Judy Middleton 2002 (revised 2022)
|
copyright © J.Middleton
Goldstone Villas is a broad
road when compared to its near neighbour George Street |
Background
Since the road led up to
Hove Railway Station, at first it was named – somewhat prosaically –
Station Road, Cliftonville. However, the Hove authorities never cared
much for the word ‘station’ in an address, and soon changed it to
Goldstone Villas Road, although there were already two other streets
with ‘Goldstone’ in their addresses. This was not the end of
changes because it was soon simplified by leaving out the ‘road’
part of it. It is amusing to note that another road on the border
with Portslade was also called Station Road, and it led up to
Portslade Railway Station, which apparently caused confusion to some
people who were unsure where exactly Hove Station was situated. The
name was changed to
Boundary Road, Hove, while Portslade retained
their original name of
Station Road.
Early Days
Goldstone Villas began to be
developed in the early 1870s, and it seems that Charles Nye, junior,
was responsible for building at least two houses then. One of the
first times the road received a mention was when there was a
complaint about black smoke pouring from the chimney of Povey’ s
bake-house.
In the early 1880s the road was in
very poor condition. During the winter it was described as a perfect
quagmire, while during the summer it became a ‘wretchedly uneven
and unsafe strip of ground’. At that time the road was not
classified as a public highway, having been made by Mr Gallard in
1880, with the freehold belonging to houses on either side.
In
1880 George Rushman, a firewood dealer from Conway Street, was
travelling down Goldstone Villas in his horse-drawn van, when the
front wheel dropped into a rut. The unfortunate Rushman was flung
out, the wheels ran over him and he died. An inquest was held at the
nearby Cliftonville
Hotel (now The Station), and
the foreman of the jury was William Hollamby, who was something of a
celebrity at Hove, famous for being the one who ascertained where the
Goldstone had been buried, and had it rescued and set up in Hove Park. He was also a champion of the working classes, often against
fierce opposition, and later served on Hove Council for 22 years; he
pioneered the creation of allotments, founded a Workmen’s Club, and
was a member of local cricket, football and athletic clubs.
The inquest on George Rushman
heard that the fatal rut had been caused by recent road works when
pipes had been laid. The hole was duly filled in, but the surface
later subsided. The Hove authorities decided that something ought to
be done, and in October 1880 they accepted Mr Marshall’s tender to
carry carry out street works at a cost of £1,370. In January 1881 a
petition signed by several property owners of houses on the east side
was sent to the Hove Commissioners. They asked that the proposed
pathway might be laid with ‘patented silicated stone’, instead of
the bricks now ordered, and offered to pay the extra cost; their
request was granted. A portion of the road was declared a public
highway in 1881, the rest following in 1882. Still to be seen are a
reminder of Victorian days in the mysterious letters ‘HCS’ carved
into three kerb-stones – the letters stand for Hackney Carriage
Stand.
It seems that the householders on
the west side were not so particular about how their footpath looked.
At any rate, they had bricks laid. Later on it became an on-going
project to replace the bricks with artificial stone slabs and a new
granite kerb. The improvements started off in 1895 when the part
between Clarendon Road and Conway Street was finished; next came the
part between
Blatchington Road and Goldstone Road, completed in 1895,
with the last part between Shirley Street and Clarendon Road being
finished in 1900. The three schemes cost respectively £185, £240
and £160.
The Flight of Steps
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copyright © J.Middleton
The notorious flight of steps
leading up to Goldstone Villas, while a piece of street art brightens
up the approach |
At the top of Goldstone Villas
there is a flight of steps leading down to Conway Street. In June
1896 the steps were pronounced so worn by continuous use that the sum
of £25 was to be spent on re-facing them. The steps needed attention
again in 1909 and this time the work cost £36. The steps remain to
this day and still appear a little worn in the centre.
The
steps occupy a little niche in local mythology because they led from
respectable Goldstone Villas to working class areas around Conway
Street. At the foot of the steps were ‘The Shades’ of the
Cliftonville
Hotel, where
there were frequent brawls after copious drinks on Friday nights
(pay-day). In fact, the place was popularly known as the Bloody Hole.
Mothers from the Goldstone Villas area forbade their children from
venturing down the steps; of course this led to children peering
hopefully down the steps when passing by just in case there was
something interesting going on.
