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© Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove This postcard of Princes Hotel dates from 1906 with the newly-erected statue of Queen Victoria nearby. |
Background
This handsome building was the work of the celebrated architect Sir James Knowles (1831-1908) and it involved two separate terraces known as Queen’s Gardens. Sir James was also the architect employed by the Stanford Estate, on whose land this development was laid out. The hotel was built in 1874 in an Italianate design that must have been a deliberate echo of Queen Victoria’s Osborne House in the Isle of Wight. It used the white/yellow brick so favoured in other Hove streets.
Important Guests
It was named after the original owner – a Mr Prince – and Henry Porter, writing in 1897, stated there were 46 rooms. Over the years the hotel expanded, and became a very up-market hotel. A famous early guest was Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804-1881) who arrived in the 1870s when he was Prime Minister, hoping that the sea air would benefit his asthma. It is interesting to note that Disraeli had family connections with Hove, his mother belonging to the Basevi family who once lived in Brunswick Square, although they were dead by the time of his visit. It was George Basevi who was responsible for the restoration of St Andrew’s Old Church.
Porter also listed some other important guests:
Duke of Fife
Duke of Athol
Marquis Tweedale
Earl Dudley
Lord Gordon Lennox
A Brawl
In August 1880 there was a brawl amongst the cab-men who habitually waited for custom near Princes Hotel. Joel Yates was a great favourite with guests at the hotel, which unfortunately made his fellow cab-men, Lucas and Sayers, jealous. On 15 August Mr Prince personally ordered Yates’s cab, and while Joel was inside the hotel, Lucas and Sayers took the opportunity to flog the blameless horse. Then when a furious Joel came out, they flogged him too, and smashed the shafts of his cab. Lucas and Sayers were each fined 2/6d with costs.
Owners and Staff
It is strange to note that on census night in 1881, only six guests were listed, one of them being 75-year old Phillip Griffith, Companion of the Bath.
On 30 June 1890 George Trotter, the 18-year old lift-attendant at the hotel, drowned in the sea while bathing at Hove.
By 1891 Mr Prince had died and the census states the hotel and club proprietor was Mrs Frances A Prince, widow. The live-in staff were as follows:
One porter
One hall porter
One waiter
One page
One billiard waiter
One kitchen porter
One housekeeper
Four maids
By 1897 David de Penna was the proprietor, but George Cummings remained in his post as general manager. In September 1898 Mr de Penna, on behalf of the hotel, requested a reduction on the amount of money charged in the Poor Law Assessment (in other words, the rates). He cited the money expended on recent alterations and decorations carried out on the premises. But the Hove Commissioners were unmoved by his plea, and turned down his appeal.
In 1910 Miss Gregg was the manageress, but by 1915 she had been replaced by Mr H. B. Chaplin Baldwin.
A Storm
In January 1904 there was a fierce storm and a huge stack of chimneys on the north wall, weighing six tons, crashed down through the roof. Mrs Harris’s unfortunate companion, Miss Churchman, was trapped in her bed for six hours. The bed was broken but Miss Churchman was rescued alive, although black and blue from head to toe, while a gash on her leg needed nine stitches. She was saved from death because two joists fell across the bed, and some lead sheeting protected her.
Opulent suites
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© J Middleton It seems probable that the hotel commissioned this elegant image of the hotel with some artistic licence involved. |
The hotel was still growing, and on 5 August 1909 Hove Council approved plans for a Winter Garden and lounge designed by Mr H. Elwig, architect. His work must have been satisfactory because in 1920 he submitted plans for further alterations.
The hotel management did not mince its words, and never mind certain elegant hotels in Brighton, it was proudly claimed that Princes Hotel occupied the finest position in Brighton. There was also the cachet of society associations, and it was boldly stated ‘Patronised by the Court and the most aristocratic families of England and the Continent’. Fortunate guests could walk in the same private gardens where Edward VII once strolled, and take advantage of the tennis and croquet courts. The cuisine was unequalled, there were lifts to all floors, and there was even a garage and a pit. To cap it all, the hotel offered something unique to Hove – hot or cold sea-water baths, the requisite tank being situated underneath the adjacent lawns.
