out interest to journalists in particular and to the public in general, and such interest may have lost but little of its value even in the present day, notwithstanding that at the time I am writing the new Registration Act comes into force which relieves journalism to a greater extent than hitherto from the liability of a prosecution for libel. In the case here referred to however, the prosecution was for a threatened damage to the person rather than to obtain damages for a libel. It must be admitted that the journalist was a plucky man to invite a colonel to a personal encounter, and that he was also an astute penman to manage the affair so adroitly.
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Associated with the Priory Ground in 1840 was the rumour that the Commissions of Woods and Forests were about to hand it over to the military authorities for the purpose of erecting Cavalry Barracks thereon. If such appropriation was ever contemplated, it is needless to say it was never realised. It is possible that the rumour was floated with the wish to evade the question of roads, paths and other improvements which the Town Council were urging upon the attention of Government officials. In some comments upon this subject the East Kent Advertiser had the following remarks:-
"It is now August, and we do not find that anything has been done, nor that the memorial of the Mayor and Council in April last has been deemed worthy of the slightest notice of their High Mightinesses of the Woods and Forrests (sic). This is treating English corporate bodies in a way which the sturdy ancestors of the present submissive race would never have tolerated. We know not what Mr. Driver's habits may be; but if he is like most Government subordinates the thing is as hopefully progressive towards an improved state as it was seven years ago. In fifty years time this will be valuable building ground, and in the mean time something ought to be done.
Here was evidently a true prophet. The writer next referred to the manner in which the Government became possessed of the ground, and contended that, bad as was the title of the poor people who originally built upon it the claim of the Government was even worse. The details of the official proceedings in connection with this claim, together with the spoliation of the earlier claimants' property, I have already given from the facts within my own knowledge; but as the said writer expresses an opinion that the rightful parties were the owners of the Priory Farm, of which the ground in question formed a portion until it was laid waste by the sea, I will again quote from his remarks. He says
Of this farm Earl Cornwallis was the owner of three fourths, and the then Mr. Milward was in the enjoyment of, and called himself the owner of, the remaining fourth part. But this latter being the Ellsworth Charity, Mr. Milward could show no title, and the owners did not attempt to claim. The Corporation had an idea that they were entitled, but they did not claim. The Lord of the Manor was equally silent. The Government finding how the "land lay," at once stepped in, took forcible possession, frightened the occupiers into accepting a seven years' lease, and turned them out at the end of the term.
Readers who have followed me thus far in these contributions to local history may be interested in some details of the Ellsworth Charity Bequest as laid before the Court of Chancery of 1809 at the instance of Mr. Thomas Cloake, of Rye, and Mr. T. Breeds, of Hastings. During Trinity Term of that year the Attorney General exhibited an information against the Mayor, Jurats and Commonalty of Hastings, and others, which information was afterwards amended, so as to make Edward Milward, the elder, and Edward Milward, the younger, and others, defendants thereto. The information set forth that several Charities belonging to Hastings and Rye, might be regulated and established; and among the Charities mentioned, a bequest of Richard Ellsworth, formerly of Brickham, Somerset, was especially referred to. By a decree of the Court on the 3rd of December, 1812, it was ordered that it should be referred to one of the masters of the court to enquire whether there were any funds or property to carry the charitable bequest of Richard Ellsworth into execution, and in whose possession the same then were. The master made his report on the 10th of July, 1815, and thereby certified that he found by a decree of the Court of Chancery, bearing date 4th of Nov., 1707, in a cause in which Ralph Combes and Penelope, his wife, and the said Richard Ellsworth (then an infant) were plaintiffs, and Mary Dowell and others were defendants; and by a subsequent order bearing date 2nd of Dec., 1710, the said defendants were absolutely foreclosed of the equity of redemption on certain mortgaged premises; and that the said Richard Ellsworth thereby obtained an absolute interest for the term of 400 years in (amongst other premises) one-fourth part of the late Dissolved Priory, near Hastings. And the master also found that the said Richard Ellsworth, by his will, bearing date 11th of July, 1714, after giving various legacies to charitable uses, bequeathed all his right and part of the said dissolved Priory for ever towards teaching the poorest children of the parish to read and say their catechism, and for buying them spelling-books and The Whole Duty of Man; paying the tenth part of his share to the ministers of the parish, and whom he appointed to take care that that part of his will should be duly executed. And that the said testator gave to his two sisters, Elizabeth and Penelope Ellsworth, all his messuages, lands, tenements &c., in Somerset, Kent and Sussex, or elsewhere, paying first all his debts and legacies; and appointed his said sisters executrixes of his will. And the master found that the said