens. On this side the house stands on a terrace faced with sandstone rusticated ashlar which is built out in front of it and contains a cellar. The front is flanked by stepped buttresses rising nearly the whole height of the elevation. Cornice and castellated parapet, first floor oriel window of six lights with mullions and transom. Second floor three two-light casements all with dripmoulds over. Verandah on the ground floor of wrought iron and two-light casements. Circular tower rising from the flat roof in the north-west angle, surmounted by a flagpole and a weathervane. The entrance is on the north side with enclosed porch with moulded four-centred arch doorway with dripmould. Chimneys with group of twisted shafts.
Formerly named the Castellated Villa but changed to Gloucester Lodge in honour of Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester who lived here in 1831.
Brett also tells us (St Leonards and Hastings Gazette, 1 June 1878) that Princess Sophia of Gloucester (aunt to the later Queen Victoria) arrived on the 18 August 1831, and occupied what was then called North Villa. She took over its occupation from James Burton, who moved to next door Allegria, which borders St Leonards Gardens on its west side. The previous year she had stayed at Bohemia Mansion from the 6 May to the 26 July, and had liked the area. She laid the foundation stone of the old St Leonards church on the 8 September 1831, the day of the coronation of King William IV. He was her first cousin, and it may seem odd that she did not attend, but according to Wikipedia she expressed no enthusiasm for marrying him when the idea had been suggested. She died in 1844 at Blackheath, aged 71.
I looked to see what newspapers had to say. The Morning Herald, 9 August 1831, had a brief mention. Apparently, before her arrival, it had already been decided to rename the house. This was presumably by the Burton family, owners of the house.
LEONARD’S, AUG. 6. – This elegant place, as might be expected from its freshness and novelty, even if it had not so many attractions, is filling fast. Much genteel company is daily arriving. Her Royal Highness the Princess Sophia of Gloucester has taken for some time that commodious and beautiful house the North Villa, hereafter to be called Gloucester Lodge. Many gaieties also are on foot. There are to be two regattas, with a dress ball, and a public dinner, in the course of a few days.
The Sussex Advertiser, 22 August 1831, confirmed Brett’s recollections by stating that Princess Sophia and her suite had arrived on the 18th. She intended to sojourn there for ‘a considerable period.’ The same, 3 October 1831, confirmed that she continued to sojourn at St Leonards. It speculated that she might have stayed again at Bohemia but the furniture had been sold (prior to its being offered for sale), as when she stayed there she ‘expressed her partiality for the house.’ The same, 10 October 1831, reported that on the occasion of the Hastings and St Leonards [horse] races on the previous Wednesday and Thursday the Princess attended with her carriage and four [horses], and hence ‘honoured the course by her attendance.’ I could not readily identify when she returned to London.
Notice in the lithograph above that there is a pond in the back lawn, and that the current lush growth surrounding the gardens was absent, as well as a narrow road on Maze Hill rather than the current broad road.
The first mention of a resident that I have found after the Princess’ stay was mentioned in the Brighton Gazette, 27 February 1840, when Mr and Mrs Hinuber and family were said to be still staying there.
The Sussex Advertiser, 14 December 1840, announced the new chief of rural police for East Sussex had taken possession of Gloucester Lodge as a permanent residence. Henry Fowler Mackay was Chief Constable of East Sussex for 41 years.
In the 6 June 1841 census Henry Mackay, Chief Constable, age 35, was the first named householder. Ages of adults were rounded down to the nearest five years. Details of marital status, relationships or exact place of birth were not given in this census. There was a separate household headed by Sophia Ainslie, age 65. She and her probable daughter had eight servants.
Numerous individuals lived briefly at the house over the next few decades, often for a month or more. These are only a few.
In 1847 a new entrant to Rugby public school was James Edward Hunter, aged 13, later a Commander RN. He was the son of Hugh Hunter, Esq., of Gloucester Lodge, St Leonards [Rugby School Register, 1881]. I carried out some research into the family. James had been born at Mauritius, and died in 1932 at Upper St Leonards rectory [St John the Evangelist]. This is only a short distance from Gloucester Lodge, on Brittany Road. Two of his children were clergymen, and presumably one of them was the incumbent at the time.