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Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove 1914 advert for the Princes Hotel from the Brighton Season Magazine |
By 1914 the hotel was still being described as the most luxurious and fashionable hotel on the south coast, and it contained magnificent self-contained suites. They consisted of one or two bedrooms, an en-suite bathroom and lavatory, and perhaps a sitting room. The suites were given suitably grand names, possibly after distinguished patrons who had stayed there.
On the ground floor there were the Devonshire, the Orleans, and the Wingfield. On the first floor the best suite was Prince's which could boast of an elegant sitting room with access to the verandahs on the south and west sides. Other suites on this floor were the Faudel, the Connaught, and the Inchcape. On the second floor, the suites were called Dudley, Norfolk and Shafto, while Gordon was the best one with balconies on the south and west sides. On the third floor, there were the Spencer, Rutland, and Portland, while the best one was Beaconsfield with balconies to the south and west. On the fourth floor could be found the Roxburgh, Cavendish and Greville suites.
On the fifth floor, for obvious reasons, there was the Tower suite, which had a large bedroom as well as a dressing room. If guests preferred to take the air with more privacy than afforded by a venture along the esplanade, they were advised that the hall porter held the keys to the private garden.
In
those days, it was quite expected that such personages might bring
their own servant with them, and indeed some people regarded the
place as a permanent home. There was a quaint proviso that enabled
permanent residents to leave their servant behind at the hotel, if
they were visiting elsewhere, and should a servant occupy a room
forming part of their employer’s suite, the management would only
charge 9/6d
a day for the servant’s full board.
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© J Middleton Another postcard dating from 1906 with an interesting detail of long-gone hedges |
A Royal Visit
Prince Leopold, the Grandson of Queen Victoria, stayed in the Princes Hotel in August 1915.
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Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Brighton Graphic 12 August 1915 An interesting list of guests for August 1915, notably - Prince Leopold and Mrs & Miss Frankenstein. |
Princess Helena Victoria visited Hove on 10 June 1925, and she was greeted by a guard of honour composed of girls from the Girls’ Life Brigade, Girl Guides, and Girls’ Guildry. The Princess was entertained at Princes Hotel as the guest of Sir Alfred Sargeant (president of Hove YMCA) and Lady Sergeant. The small tea-tables were decorated with flowers and foliage, while the platform was adorned with white hydrangeas, and maple backed by palm. Miss Eva Baker sang two songs, one being To Daisies by Roger Quilter (who had Hove connections) accompanied on the piano by Madame Agnes Newington. Then followed a procession of small girls dressed as butterflies presenting purses to the Princess, who accepted them on behalf of Hove YMCA. During the reception, selections were rendered by Miss Adele Jouanno’s Orchestra.
When the purses were opened, the money only totalled £218, but Mr Bernhard Baron kindly promised to contribute enough to make it a round £300; he also promised to give £100 towards the expenses for the following two years. The Princess expressed her warm appreciation to him.
The Princess was attractively gowned in pale mole silk morocain, elegantly draped with silk lace of the same tone. She wore a cluster of Alexandra roses as a corsage, and her black hat was adorned with gardenias. The Mayoress of Hove wore a handsome gown of beige morocain, the tunic corsage richly embellished with pink and silver beads and embroideries. She wore a black Napoleon hat.
(Sir Alfred R. Sargeant was educated at Clifton College, and Trinity College, Cambridge. Although he was called to the Bar, he never practised, although he did became a J. P. and a Magistrate. He was much involved in local government and various organisations such as the YMCA, and he was on the committee of Hove Unemployment Relief Fund. He was Mayor of Hove during a very trying time from 1914 to 1919, and in the latter year he was honoured with the Freedom of the Borough; he was knighted in 1920).
