the burtons' st leonards blog
William Gardner: an American inventor in St Leonards
I recently discovered that Pike’s Directory for Hastings and St Leonards has a lengthy section recording deaths in the annual editions for 1884 to 1889. 1890 is missing from the [...]
read moreJohn Kenwood, builder and upholsterer
I recently came across John Kenwood when I found an advertisement for numerous houses being sold from his estate. The newspapers give much detail on his activities, though it is [...]
read moreThe temperance movement in Victorian St Leonards
Many local branches of national societies urging temperance or total abstinence flourished in St Leonards on Sea in Victorian times. This article gives an idea of the scale of the [...]
read moreSt Leonards in the newspapers, 1832-33
25 April 1832, Brighton Guardian The ball at the Assembly Rooms on Tuesday, under the auspices of the Stewards, Captain Jelf Sharp and A. Burton, Esq., was numerously attended.The elegant [...]
read moreCharles John Batstone and his many occupations
In transcribing the 1861 census for St Leonards I noticed that the very last household is an “omitted” entry, though we are not told from where the details had been [...]
read moreThe landlord and the soldiers
This post’s title is the headline of a case before the Hastings Bench, as reported in the Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 7 September 1878. I was astonished that billeting [...]
read moreQuebec House School, Pevensey Road
I came across a newspaper account of an extension to Quebec House School, Upper Maze Hill, in the Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 12 July 1873. The principal, Mr T. [...]
read moreA husband on sufferance in his wife’s house
This post’s title is the dramatic first sentence, in capital letters, of a report from the magistrates’ court at Hastings, in the Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 22 October 1870. [...]
read moreSt Leonards in the newspapers, 1831-32
The 1 September 1831 edition of the [London] Evening Standard has a very detailed, and interesting, advertisement for auction properties in St Leonards. It includes mention of The Conqueror Hotel, [...]
read more‘The growth of Hastings’: a walk on the outskirts of St Leonards in 1889
The 20 July 1889 issue of the Hastings and St Leonards Observer has a long, anonymous article titled ‘The growth of Hastings, new buildings, a casual survey’. It is in [...]
read moreCrystal Square, St Leonards on Sea: an unsanitary place
Crystal Square in St Leonards survives only as a name of a car park close to the Kings Road. It used to be a courtyard surrounded by tiny houses, with [...]
read moreA walk for Hastings & East Sussex Natural History Society through Burtons’ St Leonards & beyond
“Walking is how the body measures itself against the earth”, a quote from Rebecca Solnit’s ‘Wanderlust: a history of walking’. Usually in a catchment area of 30 miles, the Society [...]
read moreLin’s Personal Exploration of Hastings’ Musical History
These are extracts from a dissertation. In these recession-hit times, a traveller to Hastings, walking from the railway station past boarded-up shop fronts towards the fire-damaged pier and on to [...]
read moreHighbury House School and the Duffs
Although many schools put adverts in local newspapers, they nearly always give details of their teachers, and the subjects covered, rather than how much they charged. By chance I came [...]
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St Leonards in the newspapers, 1830-31
A selection of newspaper articles relating to St Leonards between 1830 & 1831.
read moreThomas Laws the flyman: a tragic end
The burial registers of St Leonards church for 1836 lists two burials on the same day: Thomas Laws. [Of] St Mary Magdalen. [Buried] Septr. 17th. [Age] 29 years. Mary Jane [...]
read moreNo votes for women: an 1889 plea
In 1889 the journal Nineteenth century published a petition asking that women not be allowed the vote. All of the signatories were women. They appear in an appendix to the [...]
read moreSome notes on the Olby family of Elmside, 30 Charles Road
I have often admired Elmside, the house at the corner of Charles Road and Brittany Road. Here are some notes on the history of this 1920s house. As we shall [...]
read moreMore newspaper extracts, 1828-29
In my post on St Leonards in the newspapers, 1828-29 I missed many items because I did not search for “new town” in connection with Hastings. Many of these, given [...]
read moreThe Censi family of 14 Eversfield Place
A big advantage of searching for people with unusual names is that they are easy to trace in databases. Here is one example, a family who fell upon hard times. [...]
read moreA Warrior Square postcard
I recently bought some oldish postcards of St Leonards on Sea at Teddy Tinker’s, 134 London Road. If you don’t know it, this shop is full of vintage clothes and [...]
read moreSt Leonards in the newspapers, 1829-30
5 November 1829, Brighton Gazette: ST LEONARD’S NEW TOWN, NEAR HASTINGS OCT. 28. – The sports and pastimes at the opening of the Grand Hotel, in the entirely New Town [...]
read moreNotes on the history of Coonoor, 2 Woodland Vale Road
I have often walked past this attractive house, at the bottom end of Woodland Vale Road, and decided to have a look at its history. Here are some notes about [...]
read moreSt Leonards in the newspapers, 1828-29
This is the first of an occasional series, in chronological order, of some mentions of St Leonards in newspapers, as found on the priced British Newspaper Archive. 12 April 1828, [...]
read moreHouses for sale on Maze Hill, 1836
I recently gave a talk on 6 Maze Hill to the Society. In carrying out the research, I searched for “6 Maze Hill” in the newspaper archive on the priced [...]
read moreThe Auldjo family: winter visitors to Marina and Warrior Square
The Hastings and St Leonards Observer contains a vast amount of information on visitors to St Leonards, usually cited as “Arrivals” or “Fashionable intelligence.” The newspaper, with many others, can [...]
read moreOur man in the archive: St Leonards Gardens
Tucked away in a secret underground location known only to committee members (and the people who ask them) are the Society archives. The hefty files are a fascinating collection of [...]
read moreMr Cutting of 10 Vale Road and 2 Victoria Road
I have been researching the houses on my road, Vale Road, Silverhill, and found on a family tree on the priced Ancestry website an interesting photo. It showed a woman [...]
read moreJohn Gibbs the pamphleteer of Maze Hill Cottage
Genealogy very often results amassing information such as dates and places of birth, marriage and death. It is rare that one is able to add flesh to the bones, so [...]
read moreA peepshow of St Leonards on Sea, 1840
The Hastings Museum acquired in 1947 a peepshow of St Leonards on Sea, numbered 947.43. This is full of interest, as it shows an unusual view of the [...]
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