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| copyright © J.Middleton Lansdowne Square |
This small, secluded square of nine houses was under construction by 1842 and the houses were completed by 1850. Numbers 1 to 5 were quickly occupied as a school later called St Michael’s School and Miss Maryanne Rooper founded it in 1844. The Roopers were a prominent clerical family in Hove with a passion for education for they had also established Farman Street Schools and Ivy Place Infants’ School. In 1851 St Michael’s School consisted of a matron (a widow from Clayton) a governess, two teachers, and 55 girls. The school later moved to Burton Park House, Petworth, where it was still flourishing in 1993 but closed later in the 1990s.
In 1851 three of the other houses were also occupied. At number 6 was 40-year old architect James Kaye who was born in Bombay. He was unmarried and kept one female servant. On census night there was one visitor. Thomas Flather, a 71-year old small house proprietor, lived at number 8 with his wife and one female servant while another house proprietor occupied number 9. He was 32-year old Thomas Bradford who lived with his wife and children, Frances 6, Ellen 4, Emily 2, William 3, Thomas aged three months, and two female servants. Apart from the school, the large houses seem quite sparsely populated compared to the overcrowding that was common in the back streets of the estate.
Copyright © J.Middleton 2012
page layout by D.Sharp
Copyright © J.Middleton 2012