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Good Times for Hastings - Members of the Old Town Band

The Borough Members in the year 1845 were. Messrs. Robert Hollond and Musgrave Brisco; the former having been a representative since 1837, and the latter having taken the place of Sir Joseph Planta in 1844. They attended the opening of Parliament on the 4th of February, under favorable(sic) auspices, the excellent harvest of the preceding autumn having placed the agriculturists on a similar fortunate footing to that of the other branches of industry. As touching imperial matters with strictly local associations there was not very much to claim the attention of our representatives; but it was felt that the confinement at the Post-office during the whole of Sunday was a great hardship, and the Borough Members were therefore requested to exercise any influence they might have with Sir Robt. Peel and the Postmaster-General in support of a petition praying for a reduction of Sunday labour. — The petition was signed by 300 of the most influential inhabitants, and it begged for the office to be closed from ten in the morning until five in the afternoon. The petition was sent up in the month of June, and was probably the outcome of a meeting held at the Town Hall, a month earlier, “to consider the evils arising from the protracted hours of labour to which shop-keepers’ assistants are subjected, and the benefits which would attend their abridgement.” The question having been duly discussed, a resolution was passed ”That the trade be requested to close at 8 o'clock each evening, except during the months of July, August and September.”

Apropos of the Post-office work, it is worthy of a passing note that the returns of the Postmaster-General showed an increase of 22 millions of letters over the number of the previous year, the year in question being the fifth after the adoption of the Penny Postage system at the urgency of Mr. (afterwards Sir) Rowland Hull, but of which - as has since been indubitably proved - he was not the originator.

My readers will remember that when treating of the political events of the preceding year I described the stirring addresses and masterly oratory of Mr. R. R. R. Moore, in his Free-trade advocacy while competing with Mr. Brisco for a seat in Parliament. They will remember, too, Mr. Brisco’s majority of 513 against Mr. Moore’s number of 174; and they may not forget that it was urged against the successful candidate that he professed at one time to be a Conservative and at another to be a Liberal. The term Liberal-Conservative was not so much in vogue then as it has been in later times, yet it was not difficult to a non-partizan(sic) to understand that Mr. Brisco was really a Liberal-Conservative. Employing, or otherwise maintaining, as he did, a large portion of the poor of Ore, while spending much of his wealth among the Hastings tradesmen, it passes without question that with the money at his command, Mr. Brisco was undoubtedly liberal. But he was more than this as viewed by the light of subsequent history, He was a supporter of Sir Robert Peel, the Liberal-Conservative, whose Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the very year that Mr. Brisco was elected, showed in his Budget a surplus of revenue over expenditure of about four millions of pounds. Further duties were then remitted, including a reduction of the tax on sugar. In the year now under consideration, other reductions in taxation were made, and Sir Robert Peel’s financial measures called forth the admiration of the Liberal Opposition. As might have been expected, his conduct alienated from his following many of the Protectionists; and when it is remembered that only two years previously, both the Premier and Mr. Gladstone strenuously opposed Mr. Villiers’s motion to repeal the Corn Laws, and that in 1846 Sir Robt. Peel declared his intention of repealing those Laws, together with all restrictive tariffs, there is proof positive that Sir Robert Peel was a Liberal-Conservative.

It was thought to be necessary, however, for Messrs, Cobden, Bright, Wilson, Fox and other members of the Corn-law League to keep up the agitation until their object was accomplished; and as the ground at Hastings had been so well broken by Mr. Moore in 1844, so in 1845 further work was done upon it by Mr. Falvey, a paid agent of the League, who, in the latter part of April, gave two lectures; one under the presidency of Mr. Stephen Thwaites, and the other with the chairmanship of Mr. H. Winter.

It is but fair to our representatives — the one a Moderate-Liberal and the other a Liberal-Conservative — to say that when released from their Parliamentary duties they vied with each other in many ways to the advantage of the borough. At-home parties, balls, races, concerts, archery-fétes, and meetings for philanthropic objects, all shared their patronage and presence; and, much as a one-and-one representation may be objected to by strong political partizans(sic), it in this instance added another to the more than one case that has occurred in the experience of many living denizens, of a less than average political irritation, a more than average prosperity, and consequently a more general display of amenities than when by some accident or incident & party conceiving itself to be in a majority gets two representatives whilst the real majority gets none. Even in funeral obsequies Messrs. Hollond and Brisco displayed their sympathies. On Friday, the 17th of January, their carriages, together with those of Lady Lubbock and other distinguished persons, followed the remains of Alderman Duke, a surgeon, of Hastings, to their resting-place at Battle. Also joining in the funeral procession were the Mayor and members of the Town Council; also many gentry and tradespeople of the two towns. On the following day the Council held a special meeting to elect a successor to the aldermanic seat vacated by Mr. Duke. The candidates were Mr. Smith and Mr. Staines, the latter being elected by 11 votes to 5. Mr. Staines was a magistrate, and during his many years residence at St. Leonards, took an active interest in the parochial schools and some other institutions. An ornamental drinking fountain at the top of Hastings, erected by his daughter, bears evidence of his worth.

The Municipal elections of the first of November resulted in the return for the East Ward of Ticehurst, a Conservative (443 votes), Amoore, Conservative (399), Clement, Liberal (382), and Hickes, Conservative (365). The unsuccessful candidates were Thwaites, Liberal (315), Jolly, Liberal (311) and Langham, Conservative (211). In the West Ward, Messrs. Austin and Mann (Lib. and Con.) were elected unopposed, Mr. Voysey retiring from the contest rather than endanger Mr. Austin's seat. The next event of a municipal cast was the election of Mayor, which took place as usual on the ninth of the ninth month (O.S.) and resulted in a unanimous vote recorded for Mr. Hornby Maw, a gentleman at that time residing at West-hill House. The Mayor-elect was away from the town at the time, but that fact did not prevent the customary civic feast being held, for perhaps the hundredth time, at the old Swan Hotel.