Richard Ellsworth died on or about the 11th of August 1714, and that his said sisters proved his will; and that the said Richard Ellsworth had been appointed executor of the will of his father, the original mortgagee of the said premises. And the master found that the said Elizabeth Ellsworth married George Fursden, who, by his will of the 16th of April, 1740, appointed his son George his sole executor and residuary legatee; and that Penelope Ellsworth married Chas. Snape, and that by indenture, 13th Dec., 1725 (10 years after the death of Richard Ellsworth's son), made between Chas. Snape and Penelope, his wife of the one part, and Nicholas Furrs, of the other part, the said Chas. Snape and Penelope, his wife, in consideration of £1,000 to the said Chas. Snape, paid by the said Nicholas Furrs, demised one-eight (sic) part of all the said mortgaged premises to the said Nicholas Furrs for 300 years (being 100 years less than the original mortgage term), to secure £1,000 and interest. And the said Chas. Snape and wife thereby bargained and sold to the said Nicholas Furrs, his executors, &c., all sums of money due and to become due to the said Chas. Snape and wife upon any decree or other proceeding in the Court of Chancery relating to the premises before mentioned, to hold the same to the said Nisholas Furrs, his executors, &c., subject to redemption in payment of £1,050 at such time as therein mentioned. And the master found that from the nature of the said last-mentioned mortgage, which wa an assignment of one-eight (sic) part or share on said mortgaged premises, the said Penelope was not dealing with the property in her character of executrix of the said Richard Ellsworth, but in her character of his residuary legatee; and he submitted to the court that from such plea the said Penelope was not acting in the execution of the trust, and in the distribution of the assets of her testator; and that the said Nicholas Furrs, under whom Edward Milward claimed the premises, as the purchaser, was bound, having notice of the will, to enquire further into her more legal title as executrix.
And with respect to the other eighth part of the Dissolved Priory lands near Hastings, being one moiety of the fourth part of the said lands which became vested in the said Elizabeth Ellsworth, the Master found that the same was never disposed of by her, or by those claiming under her as an executrix of the trust of the will of the said Richard Ellsworth, and in the distribution of his assets for the payment of his debts; and the Master thereof submitted to the court that those people claiming under her having notice of the will of the said Richard Ellsworth were bound to enquire further than into her mere legal title, and that the people taking the property appeared to have treated it as an absolute interest in the term of years, and not as money or as security for a sum of money. And the Master certified that he found all the people under whom Edward Milward claimed had notice of the will of Richard Ellsworth, and were therefore bound, in common prudence to look to the contents of such will; and that the said Edward Milward the father, to whom the fourth part of the Dissolved Priory, near Hastings, was conveyed by indenture of the 15th of April, 1765, had notice of Richard Ellsworth' will, by which the fourth part of the Dissolved Priory was specifically bequeathed, subject to the particular trust in favour of a charity in the said will mentioned. And the Master found that the legal estate in the said term of 400 years, with the said fourth part of the Dissolved Priory, near Hastings, was not vested in the said Milward, but was outstanding; and that such fourth part which was conveyed by indenture on the 15th of April, 1765, to the said Edward Milward, the father, and which was then in the possession or power of Edward Milward, the son, was the fund and property to carry the charitable institutions of the said testator into execution. And the Master further certified that the proceedings in equity ought to be instituted in the Court of Chancery by the said defendant, Edward Milward the younger for the purpose of obtaining from the said court a declaration that the said Edward Milward was a trustee of the site conveyed to Edward Milward, the elder by the said indenture of April 15th 1765, for the charitable purpose contained in the will of Richard Ellsworth, the testator." "Exceptions to the Report were filed on the part of Mr. Milward, and on the cause coming on for hearing such exceptions, Jan. 28th, 1818, the said objections were overruled, and the court confirmed the Report and referried it back to the Master, to enquire what proceedings should be taken for the recovery of the said fourth part of the Dissolved Priory stated to be in possession of Edward Milward, as well as by whom, and against whom.
The account from which this is taken goes on to say that "the substance of the above statement has been supplied by Mr. Richard Whitton, the solicitor of the relators in the Information, but it has not yet been verified by reference to the papers in consequence of Mr. Whitton having failed to produce the papers which he had engaged to do.
Mr. Edward Milward the elder, died intestate, in the year 1811, and letters of administration were granted to his son who is now in possession of an undivided fourth of the farm near Hastings called the Priory Farm, consisting, exclusively of certain lands at Bexhill, held under the same title, of about 102 acres, in occupation of Mr. John Foster, as yearly tenant at a rent of £270, one fourth of which is paid to Mr. Milward. Some timber growing on the estate has been lately felled, and was sold for £118 15s., part of which money was laid out in repairs and improvements of buildings on the estate. Milward's share of the residue amounted to £17 0s. 7 1/2d."