Foreign Royalty
In
April 1912 the Duke and Duchess de Vendome stayed in the Prince’s
Hotel in order to secure a school place at the Convent of the Sacred
Heart for their daughter, H.R.H. the Princess Marie Louise.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 27 April 1912 |
In April 1937 their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Chichibu of Japan stayed at the hotel. They had arrived in England as representatives of the Prince’s brother, the Emperor of Japan, at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
Wallis Simpson
In 2021 Volume 1 of the full diaries of Henry ‘Chips’ Cannon were published. There is a fascinating titbit under 7 July 1936 – the famous Year of the Three Kings – that relates to Wallis Simpson who was in the full throes of the Simpson scandal. In order to have some respite, Channon notes that Wallis sometimes escaped to Hove to relax and listen to the soothing sounds of the sea, and would spend three or four days there. Unhappily, he does not specify the hotel and anyhow she used an assumed name, but it seems more than likely that she chose Princes Hotel. Although Wallis was extremely unpopular with the British public, Channon felt sympathetic towards her as a fellow American, and he admitted to some affection and admiration for her as well. He even described her as a ‘quiet, well-bred mouse of a woman with large, startled eyes’, which was certainly not how most British people thought of her.
Mundane Matters
During the First World War Princes Hotel was the only place in Hove that warranted having its rubbish collected twice a week on a regular basis.
The hotel could also boast of having its own generator. But in 1925 the owner decided it might be the right time to take advantage of using the electricity supplied by the Hove Electric Lighting Company, which would cost sixpence and a halfpenny for each unit. The patronage proved to be a mixed blessing for the company who soon realised that the hotel placed such a heavy demand on its supply that a new feeder had to be installed from the Davigdor Road works to the hotel.
The Second World War
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove The Supreme War Council leaving the Norton Road exit of Hove Town Hall on their way to the Princes Hotel for lunch. Amongst the delegates visible are Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier, Lord Halifax, Admiral Francois Darlan and General Maurice Gamelin. |
On 22 September 1939 the Supreme War Council took place at Hove Town Hall. The sessions lasted during both the morning and the afternoon. But the men adjourned for lunch at Princes Hotel. The guest-list was as follows:
Neville Chamberlain (Prime Minister)
Lord Halifax (Foreign Secretary)
Lord Chatfield (Minister for Co-ordination of Defence)
M. Daladier (French President)
M. Dantry (French Minister of Armaments)
General Gamelin (Commander-in-Chief of French Armed Forces)
Admiral Darlan (Chief of Naval Staff)
In 1941 Mr J. Ellman Brown, acting on behalf of the Admiralty, requisitioned the hotel for the duration, and the building subsequently became HMS Lizard.
Questions in Parliament
In March 1948 questions concerning Princes Hotel were asked in the House of Commons. The Minister of Works told Mr William Teeling, MP for Brighton, that In August 1946 a licence for works costing up to £25,000 had been granted to the hotel management to cover the first phase of rehabilitation following the hotel’s de-requisitioning by the Admiralty. Apparently, no work had been carried out, and therefore the licence had lapsed.
Mr Teeling said there were some 200 families looking for somewhere to live, and the hotel could be used to house some of them. He wanted an assurance that the Electricity Commission would not be allowed to convert the hotel for its own usage.
But Mr Clement Atlee retorted that Hove Council had already agreed that the Electricity Commission could take over the building, and that the Honourable Member was being more royalist than the King. In fact it was Government policy that large buildings should not be taken over by businesses while people were desperate for homes.
A few days later, the hotel was again mentioned in the House of Commons when Mr Teeling posed a question about compensation. He was assured that proper compensation had been awarded to the hotel’s owners, but it was not in the public interest to divulge the amount paid.
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© J Middleton This photograph was taken in 2009, and fortunately King’s Gardens and the erstwhile hotel are still there. |
For further information please see under following headings:
Kingsway, under King’s House
Sources
Brighton Graphic
Brighton Season Magazine
Census Returns
Daily Mail (27/2 /21)
Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Street Directories
Sunday Times ‘Culture’ (7/3/21)
Sussex Daily News (9/3/1948)
Copyright
© J.Middleton 2021
page layout by D.Sharp