Hove in the Past: The Drive, Hove

Judy Middleton 2003 (revised 2023)

Lay-out

The road was laid out on land once forming part of the Stanford Estate. The eminent builder William Willett was responsible for the lay-out as well as the erection of many fine houses. The road was extremely spacious in its width, which was possible because it covered land that was previously used for agriculture and there was no restrictive building line. The broad width was supposed to accommodate a carriage and horses being able to turn around in comfort. Today the width is difficult to appreciate because of the tide of parked cars but where else in Brighton and Hove could one road accommodate a line of parked cars on either side plus two lines of parked cars in the middle and still allow the passage of traffic? Not surprisingly, in the 1870s the road’s original name was Grand Drive but had to be altered to avoid confusion with Grand Avenue.

copyright © J.Middleton
This postcard presents the spaciousness of The Drive as it used to be before the invasion of cars.

The Hove Courier (8 April 1882) stated that some time previously the newspaper had mentioned the ‘large houses at the north west corner of The Drive, then being erected by Mr Willett. Since that time some really wonderful alterations and improvements have been made by this enterprising builder. The Drive north of Eaton Road at that time only consisted of two houses at the corner; now there are four noble mansions on each side, one containing over twenty rooms and valued at £7,800. Four of these are let or sold and the houses have been prettily laid out with plants and shrubs, and the trees on either side of the path just budding out, gives a pleasing aspect to this part of the spacious road, the whole estate from Wilbury Road to Cromwell Road in fact being greatly improved by the laying out of the roads with trees, protected with tree guards.’

In July 1884 the part of The Drive north of Eaton Road was declared a public highway and in December 1888 the part from Church Road to Eaton Road followed suit.

On 28 July 1889 the Shah of Persia paid a visit to Sir Albert Sassoon at his house in Brighton and during one of the Shah’s outings the Shah’s carriage travelled along The Drive, which the Sussex Daily News called ‘that noble thoroughfare’.

Lamps and Hydrants

In 1891 General Bond wrote to the Hove Commissioners asking for additional lamps at the ‘new Parish Church’ (All Saints) because the corner was a dark one. The surveyor reported that there were two lamps, one at the north west corner and the other at the south east corner. He recommended placing lamps at the two remaining corners plus one in Eaton Road near the south entrance to the church and re-arranging the two existing lamps between The Drive and Wilbury Road.

In 1892 Mr Head asked that the pillar lamp near The Conservatory should be lighted. The Commissioners replied that as soon as the owners had fitted one up, the Commissioners would light it at public expense. In January 1896 Mr Head asked for another lamp to be lit near his nursery and received a similar reply.

In 1893 Mr J.G. Rigby of Ingleside requested that the road leading to his house might be lit and watered. The reply was that if he installed a lamp at the intersection of The Drive and the Upper Drive, then the Commissioners would light it.

In March 1891 it was decided to fix two hydrants north of Eaton Road at a cost of £10 while in May of that year a standpipe was placed at the junction with the Upper Drive for street watering purposes.

Paving

In 1895 new asphalt paving was laid on the west side for a length of 360 feet between Church Road and Eaton Road at a cost of £197.

Designated Listed Buildings

24 March 1950 – Church of All Saints Grade I

2 November 1991 – number 16 The Gables designed by A. Creswell Grade II (see 'number 16' text below)

2 November 1991 – numbers 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 63, 65, and 67 Grade II. All these houses were built in the 1880s of yellow stock bricks with lavish use of incised and moulded bricks.

2 November 1991 – numbers 69, 71, 73, 77 and 79 Grade II. As a complete contrast these houses were built of red brick with terracotta dressings and decorations, steeply pitched roofs, oriel windows and some with terracotta dragons on the roofline. The architect Harry Bell Measures (1862-1940) designed the houses and William Willett was responsible for building them. The inspiration was a Flemish / Queen Anne Revival style.

It is indeed fortunate that these houses (69-79) are still standing for all of us to enjoy today. Back in the 1960s / 1970s, when Victorian architecture was not greatly admired, Hove Borough Council actively encouraged the re-development of The Drive leading to the demolition of some houses and the creation of high-rise flats. Michael Ray, Hove Borough Planning Officer in the 1970s, became greatly concerned about these particular houses and initiated a campaign to have them given listed building status; this campaign attracted high status supporters including Sir John Betjeman.

The petition was duly presented to the relevant government department but Lady Birk (1917-1996) Planning Minister in the Labour government, refused to act. Fortunately for these houses, some years later, the Department of the Environment carried out a new survey on Hove and these buildings were added to the List of Buildings of Architectural or Historic Interest.

House Notes

Number 3

In September 1917 Princess Christian visited this house, the residence of Countess van der Stegen, to see an exhibition of Belgian lace. The Princess was President of the Royal School of Needlework and so found the exhibition of interest. She was also one of the founders of the British Red Cross. She was born Princess Helena (1846-1923) the third daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. But she became known as Princess Christian in 1866 when she married Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Princess Christian had laid the foundation stone of the Police Seaside Home in Portland Road, Hove, on 29 October 1892.

Number 5

The Drive Prep School opened here at the end of 1996 and there was a maximum of twelve pupils. By contrast with State Schools, where consideration was being given to the dropping of French from the curriculum, the prep school would begin teaching children French from the age of four.

The school catered for children from the age of three to thirteen. Sue Parkinson was the head and she also taught drama. In 1997 three pupils took first, second and third place in the poetry section of Worthing Speech and Drama Competition.

The school became such a success that prospective pupils were being turned away. Expansion was hoped for and one solution would be to lease 101 The Drive, which was then Drive Lodge Residential Home.

But the idea was unpopular with nearby elderly residents. Planning permission would only be granted if the number of pupils did not exceed eighty. From the school’s point of view it would be an ideal place because it meant they would not have to change the name. In June 2000 the school was seeking planning permission for a change of use at number 101. Some 47 residents of nearby Homedrive House, a sheltered housing scheme, signed a petition against the school.

Number 9

Dr Helen Boyle (1869-1957) ran her private medical practice at this address, and she also had a practice at 49 Harley Street, London. She founded the Lady Chichester Hospital, now Aldrington House. She listed her recreations as travel, gardening, beagling and walking.

Number 10

Sir Alfred R. Sargeant was born at Snaresborough, Essex in 1873. His father Alfred F. Sargeant was a member of the Hove Commissioners until his death in 1896. A. R. Sargeant was educated at Clifton College, and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn but never practised. He was elected to Hove Council in 1907. The following is a list of various positions he held:

Borough Magistrate from 1904

Committee Member of Hove Unemployed Fund in 1905

JP for East Sussex from 1906

Chairman of the Education Committee

Chairman of the Health Committee

Chairman of the Legal and Parliamentary Committee

Chairman of Seaside Police Convalescent Home Committee

Committee member of Sussex Eye Hospital

President of Brighton & Hove Boys Brigade Battalion

Captain of 17^th (Hove) Company, Boys Brigade

In 1910 Sargeant married the eldest daughter of Canon Flynn, vicar of St John’s Church, Hove, and the couple lived at 10 The Drive. Sargeant was Mayor of Hove from 1914 to 1919. In contrast to the experience of previous mayors, there was no inaugural banquet at Hove Town Hall because of the outbreak of the First World War. But the Sargeants left a valuable record of those years in two large 4to-size volumes with dark leather spines that are to be found in Hove Library. They contain fascinating glimpses of the past including newspaper cuttings, invitation cards, letters, photographs, and flag-day favours. They also give a good perspective of Hove’s involvement in the war effort. Indeed, Sargeant received a special printed communication from the Empress Alexandra Fedorovna from the Winter Palace in Petrograd thanking him for services rendered in connection with the Russian Flag Day Movement. Hove Council Minutes for November 1918 record the following: ‘The Council desires to place on record that by continuing in the Office of Mayor for four successive years in times of War, when the duties have been largely augmented by Emergency Legislation, Alderman Sargeant has rendered an invaluable service to the Town’.