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copyright © J.Middleton
The Station formerly the Cliftonville Hotel |
Trees
In 1894 Hove Commissioners decided
that trees should be planted on the west side between Clarendon Road
and Hove Railway Station at a cost of £7. By 1899 there were trees
on both sides of Goldstone Villas.
Street Lighting
It
is interesting to note that in 1881 the Hove Commissioners agreed to
purchase for £5 a lamp that had already been erected by Mr Tamplin
opposite the Cliftonville
Hotel.
In 1892 a new lamp was placed on
the west side opposite number 2 at a cost of £7.
In May 1899 the Borough Surveyor
reported that there were nineteen lamps in Goldstone Villas; he
recommended that two more should be added, and the present ones
re-arranged. Eight of the existing lamp columns needed to be rplaced
as well. All the lamps would be fitted with number 4 incandescent gas
burners.
In 1923 it was decided to replace
gas lighting with electricity.
House and Shop Notes
|
copyright © J.Middleton
It is good to see some
interesting shops open again after lock-down, the photo being taken
on 20 July 2020 |
Numbers
2 & 4
– In the 1880s Mr W. W. Pettitt ran the West Brighton Grammar
School in the two premises, which had been built in 1874. Three shops
were established on this site in 1898. These were replaced by the new
Woolworth’s store in 1935. |
copyright
© Royal Pavilion & Museums Brighton Graphic 3 April 1915 |
Number
8
– Dr William John Treutler moved to Goldstone Villas
in 1890. He was a Fellow of the Meteorological Society and President of
the Brighton & Hove Natural History & Philosophical Society. From 1912 to 1914 Dr Treutler made
copious meteorological observations at this address.
Number
12
– From 1921 to 1956 Hove Day Nursery was situated here. The Nursery
began its life in premises at 56 Livingstone Road, and was the
brain-child of Revd Walter Kelly, vicar of Hove, who realised that
some working class women needed to go out to work to earn money, and
it would help them greatly if there were somewhere safe to leave
their babies. Revd Kelly also considered those mothers who unhappily
were too ill to be able to look after their children. Working hours
were long in those early days, and thus the Nursery was open from
7.30am to 9pm every weekday. The Nursery fulfilled a need, and by
1917 there were 30 babies. But the situation was precarious because
money was short, and there was no garden. In 1921 Hove Day Nursery
moved to larger premises in Goldstone Villas, and Hove Council
resolved to make an annual grant of £100. For the financial year
ending on 1 April 1938, it was stated that there had been 9,126
attendances, being the highest figures recorded since the peak year
of 1929. By 1938 mothers had to pay seven pence for a full day’s
care but a second child from the same family could be admitted for
four pence. The Second World War brought such a high demand for
places that a second house was taken in Clarendon Villas, which could
accommodate 50 children aged from two to six years of age, while
there were 25 places at Goldstone Villas for infants under two years
of age.
Number
30
– This house was purchased for £636 in the 1870s for the use of
Revd William Dinnick who was the minister in charge of the Methodist
Church in Goldstone Villas. He died in 1901, and the house was sold
off for £945 in order to swell church funds.
Number 31
– It is fascinating to note that Henry Middleton (1853-1952) lived
here for seven years. Just an ordinary name you might think, but he
was born in a grand Plantation property called Middleton Place in
Charleston, South Carolina, USA, which is now a National Historic
Landmark. Naturally enough, in today’s current thinking he would be
under grave suspicion because the Middletons owned slaves and lived
on a plantation for generations. In fact, Henry Middleton was the
last one of his family line to be born in Middleton Place, and he was
there throughout the American Civil War 1861-1865. Henry’s
family played a central roll in his Country’s history, his great
grandfather was Arthur Middleton, a Founding Father of the United
States and a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence
from Great Britain.
Leaving
all that aside, Middleton possessed an inventive mind, and he
travelled to England to study engineering and mathematics at
Cambridge University, and became a noted civil,
electrical, marine and mechanical engineer. In
1885 he married Mary Heatley from Jersey, Channel Islands. However,
it seems he later had a second wife called Beatrice Esther and if
there was a legal marriage, no wedding certificate has come to light.
