Proposed New Local Act. 1851
West-Hastings Improvement Bill
More than twenty years had now passed since the inhabitants eastward of the Archway, by choice and necessity had adopted the name of St. Leonards and in all things, except being under the jurisdiction of the St. Leonards Commissioners, were in complete association with the dwellers westward of the said Archway. And as the original town of St. Leonards was built upon even a greater area of the Magdalen parish than upon that of St. Leonards, the interests in parochial matters were to a great extent also identical, and could not be separated. There was, indeed, a St. Leonards Without and a St. Leonards within, which in common parlance were distinguished as “Insiders” and “Outsiders”, or in other words as “St. Leonards” and “St. Leonards-on-sea”, the latter appellation being applied to the district for which Mr. Burton obtained the Commissioners Act. Several of the Commissioners had property in both districts, and so immediately contiguous were the properties that in the front line the Archway, first called the “East gate” was the only mark of distinction, whilst in the rear, the wall which originally marked the boundary had by mutual consent disappeared and the roads thrown open. There were, however, one or two ambitious “nobodies”, well known to the writer, who sometimes asked “Why should we not have a separate town to be called St. Mary’s?” It was then proposed by a few others to apply to Parliament for a local Act to be called “The West Hastings, Improvement Bill”. The area to be included in this bill was not only that portion of St. Mary Magdalen parish which was excluded by the St. Leonards Commissioners Act, but also the parishes of .St. Michael and Holy Trinity, which were not within the jurisdiction of the Hastings Local Act of 1832. At the commencement of 1851, or at least in January of that year, the proposed Bill for the district between St. Leonards, proper, and Hastings, proper, was published, and the 25th of February was the last day for lodging petitions against it. It was entitled “A Bill for Improving, Watching, Lighting and providing with Water that part of the Borough which is not comprised within the respective limits of the Local Acts for regulating the Town and Port of Hastings and the Town of St. Leonards. The district thus embraced is to be called “West Hastings”. It was prayed that the Bill should become law on the first of August if possible. The Commissioners were to be 26 in number, of whom 14 were to be permanently in office. The permanent Commissioners named in the Bill were Charles Gilbert Eversfield, Patrick Francis Robertson, Decimus Burton, Rev. T. P. Sproule, Dr. Blakiston, Philip E. Barnes, Robert Mace, Robert Deudney, Albert Jenkins Humbert, Robert Hempsted, Samuel Beckles, Dr. Duke, John Austin, and Robert Ransom. The remaining 12 were to be from time to time elected from owners of property and ratepayers in the district, and from these elected commissioners were also to be chosen permanent Commissioners to supply the place of those who died or removed from the town. Several of the names, however, had been placed on the list without sanction, and some of them declined to serve. Among the latter were Dr. Blakiston, Dr. Duke, and Mr. Ransom. Messrs. Fearon and Clabon were the draftsmen of the -
