Judy Middleton 2001 (revised 2019)
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| copyright © Brighton & Hove Libraries |
The former coat of arms of Hove Council granted in 1899 included emblems of Hove, the first quarter shield is dedicated to the original Parish Church of Hove – with the cross of St Andrew, the second quarter shows shackles on a red field denoting the Parish Church of Aldrington - St Leonard the Patron Saint of all prisoners. The lower section of ‘arms’ represent the de Warrene family, the Rape of Lewes and six martlets the emblems of Sussex. The ship, which is ashore on a shingle beach, represents a 16th century French galley and commemorates French attacks on the coast of Hove. The inclusion of a knight’s helmet is of unknown origins.
Hove’s motto was 'FLOREAT HOVA' - ‘May Hove flourish’
Victorian Times
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copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum,
Brighton & Hove
c.1850 "View of Hove" by George Hilditch,
showing Hove's Old Parish Church of St Andrew's.
Looking east from this rural view the whole complex of Brunswick Town would have been seen dominating the coastline of Hove.
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In 1854 Brighton applied for a
Charter of Incorporation, and again it sought to include Hove within
its boundaries. Hove resisted.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum,
Brighton & Hove Brunswick Terrace, HOVE in 1850, and definitely NOT Brighton as the printer has stated. (this view of Hove is in complete contrast to Hilditch's rural painting of the same period shown above) |
By 1871 building work was going on
apace at Hove and this presented some difficulties for the Hove
Commissioners because put quite simply, the new area had outstripped
the jurisdiction of the local government. The owners of the West
Brighton Estate had three choices:
1. to apply for a private Act of
Parliament that would allow them to manage their own affairs
2. to unite with Brighton
3. to seek to unite with Hove into
one corporate governing body
This is where James Warnes Howlett
(1828-1911) proved to be such a staunch ally on Hove’s behalf. He
qualified as a solicitor in 1849, and moved to the south coast in
1857, joining a legal firm later known as Attree, Clarke and Howlett.
He lived at Brunswick Place. Howlett was strongly in favour of the
third option, and he became a member of the committee formed to
promote the integration of the whole of Hove parish.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums James Warnes Howlett (1828-1911) |
In November 1875, without giving
any prior notice to Hove, Brighton Corporation suddenly got up
another Bill to annexe Hove. This placed Howlet in a delicate
situation, and he was obliged to resign his post as solicitor to the
Stanford Estate because his views were incompatible with those of the
owners. In fact, although the owners had backed him in the 1871
battle, by February 1876 they had entered into an agreement with
Brighton not to oppose the Bill. Howlett stated ‘into this position
of neutrality I cannot follow them … the prosperity and good
government of Hove would suffer severely under union with Brighton.’
Howlett also acted as solicitor to the Hove Commissioners. This time
Brighton’s argument was that Brighton Waterworks (ie the Goldstone
Waterworks) was situated in West Preston, and by default West Preston
ought to belong to Brighton. At that time West Preston, except for
the Waterworks, was entirely devoted to agriculture. But with
Howlett’s able support, this Bill too was thrown out.
Howlett’s battles on Hove’s
behalf was well known throughout the town and he became something of
a local hero. A popular jingle of the time ran as follows:
Howlett and Hove
Names almost synonymous
Since Howlett’s sharp move
Made Hove autonomous
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| copyright © J.Middleton This marvellous old postcard gives you some idea of the appearance of Waterhouse’s Hove Town Hall although in reality the bricks were a deeper shade of red. |
It
was Howlett who was chosen to lay the foundation stone of the splendid
Hove Town Hall on 22 May 1880, and he it was who formally opened it on 13
December 1882. The bell in the tower, which sounded the hour and
weighed all of 35 cwts, was inscribed Floreat
Hova 1881 James Warnes Howlett, chairman. Howlett
sat on numerous committees and attended meetings galore. Indeed, it
was said of him ‘Mr Howlett was a gentleman who could do twice as
much work as any other man in the same amount of time’. He became
an Alderman in 1898 and the first Honorary Freeman of Hove in 1911.
