Page:Volume 3 1840.pdf/43

A Frozen Sea - Infirmary Affairs - Benefits and Quarrels

I commence a new year, as usual, with a narrative of so much of the Proceedings of the (now defunct) St. Leonards Commissioners as may deemed of public interest. At their March and June sittings there was little transacted beyond the figuring of rates and the summoning of defaulters, but on the 26th of September at a meeting of property-holders (£20 and upwards), Messrs. Frederick North, Hugh Wm. Brown, and Howard Elphinstone were announced as having become disqualified by non-attendance; and Messrs. G. F. Jarman, William Waghorne and John Gill were announced to fill the vacancies. At another ratepayers’ meeting on the 6th of November, a second list of disqualified Commissioners was read by the Clerk (Mr. G. Fraser) and their places filled by Messrs. Jas. Rock, W. D. Davies, S. Chester and Robt. Hollond, M.P. Mr Henry Burton was also elected in the room of Mr. John Ashley Warre. A Commissioners’ meeting followed, when it was resolved that Mr. Burton’s immediate attention be called to the close Proximity of bathing-machines to the Marina houses, a thing which was injurious to the town; and that it be suggested to him that he have them placed as far to the westward as possible. Also resolved on the motion of Mr. Hollond, seconded by the Rev. C. W. Leslie, that it be suggested to Mr. Burton whether it would not be greatly to the advantage of the town if the Archery Grounds and surrounding Park were thrown open to the public, except on prize-shooting days, and to have a notice affixed at the entrance to that effect. Also resolved, on the motion of Mr. Southall, seconded by Mr. C. Deudney, that an arrangement be made, if possible, with the house holders for Visitors to be admitted gratuitously to the Subscription Gardens, it being conceived that a great advantage would thereby accrue to the town.

It was argued that the subject was one of great importance at that time, when more than ordinary efforts were being made at other fashionable resorts to attract visitors. The Clerk reported that the recent storms and high tides had carried away the coping-stones.of the parade-wall nearly opposite to the church, and raked out. the earth from behind the wall. In voting payment of certain interest-money due to Mr. Duckworth, it was moved that he be informed in reply to his suggestion to raise the rates, that for many years past the rates had been already raised to the full amount sanctioned by the Commissioners’ Act. It must have been known by Mr. Duckworth that the Commissioners’ shilling rate on town property and sixpenny on agricultural holdings were ”as regular as clockwork,” and it is probable that his suggestion was for an increase in the scale of assessments. It was, at any rate, so understood by the public, for at the next meeting of the Board several ratepayers, as if anticipating such procedure, applied for a reduction of assessment. This resulted in a decision to reduce the houses in Lavatoria from £11 to £9 each; 5 Mercatoria from £17 to £14, and Mrs. Putland’s cottage near the Fountain from £10 to £8. Another resolution of the Commissioners at their last meeting in 1843 was that the flymen’s application to be licensed be acceded to, and that a committee be appointed to confer with the Hastings Commissioners as to regulating the flys in both towns, and to consider what bye-laws should be made for regulating hackney-coaches, carriages, flys, sedan chairs, horses, asses and mules ‘plying for hire, etc.

There were three or four matters dealt with by the Commissioners in 1843 upon which a few remarks may be made in 1882. In the first place the bathing-machines were to be placed as far to the westward of the houses as possible, which of course meant beyond 81 Marina; the more palatial residences which are now seen in that district not being erected until eight years after. But if it was injurious to the town to have bathing-machines in front of the houses in 1842, how much more injurious ought it to be forty years later when the houses and the machines are in even closer proximity, and cover a space of from two to three miles in extent? Methinks that ideas have changed with the times, and that in the present day the greater injury to the town would be the removal of the bathing-machines to “as far west as possible.”

The next suggestion of the Commissioners — viz., to open the Archery Grounds and Subscription Gardens, had much more to recommend it, but as those ornamental retreats were private property, it was reserved for a later period and for a new order of things to effect the desired change. Nearly four decades of years had come and gone from the time the suggestion was made, when the Hastings Urban Sanitary Authority — as legal successors of the St. Leonards Commissioners—having been memorialised to purchase the Subscription Gardens to save them from being sold for ​building​ purposes, acceded to the prayer of the inhabitants by spending £7,000 in: the said purchase, and throwing them open, with all subsequent improvements to the public free of charge. A more beautiful spot than this is not to be found either in or out of the borough; and one cannot help contrasting the place in its cultivated aspect with the same site in days of yore when, in the act of ”nutting,” boys or men would sometimes discover in the ”Tap Shaw” the dead body of a soldier suspended from a tree.

