Judy Middleton (2001) revised 2021
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| copyright ©
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove 'Hove from the top of Holland Road' by James Bennett c1849. St Andrew's Old Church dominates the north side of the small village of Hove. Shoreham Harbour can be seen in the distance. This view of Hove had changed little since Isambard attended Dr Morrell's school in the 1820s. It is possible that Mr Morrell's school is one of the two 'white' buildings to the left of this painting on the coast, the tall 'red' building is the Cliff House School (later called Hove College) |
All authorities agree that
Isambard was at school at Hove, probably for a brief period. But as
for the precise dates, there is a diversion of opinion. One
biographer thought Isambard was aged eight when he came to Hove, but
others prefer a later date. The key to the debate is probably Dr
Morell who is known to have arrived in the locality in 1817.
Dr Morell was a well-known classical scholar and a non-conformist minister, and he became the first minister to officiate at what later came to be called the Unitarian Church in New Road, Brighton, where the first service was held on 20 August 1820. His name is on the original deed of purchase of the land from the Prince Regent for the sum of £650. The church was built according to Dr Morell’s classical inclinations, and was modelled on the Temple of Theseus in Athens. It was designed by Amon Henry Wilds who was just venturing upon his architectural career at Brighton.
Dr Morell was a well-known classical scholar and a non-conformist minister, and he became the first minister to officiate at what later came to be called the Unitarian Church in New Road, Brighton, where the first service was held on 20 August 1820. His name is on the original deed of purchase of the land from the Prince Regent for the sum of £650. The church was built according to Dr Morell’s classical inclinations, and was modelled on the Temple of Theseus in Athens. It was designed by Amon Henry Wilds who was just venturing upon his architectural career at Brighton.
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| copyright © J.Middleton Dr Morrell was the first minister of the Unitarian Church in New Road, Brighton. |
Dr Morell established his school at Hove in around 1820 in Hove House, situated south-east of Hove Street, and not to be confused with another Hove House (afterwards Hove Manor) in Hove Street. Isambard’s father selected Dr Morell’s Academy for his son with care, and because he approved of his modern theories of education, which dispensed with the public school custom of fagging, and there was no flogging either. Dr Morell was described as ‘somewhat hasty, occasionally irascible but (he) had a very kindly heart, large sympathies and in general a pleasant and genial manner.’
Isambard was definitely at Dr
Morell’s in 1820 when he wrote the following letter home:
‘ I
have been making half a dozen boats lately, till I have worn my hands
to pieces. I have also taken a plan of Hove, which is a very amusing
job. I should be much obliged to you if you would ask papa (I hope he
is well and hearty) whether he would lend me his long measure. It is
a long 80-foot tape; he will know what I mean. I will take care of
it, for I want to take a more exact plan, though it is pretty exact I
think. I intend to take a view of all (about five) the principal
houses in that great town Hove.’
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| copyright © J.Middleton Hove Manor was a few minutes walk from Dr Morrell's school and probably one of the five principal houses in 1820s Hove that the young Isambard mentioned in his letter to his father. |
While he was at Hove, Isambard
took a keen interest in some newly-constructed buildings, which he
obviously thought were below standard. Indeed, he predicted they
would not last long, and was certain enough to take bets on the
outcome from his fellow students. He had the satisfaction of learning
that the walls had collapsed during the night.
The Case of the Gold
Half-sovereign
It was also at Hove that Isambard
came perilously close to losing his life. There is a definitive
description of the event by Henry Solly who became a student at Dr
Morell’s in 1826 when the story was still current. His account is
as follows:
‘There was an old cobbler who
had a stall close to our play-ground, and told us stories about
former pupils, especially one about the younger Brunel – son of
Isambard Brunel – who was at Dr Morell’s school for a time, and
which held his listeners always in breathless suspense when heard for
the first time. For it seems that that clever and erratic young
gentleman, on some occasion, when revelling in the possession of
half-a-sovereign, and perhaps desiring to feel that it was really
quite his own, had transferred it from his pocket to his mouth,
whence, under the influence, possibly, of overpowering visions of
future engineering, he suffered it, unfortunately, to slip into his
gullet. Old Kingswood’s harrowing description of the scene which
ensued, the rush for the doctor, the suspension of the unhappy boy by
the heels, the forcible wrestlings of the surgeon with the obstinate
obstruction during a dangerously protracted period, with its final
triumphant extraction, have ever since been associated in my mind
with the magnificent Great Western Railway ...’
