The Scrivens Family
The Firm has its origin with the Scrivens family although W.B. Young will be seen as the major influence on its development from 1846 until the end of the nineteenth century.
William Scrivens (1740 - 1815)
The first member of the family to be identified in Hastings is William Scrivens who was the first of three generations to bear that name. He was 39 when he arrived in the town from Dorking in 1779 to become the landlord of the Swan Hotel (See Appendix I). In 1781 he became a Freeman and was elected a Jurat after his retirement in 1803. His son, William Scrivens the Elder, was born in 1773. His wife died in 1795 aged 48 and he himself died in 1815. He is buried in the churchyard of All Saints' Church.
William Scrivens the Elder (1773 - 1844) In 1791 the Hastings Old Bank was founded at 90 High Street (See Appendix I). One of the Bank's original partners was William Gill who was originally a clocksmith. (A grandfather clock made by him is in the possession of one of the Firm's clients.) He had been born in 1749 and was married to Ann, the daughter of Thomas Carswell. They had two children: James and Ann (born 1778) who married William Scrivens the Elder. Through his marriage he became a partner in the Hastings Old Bank In 1804 he purchased the Mill Field from William Green for £525. In 1810 he sold it for £600 to his relative Rowe Carswell. Details of this transaction are recorded in Appendix I.
He also became a Freeman in 1810 and was elected a Jurat in 1815 - the year of his father's death. In the Sussex elections of 1832 he is shown as registered in Guestling but a resident of Hastings.
William Scrivens the Elder had two children. William Scrivens the Younger was born in 1805. His brother George was born in 1807.
William Scrivens the Elder was Mayor in 1834 and led the party that welcomed Princess Victoria when she visited the town in that year. The day after she arrived, he delivered an address to the Princess. He was so overcome by his feelings that he was scarcely audible. This caused the young Princess to observe that, "Although they had been received at other places with equal honours they had never met with a more heartfelt welcome." William Scrivens the Elder heads the procession for Princess Victoria into Hastings in 1834. When the horse pulling Princess Victoria's carriage bolted, one of the two gentlemen who rescued her was Mr Peckham Micklethwaite who was living at Old Hastings House. For this act he was later created a baronet. The Hastings National School was started during William Scrivens the Elder's term of office as Mayor. In 1837 he was appointed one of the first named trustees of the Hastings Charities which included the Magdalen Charity. He died in 1844. His wife died in 1865 aged 87 and is buried with her husband in a grave beside her parents in the churchyard of All Saints' Church.
William Scrivens the Younger (1805 - 1871)
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William Scrivens the Younger, was educated at a private local school and then articled to Francis Harding Gell (1785-1864), a solicitor with his practice in Lewes. Mr Gell's firm had acted for William Green when he originally sold the Mill Field to William Scrivens the Elder and it is possible that William Scrivens the Younger obtained his articles through a business or family connection made initially by his father. The Sussex Records Office holds deeds witnessed by William Scrivens the Younger as Clerk to Mr Gell in 1823, 1825