Sargeant was made an Honorary Freeman of Hove on 5 November 1919, being only the second recipient of such an honour. Sargeant and his wife were presented with an illuminated address, a silver tea and coffee service, a gold cigarette case, and a jewelled pendant. A portrait of him painted by the well-known local artist C. H. H. Burleigh (of Wilbury Crescent) formed part of the testimonial raised by public subscription. The portrait was presented to Hove in January 1920, and it was to hang behind the seat of the deputy mayor in the council chamber. In 1921 Sargeant received a knighthood in recognition of his valuable services as Mayor of Hove during the war. He died at the age of 76.

Nearly 40 years after the award in 1919, Sargeant’s cousin, Arthur Jolly, returned the Freedom Scroll inside its silver casket to the Mayor’s Parlour. In 2002 there was some excitement when this item was re-discovered during the clear-out of a cupboard in Hove Town Hall.

Number 11

According to the 1887 Street Directory Miss Pyke and Miss Solomon ran a girls’ school called Pombal House here.

Number 12

Dr Constance Beynon had a large private practice at this address, and she was a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at hospitals in Brighton and Worthing from 1947 to 1974. She served for many years as a Hove magistrate, and was the medical officer at Roedean from 1951 to 1981. She must have been an energetic woman because she was also a married lady with four children and her favourite hobby was water-skiing, which she managed to enjoy until she was eighty years old. She died at the age of 86 in August 1995, and a memorial service for her was held at Roedean.

Number 14

Frances Drummond-Roberts lived in this house from 1912 to 1962. She was the daughter of Captain George R. Drummond, Chief Constable of West Sussex 1879-1912. Like many young ladies she kept a diary. But unusually, her diary (dating from June 1914 to June 1915) was a miniature one, measuring one square inch with a beautiful silver-embossed cover of cherubs’ heads made by Liberty. She was obliged to make her diary entries in tiny handwriting, possibly with the aid of a magnifying glass. She wrote about her social life, visits to the theatre and the Sassoons but there was no mention of war. However, she did record the death of Field Marshal Lord Roberts; was there a family connection or was it because he was a national hero? (There is a possibility that Lord Roberts once went to school at Hove).

In 1984 American professional couple Fred Bolling and Val Withington discovered the diary at a London market and purchased it because it was a beautiful object. But when they came to read the contents, they were fascinated because it provided a snapshot of a vanished past. They stated they intended to write a work of fiction based on the diary.

Number 15 / 17 Hovedene Hotel

copyright © D.Sharp
Hovedene Hotel has been boarded up for many years and still awaiting improvements
(photographed in December 2017)

Florence Cregeen ran two hotels in Streatham, London, before moving to Hove and opening Hovedene Hotel in January 1939. In those days the hotel let out rooms that people furnished for themselves. A double room cost 42/- a week and a single room cost 21/- a week. Guests could eat in the hotel dining room for only 1/-. Indeed they were obliged to eat some meals in-house because one of the conditions of residence was that they had to spend 10/- a week in the restaurant. When the war ended the hotel began to cater for bucket-and-spade holidaymakers.

Mary Phillips (1880-1969) the suffragette, lived at the Hovedene Hotel from 1967 until her death in 1969. In 1907 she joined the Women’s Social and Political Union and became an organizer. She was one of 50 women who in March 1908 mounted a protest deputation to Parliament and was arrested and sentenced to six weeks in Holloway Prison. A further arrest in June 1908 resulted in a 3-month sentence making her the longest serving suffragette prisoner. She worked for Christabel Pankhurst in 1913, but was sacked, because she had been dissatisfied with her work as a WSPU organiser; she then worked for Sylvia Pankhurst in the East End of London,

Later in life she worked for the Save the Children Fund and the Children’s International League. In 1957 she published The Militant Suffragette in Perspective and in 1968 she took part in the Golden Jubilee of Women’s Suffrage.

In February 1989 Hovedene Hotel celebrated its Golden Jubilee with the same family at the helm. Andrew Cregeen, Florence’s grandson, ran the establishment assisted by his wife Lesley and mother Viola. Philip Cregeen, Andrew and Lesley’s son, was in charge of the kitchen and he had studied catering locally.

In 1989 Andrew Cregeen introduced his fortnightly musical teas with Grenville Eaton at the piano. A one hundred-year old aspidistra graced the top of the piano, the original plant owner being Viola’s great-grandmother. By the 1990s the hotel was well known for its musical teas and themed evenings with dinner and entertainment from around the world.

In 1991 Andrew Cregeen described himself as the original Basil Fawlty of TV fame. His height made him an unmistakable character and he had a show business background, once treading the boards with stars such as Ken Dodd, Dickie Henderson, Jimmy Clitheroe and The Seekers. He also enjoyed a spell as Entertainments Officer for the Isle of Wight.. He said his biggest mistake was not taking a part in a James Bond film when it was offered to him. His guests certainly enjoyed his banter and the musical evenings he organised. His grandfather Ralph Butler wrote popular songs from the 1930s to the 1970s including such favourites as The Sun Has Got His Hat On / Run, Rabbit, Run and Nellie the Elephant in collaboration with other writers. Andrew Gregeen’s great-grandfather sang as head bass at Westminster Abbey.

Hovedene Hotel closed its doors for the last time in April 1995. It is said the property was snapped up by a holding company. By August 1999 an application was before the council to erect a ground floor extension, create a lift shaft, make a car park at the rear and build a basement passage connecting numbers 15 and 17.

On the 15 January 2013, regarding a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000: Ref: foi/028/12, Brighton and Hove City Council stated:- ‘15/17 The Drive (two large properties south of Courtlands Hotel) are not residential properties as they were formerly another hotel – Hovedene – but have now been empty for some time. There was a planning application in October 2006 asking for ‘Ground and lower ground floor refurbishment construction of health club to lower ground floor and ground floor kitchen extension’. This was refused and there has been no further planning activity since then.‘

Number 16

This house was called The Gables and it was sold by auction in May 1923. The property contained three handsome reception rooms, ten bedrooms, a bathroom, a conservatory and a large garden.

Number 18

The house was built in 1894 and was an asymmetrical mansion whose south side jutted out at an angle and whose main roof decoration was not in line with the main entrance. It followed a Dutch decorated style, similar to those in Lewer’s Terrace (on the south side of Church Road, west of Hove Library). Mr and Mrs Otto Pollak lived in this house from 1914.