Middleton was active in another area too, besides his scientific
research – the field of procreation because he had no less than
fifteen children.
|
copyright
© Royal
Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Two articles from the Brighton Herald for the 15 October 1905 and 29 April 1905
|
It was in the Goldstone Villas
property that he had a large water tank where he carried out
experiments with the model submarines he had invented. This was
serious work and lead to his being granted a patent in 1917 for a
‘Natatory and Peripatetic Submarine Forts and Adjacent and
Ancillary Apparatus’. By this time Middleton was living in London,
having left Hove in 1908. He is also credited with inventing the
electric bicycle and steam tricycle. Henry
made fourteen applications for patents between the years 1893 and
1919, from such diverse subjects, as bolting doors to flying
machines.
(See also
1 Walsingham Road)
Number
34
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copyright © J.Middleton
Charlie Mitchell, ‘England’s
best pugilist’ lived in this house |
From 1915 until his death, the Birmingham born Charlie Watson Mitchell (1861-1918) lived in 34 Goldstone Villas. He was dubbed ‘England’s Best Pugilist’ and was the
first British champion in 1882. Mitchell was born at Birmingham on 24
November 1861. His fighting career spanned the transition from the
old bare-knuckle fight to contests fought wearing boxing gloves. His
first professional fight took place on 11 January 1878 with bare
knuckles, while his first fight with boxing gloves was in April 1882;
also in 1882 Mitchell became the first British champion.
In 1883 he
sailed for the United States where he stayed for five years. He did
not look much like a boxing champion, being only 5-ft 9-in in height,
and in 1894 his weight was recorded as being just 159lbs. He thus
held the record for being the lightest ever challenger in a world
heavyweight contest. However, what he lacked in height and weight, he
made up for in stamina and was more than capable of delivering a
sharp punch.
A good example of his stamina was
when he took part in one of the longest fights on record that lasted
an incredible three hours, ten minutes, and consisted of 39 bouts. In
the end it was not the fighters who threw in the towel, but the
seconds who decided to call it a day and pronounced it was a draw.
This fight took place on 10 March 1888 on the estate of Baron
Rothschild, near Chantilly in France and Mitchell’s opponent was
the legendary John L. Sullivan. No doubt there was an extra edge to
the contest because the opponents had met previously on 14 May 1883
at Madison Square Gardens. Mitchell managed to floor Sullivan – the
first man to perform such a feat – but Sullivan quickly recovered,
and knocked Mitchell out of the ring in the second round. On 25
January 1894 Mitchell challenged James Corbett for the world
heavyweight title at Jacksonville, Florida. But Corbett knocked him
out, and Mitchell then felt it was time for him to retire. Mitchell’s
final tally was 27 fights, of which he won thirteen, drew eleven and
lost three.
When he died, Mitchell was buried in Hove Cemetery,
and it is pleasant to record that many of the boxing fraternity took
the trouble to attend his funeral. His grave is difficult to find,
and required a photocopy of the official layout in order to pinpoint
it. The inscription reads In
Loving Memory of Charles Mitchell who died 2nd
April 1918 aged 56 and also Sergeant Charles Mitchell 24th
Battalion Royal Fusiliers only son of the above who was killed in
action in France April 30th
1917 aged 29 years. It
is moving to note that the father died one year and 28 days after his
son was killed, and the loss must have been a great trial for him.
Sergeant Mitchell’s name does not appear on Hove War Memorial
because he did not live there.
Number
38
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copyright © J.Middleton
Mass used to be said in this
house before the Church of the Sacred Heart was built |
Samuel
Thomas Lewonski had a considerable impact upon Hove. He was thought
to have been of Polish origin, and in the 1890s he was described as
having a mane of black hair and a handlebar moustache. In 1897
Lewonski & Sons advertised as ‘proprietors of funeral horses,
open cars, glass cars or closed hearses’ and the chief office was
located at 37 George Street. The accompanying illustration certainly
shows the glass-panelled coach to have been an elegant affair. This
was not his only business by any means. He also advertised as an
auctioneer and valuer, a manufacturing upholsterer, and there was a
goods warehouse too. At that time his residence and office was a 201
Church Road, Hove. The auction room was at 37 and 37A George Street.
In March 1928 the cinematograph licence for the Hove
Electric Empire in
George Street was transferred to his name.