Paris
By 1821 Brunel was to be found at
the Institute of Monsieur Massin in Paris, where he received a
glowing report. It is fascinating to note that in 2016 a school
report from this establishment at that date came to light and it had
this to say, ‘This young man gave to all his teachers the fullest
satisfaction, and he provides brilliant expectations for the future.’
Moreover, Brunel won prizes and special mentions, besides being ‘very
good’ at maths, German and drawing, while his character was ‘beyond
reproach’.
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copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum,
Brighton & Hove
"View of Hove" by George Hilditch c.1850, a
view of Hove's single street and St Andrew's Old Church, which remained virtually unchanged since the 1820s when Isambard and Henry Solly attended Dr Morrell's school near Hove Street.
|
Henry Solly’s Memories of Dr
Morell’s
Since Henry Solly arrived at Dr
Morell’s in 1826, just a few years after Brunel was there, it seems
entirely relevant that more notice should be taken of Solly’s
school-days, where he was one of the boys who listened eagerly to the
old cobbler’s tales about former pupils.
Solly arrived at Dr Morell’s
with a cohort of his contemporaries from Higham High School, which
had closed down. These boys were of the opinion that the boys at Dr
Morell’s were a somewhat effeminate lot because fights were few and
far between. However, they did derive great enjoyment from bolster
fights conducted with feather pillows between rival dormitories
whilst clad in their nightshirts. If the noise of battle grew too
intense and roused the authorities, there was no whacking in store
for the boys – instead they were obliged to learn lines of Horace
or Virgil as a punishment.
The Higham Hill boys did find
another outlet for their aggressive tendencies in the spirited
defence of their playground. This was a large, grassy area situated
south of the coast road (Kingsway) where the King Alfred stands
today. The playground was unfenced, and therefore audacious fisher
lads or errand boys had to be kept firmly at bay. During the 1830s
the playground was fenced off, and the Higham Hill boys thought this
was a retrograde step, and that the pugnacious standards of the
school were slipping.
Dr Morell was horrified to
discover that young Solly, although 13 years of age, had never been
taught mathematics, and put him to work on Euclid right away. As one
might expect, classics were well covered, and French was taught by a
native-born Frenchman as often or not. One French master made a great
impression on Solly. Major Berchet was Italian by birth, and had
fought in the Italian contingent under Napoleon. The gallant major and Solly were ardent admirers of Napoleon. When Solly
left the school for good, he presented the major with a fine
engraving of Napoleon.
Major Ambrogia Berchet was born in Parma, Sicily in 1784 and with his grey
imperial and pointed moustache, was a fine specimen of a Bonapartist
veteran. He had won the Légion
d'honneur for swimming the Danube on a perilous
reconnaissance mission. He went through the Polish and Russian
campaigns and was twice awarded the Order of the Iron Crown for
valour. When he returned to the Royal Court of Parma he was awarded
the Constantian Order of St George. Due to the unstable political
situation in Italy and the fall of the Kingdom of Sicily, he was
given a prison sentence, and due to an amnesty this was commuted to 10
years exile in England. Berchet, a teacher of Italian, Latin and French, had an engaging personality and made many friends in
Brighton and Hove. During the school holidays he would either tutor rich
families or travel to Scotland to sketch. He eventually left Dr
Morrell’s school at the end of his 10 year exile to return to Italy to resume his army career as a Major in the Piedmont Army. He died in retirement in 1864 aged 80.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum,
Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald July 1847 - An advert for Mr Berchet's private tutoring |
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum,
Brighton & Hove A 1826 engraving by E. Bruce entitled - A Scene at the Devil's Dyke, near Brighton, in the County of Sussex. The location for Dr Morrell's school trips, in the centre of the picture is Fulking and to the left is the church at Edburton. |
It was not all hard work in the
classrooms and during the summer there were local excursions to
Devil’s Dyke, or across the Downs to Fulking. A visit to Shoreham Harbour remained vividly in Solly’s memory. This was because he
could not resist the challenge of climbing up the rigging of one the
ships moored there. He had reached as far as the mainmast shrouds,
and was admiring the view, when he became aware of a young sailor
lad swarming up the rigging in hot pursuit. Then Solly scrambled down
as fast as he could, and in his hurry a shoe fell off and dropped
into the harbour waters. Safely on land once more, he wondered how he
was going to be able to walk back to Hove with only one shoe.