During the Great War Mrs Frances Winnie Pollak worked tirelessly on behalf of wounded and convalescent soldiers who were sent to military hospitals in Brighton and Hove. ‘At all hours of the day and the night this lady met the convoy of wounded men as they arrived at the railway station with a gift of cigarettes and stamped postcards for each man.’ The postcards were used to inform a soldier’s family of his whereabouts. Mrs Pollak also organised outings and excursions for the convalescents and was frequently to be found ferrying soldiers to and from parties.

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Mrs Pollak with her small dog, The caption reads, 'Brave Heroes having a change at Hove from the War 1914'.

In August 1915 she held one of her own at the house in The Drive. It was a large affair and the tables were decorated with white marguerites, single yellow marigolds and gypsophila. After tea photographs of the company were taken in the garden. Mrs Pollak earned the popular designation of ‘the friend of brave men’ or ‘the soldier’s friend’.

On one occasion a postcard was sent from Buenos Aires addressed to ‘Mrs Pollak, the Soldier’s Friend, Brighton’ and it was delivered safely. She was even Mentioned in Despatches for her work. It seems that Otto Pollock died in the 1920a and from around 1927 to around 1932 Mrs Pollok continued to live at number 18. By 1934 a surgeon lived there. In 1959 the house was demolished and Normandy Court was built on the site.

Number 20

Dr Burnett and his large family lived here in some style from 1897 to the end of the Great War. There were no less than thirteen bedrooms. But then there were twelve children to accommodate, five from Dr Burnett’s first marriage, and seven from his second marriage. The eldest child of the latter was the famous and undervalued Ivy Compton-Burnett (1884-1969). On 18 January 1989 a blue plaque commemorating her association with the house was unveiled. But sad to say she never liked Hove, calling it ‘a horrid, horrid place’ while the children designated the residence as ‘that hideous house’. However, much of this antipathy was no doubt related to a dysfunctional family dynamic.

Number 22

Arundel House was one of the first purpose-built block of flats to be erected at Hove. Mr Barnes was responsible for building it in 1898. It is interesting to note that a Mr Joseph David Barnes erected two terraces of houses in Wolseley Road, Portslade, in 1897 called Diamond Terrace and Jubilee Terrace; their style could not be more different to Arundel House.

It is certainly one of the most distinctive buildings in The Drive and indeed in Hove as a whole.

Its wealth of detail in red brick and terracotta embellishments against a blue sky is a sight well worth seeing. In 1976 Michael Ray, Chief Planning Officer of Hove, said the exterior reminded him of St James’s Palace and he would like to see it listed with the Department of the Environment for its architectural interest. In September 1994 an apartment at Arundel House was on sale for £149,500. It was on the second floor and contained three bedrooms while the lounge with an east / west aspect measured 23 feet 6 inches by 18 feet.

Numbers 25 / 27 Courtland’s Hotel

The hotel was first mentioned in the 1921 Directory at these numbers. In a local guide for 1949-1950 it was described as ‘a Private Hotel of Distinction … in a quiet and exclusive position in Hove’s finest thoroughfare, yet near the shops, main bus routes and sea front.’ The hotel had over 50 bedrooms, many of them with private bathrooms and they all had telephones. The beds were provided with Vi-Spring mattresses, there was central heating, a lift to all floors, a night porter and an attractive garden. Mr and Mrs W.S. Miller were the proprietors. By 1951 the hotel had extended to include number 23.

The Cutress family took over the running of the hotel in the 1960s. The Cutresses ran the Forfar’s catering company and also such well known eateries as the Pump House in Brighton and the Eaton Restaurant in Hove. Mrs June Cutress (wife of John Cutress, one of the directors) created the interior décor. She was the daughter of W.J. Ring who ran a long established furnishing business in Western Road, Hove. She gave the bedrooms individual colour schemes, while mosaic tiles paved the entrance hall. The ground floor bar was re-named the Golden Dolphin Bar from the dolphins supporting the small round tables. A magnificent Aubusson tapestry, incorporating a dolphin motif, was commissioned to hang in the hall.

In Sussex Life (March 1973) Courtlands was described as ‘a most surprising Hotel, since the sedate bay-windowed residential houses that line this part of the Drive give no indication of the luxury behind the Edwardian façades.’ There was enough seating in the busy restaurant to accommodate 100 people and the room was decorated with crimson-flocked wallpaper plus framed prints of 19^th century Brighton. The residents’ lounge boasted ‘yellow velvet armchairs of a rich and comfortable appearance’. Giuseppe Messina was the manager.

In January 1995 John Cutress, director, said he hoped Courtlands would be the first hotel in Brighton and Hove to have its own swimming pool. It would be built in the garden of 58-bedroom, three-star hotel and would measure 30 feet by 15 feet and cost around £50,000. Architect Simon Yauner (son-in-law of John and June Cutress) and Michael Hammond of Newcroft designed the pool, which had a dolphin mural and was covered by a Victorian-style conservatory. On 29 June 1985 the pool was officially opened with a party with celebrity guest Alan Weeks, the sports commentator. The hotel also had solarium and a spa whirlpool.

In February 1987 John Cutress sold the Eaton restaurant to the Feld Group for £200,000 and in December 1987 the Cutress family also sold Courtlands. John Cutress said he was now aged 67 and had decided to retire.

In November 1988 it was reported that Giuseppe Messina, manager, had left the hotel after 27 years of service. But it appears he must have been persuaded to return because in May 1995 he was still at the hotel.

In 1989 the restaurant was re-furbished and decorated in Regency style with blue curtains placed at the windows. But by August 1991 Courtlands was in trouble and accountants Touche Ross were running the place whilst looking for someone to take it over as a going concern. In March 1992 there was some publicity to encourage the booking of wedding receptions. The Terrace was claimed to be an ideal spot overlooking swimming pool and patio and surrounded by a rose garden.

In March 1994 plans were submitted for a new atrium, winter garden, grand staircase and four new bedrooms. Planning permission was granted in May 1994. In December 1994 some 40 policemen and their partners enjoyed a Christmas dinner at Courtlands and many of them spent the night at the hotel. While they were fast asleep burglars broke in and stole £500 worth of drink and cigars, plus cash from the till. In May 1995 Courtlands Hotel Ltd went into liquidation but manager Giuseppe Messina said it was still business as usual.

By July 2000 new owners of the Courtlands submitted plans to build a four-storey extension to include a ground floor function room and fifteen bedrooms; planning permission was granted in February 2001.

Number 30

Mrs Gerald Moor occupied this house from 1933 to 1936. Her Christian names were Alice Mary and she was the daughter of Revd T.H. Cole. In June 1896 she married Revd Gerald Moor who became vicar of Christ Church, Brighton from 1902 to 1905, and vicar of Preston from 1905 to 1916 when he died at the age of 65. Mrs Gerald Moor was well known for her generosity and kindness, perhaps her most valuable gift being a large house called Elfinsward at Haywards Heath that she donated in 1927 to the Diocese of Chichester. It cost (with endowment) in the region of £20,000 and it was intended to become a diocesan retreat, guest house and conference centre. She donated the chancel window in St Peter’s Church, Preston, plus the Church of the Good Shepherd, together with the greater part of the church hall in memory of her husband. When a new Church of the Good Shepherd was established at Mile Oak, the old building (popularly known as the tin hut) was donated to Portslade by the Brighton Good Shepherd and Mrs Gerald Moor. She died on 8 September 1936 and was buried at Forest Row.