Hugh Hunter’s place of birth is unknown but his father James is alleged in a family tree to have been from Philadelphia. In 1825 he married Elizabeth Mather in Dum Dum, India. When he died in 1867 at Table Bay, South Africa, he was stated to be late of Mauritius, Lieutenant RN half pay. His wife had died a month earlier at Mauritius. It certainly sounds like an intriguing family.
Here are some examples of the Hastings and St Leonards News reporting on those renting Gloucester Lodge, with the date of the edition.
4 August 1848. Capt. Daniels and family entered into Gloucester Lodge on Wednesday.
6 October 1848. DEPARTURES. Capt. Daniells, Gloucester Lodge, on Thursday.
8 June 1849. Mr and Mrs Ellis have left Gloucester Lodge.
The census held on the 30 March 1851 gives much more information than in 1841 for what it termed Gloster Lodge:
Thos Raven, head, M[arried], 58, MA clergyman of Church Engld without cure of souls, born Norfolk St Germans
Jane Raven, wife, M, 37, born Lancashire Preston
John Samuel Raven, son, U[nmarried], 21, artist & landscape painter, born Lancashire Preston
Jane Augusta Raven, dau, U, 19, born Lancashire Preston
James Raven, son, U, 18, scholar at home, born Lancashire Preston
Eustace Raven, son, U, 15, scholar at home, born Lancashire Preston
Catherine Harriett, dau, U, 11, scholar at home, born Lancashire Preston
Edmund Catt, servt, 19, footman, born Sussex Fairlight
Sarah Henderson Dowker, servt, U, 29, cook, W.morland Holme
Ellen Moore, servt, U, 29, housemaid, born Lancashire Martin
In the 1861 census the Rev. Thomas Raven was in Bishops Tawton, Devon, again without cure of souls. He died in Torquay in 1868. His painter son John Samuel Raven (1819-74) painted some local scenes, mainly in oils, but also in watercolours. His father was himself an amateur watercolourist. A few weeks later, on the 18 April 1851, the Hastings and St Leonards News reported the arrival of the Rev. W. Vernon at Gloucester Lodge on a visit to the Rev. T. Raven.
We sometimes get to measure the length of a stay. The Hastings and St Leonards News reported on the 10 October 1851 this news:
ARRIVALS. Mrs Douglas and family, Gloucester Lodge, on Wednesday, from Bedford square, London.
The same, 7 November 1851, has this:
MISCELLANEOUS. Mr Lewis Douglas will remove from Gloucester Lodge, to 61, Marina.
They only left 61 Marina in March 1852. We do not know why Mrs Douglas apparently preceded her husband, or why they moved. It was common for wealthy Londoners to stay the winter on coastal resorts to escape the smog caused by coal fires. Winter was in fact the ‘season’ in St Leonards.
In the 1861 census Gloucester Lodge was uninhabited.
The St Leonards and Hastings Gazette would publish, for many years, the residents of prominent named villas. On the 23 January 1864 it listed for Gloucester Lodge Mr and Mrs Middleton and family. In its 21 May 1864 edition it had a description of the marriage of one of the daughters.
The Rev. Francis Sterry had married at St Leonards Church Augusta Emily Middleton, second surviving daughter of Hastings Nathaniel Middleton Esq. of Bradford Peverel, Dorset, and Gloucester Lodge. Both parties said that they were of St Leonards on the marriage certificate. After the wedding eight carriages bore the party and their guests back to Gloucester Lodge where a lunch was ready for them. Thirty sat down to eat. Herr Klee’s band had played the Wedding March on their arrival. There was also a dinner party and ball in the evening after the happy couple had departed for Bexhill on the beginning of their honeymoon, their destination being undisclosed.
In the 1861 census Hastings Nathaniel Middleton had been at Kington House, Piddletown, Dorset, age 51, landed proprietor, born London. He had eight servants including a butler.
Most of those staying at Gloucester Lodge were only there for a relatively short time, but the Middletons were there for years. Sadly, his wife Mary Ann died 24 December 1866 at Gloucester Lodge. He died in 1898 at Bradford Peverel, with the same Rev. Francis Sterry one of the executors.
In the 2 April 1871 census the household consisted of John Massey Stanley, age 59, [living off] interest of money, born Cheshire. His 45-year-old wife Maria was born in Paris. There were also six servants. They had ‘taken’ the house in October 1870. Maria was the only daughter of Baron de Talleyrand. In 1877 John changed his surname to Errington and as the 12th Baronet of Hooton (he had inherited the title in 1875) died at Cannes, France in 1893.