Fortunately, a clever Newfoundland dog had caught sight of the
floating shoe and jumped in to retrieve it.
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| copyright © J.Middleton The tall ships in the Aldrington Basin section of Shoreham Harbour, a half hour walk from Dr Morrell's school. |
On another occasion the boys went
to cut gorse on the Downs to put on their 5 November bonfire. But Dr
Morell would not allow them to set it alight on the correct day, and
neither did he allow them to make an effigy of Guy Fawkes. The good
doctor was a liberal non-conformist, and he did not wish to allow
anything that might stir up religious bigotry, especially since Roman
Catholic emancipation was being pressed in Parliament, which he
supported.
However, when the boys did set
their bonfire alight, it was a splendid sight, and a tar barrel had
been purchased to assist in the proceedings. Unhappily, the event
came to a premature end when a horde of roughs from the neighbourhood
invaded the ground, flinging burning brands about, and rolling the
blazing barrel over the grass.
Most of the boys were
non-conformist, and attended Sunday services at the Unitarian Church
in New Road. One young master found the services to be somewhat
tedious, and he had a copy of Shakespeare bound to resemble a prayer
book, with which he happily occupied his time in church.
A splendid custom at the school was that each of the older boys, would in turn, recite a piece of poetry by heart after dinner, and before the boys left the dining room. Solly liked to make his selections from a favourite book entitled Beauties of Byron. But there was one boy with a prodigious memory who kept them seated for half-an-hour while he declaimed at length.
A splendid custom at the school was that each of the older boys, would in turn, recite a piece of poetry by heart after dinner, and before the boys left the dining room. Solly liked to make his selections from a favourite book entitled Beauties of Byron. But there was one boy with a prodigious memory who kept them seated for half-an-hour while he declaimed at length.
When term finished, Solly and his
companions boarded the Brighton to London stagecoach for a journey
that lasted around six hours. The boys amused themselves by firing
off dried peas through their pea-shooters into the faces of startled
passers-by. One solid Sussex carter was so outraged by their antics,
that he heaved a large flint at them, which left a deep hole in the
roof of the stagecoach. After that incident, the coachman pulled up,
and demanded they put away their pea-shooters for the rest of the
journey.
In view of his somewhat
tempestuous schooldays, it is perhaps surprising to note that Henry
Solly later entered the nonconformist ministry. He had three cousins as contemporaries at
Dr Morell’s - Thomas Solly (1816-1875) became Professor of English at the University
of Berlin, and English tutor to the Crown Prince (Frederick III) of Prussia, the Reverend Richard Saen a Unitarian Minister who spoke at the 1849 International Peace Congress in Paris and Nathaniel Neal Solly (1811-1895) an Ironmaster, author and talented watercolour painter, whose paintings can command many hundred of pounds in auction houses today.
Henry Solly in later life
Revd Henry Solly, Unitarian Minister, campaigner, writer on Political and Economic Science issues.
He became a nationally known campaigner for Co-operatives, Anti-Slavery, Universal Suffrage, Temperance, Education, Working Men's Clubs, Charity Organizations, Trades Guild of Learning and the early ‘Garden Cities’ movement.
Kathleen Woodroofe writing in the Social Service Review 49, no. 1 (Mar., 1975) said of the Revd Henry Solly,
Henry Solly in later life
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| copyright © Dictionary of the Unitarian Universalist History & Heritage Society Revd Henry Solly (1815-1903) |
He became a nationally known campaigner for Co-operatives, Anti-Slavery, Universal Suffrage, Temperance, Education, Working Men's Clubs, Charity Organizations, Trades Guild of Learning and the early ‘Garden Cities’ movement.