Lewonski found time to be a Hove
councillor as well. It is instructive to note that he was one of the
councillors who opposed the acquisition of St Ann’s Well Gardens to
become a public park – but it opened in 1908. Lewonski labelled the
grounds as nothing more than a bog-hole and a quagmire. Quite why he
took such a stance is not clear, especially considering that when
Aldrington Recreation Ground was being laid out in 1897, Lewonski
offered the council 150 loads of mould at one shilling a load, and
the offer was accepted.
In April 1909 Lewonski’s
furniture warehouse at 4 Shirley Street was engulfed by fire. It
caused a local sensation, and soon postcards were on sale recording
the scene of destruction. Later on, the Lewonskis lived at 38
Goldstone Villas. They had three sons, and one daughter. Mrs Mary
Elland Lewonski died on 28 May 1926, and her funeral service was held
at the Cliftonville Congregational Church. One of the mourners was
her cousin James Coe who had a fishmonger’s shop in George Street.
Lewonski died 21 December 1944 at the age of 89. The couple were both
buried on the south side of Hove Cemetery where their grave is marked
by an impressive round pillar complete with an urn on top.
This house is now number 40. Mrs Harriet Wilkinson lived in this
house, and it is interesting to note that Mass was said on the
premises for local Roman Catholics from 1879 until the Church of the Sacred Heart in Norton Road was opened in 1881.
Number
65
– According to the 1887 Street Directory the Misses Unwin ran a
girls’ school on the premises.
Number
70
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copyright © J.Middleton
In 1894 dodgy meat was on sale
at number 70, but the shop is now a respectable coffee house |
On 31 October 1894 Henry Brownings, Sanitary Inspector, seized
seven pieces of beef and sausages with a total weight of 30lbs and
displayed for sale but were quite unfit for human consumption. The
meat was condemned at Hove Town Hall by the Medical Officer of
Health, and proceedings were started against George Green Charman,
the man in charge of the shop, who was fined £10 with costs, the
total coming to £11-5s.
Number
71
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copyright © J.Middleton
This house once served as a
Home for Servants, as well as being the home of a young sailor who
died in the First World War |
According to the 1912 Directory Mrs Moore ran a servants’ home
on the premises – given
the large number of servants at Hove, there must have been a great
need for such a home. In the next house, at number 73, a Miss Moore
ran a girls’ school.
Mrs
Moore’s son, 1st
Class Boy Sydney Victor Moore, was killed on 26 November 1914 when
his ship HMS Bulwark
blew
up while moored in the River Medway. It was a terrible accident
caused when something went badly wrong when ammunition was being
taken on board. The explosion occurred early in the morning while the
men were having breakfast, and the blast caused extensive damage in
Sheerness besides rattling Southend Pier. Winston Churchill was
obliged to report to the House of Commons that 700 men had been
killed, and there were only twelve survivors. Young Moore was born at
Hove, and educated at the Portland Road Schools – he joined the
Navy in 1912.
Number
77
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copyright © J.Middleton
A tragic event took place here
on 19 January 1893 |
On 19 January 1893 a double murder and suicide committed by
Arthur Black took place in this house. Arthur Black was educated at
Brighton College, attended university, and graduated. At the time of
the tragic event, he was aged 41, and lectured at Brighton School of
Science. He came from a respectable family, his father being David
Black, Brighton coroner, and his brother Ernest Black was a Brighton
architect. Arthur and Jessie Black had been married for some four or
five years, and she was fifteen years his junior. Mrs Black was also
stated to have been ‘intemperate’ and suffered from hysteria and
delusion. There was no maid in the house, and Mrs Black was incapable
of doing any housework – he always had to make his own breakfast.
There were two children of the marriage; the four-year old girl was
staying with a maiden aunt with a view to adoption because of her
mother’s neglect, and so she missed the slaughter of her family.
The tragic little boy was aged eighteen months and had to sleep on
his own in the basement while his parents slept in an upper room.
This was on the directive of Arthur Black who did not like the child
to sleep in their bedroom.
The inquest held in the Police
Court at
Hove Town Hall heard that the attack on Mrs Black was so
violent that some portions of her brain were found nearby. The
injuries were most likely to have been inflicted by a two-headed coal
hammer found lying near Mr Black. She also had a bullet wound in her
thorax. The child had a wound in the back of the neck. Mr Black then
poisoned himself with chloroform before using his gun – there was a
bullet wound in the right thigh. The verdict was that Arthur Black
killed his wife and child, and afterwards committed suicide.