When he retired as chairman of the Hove Commissioners in 1892, some
300 subscribers raised £570 in order to present him with suitable
mementoes. One such gift was a handsome silver candelabra with
ivy-leaf decoration, and a long inscription part of which stated in
recognition of his
able and successful services in the years 1872 and 1873 in the
originating and carrying out of the incorporation of the town for
local government purposes.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums Charles Woolley, Town Clerk of Hove |
In 1889 an unofficial committee of
Hove ratepayers came up with conclusion that amalgamation with
Brighton might be a good idea. Naturally, Brighton was delighted at
this outcome and Brighton Council stated that such a move would be
greatly to the advantage of the two towns. However, Charles Woolley,
Town Clerk of Hove, sent back a dusty answer to the effect that the
Parliamentary contests of 1873 and 1876 showed the ratepayers and
inhabitants of Hove were strongly in favour of independent municipal
government.
In 1896 Hove petitioned for a
Charter of Incorporation. In October 1896 a Public Inquiry was held
at Hove Town Hall and lasted for four days. Not surprisingly,
Brighton Council was strongly opposed to such a move, and even went
to the trouble of employing a QC to argue their case. When this
failed, in April 1897 Brighton Council applied to the Lords of the
Council for an opportunity to put their case against the granting of
a charter to Hove. But their new grounds for appeal turned out to be
merely a re-hash of points that had already been raised in the past.
In August 1898 Hove received its Charter of Incorporation.
Hove’s Expansion
Hove’s Expansion
In 1893 Aldrington and Hove were
amalgamated.
In 1928 Hove expanded its
boundaries to included West Preston – by then known as Preston
Rural - and part of the parish of Patcham. At the same time Brighton
was expanding its boundaries northwards and eastwards.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum,
Brighton & Hove Map of Brighton in 1929, Hove on the left of the boundary now includes the open land that was once Preston Rural. |
After the Second World War
In
1946 The Boundary Commission was sitting and the Sussex
Daily News (22
June 1946) stated the following:
‘Some people are obsessed with
the idea that no Commission could logically think of Brighton and
Hove as anything but a single unit. They are not only full of the
idea but are taking steps to make it appear that Hove is already
resigned to this subjugation and that any scheme with that object,
from whatever source it emanates, will be welcomed with open arms.
Nothing could be further from the facts. Everybody connected with its
administration is utterly opposed to Hove being the satellite of any
other borough. It is willing to be enlarged but not to be absorbed;
and the natural direction of its extension is to the west.’
The
Sussex Daily News
was
of the opinion that perhaps all the parishes west to Lancing could
come within Hove’s orbit.
Naturally, Brighton had its own
ideas on such a topic. In 1948 it asked for its boundaries to be
expanded to include Hove, Portslade, Southwick and Shoreham. Sir
Herbert Carden had once dreamed of a Greater Brighton, stretching
from the River Adur in the west to the River Ouse in the east.
The Commission did not grant
Brighton’s request, but it did recommend that Hove and Portslade
should be amalgamated, although nothing happened at this juncture.
Meanwhile, successive Mayors of
Hove were doing their best to keep the Hove flag flying
independently. In March 1947 Councillor H. C. Andrews declared he
‘would defend Hove to the last beach from the advances of
Brighton.’
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum,
Brighton & Hove The Wards of Hove in 1939 |
In May 1957 Alderman C. A. Clarke stated the disadvantages to Hove, if Brighton and Hove were to be amalgamated, would far outweigh the advantages. He continued ‘it would of course do away with the duplication of heads of departments but I suspect that those who would be left would want even more staff to do the job, and I fear greatly that there might be a loss of efficiency.’
In 1958 Councillor F. H. Nixon
re-iterated these sentiments saying he had ‘a great desire to see
Hove running her own affairs, and not losing her identity and name’.
Hove’s MP Anthony Marlow QC
agreed, and said it had always been one of his principal objectives
to help towards Hove’s attainment of county borough status.
However, the government’s view was that this was unlikely to be
obtained with a population of less than 120,000.
1963
In 1963 the old idea of a greater
Brighton was revived. It was proposed that Brighton, Hove Portslade,
Southwick and Shoreham could become a county borough. But Hove and
Portslade were not keen on the idea, preferring a merger between the
two of them if that were to bring county borough status.