Today the building is occupied by Natural Balance, which is one of Brighton’s biggest centre’s for therapeutic massage and since opening in 2007 has expanded to offer osteopathy, acupuncture, private yoga classes and beauty treatments.

Number 31

This house was built in the 1880s and demolished in 1959. A block of flats called Bowen Court was later built on the site.

Number 46

Medina College for Ladies was located in this house from 1918 to 1936. The establishment was previously at Medina Villas and was known as Heidelberg House, where the headmistress had once enjoyed holidays. But no doubt the name had to be changed during the Great War due to the high level of anti-German feeling.

Number 47

copyright © D.Sharp
Number 47, this property was originally known as Cromwell Mansions in Edwardian street directories.

Major Charles Aubrey Pogson (1855-1966) lived in this house from 1954 to the 1960s, but during the 1930s he was to be found at 9 Barrowfield Drive, Hove. However, in his younger years he was closely connected with India.

Pogson joined the Indian Army and the 5^th Royal Mahrattas, a regiment that his grandfather had commanded forty years previously. Later on, Pogson became the official Water Diviner to the Province of Bombay. Apparently, he used steel knitting needles as a divining rod, and both he and his wife were expert dowsers. It seems that dowsing ran in the family because it was his father who taught him how to dowse, although Charles Albert Pogson earned his living as assistant collector of taxes in Bombay.

It is interesting to note that in England in times past a person with the gift of divining water was regarded with some awe, and sometimes they were even called water witches. In Major Pogson’s view, the art of divining rested on skills both physical and psychical – in other words not everybody could use a diving rod successfully because it is a gift. Pogson was able to identify a source of water even if it was at a depth of 500-ft.

Naturally, with the provision of water being such a dire necessity in India, Pogson’s skills were well rewarded with a salary plus expenses of £4,500 a year. It was not a case of finding one or two sources either because he is credited with locating 76 new wells mainly for use in agriculture with 30 of them being of sufficient quality to be used as drinking water.

On 3 June 1914 in Madras Pogson married Hilda Pogson – she had the same surname because she was a distant relative. She had a most interesting grandfather, Norman Robert Pogson, whose name still resonates today because he was an astronomer and studied the heavens at the Madras Observatory. He invented The Pogson Rule, and his work was acknowledged by having a crater in the moon named after him. He discovered 8 asteroids, including 2 in 1857 and asteroid 67 Asia in 1861; in the following seven years he also discovered 5 minor planets, and 7 variable stars. It seems he was equally prolific in the domestic sphere, being twice married with his first wife producing eleven children, and his second wife giving birth to three children. He named asteroid Vera, discovered on 6 February 1885, after his daughter who sadly died in infancy.

After service in the sub-continent, Charles Aubrey and Hilda Pogson returned to the old country, and settled at Hove, where he was popularly known as Hove’s Dowsing Major. He was sometimes called upon to use his dowsing skills locally, such as Davigdor Road, Hove, and for a laundry in Worthing, nationally he was employed to find oil in Scotland.

In 1959 Pogson went to Tanganyika to dowse for water in the Tsavo National Park, and he also dowsed for water in Kenya, and in the 2,000 square miles of the rugged Tanganyika steppe. The gallant major’s gift was not confined to the discovery of water sources either because he also dowsed for oil at Dalkeith and Crowborough, and for treasure at the Tower of London. He served as a member of Hove Council from 1955 to 1966, and died on 12 October 1967.

Norlandholme (48)

copyright © J.Middleton
This delightful view of Norlandholme was posted to a Miss Gordon in Ilfracombe on 8 October 1905.
The postcard was sent by Jeannette, one of the girls on horseback who asks hopefully ‘I am sending you a P. C. of my school do you recognise me??’

This boarding school for young ladies was established in 1870. In 1889 Clara Mansfield ran the establishment at 36 The Drive (later re-numbered to 48). But the school did not remain in one place for long and from 1912 to 1916 it was located at 81 The Drive when it was run by a Mrs Watson. By the 1920s the school occupied 20 The Drive.

Number 55

In September 1989 Catisfield House celebrated its 50^th anniversary. The original Catisfield House was situated in the Sussex countryside, the gift of Miss Greene in her will written in 1924; it was to be used as a convalescent home for ‘poor ladies’. The Rose Elizabeth Greene Charitable Trust was responsible for running the establishment. The house soon proved to be too small for its purpose and another house was purchased at Brighton. Then that house too was sold and the house in The Drive was purchased in 1939. By 1989 it was stated the premises could accommodate some twenty women and the fees were around £140 a week.

By 1996 there were both male and female residents and it was still a convalescent home with Chris Robins being the matron. In June 1996 a garden party was held in order to raise funds towards the £1,500 needed for refurbishment. In July 1999 it was announced that Catisfield House, a Grade 11 listed Victorian building, had been sold for £541,399 to Bradford Investment Properties. It seemed likely the property would be converted into flats. Meanwhile, the proceeds of the sale went to the Victoria Convalescent Trust.

Number 56

copyright © D.Sharp
The exclusive Hoove Lea School, which charged fees of 30 guineas a term, was situated in this building from around 1916 until it closed in 1936.

During the 1930s the Guhl family lived here. Mr Guhl was the boss of the British branch of the German chemical and engineering firm of J.G. Farben. The two sons, Gunther Louis and Wolfgang, attended Claremont School, a prep school in Lansdowne Road, and afterwards went to Brighton College. The brothers played cricket and rugby and were enthusiastic members of the college’s debating society. Gunther left Brighton College in 1938 and went to university in Geneva. But when war broke out he was in Germany. Soon both brothers were in the Army. Gunter served in the elite 7^th Panzer Grenadier Regiment. He had been newly promoted to Captain when he was killed in his tank near Rheims on 27 August 1944 aged 24. The first time that Brighton College archivist, Martin Jones (head of history) heard of Gunter Guhl was when Wolfgang, then aged 74, wrote to the headmaster in 1995. In May 1996 it was felt appropriate to add Gunter Guhl’s name to the college’s Roll of Honour commemorating the war dead. Inscribed within its pages are the names of 4 schoolmasters and 164 former pupils.

In more recent times the house was noted for being home to the Swan Tandoori restaurant. It was by far the most spacious curry house in Hove. Patrons waited in an elegant room with a bar looking out over The Drive and when your meal was ready to be served, you were ushered down a spiral staircase to the restaurant. This had views over a pleasant garden and on the south side the bulk of All Saints Church formed a backdrop. In November 1993 ten men were arrested shortly after 4 a.m. in an attack on the Swan Tandoori; apparently it was the result of a long-running feud about ownership of the restaurant.

In March 1995 the business went bankrupt. The same month the restaurant was re-launched under the name of the Surma Valley after the place name to be found in the foothills of the Himalayas. But of course the ‘swan’ motif remained etched in the window. In January 1999 the owner was fined £100 for serving alcohol without a licence although he claimed it was an oversight. But when a licence was applied for, it was refused until work was undertaken to conform to fire regulations, and could cost as much as £10,000. This was the last straw and soon plans were put before the council to change the premises into self-contained flats.