Revd Solly served as an Unitarian minister, at Yeovil (1840-42), Tavistock
(1842-44), Shepton Mallet (1844-47), Cheltenham (1847-51), Carter
Lane, Islington (1852-57), Lancaster (1858-62) and Chairman of the Working Men's Club and Institute Union (1862-87).
On the 12 January 1849, Charles Dickens wrote to the Rev Henry Solly and the Committee of the Working Men's Institute of Cheltenham, "I need not endeavour to express the interest I feel in all such endeavours towards the improvement and happiness of the working-classes as that to which you have devoted yourselves" (this signed letter from Charles Dickens was sold by Bonhams for £1750 in March 2018).
On the 12 January 1849, Charles Dickens wrote to the Rev Henry Solly and the Committee of the Working Men's Institute of Cheltenham, "I need not endeavour to express the interest I feel in all such endeavours towards the improvement and happiness of the working-classes as that to which you have devoted yourselves" (this signed letter from Charles Dickens was sold by Bonhams for £1750 in March 2018).
By the time of Revd Henry Solly's death in 1903 there were 992 Working
Men's Clubs in existence, by 2020 this number of Clubs had risen to 2200.
Sir William Beveridge (1879-1963) author of the ‘Beveridge Report’ which was used as the model for the welfare state, said of the Revd Henry Solly, ‘he was restless, inventive constructive spirit, part author of at least three large living movements; charity organisation, working men’s clubs and garden cities’.
Sir William Beveridge (1879-1963) author of the ‘Beveridge Report’ which was used as the model for the welfare state, said of the Revd Henry Solly, ‘he was restless, inventive constructive spirit, part author of at least three large living movements; charity organisation, working men’s clubs and garden cities’.
'The Reverend Henry Solly (1815-1903) was an English social reformer
of the Victorian period whose work deserves more recognition than it
has received so far. In 1862, he founded the Working Men's Club
Institute Union, which has now grown into an organization with more
than 2 million members throughout Great Britain. He also helped to
found the Charity Organisation Society, which has made a unique
contribution to the theory and practice of modern social work, while
in 1884, at the age of seventy-one, he devised a scheme of
"industrial villages" which anticipated by several decades
the movement which produced the "garden cities" of the
twentieth century'.
Not Another Incident with a
Half-Sovereign!
It
is quite incredible that after the dangerous incident at Hove already
described, Brunel suffered a similar mishap at the ripe age of 37.
The Hove incident has not been picked up by Brunel’s biographers,
and everyone assumes that the later episode was a one-off. Obviously,
this was not so. It must be assumed that Brunel liked to perform
conjuring tricks, although what his other feats consisted of is not
known. Perhaps his pièce
de résistance was
the trick whereby he made a half-sovereign disappear only to be later
plucked from an ear; it was unfortunate that the place of concealment
happened to be inside his mouth.
This second incident occurred on 3
April 1843. Authorities do not agree with the nature of his audience,
which varies from just children, to his children, or a friend’s
children. When the coin slipped down his throat, it provoked a
coughing fit, besides making him vomit. He must have realised that
the coin would not be able to work its way through his system because
when he was prone he could feel it moving in one direction, and when
he stood up it moved the opposite way. It seems odd therefore that he
did not seek medical attention at once, particularly as his
brother-in-law, Dr Seth Thompson, was a physician. Brunel also had a
pain in his chest as well as soreness in his throat. He was perhaps
fortunate that the coin was gold, and not some germ-ridden farthing,
otherwise he might have caught a terrible infection. (The nearest
coin in circumference to the half-sovereign was the humble farthing,
although the latter was marginally larger). As it was, he decided it
was business as usual, and off he went to supervise the work on the
Great Western Railway. Unfortunately, Brunel was exposed to a cold
wind that exacerbated his condition, especially his cough that now
produced blood-tinged mucus, as well as tissue.