1974
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum, Councillor L. E. Hamilton the former Chairman of Portslade Urban Council from 1964-1965. Portslade was amalgamated with Hove in 1974, he was elected Mayor of Hove from 1978-79 & 1997-98 |
In fact Hove and Portslade did
amalgamate on 1 April 1974 but unfortunately it did not bring county
borough status.
The same date saw the creation of
Adur District Council, which comprised the Urban Districts of
Southwick and Shoreham plus the parishes of Coombs, Lancing and
Sompting.
1984
1984
In this year a group of people had
come to the conclusion that the natural division between West Sussex
and East Sussex ought to be the River Adur, and therefore Southwick
and Shoreham should come within Hove’s administrative boundary.
On 4 June 1984 this idea was put
before the Policies and Resources Committee. If the councillors had
agreed, the proposal would have been forwarded to the Boundary
Commission. But the committee rejected the idea with Portslade
Councillor L. E. Hamilton saying that he objected to land grabbing by
Hove Council.
The 1990s
The 1990s
In 1994 it was stated that local
government was about to undergo its biggest overhaul since 1974. The
government wanted all services to be delivered by a single authority
in each area. This would supplant the two-tier system already in
place, by which services were split between East Sussex County
Council and local councils. The criterion for the creation of a new
authority was to have a population numbering between 150,000 and
250,000.
The Commission arrived in Sussex
in March 1994 to hear submissions, and drafted its resolutions in
May. In June and July members of the public were invited to make
their comments, and by September the Commission was preparing its
final report for the Environment Department.
Both Hove and Brighton put forward
their plans to run their own services individually with Hove’s
campaign being nicknamed Hove Alone. Other options for Hove were a
merger with Adur, or amalgamation with Brighton.
By
July it was clear that the Commission’s preferred option was for
West Sussex to remain much as it was, but their draft recommendation
was that Hove should merge with Adur and Worthing. Some Hove
councillors welcomed the plan but it was not welcomed by those west
of the River Adur. Indeed Worthing Council said it would campaign to
preserve the status
quo.
On
11 November 1994 the Evening
Argus
carried a banner heading ‘We Told You So’ with news that Brighton
and Hove would become a Unitary Authority while the rest of Sussex
remained unaltered. However, the official announcement was not made
until a month later.
Hove’s Fight
By January 1995 Hove Council was
vowing to continue its opposition to the proposed merger. It was
prepared to spend £10,000 on hiring Parliamentary consultants, and
in addition it would engage a professor to compile an independent
analysis of the Local Government Commission’s recommendation for
Sussex.
A town poll was held, which
revealed that no less than three-quarters of Hove’s residents were
against amalgamation with Brighton. In addition, Hove councillors
voted nineteen to five in favour of opposing the Commission’s
recommendation.
In February 1995 Professor Ronald
Johnston, vice-chancellor of the University of Essex, with over
twenty years of experience in political geography, delivered his
report and stated the following:
It would be very undesirable for
the Secretary of State to accept this recommendation, since it fails
to meet the test of public acceptability, which has been widely
promoted as a salient criterion on which proposals for change will be
based.
When a delegation from Hove
visited Government officials in London to plead their cause, they
were treated with indifference, and it soon became abundantly clear
that the powers-that-be had made up their minds and had no intention
of being budged.
Councillor Jim Marshall said that
77 per cent of Hove people had voted against the merger.
Brighton’s Take-over
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| copyright © J.Middleton In 2015 the City Council proposed to move Hove Library to Hove Museum and to sell the historic Hove Library building. Apparently, almost half of the budget allocated to Brighton & Hove City Libraries Service must be expended upon paying off Brighton's Jubilee Library’s debt. Thankfully, because of the Hove resident's 'SAVE HOVE LIBRARY' campaign, Hove Library was not sacrificed to pay off Brighton's Jubilee Library debt. |
On 1 April 1997 the County of Brighton and Hove emerged – officially not in East Sussex. Now it is the City of Brighton and Hove.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum The historic Hove mayoral chain and badge, now locked away from public view |
The take-over mentality was
revealed in subtle ways. For instance, the Hove mayoral chain and
badge – more historic, more beautiful, and more valuable – was
never again seen in public. When storms lash the coast and pebbles
are thrown onto the promenade, those at Brighton are soon cleared
while those at Hove are allowed to linger for weeks. Hove seafront
was once regularly maintained but after the take-over, the historic
railings and shelters were rarely painted.