Their departure is apparently unrecorded but on the 24 August 1871 the Hastings and St Leonards Advertiser informs us that
Mr and Mrs Joseph Bravo have taken Gloucester Lodge for the season, and will arrive on Monday next.
The Bravos seemed to have liked the house, as they returned in August 1873 and August 1874.
The map below from 1872 shows a large pool at the back of Gloucester Lodge. It was not in the 1897 map, and is now part of the lawn.
Over the next decade a variety of families stayed as recorded in the newspapers. These included Mr and Mrs Hay and family who arrived in July 1872 and who moved in March 1873 to 66 Marina, and Mr and Mrs Geo. C. Hawker who with his wife took Gloucester Lodge in October 1873 for a year.
The Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 21 March 1874, reported that John Murray, described as a ‘raggedly attired tramp’, was before the magistrates for being drunk and assaulting a constable. ‘On Monday he was at Gloucester Lodge and abused some ladies very much’, but could not be found. It was not the first time. He was sentenced to one month’s hard labour.
There is some documentation for Mr J.W. Childers and his family. They arrived in March 1876 but must have departed so that in August 1876 Major Lenox Prendergast was able to take Gloucester Lodge ‘for a short residence’. Their return was announced in the Hastings & St Leonards Advertiser, 15 February 1877:
Mrs and Mr Wallbank Childers, and Miss Wallbank Childers have arrived at Gloucester Lodge from Cantley, Doncaster.
The same reported on the 22 March 1877 a mishap:
An accident which for the time occasioned considerable excitement, occurred in Robertson street on Monday afternoon. A carriage and pair belonging to Mr Childers, of Gloucester Lodge, Maze Hill, was about to turn when a hackney carriage came by and the off-horse of the pair got its leg in the wheel of the cab, and fell to the ground with its leg wedged in as tight as if it had been in a vice. Quite half-an-hour elapsed before the poor trembling animal could be extricated from its painful position. The occupants of the carriage though naturally alarmed were in no way hurt.
In 1866, in Derbyshire, John Walbanke-Childers, a widower, of Cantley Hall, had married Selina Radford. She was his second cousin; his first wife, Anne, was the daughter of a baronet. He was the Whig MP for Cambridgeshire 1832-33 and for Malton 1836-46 and 1847-52. He died in 1886 at Cantley Lodge.
The Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 30 March 1878, had an advertisement for the sale of itemised furniture at Gloucester Lodge by Gausden and Burton for Alfred H. Burton. This was Alfred Henry Burton (1846-1917), grandson to James Burton, founder of the town, and son of Alfred. His father had died in April 1877, and I assumed that he had inherited the house. However I did not find any mention of a house sale, though this presumably would happened at about the same time. In fact he did not own the house, and a little clarity on the matter is given further on in this account, in 1882. Alfred Burton was probably acting as an agent.
In the 1881 census there was the Taylor household. Their arrival does not seem to have been mentioned in the newspapers. This is the entire household.
Frances Taylor, head, W[idow], 79, born London
Eleanor Taylor, dau, Unm[arried], 53, born Hanover
Rose Taylor, dau, Unm, 45, born Hanover
Alice Taylor, dau, Unm, 37, born Hanover
Frances Thompson, granddau, 10, born India Mercara
Louis Thompson, grandson, 6, born India Mercara
Mary Heath, serv, W, 48, cook dom., born Surrey Richmond
Anna Sturm, serv, U, 26, nurse dom., born Germany Hessia
Elizabeth Trill, serv, U, 21, parlourmaid, born Sussex Ringmer
Martha White, serv, M[arried], 60, charwoman, born Sussex Hastings
In the 1871 census the family had been at 65 Eversfield Place. Her husband had been John Taylor, Paymaster, which was an army rank. The daughters being born at Hanover makes me wonder if he was an officer in the Hanoverian Army. They had married in 1827 at London, she as Frances Larkins Mather. By 1851 she was a widow at Canterbury. The family was later of 73 Pevensey Road, where Frances died in 1895.