Number 58

William Willett lived in this house from 1883 until his death. The Directories number it as 58 but in 1889 it was given as number 64, presumably after re-numbering. He was such a famous builder and contractor that when he died in 1913, his passing merited a mention in The Times. He built houses at Kensington and Hampstead, and at Hove in Cromwell Road, Eaton Gardens, Eaton Road, Second Avenue, The Drive and Wilbury Road. William Willett’s houses were so well built and individual that the accolade of ‘Willett-built’ enhances their value to this day.

Mr J.W. Lister, Chief Librarian of Hove, wrote the following touching tribute. ‘The work of Mr Willett, senior, is a triumph of private enterprise and Hove cane neither estimate nor repay the debt she owes this worthy citizen … The quietest and most unassuming of men without advantage of birth, wealth or scholarship, he built upon the foundations of a good and honest heart … He was a pillar of Nonconformity and was given to charity and hospitality.’ In 1893 the Willett Estate Office was at 79 The Drive. William Booth (1829-1912) the famous founder of the Salvation Army paid at least three visits to Hove. In October 1879 he stayed at Wick Hall, which he did not find congenial. He wrote ‘For the sake of The Army and the souls of the people I sat fully one hour and a half over twelve courses of dinner with half a dozen worldly, godless people.’ General Booth stayed with William Willett in 1887 and obviously found him more to his liking. By 1887 there were 1,000 separate corps of Salvationists in England besides those abroad. General Booth paid his final visit to Hove on 6 April 1910.

Number 60

Lady Bagot (1865-1940) was a high society girl, being the daughter of a baronet, and before marriage she lived very comfortably in a large house in Mayfair. She had the rather grand Christian name of Theodosia but her family preferred to shorten it to an unattractive ‘Dosia’ that sounds like something nasty and medical. When she married Josceline Bagot at the age of twenty, she went from a smart town-house to the stately home of Levens Hall, Westmorland. Despite all this, she developed a fondness for Hove, ensuring she always had a base there, but she moved around; for example, she started off at Fourth Avenue, then for the 1920s it was Third Avenue, and by the 1930s it was the above address.

Meanwhile, she led an interesting life, and after producing four children in quick succession, concentrated on good works. She became something of a Florence Nightingale of the Boer War because she raised the remarkable sum of £12,000 to finance a mobile field hospital where casualties would be treated under canvas. However, she was not content just to rake in the money – she went on board the vessel carrying her innovation, watched it coming alive near Cape Town, and stayed for four months as superintendent. She wrote a book about her experiences illustrated with her photographs called Shadows of the War (1900). During the Balkan War she engaged in a similar mission on behalf of the Serbian Army in 1912, and in the First World War was the organiser who arranged a mobile hospital manned by the Church Army to be sent to France. Not surprisingly she earned a clutch of medals:

Queen’s South African Medal

Serbian Red Cross

Medaille de la Reine Elisabeth

Two British War Medals

Her husband, meanwhile, survived service in the Boer War and became a colonel, not to mention an MP and cabinet minister. Although he died in 1913 after he had been nominated as a baron, his widow was allowed to term herself Lady Bagot. She married again in the 1920s.

Number 62

Richard Walter Harrison was the proud owner of this magnificent machine. It is numbered CD 1591, and it holds the unique distinction of being the oldest British-built Model T Ford Car in the whole world. It was built at Manchester in 1912 and registered to Mr Harrison of 62 The Drive, Hove. For reasons unknown, there was another owner by 1914, but it is amazing to note that today this old lady is only on its fourth owner. It currently holds court in the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Walden, Bedforshire. (Information kindly supplied by S. Gray)

Number 64

Bernhard Baron lived in this house, which he called Elim, from around 1915 to 1929. He was the wealthy manufacturer of such popular cigarettes as Craven A, Turf and Black Cat. During the Great War he hired St Ann’s Well Gardens in order to hold a party for wounded soldiers including some Indian soldiers. Souvenir photographs were taken of the occasion and Baron cut a dapper figure in his dark suit with high wing collar and bowler hat; he also sported a goatee beard. Baron donated a hut for the use of wounded soldiers at the 2^nd Eastern Hospital and in 1919 when it was no longer needed, he paid for it to be removed and re-erected at Marmion Road, Hove, where the YMCA were happy to make use of it.

Number 66

It is interesting to note that up until the 1990s this house was still in the possession of the Willett Estate. In September 1993 the Willett Estate sold this property as an investment for £125,000, which yielded a rent income from four flats of £9,695 a year.

Number 67

An enigmatic lady lived at a house called Somerby at 67 The Drive from 1897 to 1901. The name was chosen in honour of her husband Colonel Burnaby because it was the place where he grew up. Lizzie is rather a difficult figure to pin down because she was married three times and wrote books under all three surnames. But her friends called her plain Lizzie.

Elizabeth Alice Frances Hawkins-Whitshed (1860-1934) was born of an aristocratic family in Ireland, her father being Captain St Vincent Hawkins-Whitshed, 3^rd baronet (1837-1871) and the family lived in Killincarrick House in County Wicklow. Lizzie’s mother, being the daughter of the Revd John Handcock, obviously thought she was well enough equipped to educate her daughter at home, with assistance from the nanny. However, Lizzie regarded her home-schooling as something of a handicap, and her active career certainly suggests that she might have enjoyed the rough and tumble of school life.

Lizzie was the only child of the marriage, and tragically her father died during her childhood, leaving her a ward of court with an inheritance of a mansion and 2,000 acres of land. Her financial affairs were looked after by the Lord Chancellor until she came of age.

Public Domain
Elizabeth Alice Frances (Hawkins-Whitshed)
Burnaby in 1883

Lizzie thus became a wealthy young lady, and it gave her a sense of independence; reading between the lines, it seems that her three husbands found it difficult living with such a high-spirited woman.

Lizzie and the Shelley Sisters:

Lizzie was no stranger to Hove, in the late 1870s to the early 1880s, she use to regularly visit her close friends, the elderly sisters, Helen Shelley (1799-1885) and Mary Shelley (1797-1884), who were the sisters of one of the major romantic poets in the English language, namely, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822). Lizzie would meet up with the sisters at their home at 1, First Avenue and sometimes walk with them along Hove’s esplanade, whenever Lizzie met up with the Shelley's she was under strict instructions from the sisters never to mention their famous brother in their company.

Helen Shelley wrote on the 5^thApril 1879,
'My Dear Lizzie, We send you two trifling souvenirs to-day in order that you may pack them away for the journey which is to carry you and dear Lady Whitshed away from Brighton. To us your society has been very pleasant and we trust that you will accept the album and work-basket as a proof that we do not wish to be forgotten. You have the prospect of much happiness and both Mary and myself trust that the prospect which seems likely to be fulfilled may never fail. When you see Captain Burnaby please to make our good wishes acceptable to him and with our best love believe me to remain. - Your ever affectionate, Helen Shelley'.

Both the Shelley sisters were guests at the marriage of Lizzie to Frederick Burnaby in Kensington in June 1879.