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| copyright © J.Middleton Then there was the take-over of Hove Town Hall. Hove lost the Great Hall where so many events, meetings and concerts took place, because Brighton wanted to expand its office space, and true to form, there was a large overspend on the conversion. Now Hove has no public meeting space. The Registry Office was run down, and was then referred to as an 'Out Post'. |
Many Hove residents believed that
the chief reason Brighton wanted to be amalgamated with Hove was to
get their hands on Hove’s rates. That has been the story ever since
– money from Hove and Portslade vanishes into Brighton’s coffers
but does it receive a proportional benefit back?
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| copyright © Brighton & Hove City Council Left:- former Hove Council's Coat of Arms from 1899 right:- Brighton & Hove City Council's Coat of Arms from 1997 |
When Brighton & Hove became a unitary authority and a new coat of arms was designed to represent the joining of Brighton and Hove, the new City coat of arms is predominately ‘Brighton’ with only the French galley and helmet (of unknown origins) included from Hove’s former coat of arms which are not the most logical of emblems to associate with Hove (See the detailed description of Hove's coat of arms at the top of this page).
2001
In this year Brighton and Hove
became a city.
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| copyright © J.Middleton Hove Plinth showing objects/icons associated with Hove :- Amber Cup, Queen Victoria, An old-style camera (for the Hove Film Pioneers) , Hove ship (from Hove’s coat of arms) , West Blatchington windmill, Elm tree (to celebrate Hove’s magnificent and rare elm trees), Cricketer, Seagull on beach hut, Skateboarder. |
Hove’s Fight-back
Somehow, Hove has managed to hang
on to its identity. The following points prove that fortunately Hove
has a life of its own:
There are some local councillors
of quality and resolve who make sure Hove’s voice is heard.
There are residents who keep a
sharp eye on planning matters.
On the seafront there is the
innovative Hove Plinth.
Recent surveys have shown that
Hove is one of the top places in the kingdom to live.
Many associations have been formed
to enhance their local open spaces with volunteers and money-making
events to fund improvements. For example, the Friends of Hove Lagoon,
the Friends of Stoneham Park, and the Friends of St Ann’s Well Gardens.
Hove Library is still operating
from the same building it has occupied for over 110 years.
People who like to eat out are
literally spoiled for choice at Hove. The wide variety of restaurants
situated along Western Road and Church Road is unique.
The Hove coat-of arms is still to
be seen on Hove Town Hall.
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| copyright © D. Sharp Brighton's i360 viewing tower (opened in 2016) is a good example of how a proportion of Council Taxes collected from Hove and Portslade residents helped to finance the creation of a Brighton tourist attraction, unfortunately funding for community projects does not flow back the other way to anywhere near the same extent. Portslade residents have been campaigning since 2014 for a Portslade Museum to be established in Portslade's former Edwardian Police Station building, as yet, to no avail. (Portslade has the oldest continuously used building in the whole of the City of Brighton & Hove, in the form of St Nicolas Church, which has never fallen into decay or out of use throughout its nearly 900 year history) |
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Over 100 years ago Mr H. Porter commented in his 'The History of Hove' (1897) 'Perhaps the peruser in bidding au revoir to
these pages will be impelled to admit that Hove does possess some
interest to have a history of its own, and that the town is quite as
worthy of consideration as its overbearing, overcrowded and overgrown
rival – Brighton.'
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See the saveHOVE website for the latest information and commentary on the environmental, infrastructure, conservation, planning and development issues that effect Hove
Sources
Brighton & Hove Leader
Middleton J, Encyclopaedia of Hove and
Portslade
Evening Argus
Sussex Daily News
Copyright © J.Middleton 2019
page layout by D. Sharp
page layout by D. Sharp