The allusion to the old Town Band in chapter XXXIII has set one of my readers enquiring the names of the bandsmen other than those already mentioned as Elliott and Wood,whilst another reader imagines that “a little mistake has been made about the quadriile parties.” I will deal with the latter first, and with the averment that there was no inaccuracy in what I stated, From the wording of my critic’s note, I can see clearly enough that it is he who is in error, in having confounded two persons of the same name but of no family connection. I will enumerate, as far as my recollection serves me, the members of the old Town Band; and while I thus reply to one querent, I may perchance make the matter clearer to the other. ‘The bandsmen, as I severally knew them, were Thomas Elliott, 1st clarionet; John Elphick, 2nd clarionet; James Russell, 3rd clarionet; Alfred Richardson, flute and E-flat clarionet; J. Colbran (familiarly known as Little Coe), piccolo; James Meadows, cornopean; George Winter, trumpet; the brothers Elliott, French horns; Daniel Wood, tenor trombone; Thomas Woollett, bass trombone; Benjamin Wood, trombone and ophecleide; Herr Alderhausen(?) bassoon; — Richardson, sen, bassoon; Frederick French, ophecleide; — Lane, serpent; D. Coussens, drum; E, Edwards, drum; George Winter the younger, cymbals and drum.

It will thus be seen that the old Town Band was strong in numbers; and as most of them were good practical musicians, it may be conceived that the reputation which the band had gained for excellence was not altogether unmerited, On extraordinary occasions, too, the band was augmented by the addition of Mr. Kidd, Mr. Boorman, and a few other first-class musicians. Of the senior Elliott it may be said that he was quite a musical enthusiast, and he very naturally imparted to the younger Elliotts and Meadows (members of one family) some of his own musical ardour. Mr. James Meadows was the first resident executant on the cornet-á-piston, which at that time was a newly invented instrument, whilst Mr. B. Wood was similarly the first performer on the ophecleide, also an instrument newly introduced. In writing and arranging the music Mr. Wood was the moving spirit of the period; and as he was also a good all-round violinist, and in that capacity leader of the orchestra at the promenade concerts in the Pelham Arcade, as well as at the St. Leonards fashionable balls, his practice was on a par with his opportunities. As testimony to my old friend’s ability, it may be permitted me to relate the following short story — one which Mr. Wood himself, perhaps never heard told by anyone. About 60 years ago a theatrical performance, supplemented by a fancy dress ball was held in a large room over Woodroffe’s warehouse, in what is now known as the Roebuck yard. There were present at that entertainment, Mr. James Ryall, the celebrated flautist and trumpeter of the Lifeguards’ band, and Mr. Brown, a solo-violinist, at the Arcade Concerts. Mr, Ryall was a native of Hastings, and received his music lessons at the hands of Mr. Howship, in the house of the present writer’s parents, but Mr. Brown was from London. The writer’s own band was engaged at the entertainment here referred to, and after playing Tullochgorum to a stage dance, Mr. Brown complimented the band, and then, while speaking of himself as the solo-violinist at Mr. Hart’s concerts, and Mrs. Brown as the vocalist “Madame Castello,“ paid a panegyric to the leader of the Arcade band in these words: “Your townsman Mr. Wood may not be able to play the abstruse pieces to which I have devoted years of study, but as a thoroughly practical all-round musician he is very much my superior.” Having mentioned Mr. Hart, I need hardly say that he was the composer of Hart’s Lancers and many other quadrilles. But I have not quite done with the Band. Mr. Woollett, the trombone player, was also a semi-professional comedian, who, at the entertainment here alluded to, took the principal cast in the “ Irish Schoolmaster,” and sang in character “I'm Ninety-five.” He had previously strutted his hour on the boards of the Hastings Theatre, and on one occasion with the celebrated T. P. Cook. Then there were Colbran, the flautist, and the German bassoon-player, both of whom-had retired from military bands. Lastly, the ophecleide player, Frederick French (who died in the prime of life) was then a musician of great promise, and performance. His soft tenor notes on a bass instrument, and the facility with which he frequently took up “running passages“ were much admired by those whose pleasure it was to listen to the band as a whole. If I have dwelt somewhat lengthily on this subject, it is for the purpose of reviving half forgotten names and perhaps wholly forgotten associations; but, more than all, to remove if possible the conceit of some modern musicians, by whom or for whom it has been said that not until their day was there anything in Hastings worthy of the name of music. There are still those in the town, I am quite sure, who will endorse the statement that even in the absence of the present powerful and improved instruments, the Hastings and St. Leonards people of 50 & 60 years ago had many opportunities of hearing well-performed classical music, both vocal and instrumental, and by their own towns-men.

Surgeon Duke's Family - Isaac Ingall, aged 120 years - Battle Abbey

I have stated that on the 17th, of January the Mayor and other members of the Corporation, together with many tradesmen and private gentlemen, followed to their place of sepulture at Battle the remains of the late Alderman Duke, a surgeon, of Hastings. This gentleman was twice married, his first-wife, as may be supposed, having preceded him to the grave. She was the only daughter of Thomas Worge, Esq., a gentleman of wealth and influence, residing at Starr’s Green, in the parish of Battle. Her death took place on July 7th, 1813, at the age of 36. Mr. Duke’s second wife survived him nearly 22 years, ultimately dying at Netherfield parsonage, the residence of her son, on the 10th of December, 1866. The two sons and two daughters -