Lizzie’s husbands:

published by Charles Sheard

circa 1885, NPG D42965

Colonel Frederick Burnaby (1842-1885) – Lizzie married him in 1879 after her coming-out season in London, although he was her senior by twenty years. But Lizzie’s husband was one of the great Victorian heroes. Frederick Burnaby was massively built, weighing 15-stone, standing 6-ft 4-in tall, and immensely strong, and, no doubt annoying to some people, he was good at everything from fighting to being fluent in several languages, and enjoyed ballooning too. He served as an intelligence officer with the Army and became a colonel, albeit known as an eccentric one. He met a heroic death on 17 January 1885 at Abu Klau, in the Sudan. His party was suddenly ambushed by Sudanese rebels. In typical form, he galloped off to assist some soldiers in danger of being cut off, but was himself assailed by the rebels with their spears. One spear went in his throat, another went through his shoulder; he was knocked off his horse, bleeding heavily and with a head wound, but he continued fighting to the end, and it is claimed, died with a smile on his face.

Doctor John Frederick Main – Lizzie married him in 1886 but it was a short-lived marriage because he died in the United States in 1892. Dr Main had received £12000 a year income from Lizzie at the time of their marriage, and promptly moved to the USA while Lizzie returned to Switzerland.

Bernard Aubrey Le Blond – Lizzie married him in June 1900.

It is interesting to note that Lizzie lived at 67 The Drive with her son Harry Burnaby, and her mother Lady Alicia with her second husband, the barrister James Percival Hughes, who had once been private secretary to Colonel Burnaby. No doubt it was a comfortable existence at The Drive with no less than eight servants to see to their needs. Lizzie’s mother Lady Alicia and her husband James Percival Hughes moved to London in 1906, when Hughes was appointed Chief Conservative Agent at the Conservative Central Office, a post he held until 1911.

Today, Lizzie is remembered for a wide variety of reasons but chiefly in two different fields – female mountaineering and moving photographs. Her love for travel was kindled after the birth of her son in the May following her first marriage left her in such a fragile state that she was advised to go abroad for her health. Initially, she went to Algiers, but somebody suggested that spending the winter in Switzerland would do her the world of good. Off she went, and very soon became fascinated by the sport of climbing mountains. Although she had never shown an interest previously, by the following summer she had made two ascents of Mont Blanc. Her final impressive tally was 100 ascents, including twenty first ascents. In the Norwegian Arctic Circle Lizzie made nineteen first ascents. Lizzie also founded, or helped to form, the Ladies’ Alpine Club.

Lizzie had no concept of ‘roughing it’ and had the means to travel in comfort with the very best in camping equipment, clothing and boots. The interior of her base-camp tent was the height of luxury, and of course no lady could possibly travel without her own maid coming along too. Lizzie was famously photographed wearing her climbing skirt. But this does not mean that she might not change into something more practical when out of view of prying eyes.

A piece of equipment that Lizzie always took with her was her trusty camera. Another first on her part was to take lovely shots of snow scenes, something not attempted before. Her photographic work was highly praised, particularly by writer E. F. Benson who proclaimed her pictures were ‘quite unrivalled’. In 1883 she published her first book The High Alps in Winter.

Lizzie recorded moving pictures of snow sports in the Engandine Valley in Switzerland, becoming one of a tiny handful of female film photographers.

It seems likely that when Lizzie was living at Hove she came to know James Williamson (1855-1933) because some of her film work was included in Williamson’s innovative show at Hove Town Hall held in November 1900. Williamson also included ten of her films in his film catalogue of 1902. Williamson is today recognised as one of the great film pioneers connected with Hove, while Lizzie remains in the shadows.

[Coincidentally, there was another early film-maker locally whose family lived in Preston Manor. He was John Montagu Benett-Stanford who filmed scenes at the Boer War. Neither of them thought fit to mention their film-making in their books, probably regarding it as their eccentric little hobby. They could never have envisaged what a word-wide industry film-making would become.]

Lizzie and her third husband embarked on extensive foreign travel. In the halcyon days before the First World War the pair visited Egypt, Ceylon, China, Japan, Korea, and Russia - Lizzie already being acquainted with Spain and Italy. After the First World War she visited Canada and the United States many times and her son had settled in California.

During the First World War Lizzie became much involved in French matters. For two years she showed her concern in a practical way by working as a volunteer in a French Military Hospital in Dieppe. Her social status also meant that she was well-placed to raise funds for vital causes such as providing transport for French soldiers wounded in the Vosges and from 1916-18 she was in charge of the appeal department of the British Ambulance Committee. Lizzie was horrified by the destruction wrought in northern France, and in particular the damage caused to the marvellous Rheims Cathedral; she helped raise funds to restore it with the British Empire Fund of which she was honorary secretary from 1920-24. It is not surprising that Lizze was present when the cathedral was formally re-opened in May 1927. Lizzie also took an active part in ensuring that a statue of General Foch was erected in London.

Lizzie certainly spent a well-lived life and she died on 27 July 1934 at Llandridod Wells; she was buried in Kensington, joining her mother in the family vault.

Some of Lizzie’s achievements:

Author, and translator of French works

Founder of St Moritz Aid Fund (assisting the sick of limited means to visit Switzerland)

Founder President of the Ladies’ Alpine Club

Pioneer female climber

Pioneer of snow photography

Pioneer photographer of winter sports

Medallist of the Royal Photographic Society

Awarded the Legion d’honneur in 1933

Some of Lizzie’s books (published under different surnames)

The High Alps in Winter (1883)

High Life and Towers of Silence (1886)

My Home in the Alps (1892)

Hints on Snow Photography (1895)

Cities and Sights of Spain (1900)

Adventures on the Roof of the World (1904)

The Art of Garden Design in Italy (1906)

Mountaineering in the Land of the Midnight Sun (1908)

Charlotte Sophie, Countess of Bentick (1912)

A Guide to Old Gardens in Italy (1913)

Day In, Day Out (1928) her autobiography

Number 68

Frederica Kenyon-Stow spent nearly all her life at Hove, firstly at Brunswick Square in the 1890s and then at this address. She was the daughter of Major General Frederick Melkington Kenyon-Stow. She served as a member of Hove Town Council for 29 years, being first elected in 1927. Her work was so esteemed that she held the chairmanship of several important committees, and in 1940 became the first female chairman of Hove Education Committee; she was also a manager of West Hove Infants’ School, West Hove Junior School, and a governor of Hove County School for Girls. During the Second World War she organised the Hove centre of the WVS, and in 1942 became a JP. In 1950 she was elected an Alderman in recognition of her service. In May 1956 she resigned because of ill-health, and died in July of the same year aged 77.

Number 76

Baroness de Crevoisier de Vomecourt and her children lived at this address from 1914 until 1918. During the Second World War her three sons, Jean-Francois, Philippe-Albert and Edouard-Pierre all served with the Special Operations Executive (SOE) as secret agents and were all heroes of the French Resistance.

Number 78

It was situated on the corner of the Upper Drive and had a large chimneystack rising above pitched roofs. In 1961 the house was demolished and replaced by a block of flats called Lincoln Court.

Number 81

copyright © J.Middleton
The imposing 81 The Drive was captured by local photographer John Barrow shortly before its demolition.