Going back to the presumption that Alfred Henry Burton had inherited the house. That was what I initially assumed, but then I came across discussions in Hastings Council reported on in the Hastings & St Leonards News, 5 August 1882. A report stated that the Misses Wood, who were the granddaughters of James Burton and who lived at nearby North Lodge, had offered to give the drinking fountain currently on Gloucester Lodge’s grounds as an addition to St Leonards Gardens. The Council preferred that the fountain be moved to near the gardens’ [south ?] entrance at the expense of the Misses Wood. The report continues:
The committee have received a letter from Mr A.H. Burton, stating that as the Misses Wood are about to sell Gloucester Lodge and grounds…
So it actually belonged to Alfred Henry Burton’s first cousins. The Misses Wood, via their uncle Mr Fearon, declined to accept the Council’s proposal (Hastings & St Leonards Observer, 2 September 1882). I later found that in the discussions about the Council buying the gardens in 1879 it was mentioned that ‘Miss Wood retained Gloucester Lodge, which she said was worth £4000’ (Hastings & St Leonards Observer, 5 July 1879). She also owned the top portion of what became the public gardens. Apparently the idea of including Gloucester Lodge’s gardens in the public gardens had been contemplated.
The Hastings & St Leonards Advertiser, 3 April 1884, listed Miss King as the occupant of Gloucester Lodge. She was daughter of Rear Admiral the Hon. James William King, 7th son of the 2nd Earl Kingston. It appears that the Misses Woods continued to own Gloucester Lodge, as in a description of a beating the bounds of the parish the route included going through ‘the garden of Miss Wood at Gloucester Lodge’ (Hastings & St Leonards Times, 24 May 1884)
The Hastings and St Leonards News, 9 March 1888, reported on an inquest in the servants’ hall of Gloucester Lodge. This was highly unusual: inquests were normally held at the nearest public house, but the newspaper confirmed that it was with the owner’s permission. I have censored the graphic description of how the death occurred, and what happened after.
The deceased was the gardener, Alfred Screes, age 54. Martha Screes, his daughter, living at Shornden Terrace, said she had last seen her father the previous day after his breakfast, when he was in excellent spirits. He had though felt that the work was getting too much for him and was afraid that he might be discharged. He may also have been affected by her mother being very ill. He was a very quiet man. He had worked at Gloucester Lodge for 13 or 14 years as a gardener. This doesn’t seem right as in the 1881 census he had been in Miss King’s household at 1 Church Road, married, born Maidstone.
Agnes Mackye the parlourmaid also gave evidence. He had been a total abstainer for seven years. Lately she had thought him ‘a little dull’. At half past ten she had greeted him as he stepped into the garden, remarking on the fine day, but he did not reply.
Sarah Noakes the cook also gave evidence. She had called to him at a quarter to twelve to run an errand. He did not reply, and she found him in the toolroom, hanging from the rafters. She went out screaming for help, and Agnes came and also John Robbins, a butcher at 93 Norman Road, who by chance had come calling at the house. Robbins cut Screes down. The verdict was temporary insanity.
In the 1891 census the occupants were Caroline Mary King, single, 67, living own means, born Cranbrook, blind, with four servants. In the 1871 and 1881 censuses she had been at 1 Church Road, St Leonards. Her brother Robert King, District Superintendent of Police in Bengal, was living with her in 1871.
In the 1897 Ordnance Survey map shown below note that the pond shown in the 1872 map has gone. The area remains a pond.
In the 1901 census Caroline was again at Gloucester Lodge, and again with four servants. In all four censuses in St Leonards her lady’s maid was Sarah Bilcliff, born Clapham (who was age 64 in 1901). The same applied to the cook, Sarah Noakes, born Framfield (age 53 in 1901).
On the 12 May 1905 Caroline died at Gloucester Lodge, age 81. She left an estate of £35050, equivalent to £3.8 million today.
There was an itemised list of household furniture etc. to be sold by auction on the premises in the Hastings & St Leonards Observer, 3 June 1905. This included oil paintings and a valuable collection of books as well as the usual Victorian furniture.
The Hastings & St Leonards Observer, 22 July 1905, described the house, sold as freehold from the estate of Miss C.M. King. So it had indeed been sold after all by the Misses Wood at some point.
The Hastings & St Leonards Observer, 19 August 1905, reported on the auction. Described as a marine residence of 1.25 acres it was withdrawn when bidding reached £2200, as the reserve had not been reached. This was equivalent to £240,000 today. The same, 28 September 1905, reported that it had been sold by private treaty.