Another matter which occupied the attention of the Commissioners was the partial destruction of the parade-wall by storms and tides. This, as I have previously shown, was no new theme for discussion; it was, indeed, the old, old story, and for the want of necessary funds, if for nothing else, the Commissioners were all but powerless to grapple with it. Their borrowing and taxing powers were equally limited, and hence they could only make a patch-work defence against what was called the encroachments of the sea, but what in reality was the shutting out of the sea from its own domain, In a question of this sort the Hastings Commissioners were also in a similar quandary. The old Battery had been partly destroyed and the shingle of the stade carried away to an alarming extent by the sea, and the question of erecting a stone groyne at the eastern part of the town was debated with much warmth by the advocates and opponents of the scheme, and the same thing is being now done by the Town Council after a lapse of 40 years, That same Council, however, has by an expenditure which the Commissioners could never have ventured upon, protected a vast range of valuable and high-rated property from the ravages of the sea, and at the same time constructed a handsome and commodious parade that is the envy of other watering places. The Corporative body have already accomplished much in the way of sea-defences, and their efforts are now narrowed to a comparatively small area at the Fishmarket. That, in the course of a short time, either with or without a stone groyne, with the help of accumulated shingle, they will achieve success also in that direction is my own belief.

The St. Leonards parochial officers for 1843 were John Painter and Edward Farncomb, overseers; Charles Deudney and Edward Farncomb, highway surveyors; John Painter and Wm. Noon, assessors; Ed. Farncomb and Richard Lamb, assessors for outbounds; Jno. Phillips, vestry clerk; Jesse Marchant, Thos. Brett, Hy. Lamb and George Taylor, parish constables. The vestry meetings were held as usual at the “New England Bank,”

Where sailors, soldiers, smugglers, all
 Hob-nob'd in days of yore;
 That wayside inn whose site just now
 The railway covers o’er.

It was a somewhat curious coincidence that for the year 1843 the highway rates were 4d. and 3d.; the borough-rates, 4d. and 8d.; and the poor-rates 4d. and 3d.

The members of the Town Council for the West-ward (St. Leonards) were Alfred Burton (alderman), Robert Deudney, B. P. Smith, Stephen Putland, C, H. Southall, Jno. Austin, and another whose name is not on my list. Of the East-ward (Hastings) representatives there were W. Scrivens, F. Smith, P. F. MacCabe (aldermen); F. Ticehurst, W. Amoore, W. Ransom, Matt. Kelland, T. Ross, jun., Jas, Emary, W. Duke, G. Clement, Anthony Harvey, W. Ginner, W. L. Yates, and G. Thwaites. The political forces here named were 12 Liberals and 9 Conservatives; Mr. Ticehurst being at that time one of the latter. The Mayor was Wastel Brisco, Esq.

Another coincidence to be added to the many already adduced in the course of this History, is that of the warm discussion over Infirmary matters described in my last instalment, and the no less important discussions over Infirmary matters at the present time of writing, nearly forty years later. As regards the former period, however, I have said that I should have something to relate of a more gratifying character than that which pertained to the disputations and assault case between Mr. Troup and the doctors, and it is this :—

On the 6th and 7th of March an elegant bazaar was got up by some ladies for the funds of the Infirmary, and was held in the St. Leonards Assembly Rooms, the financial results of which were £70 taken at the doors, and £400 at the stalls. A sum of £136 was also collected in the churches, and these several sums, together with £51 from other sources, made up a total of £657, which not only paid the current expenses, but also cleared off a debt of about £97, and left a surplus of £42. The beds were increased from 6 to 12, additional furniture was procured, hot and cold baths were added, 45 in-patients were admitted, and 175 out-patients were recipients of medical attention. One of the cases admitted to the Infirmary was that of a painter in the employ of Mr. Charles Neve. The unfortunate man was at work at 1 Warrior square, when, through the breaking of a ladder, he fell a distance of 20 feet on to the balustrade, and thence to the area below. One leg was fractured, and other severe injuries were sustained. This occurred on the 29th of June, and although it was doubted at the time if the sufferer would ever recover from the effects of the fall, I believe he‘is alive to this day, 54 years later.