A letter dated 14 March 1898 was sent from Charles Nye, 34 Duke Street, Brighton, to H.H. Scott, Hove Borough Surveyor, with revised plans for Dr C.E. Whitcher’s house. It seems the authority wanted the house set further back from the road and Dr Whitcher achieved this by purchasing an additional 3-foot frontage to The Drive. The plans were finally approved on 14 April 1898. The property also included stables situated in Wilbury Avenue next to number 81’s garden on the west side.

copyright © J.Middleton
This beautiful window with burgundy-coloured leaves
once adorned the landing at 81 The Drive.
Note the small door installed at the bottom right to give
the tenants of Flat 3 access to a tiny terrace outside.

The basement contained a laboratory, scullery, kitchen and larder. But the chief glory was the morning room, a spacious room with a double set of French windows facing west over the sunken garden. The windows were a great delight in a hot summer but made the room rather cold during the depths of winter. Perhaps to give an illusion of warmth the fireplace took up practically the entire space of the south wall. Although the biscuit-coloured tiles were pedestrian enough, above the fireplace there arose a carved and fluted over-mantel with a stained-glass window on either side. At ceiling level within a carved cornice there was a portrait painting of a child and a woman on either side. The floor was wood but most of the rest of the basement was covered with red quarry tiles. On the first floor there was a dining room, library, consulting room, drawing room and pantry. The second floor contained six bedrooms and a bathroom while the spacious attic contained four more bedrooms plus two box-rooms. The large upper landing window was filled by beautiful stained glass of burgundy-coloured stylised leaves that looked especially fine when the evening light shone through it.

Dr Whitcher’s former residence was called Wardley and was situated in Somerhill Avenue. But it seems Dr Whitcher did not occupy 81 The Drive for long. From 1912 to 1916 Mrs Watson ran a ladies’ school on the premises called Norlandholme. This school was established in around 1889 at 36 The Drive (later re-numbered to 48) when Clara Mansfield ran it. Later the school moved to 20 The Drive.

copyright © D.Sharp
The coat of arms, presumably belonging to
Dr C.E. Whitcher, still in its original site at
81 The Drive.

In 1916 A.H. Lainson submitted plans on behalf of Mr C.R.J. Evans to convert the house into flats. In fact plans for flats were submitted at least three times before they were approved. By the 1930s flats had become a reality and the building became known as Drive Court.

The Sharp family lived in Flat 1 and held the record for the longest tenancy, occupying the flat for over 50 years, in fact until the property was demolished. Flat 1 included the delightful garden with two William pear trees espaliered on the west wall, a lusty fig tree that leaned so heavily on the shed that the roof eventually collapsed, a wall facing south yielding large blackberries in late summer, and two buddleias where red admiral and peacock butterflies were regularly seen on the flowers. Rumour had it that a former resident had been something of a plant collector from foreign parts and there was indeed an enormously tall tree with a smooth trunk, various clumps of bamboo and a rare arum vulgaris jacularis whose unexpected flowering merited a photo in the local Press. The flower was dramatic-looking being purple with a green ‘spear’ but smelled revolting and attracted bluebottles.

Mr Pitcan owned the whole property in the 1940s and 1950s and lived in Flat 2. In the 1950s and 1960s Sir Alexander Ramsay and his wife lived in Flat 2.

copyright © D.Sharp
Number 81, note the red coat of arms behind the tree in almost the same location as it was on the original building.

The property was demolished in 1988 / 1989. Apparently, the house was not worth preserving because it had been built without a damp course. The developers carefully removed the terracotta coat of arms adorning the south wall and fixed it in a similar position on the new block of flats called St James’s Court. Unlike so many modern blocks, St James’s Court is pleasing to the eye. In 1993 it was stated the flats were one of the first new developments to comply fully with stringent new fire regulations; all twelve apartments were fitted with smoke detectors linked to a central unit. Two-bedroom apartments were on sale from £69,950 to £74,950.

Number 85

The Drive was always a respectable neighbourhood, and rich occupants were by no means uncommon. But at least one man came by his wealth on the back of shady dealings. His full name was Samuel Pisoner Bellson (1915-2022) and his claim to fame rests on his being one of the five men who went on trial in the notorious Brighton Police Conspiracy Trial.

In the 1950s Bellson lived in this house at Flat A. One author claims that 85A was a flat in Drive Court. It was not. Granted that Drive Court was close at hand at number 81, but it had nothing to do with this case. It was on 12 November 1957 that Deputy Superintendent Forbes-Leith and Inspector Ernie Millen arrived at number 85 to arrest Bellson.

Bellson was also known as Sammy or as The Guv’nor of Brighton – perhaps an indication of his life-style. Before he even set foot in Brighton, he had quite a history ranging from attempted thefts to convictions for gaming and illegal betting; he had served two terms of hard labour, the last bout being in 1942.

At Brighton he ran clubs, such as the Lonsdale Club, and he was part-owner of the Burlesque Club. In June 1956 Bellson was charged with allowing gambling to take place on his premises, and he had to pay a fine of £75 on each of two counts. Bellson also collected money from owners of other such dives so that police would not raid the premises, and after-hours drinking could continue without a visit from coppers. He became a ‘fixer’ too – this meant that he acted as a go-between the criminal fraternity and the police.

The trial of the five men including the Chief Constable and two policemen caused a national sensation, and was international news as well. The drama kicked off in Brighton Magistrate’s Court, and it was expected that the next stage would take place at Lewes Assizes, but the case was considered important enough to be held at the Old Bailey.

The jury found two men guilty and one not guilty, but could not agree on Bellson or the Chief Constable, and so there had to be further deliberations. Eventually, the Chief Constable was found not guilty but Bellson was found guilty. The unfortunate Chief Constable was then fired by Brighton Watch Committee, and had to fight for justice and his pension, and when it was settled in his favour, he immediately resigned.

As for Bellson, he lodged an appeal. Mr C. Chapman did his best on Bellson’s behalf, stating that the conspiracy charges stretched back over ten years whereas if his client was accused of offences in 1953 / 1954, then he should have been charged separately. But Bellson’s track-record could not be ignored, and the appeal was dismissed on 14 May 1958.

Bellson served his three years in Pentonville while the two policemen were despatched to Wormwood Scrubs. Perhaps Bellson was bored in Pentonville, or thought he might plead his cause, because he rashly wrote some articles for Sunday tabloids. When he was released after serving his term, he was certainly not welcomed back to Brighton and Hove where everyone now knew he was a ‘grass’. Bellson thus returned to his roots in London, and lived to a ripe old age, dying on 8 March 2002 at the age of 86. (Kirby, D. The Brighton Police Scandal 2021 / Rowland, D. Bent Cops 2007)

Number 87

For some reason when this block of flats was built the developer could not think of an appropriate name and it is known simply as 87 The Drive. Part of the block covers ground once occupied by grass tennis courts belonging to the Grasshoppers Tennis Club, now diminished to three hard courts. The club moved to this site in 1916. Previously, it had been at St Ann’s Well Gardens and was named after an old property there called Grasshopper Cottage.