According to the 1912 Directory,
the premises were the headquarters of the Sussex Imperial Yeomanry, A
Squadron, and Sergeant Major T. Hoare was in charge.
Arthur
Black had a remarkable sister – Clementina Black (1853-1922) whose
life seems to have been beset by family tragedies. When her mother
died, Clementina was a young woman aged 22, but it was the end of
carefree youth because she had to look after her invalid father –
not only that either, since there were no less than seven younger
brothers. In 1893 there came the double murder and suicide, followed
within six months by the death of her father. But she nobly adopted
her unfortunate little niece, Gertrude Speedwell Black. Clementina
never married because, not surprisingly, she recognised that the
wedded state limited a woman’s freedom, and she surely deserved
some choices in life.
She joined the Fabian Society, and became a
passionate advocate of the suffragette movement; she also undertook
extensive travel in order to inform working women about the
advantages of joining a trade union. It is pleasant to record that
she proved to be an inspiration to the remarkable Annie Besant who
helped the female match-workers in their famous strike at Bryant &
May. She wrote some novels, but more importantly, books about labour
too, the most influential being Married
Women’s Work (1915);
this must be considered of some relevance in modern times because it
was reprinted in 1980. (Wojtczak, H. Notable
Sussex Women 2008)
Number
82
– In September 1892 the Sanitary Inspector reported that some ducks
and chickens were kept in the back yard, which was in a foul (!)
state. The occupant was given seven days in which to remove the
birds, and thoroughly cleanse the yard.
Number
85
– In 1912 there was a school of cookery here run by L. and T. Cox.
Number
87
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copyright © J.Middleton
Mr and Mrs Compton once
displayed valuable paintings on the walls in their house |
In 1912 it was noted that E. Compton & Son ran a business
involving the restoration of pictures on these premises. In 1927
Edwin Compton and his wife celebrated their Diamond Wedding in this
house. Mrs Compton must have had a robust constitution because she
gave birth to no less than fourteen children. The couple were wealthy
enough to own a large collection of paintings including ones by
Turner and Gainsborough; they also owned a painting by John Hoppner
(1758-1810) who was once so well regarded as a fashionable portrait
painter that he was seen as a rival to Sir Thomas Lawrence – the
painting owned by the Comptons was insured for £7,000. Mr Compton
presented Hove Corporation with a painting by Julian Lessore entitled
The
King’s Road, Brighton.
Number
88
– In January 1920 the Postmaster at Brighton announced that the
sub-Post Office at 88 Goldstone Villas would close although it had
been in business for almost twenty years. There were protests and a
petition signed by 97 residents, but the Postmaster was adamant that
keeping it open could not be justified seeing as there were
alternative Post Offices in Newton Road and Blatchington Road.
Number
90
– In the Hove
Gazette (20
August 1898) the following information appeared. ‘The Proprietor of
the Guernsey Dairy begs to intimate to the Nobility and Gentry of
Hove and surrounding neighbourhood that the above Premises are now
opened, being fitted on the most improved and hygienic principles
ensuring the utmost cleanliness for the Sale of Dairy Produce of
superb quality; and it is prepared to supply direct from the Farm to
the Jug of the Customer pure Guernsey Milk of the highest quality,
very rich in cream and much above the average.’
Goldstone Villas Primitive
Methodist Church
|
copyright © R. Jeeves
This old view was taken at the
time the building was still in use as a church |
A group of Primitive Methodists
began to meet in Hove in 1876. They used a room in Blatchington Road,
which they hired for £16 a year. Even when they began to plan
building their own church there was no more than a nucleus of forty
people. Revd Benjamin Dinnick had already found a suitable site when
he was taken ill, and so his brother, Revd William Dinnick took up
the work.
George Gallard, one of the
developers of
Cliftonville, took a keen interest in the project and
donated £250 towards the costs. When the stone-laying ceremony took
place on 22 April 1878, one stone was laid on Gallard’s behalf by
Edgar William Dinnick, son of the superintendent. Mr T. A. Dennhy, a
friend of the Dinnicks, laid the other stone.