The above account might have been more lucid and less lengthy but I have preferred to reproduce it as it appeared in a newspaper in 1839 in all its legal verbality. It was said that one of Milward's exceptions or objections was that no parish of Hastings was in existence and that the Priory Farm was in the reputed parish of Holy Trinity; but according to the wording of the foregoing statement, the Dissolved Priory is repeatedly alluded to as "near Hastings," so that this particular objection of Mr. Milward's falls to the ground.
The gentleman described in the above statement as Edward Milward, the elder, was 25 times Mayor of Hastings, commencing his duties in that capacity in 1750, at the age of 26, and concluding his civic functions with the year 1801, at the age of 77. He survived the latter period another ten years and was consequently in the 88th year when he was gathered to his fathers. He had the honour of supporting the canopy at the Coronation in 1761, and with the money realised by the sale of the silver staves used on that occasion, a handsome brass chandelier (not now to be seen) was purchased for St. Clement's Church. On the wall of the south aisle of the said church is a monumental tablet with the following inscription :-
Sacred to the memory of EDWARD MILWARD, Esquire, of this town and port who died the 25th day of July, 1811, in the 88th year of his age. Also to the memory of Mary, his wife, daughter of the late JOHN COLLIER, Esquire, who died the 21st day of June 1783, aged 58 years.
Edward Milward, the younger to whom the "information" respecting the Priory Ground more directly applies was also Mayor of Hastings; his election to the office being twenty times repeated, nine of which were in alternate succession to similar services rendered by his father, four when his father was too enfeebled by age for such duties, and seven after his father's death. He began his career as chief magistrate in 1786, as soon as he attained his majority, and finished it in 1824, when he had reached the age of 59 years. Thus, for over seventy years the Mayoralty was mainly in the keeping of the two Milwards named in the Chancery records anent the Priory Ground. Perhaps it was to the opportunities afforded by this and other offices being vested in a single family for three quarters of a century that excited suspicion of appropriation, not only of Ellsworth's Charity, but of other properties which I used to hear people talk about when I was young. Such suspicion, should, however, have been groundless if the inscription on the memorial tablet of the younger Milward is a faithful record It will be found on the north side of the chancel of St. Clement's Church, and is as follows:-
Sacred to the memory of EDWARD MILWARD, Esq., who, during a period of forty years, zealously and impartially discharged the various duties of a magistrate for the county of Sussex, and for the town and port of Hastings. He was distinguished in private life by the liberal exercise of the most generous and disinterested acts of friendship and benevolence, and died, deeply regretted, on the 10th of May, 1833, in the 68th year of his age.
The John Foster mentioned as the occupant of the Priory Farm, was for several years overseer of Holy Trinity parish. He came to Hastings from Lenham, in Kent, and died at the Priory Farm on Sunday the 9th of March, 1823, at the age of 65. He left a widow, who with a large family to provide for, continued the occupation of the farm. She survived her husband a period of 37 years, and died on the 23rd of April, 1860, at the age of 87. They were both interred at Fairlight, where also are resting the bodies of some of their children and grandchildren. It is a coincidence that the death of Mr. Foster took place a few hours previously to the desperate party contention over the claims of building sites, with the description of which I commenced the notice of the Priory ground; and it is therefore not inappropriate to close the said notice with a record of the passing away of those who were for many years the principal inhabitants of the parish.
Having referred to the contentions respecting the proposed Infirmary and its site in 1838, and the ultimate purchase of the ground in 1839, together with the raising of funds in the latter year by a grand bazaar at the Arcade, and by other means, it may be here mentioned that petitions against the chosen site were presented, both from Hastings and St. Leonards, even as late as January, 1840. The Committee, however, as before stated, resolved to proceed with the work, and at a meeting on the 11th April, they chose the plans of Mr. Dillon, at an estimated cost of £1750, the structure to be raised on the site purchased from Mr. Eversfield for £300. Such was the progress of the work after it was once commenced, that in less than three months the Infirmary was opened to out-door patients, and on the 1st of September - two months later - to in-patients. The medical practitioners who gave their services at the time, and who were afterwards duly appointed, were Dr. Duke, Mr. Savery and Mr. Ticehurst; and just at the time that the Infirmary was commenced, Dr. Cooke was elected a physician to the Dispensary, already in existence, in lieu of Dr. Wilmott, who had resigned. The Dispensary, it may be stated, was erected on the site of a house given for the purpose by the late William Lucas Shadwell, Esq.
Sermons on behalf of the new Infirmary were preached on the 20th of December, resulting in good collections. The Ven. Archdeacon of Lewes preached at St. Mary's-in-the-Castle, and the Rev. W. Simpson, Vicar of Bexhill, at St. Leonards.
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