Besides the fancy bazaar that was held in the Assembly Rooms, there were the usual Christmas Ball, the Archery Ball, Race Ball, and the summer Horticultural Exhibition. The last-named event was on the 27th of June; whilst the autumn show of the Society was held on the 12th of September, and in the Swan Assembly-Rooms, Hastings.

While writing of the Assembly Rooms and their musical associations, I ought not to forget my old friend George Buckland, who for a short time was organist of St. Leonards church, and for a longer period a musical professor and composer at St. Leonards town. It was on Saturday, September 23rd, that he gave a morning concert which generally gratified and occasionally convulsed with laughter a numerous and fashionable audience. The event is worthy of note, inasmuch as the said George Buckland, 24 years later, paid a visit to Hastings to give an equally enjoyable concert, in which he showed himself as original, as comical, and as vivacious as ever, although age had begun to make in​road​s on his personal appearance.

It was in the same month (Sept. 12th) that the Queen and Prince Consort were off St. Leonards in the royal yacht Victoria and Albert on their way from Brighton to Bruges, Ghent, Brussels and Antwerp. When off the town, and close to the shore, with the royal standard flying at the main, and the union-jack at the mizen, the yacht lay-to for some time to enable her Majesty to view the house she resided in during her stay at St. Leonards in 1834-5.

Two days later her Majesty's ships of war St. Vincent, Camperdown and Caledonia passed St. Leonards westward from the Downs.

A marine sight of a much less agreeable character was the Ann Veness fishing-boat, belonging to Mr. Winter, from which, when off Verulam place, on its way to Plymouth, one of the men, named Page, fell overboard and was drowned. His body was not picked up until six months after.

Another tale of the sea was that on the second of February, when the cold was so intense that the water froze all along the shore and presented an extraordinary sight. Conger-eels and other fish in great abundance were found dead among the rocks at low water. The greater part of the previous month, however, was of a mild and stormy character, the 12th day bringing with it a terrific hurricane, which tore up large trees by the roots, blew down chimney-stacks and partly divested many ​building​s of their windows and roofs. The weather generally during the spring and summer was of a fickle and variable character, followed by a very hot and thundery August and a stormy October. A very severe gale occurred during the latter month, one effect of which was the destruction of a large groyne in front of 51 Tower.

A contention of public interest was one which resulted in a trial for assault, and in which the irrepressible James Troup, the founder of Warrior Square, was the complainant. The origin of the dispute was this:— The Governors of the Infirmary held a meeting on the 8th of August, with the Hon, J. Planta, M.P., in the chair. The persons then present (all of whom, have passed the confines of mundane strife) were the Rev. W. Pearce, Dr. Duke, Dr. Harwood, C. Lutwidge, Esq., J. Troup, Esq., C. F. Hardman, Esc., W. Duke (surgeon), G. Duke (solicitor), J. Savery (surgeon), F. Ticehuret (surgeon), C. A. Grenside, Esq., R. Day, Esq., Mr. Southall (librarian), G. A, Murton (chemist), C. Gorringe (chemist), C. Amoore (chemist), C. Deudney (merchant), J. Hart (professor of music) and A. Shirley (hairdresser). The first transaction was the passing a resolution that future annual meetings be held on the first Tuesday in March instead of January; and the next was the appointment of Edward Bowmer as secretary and collector at a salary of £10 per year. It should now be stated that when the Infirmary was opened in July, 1841, it was arranged that the chemists should supply drugs at 2s. 6d. per head per month, as Mr. Murton had previously done to the St. Leonards Dispensary. This system was adopted to obviate the expense of fitting up a dispensary in the ​building​; but, as Mr. Duke explained it, it was both expensive to the institution and unremunerative to the druggists. It was therefore decided to purchase drugs from the chemists, and have them prepared on the spot by the dispenser. The economy of the latter plan was shown by the fact that whilst the cost in 1842 was £62 10s. 6d., in the subsequent six months it was only £26 18s. 5d. A wrangle then commenced, and during the heated discussion Mr Troup stated that he had received a very intemperate letter from Mr. Duke in reply to one in which he (Mr. Troup) had pointed out that whilst Murton's bill for drugs supplied to 290 patients in -