Even Brunel could see it was now
time to consult an expert. Dr Thompson had no solution to his
problem, and recommended Dr William Chambers, who sent him on to Sir
Benjamin Brodie, sergeant surgeon to Queen Victoria. It seems that
Brunel invented a special pair of forceps with long handles, which
Brodie used without success. (It is interesting to note that this
instrument – popularly known as Brodie’s forceps – plus the
recalcitrant coin – ended up as exhibits in St George’s Pathology
Museum).
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|
Sir Marc Isambard Brunel
by Samuel Drummond
oil on canvas, circa 1835 NPG 89 |
The
situation was indeed grave. It is instructive to note how events were
reported in the Brighton
Herald (5
May 1843) because the journalist obviously feared the worst outcome.
‘It
is with deep regret we have to state that the valuable life of the
talented engineer has been placed in jeopardy by an accident arising
out of an amiable wish to amuse the children of a friend. The father
and Mr Brunel pretended by sleight of hand to pass money from the
mouth to the ear, and vice
versa,
when Mr Brunel, placing a half-sovereign in his mouth, it
unfortunately slipped into the trachea, where it stuck.’ The
article continued with the information that an incision in the throat
had been determined upon but ‘the unfortunate gentleman remains in
a very dangerous state’.
The solution lay in engineering,
rather than medical intervention, and it was Brunel’s father Marc
who thought of strapping his son to an apparatus that could,
hopefully, shake the wretched coin free. It was a lucky thirteen for
Brunel because on 13 May, as he wrote, ‘I was safely delivered of
my little coin, with hardly any effort, it dropped out.’ By this
time, Brunel’s predicament had become national news, and there is a
lovely story about Thomas Macaulay, the prominent historian, rushing
through the august rooms of the Athenaeum Club shouting, ‘It’s
out, it’s out!’ Nobody had to enquire what he meant.
Brunel’s Character
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| © National Portrait Gallery, London Isambard Kingdom Brunel by Robert Howlett, November 1857 NPG x5177 |
Brunel was full of energy, besides
being blessed with optimism. Probably today, he would be described as
hyperactive because he shunned a good night’s sleep in a
comfortable bed, instead preferring a nap in his armchair, often
without removing the cigar from his mouth. In this, he was similar to
Winston Churchill, who needed little sleep at night but liked a power
nap during the day. Also, like Churchill, Brunel never lacked
courage, but sometimes he took unnecessary risks. Brunel was not a
man who liked to delegate tasks, and needed to be at the scene of
action. For example, when the grand project of the Great Western
Railway was being built, Brunel supervised everything from the
construction, design, and locomotion to all the administrative
details too.
Brunel
was well aware of his character writing in his diary on 19 October
1827, ‘I often do the most silly useless things to attract the
attention of those I care nothing about.’ It sounds like a good
apologia for
his habit of getting half-sovereigns stuck in his gullet.
On 24 June 1827 Brunel tried to
save a man from drowning, and the following year the Royal Humane
Society presented him with a silver medal in honour of his heroism.
Brunel had a narrow escape on 11 January 1828 when the roof of the
Thames Tunnel gave way, and the water gushed in extinguishing the
candles, so that the workmen were left struggling in the darkness.
Brunel was knocked over by the force of the water and became trapped
under a wooden platform. He managed to extricate himself, but was
then knocked unconscious; fortunately, the water propelled him up the
shaft and he was the last man out. The accident knocked the stuffing
out of him for a while and he was made to stay in bed until 4 May. No
doubt his condition was exacerbated by the medical wisdom of the
time, which prescribed a daily dose of blood-letting in conjunction
with a starvation diet.
On
31 March 1838 the SS Great
Western set
sail for Bristol, having had the engines fitted in London. Naturally
enough Isambard Kingdom Brunel was on board, together with his
father. However, the vessel ran into trouble only half-an-hour after
leaving Gravesend when the lagging surrounding the boiler at the base
of the funnel caught fire. Captain Hosken found it expedient to run
the ship aground at Leigh Sands, allowing the stokers to abandon ship
in safety. Meanwhile, the Chief Officer and Lieutenant Claxton rushed
to the engine room to fight the fire. At first it seemed Brunel could
not believe what was happening. But once he came to realise the
peril, he rushed towards the hatchway, out of which thick smoke was
billowing. Perhaps it was an unfortunate detail, but the ladder was
made of wood and had become so charred from the heat that when Brunel
stepped on its rungs, they gave way, causing him to drop some 20-ft.
