St. Leonards Archers was floated at half mast near the Victoria Hotel, and church bells tolled at intervals to mark the melancholy occasion. Similar tokens were displayed at Hastings. All the coastguard stations, under the command of Capt. Gough, exhibited their ensigns at half mast.
The Death of Mr. Boykett Breeds by drowning on the 27th of July, caused both amazement and sorrow throughout the borough, and plunged into the greatest grief his family and connections. At the inquest which was held at 36 Tower, Pett Level, George H. Bignell, a coast-guard said he saw the body wash ashore and gave information at the Tower. John Gallehawk, to whom the boy’s discovery was made known, went to the lifeless body, and with assistance of other persons, removed it on to the beach. They found in the pockets of the deceased, 6d in a purse, some keys, a card-case, and a piece of cord, the last named about six feet long, with a slip noose. Mrs. Berry, wife of a gunner, at 38 Tower, on being told by the boy Bignell that a man was drowning, ran to the spot and found him being washed by the waves and apparently struggling and gasping his last breath. She ran into the water as high as her knees, caught hold of one hand and tried to pull him out, but had not sufficient strength, but held on to him until help arrived. Robert Guy, a commissioned boatman, had previously seen a person answering the description sitting on the beach. Thomas Baker, a shrimper, had seen Mr. Breeds in the morning walking along the beach near Fairlight station. Mr. A. Breeds last saw his father on that Saturday morning when he came from the farm to the business offices in George street. He missed him suddenly. He did not appear to be depressed. He (witness) went afterwards to the warehouse and found the lower part shut, got in by means of a ladder, but found nothing to excite suspicion. On Sunday morning the following was found in his desk. “I cannot exist. My mind is gone. God bless you all. B. Breeds.” Mr. Mark Breach, who had been Mr. Breeds’s neighbour for 20 years, had noticed that for two months past deceased had been very strange in his manner. – Verdict: “Died by his own hand while in a state of temporary insanity.” The deceased’s age was stated to be 67. He was a son of Mark Boykett and Elizabeth Breeds, and was born in 1794. He had been a very energetic man of business, as a shipping merchant, timber, beer and coal merchant, a great lime-burner at the Priory, a farmer, coach proprietor, &c. He had lost many thousand pounds over his Priory and Bohemia possessions in lawsuits, but was supposed to be doing – not a lucrative, but a fairly good business in a differ-