The new owners were the Walthers. There are a couple of mentions of them in the newspapers. In January 1909 the male members of the choir of St Leonards Church were given a supper at the house, and Dr Walther showed off his ‘curios’. In September 1909 there was a sale of fancy work and flowers in the house which raised £140 for the St Leonards Church.
The 1911 census for the first time gives the number of rooms in each household, in this case 20 rooms. It also asked intrusive questions about how long a couple had been married and about the children.
John Walther, head, M(arried), 58, MD consulting physician (retired), born London Hampstead
Hannah Walther, wife, 56, married 36 years, 5 children, all alive, born Luton Beds
Annie Walther, dau, 35, born London Marylebone
Rosetta Walther, dau, 33, born London Marylebone
Louise Walther, dau, 31, born Guestling Sussex
Ellen Walther, dau, 26, born Eastbourne Sussex
Jane Dicker, servant, 61, cook (domestic), born Hertford Hertfordshire
Annie Coldstock [?], servant, 36, parlourmaid (domestic), born Kent Chiddingstone
Sarah Chastor, servant, 45, housemaid (domestic) born Merton Norfolk
In the same census at Castlerigg, Springfield Road was the family of son David Walther, 28, medical practitioner, born Peebles, wife Miriam. They had married in 1904 at St Leonards Church, she as Miriam Dora Mason, of 89 Marina. David became a freemason at Hastings’ Derwent Lodge in 1911.
They had married in 1874 at Luton, she as Welch, dau of a JP. In the 1901 census they had been at 109 Marina. According to a family tree on Ancestry John [David] Walther’s parents were born in Vevey, Switzerland, his father being a merchant. After leaving school John went abroad for twelve months, to Italy where he was in Naples during the cholera epidemic of 1870, then to Greece and Egypt, then returning through Paris in the spring of 1871. If true, this must have been quite frightening, as the city was in the midst of a bloody struggle between the revolutionary Communards and the so-called Versailles government troops following the fall of Paris to the Prussian Army and its German allies.
In 1911-12 Dr Walther financed the Anglicans taking over the former Primitive Methodist chapel on Kenilworth Road, as recently mentioned in my post The former chapel on Kenilworth Road, St Leonards on Sea.
Mrs Walther died on the 7 January 1917 at Gloucester Lodge, followed by her husband on the 16 July 1918. He left £34226, equivalent to £1.7 million today. He was buried at Hollington. Three of the daughters plus the same doctor son, David Rodolphe Philippe, were the executors.
The daughters appear to have devoted much of their time to charitable work, especially in missionary work among women in Asia. Meetings and fund raisers were constantly being held at Gloucester Lodge. For example in 1930 the Hastings and St Leonards branch of the Ladies’ Guild of the British Sailors’ Society held their AGM inside the house. It was meant to be held ‘on the terrace overlooking the lovely garden’ but heavy rain made that impossible, besides discouraging attendance. Tea was provided by the Misses Walther in another room (Hastings Observer, 7 June 1930). In 1931 a meeting was held at the house by the Christian Colportage Association, which was to do with travellers distributing religious tracts (Hastings Observer, 3 October 1931). Other causes supported, apparently by offering the house as a venue rather than serving on committees and the like, were the YMCA Forward Movement, the Protestant Reformation Society, the Bible Churchmen’s Missionary Society, the British and Foreign Bible Society (Hastings and St Leonards Auxiliary), and the local branch of the Open-Air Mission.
On a different note, Miss Walther advertised for a house-parlourmaid and betweenmaid in what was described as a ‘comfortable home’, with no wage scale mentioned (Hastings Observer, 12 July 1930). A betweenmaid divided her duties between helping in the kitchen and being a housemaid.
On the 9 July 1937 planning application DH/C/6/1/13630, ‘Alterations’, was approved by the Council for Gloucester Lodge. It is at The Keep, Falmer, but I have not seen it.
On the 30 September 1939 the ‘Register’ was compiled for rationing purposes, listing by household all civilians in the UK. It only gives a little information. The household at Gloucester Lodge was as follows:
Walther Rosetta [born] 1 Aug [18]77, S[ingle], private means
Walther Louise V. 4 Apr 79, S, private means
Walther Ella J. 1 Apr 85, S, private means
Padmore Elizabeth 4 Oct 92, W[idow], trained nurse travelling
Helps Elsie 9 July 01, S, maid
Down Matilda F. 29 May 89, S, cook
Saxby Lily 17 Sept 99, S, housemaid
Mitchell Gwendaline R 14 June 11, S, parlourmaid
In addition there were four widowed women, all born between 1852-65, and all incapacitated. More evidence of charity ?