Happily his fall was broken by Claxton, but Brunel was still badly
injured – he suffered an injured back, bruised ribs plus internal
bruising, and a sprained ankle. He was obliged to spend at least six
weeks in bed.
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| copyright ©
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 7 April 1838 |
There is no doubt that Brunel drove himself hard, besides experiencing several brushes with death, and his continuous cigar-smoking probably did him no favours either. But perhaps he was just too full of ideas and inventions to make old bones.
Commemorations
It is a measure of the great esteem in which Brunel was held that less than ten years after his death, he was commemorated in a stained-glass window in Westminster Abbey. It is surely the ultimate accolade for an engineer to be remembered in the venerable abbey where kings and queens are buried. The window was installed in 1868, and today you will find it situated on the south side of the nave to which it was removed in 1958 from its original site of the north side of the nave.
The window is in the form of two separate lights and above is a quatre-foil with the central light depicting Christ in glory. Norman Shaw (1831-1912) was the designer, while Henry Holiday (1839-1927) was responsible for the figures. There are six scenes from Biblical sources, three in each window– and not surprisingly one includes the building of the Temple. Isambard’s initials are also to be seen. At the foot of the windows the four figures of Fortitude, Justice, Hope and Charity are depicted. The inscription is hard to read Isambard Kingdom Brunel born April 9th 1806; departed this life September 15th 1859.
There are two statues of Brunel in London. One is placed on the Thames Embankment, at the west end of Temple Place. It is an 8-ft bronze statue created by Carlo Marochetti, and although it was completed in 1864, it was not installed to its present position until 1877. It was rather a shame that it took so long to place because Marochetti would never see it on site since he died in 1867. The reason for the delay was that the powers-that-be could not quite decide where it should go and there were grand designs to include him with two other eminent engineers, but that never happened. Instead, Brunel was placed on the Embankment, and it is pleasant to record that Norman Shaw, who also designed Brunel’s window in Westminster Abbey, was called upon to design the screens and benches to accompany the statue, which achieved Grade II listed status in 1958.
The other Brunel statue is of a much later date, having been created by John Doubleday (born 1947) in an unusual seated, cross-legged position. The statue was erected in 1982, and is now to be found in the area between platforms 8 and 9 at Paddington Railway Station.
Sources
Brighton
Herald (7 April 1838, 5 May 1843 & 31 July 1847)
Bryson, B. The Body: A guide for Occupants (2019) pages 93-94
Bryson, B. The Body: A guide for Occupants (2019) pages 93-94
Daily
Mail (7/1/16)
Encyclopaedia of Hove and
Portslade
Middleton,
J. History of Hove
(1979)
Middleton,
J. Tales of the
Old Hove Schools (1991)
National Portrait Gallery, London.
National Portrait Gallery, London.
Paris
Report stored in ‘Being Brunel’ at Bristol dockside, alongside
the SS Great
Britain
Rowland,
J. The Story of
the Brighton Unitarian Church (1972)
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Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove
Solly,
H. These Eighty
Years (1893)
Vaughan,
A Brunel: An
Engineering Biography (2006)
Kathleen Woodroofe The Irascible Reverend Henry Solly and His Contribution to Working
Men's Clubs, Charity Organization, and "Industrial Villages"
in Victorian England: Social Service Review 49, no. 1 (Mar., 1975)
Internet
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R. A. The Life and
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May 2006
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B. The Anatomist;
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Ruston, A. Henry Solly (2001) - The Dictionary of the Unitarian Universalist History & Heritage Society
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J. I. K. Brunel
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I
Copyright © J.Middleton 2020
Copyright © J.Middleton 2020
page layout and additional Henry Solly & Ambrogia Berchet research by D.Sharp