Thomas
Monmouth of Farnham was the architect, although both Henry Porter in
The
History of Hove (1897)
and D. R. Elleray in The
Victorian Churches of Sussex (1981)
state it was Thomas Wonnacott. Thomas Roy Lidbetter of 4 Monmouth
Street, Hove, was the contractor, and 34,100 bricks costing £76-14-6d
were
used in construction. The cost of the church, schoolroom and house
for the minister was expected to be no more then £2,500 but the
actual cost was likely to have been closer to £2,774. The schoolroom
was formally opened on 11 August 1878, while Revd J. Toulson from
London came to open the church on 29 September 1878. Walter Lewonski
donated the organ, and there was enough accommodation for 400 people.
|
copyright © J.Middleton
Although the building is now
in secular use, at least we can still admire the elegant structure |
At first the church was shared
with the Wesleyan Methodists whose iron chapel in Portland Road had
to be removed at the insistence of the Hove Commissioners. They
continued to share the premises until the substantial new building
was erected in Portsland Road. A house at 30 Goldstone Villas was
purchased for £636 for the use of the minister, but was later sold
off for £945 in order to swell the funds.
At first the Sunday School was
very popular with 100 girls, 90 boys and 20 teachers. But Rev William
Dinnick died in January 1901, new churches were opening, and
membership started to decrease. The First World War did not buck the
trend. In the 1920s the Sons of Temperance were allowed use of the
rooms, providing there was no dancing or whist drives.
In February 1933 it was agreed
that the church building should be sold to the Royal Cliftonville
Lodge of Odd Fellows, and the final service took place on 26 March
1933. The building was sold on 6 April 1933 for £1,800 – a bargain
price when you consider the building costs. The organ was removed to
a church in London Road and some members went there too, others
preferring to attend the churches in Portland Road, or Franklin Road,
Portslade.
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copyright © J.Middleton
It is difficult to fully
appreciate the front facade when the trees are in full leaf |
Later on, the Goldstone Villas
building was used as a Christian Science Centre before being sold to
the Olivetti Company in 1968 for £12,500. A skilful conversion was
carried out and the building was transformed into offices. The
stuccoed brick shell and timber floor were retained, and a new top
floor of reinforced concrete was installed, supported by by
reinforced concrete columns penetrating to basement level.
Today the building has preserved a
fine classical facade while an attractive angled staircase has given
it a contemporary touch. In the 1970s the building was sold to the
Bell Group of Companies.
Miscellaneous
Terence
Casey
– During the 1930s and 1940s he was a famous cinema organist and
gave broadcasts playing the BBC theatre organ. He lived in the street
in the 1970s.
Dianetics
– In 1987 it was stated that a branch office for this organisation
was being established. Dianetics was closely associated with the
Church of Scientology.
Mrs
Leah Doctors
– She was a spiritualist healer and featured in a book by J.
Bernard Hutton entitled The
Healing Power (1976).
She lived in the street in the 1970s.
Sanctuary
Housing Association
– In May 1998 it was stated that an empty building was to be
converted into fifteen self-contained flats for the association.
Hove Planning Approvals
1881
– Jabez Reynolds, junior, stabling at the rear of number 19
1882
– Messrs Parsons, one householders
1897
– Mr Ross for J. Parker, three houses on the east side
1899
– G. M. Jay for J. Grinyer, one house on the east side
1916
– A. H. Lainson for R. Major, two flats, lock-up shop and club room
at number 70
Sources
Argus
(1/11/08)
Elleray,
D. R. The
Victorian Churches of Sussex (1981)
Encyclopaedia of Hove and
Portslade
Hove Council Minute Books
Hove
Gazette (20
August 1898)
Local old newspapers on micro-film
at Hove Library
Middleton,
J. A
History of Women in Hove and Portslade (2018)
Middleton,
J. Hove
and Portslade in the Great War (2014)
Mr. R. Jeeves
National Library of Australia
Porter,
H. The
History of Hove (1897)
Smith,
C. A. & Nurcombe, P. B. A
History of Methodism in Hove (1996)
The Keep
NMB
76/1/3 – Funnell, J. A. Goldstone
Villas Primitive Church 1878-1933 (c.1990)
Copyright © J.Middleton 2020
page layout and additional research by D.Sharp