The Hastings Observer, 6 April 1940, has an article titled ‘Out of hiding’. The anonymous columnist ‘Observator’ said that he had been strolling through St Leonards Gardens on Sunday morning when he was
surprised to see above a group of laurels a granite monument bearing a head in bronze bas-relief.
I had never noticed it before — no doubt owing to the fact that it had been concealed by foliage — and closer inspection showed it to be a fountain consisting of a granite block about 8ft. high. Beneath the aquiline profile set in the granite was the inscription, “James Burton, founder of St Leonards, 1828. Born 1761. Died 1837.”
The monument to the eminent architect who 112 years ago created the brand-new watering place that has become indissolubly united with Hastings, stands, not in the public gardens, but just within the garden railings of Gloucester Lodge, residence of the late Dr Walther, and now occupied by the Misses Walther.
There is a story attached to the fountain, which, I am told, was erected by public subscription at a cost of £300. When Dr Walther went to live at Gloucester Lodge 35 years ago he offered to let the Corporation have the monument, but various complications arose and nothing happened.
A bone of contention was the inscription at the back of the fountain, which read: “These gardens, formed 1829, were dedicated to the public by the borough authorities, 1880, mainly through the action of James Birkett.”
Some people did not see why Mr Birkett should have so large a share of the credit.
A suggestion was made that the names of the then members of the Town Council should be inscribed and that Mr Birkett’s name should be erased.
This part of the story appears to be confirmed by marks which suggest that a start had been made in the process of obliterating Mr Birkett’s name from the stone.
That the deed was not performed was — so the story goes — due to the indignant opposition of Mr Birkett’s relatives.
So the fountain stayed where it was. The only people who seemed to care for its existence after this dispute were the relatives of Mr Birkett, who occasionally asked permission to have a look at it — and perhaps to see that no one had finished the job of cutting out his name !
When Dr Walther went to Gloucester Lodge Mr Burton’s monument was surrounded by undergrowth, and Mr Burton’s handsome features were modestly screened from public gaze. Recently, however, the bushes in the public garden were thinned out and a tree, which blocked Mr Burton’s view of the garden, had the good manners to fall.
In the 1881 census, at 12 Maze Hill, James Birkett was 76, a retired solicitor born at Liverpool. He died there in 1891.
The current monument close to the back fence of Gloucester Lodge is Grade II listed, and its official entry on Historic England‘s website has a photo and describes it as follows.
This consists of a short pink granite obelisk with a rounded head, standing on a plinth with a semi-circular basin in front of it and a fountain pipe above the plinth emitting a jet of water into the basin. Towards the head of the obelisk is a bronze plaque of Burton’s profile with the words “James Burton, Founder of St Leonards, 1828. Born 1761. Died 1837” beneath the plaque.
There was a similar article about the monument in 1905 which said how overgrown the area was, referring to a water tap rather than a fountain, and mentioning an old, broken down wire fence separating the public from the private gardens (Hastings Observer, 5 August 1905). I have not researched this topic further, although I do wonder why it was erected within Gloucester Lodge’s grounds. Perhaps it had been assumed that the grounds would be included in the public gardens. It continues to be easily visible from a path in the public gardens.
In 1947 the eldest daughter, Annie Marian, died. Although she was asserted to have died at Godstone, Surrey, her probate entry states that she died at Gloucester Lodge. Her estate was valued at £20589. She was buried in what was described as the family grave at Hollington.
On the 1 October 1948 planning application DH/C/40/48/229 for a ‘temporary greenhouse’ was approved.
In 1954 there were still Misses Walther at Gloucester Lodge.
Louise Valerie Walther died in 1958 at Winstowe, Charles Road, but was of Little Gloucester, Harley Shute Road.
Rosetta died in 1959 at 202 Harley Shute Road.
The remaining sister Ella died in 1965 at Crowborough, but was buried at Hollington.
Their only brother David, a dentist rather than a doctor as earlier asserted, had died in 1952 in Norfolk. I conclude this long account with the end of the Walther family’s occupation of Gloucester Lodge.