Next door to the Grasshopper’s Tennis Club was a grand house set well back from the road and once owned by the Horton-Ledger family who were connected with the Sussex Mutual Building Society. Another block of flats called Homedrive House, a sheltered housing scheme, has replaced this property.

Number 96

This was the Victoria Nursing Home where sisters Una Dillon (1903-1993) and Carmen Dillon (1908-2000) moved into from their home at 49 Osborne Villas in 1992 and 1994 respectively, and both died there. Una was the founder of Dillon’s Bookshops, which by the time she died had a turnover of £145 million. Carmen was a trained architect who became a very successful art director for the film industry.

Number 105

This double-fronted house was built in 1899 and there is a plaque in the gable recording this fact. By the 1990s there were still many original features such as part-panelled walls, tiled floors, brass door-knobs and finger-plates, and old fireplaces. The entrance hall, measured a generous 23 feet by 9 feet and a sweeping staircase ascended to a galleried landing. The drawing room had an inglenook fireplace and measured 23 feet by 17 feet. There was impressive fireplace in the dining room with marble slips and a slate hearth, the room measuring 16 feet by 13 feet. The study measured 19 feet by 14 feet and had an arched fireplace. The kitchen was 21 feet by 14 feet while a large double-glazed conservatory served as a family room. The house had six or seven bedrooms and five bathrooms. There was a double garage. The 88-foot garden contained fruit trees, a walled garden and a summer-house. In February 1993 the house was put for sale at £395,000. In October 1998 the residence was on the property market again for £550,000. There were no takers and the house was still for sale some seventeen months later. In April 2003 it was stated that the Samson family had lived in the house for the past eight years and now it was on sake for £1,300,000.

Number 106

In 1946 Crescent House was established in this property. In 1866 Mrs Marshman decided to try and help ‘those defenceless women in workshops, houses of business and commercial establishments, who toil for hours with no redress for a mere pittance’. The idea was to provide a holiday home for such women and the first one was opened in 1867 at the east end of Brighton. In June 1877 some 60 guests moved to alternative premises at 66 Marine Parade. The Home continued there until 1940 when the property was requisitioned. Somewhere along the way, the idea of a holiday home for working women was abandoned and by the time of the move to The Drive, the work was on a much smaller scale and provided accommodation for just sixteen invalid ladies. The Home was still going strong in the 1960s with four of the five trustees being Mrs Marshman’s grandchildren.

In 2004 it was stated that the house had been empty for around four years, and thus it needed a complete refurbishment before the Henley family could move in. Apparently, in happier times the Sultan of Brunei’s nephew lived in the house; he was in Hove in order to study at a nearby English Language school. Later on the nephew moved to London to continue with his studies.

Miscellaneous

The Conservatory

In 1898 plans for this structure were approved and William Willet was the builder. In the 1907 Directory it was named as the Eaton Conservatory and Nurseries and Henry Head was the proprietor.

In November 1992 the Conservatory re-opened as a convenience store and Bipin and Anju Patel owned it. By July 2000 Anju Patel was fed up with the security situation because she had been raided eight times. The council refused to allow her to install white roller blinds because the shop was in a conservation area. Instead the council suggested internal and external grills but Mrs Patel was not keen on them. She considered shutting up shop for good. In May 2002 Mrs Patel was in the news again, this time grumbling about re-surfacing work going on in The Drive. She said customers had to walk over wet tar to reach the shop while the deliveryman had given up trying to bring in goods to her. In addition work had been going on at The Drive bridge since 4 March.

Nowadays, the Conservatory specialises in antiques.

Drive Bridge

The original three-arched bridge was built in 1839 / 1840 and was replaced by a new bridge over the railway line in 1876 / 1877. However, no vehicle weighing more than three tons was allowed to use it. In 1935 it was reported that the bridge was in a weak state. But nothing was done for years because it took time to establish who actually was responsible for it. Until 1931 the railway company had maintained the structure while from 1926 Hove Council took care of the road surface and sent the bill to the railway company.

The Sussex County Magazine (May 1953) reported that the ‘difficult and delicate negotiations’ had at last been completed. The go-ahead had been given for the re-construction and it was expected to cost in the region of £24,000. The Ministry of Transport agreed to pay 75% of the cost while East Sussex County Council and Hove Council shared the remaining balance. The railway company made a grant of £2,000 towards the cost. The bridge was made of pre-stressed concrete with forty horizontal beams to cover the 61-foot span. The new Drive Bridge was opened on 26 June 1954. There is a plaque on the west side to record the event and also the names of T.R. Humble, Hove Borough Surveyor, and H.E. Lunn, East Sussex County Council, surveyor, plus the appropriate coat of arms. The final cost came to £29,605.

Eaton Manor

The site now occupied by Eaton Manor was once home to a large house with spacious gardens, and many trees. In the 1960s the property was acquired and developed by the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society, and the building details were as follows:

Built by Rice & Son of Brighton

Facing bricks provided by Hall & Co, Davigdor Road, Hove

Sanitary fittings from Louis G. Ford, Davigdor Road, Hove

By January 1968 Phase I had been completed with 74 flats, and it was stated that Phase II, also consisting of 74 flats would be ready in a year or two. Horton Ledger were the letting agents, and there were no less than fifteen different types of flat to chose from on a lease of seven and a quarter years. For example, the following were on offer:

A one-bedroom flat at £236 a year

A two-bedroom flat at £315 a year

A four-bedroom flat at £424 a year

However, these prices were exclusive of service charges.

In January 1968 a topping-out ceremony was held 100-ft up, and Mr G. S. Mallinson, chairman of the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society, laid the last brick on the roof. Then the traditional keg of beer was swung across by a huge crane and lowered on to the roof; foreman Cyril Rollings drew the first pint.

In 1998 there was a huge rumpus when it transpired that Mercury Personal Communications had erected two masts, four satellite dishes, and an equipment cabin on top of Eaton Manor without first seeking permission from the council. In September 1998 the company applied for retrospective planning permission, and the matter was seen as a trial of strength between big business and the community. It clearly flouted the council’s own bye-laws, besides having a detrimental effect on the residents’ radio and TV reception. The expense involved should the company appeal against the council’s decision also had to be taken into consideration. But in November 1998 the council did refuse planning permission despite a planner’s report recommending acceptance.

The residents were in for a further shock in August 1999 when it was learned that the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society had sold the freeholds to Eaton Manor Hove Ltd, a subsidiary of Hanover Dorrington. The annual bill, which included insurance, heating, service charges, and garage rental went up from £5,954 a year to £7,600. Residents were furious because it meant a rent increase of more than 27 per cent.

Notable people who lived there are as follows:

Hilda Braid (1929-2007) trained at RADA, both as an actress and as a ballet dancer, and appeared on stage. It was not until the 1960s that she began TV work, taking small parts, but she really came into her own when she was already middle-aged. Her final tally of 95 credits would make any modern actor green with envy. Perhaps her most famous role was as Nana Moon in TV’s EastEnders. But she was also in Citizen Smith, Man about the House and Casualty, and played Molly Partridge in Brookside. In 1996 she appeared in the film 101 Dalmatians.

Hilda Braid was married to Brian Badcoe, and the couple had one daughter and one son. When she developed dementia, she moved to Fairdene Lodge Nursing Home in Walsingham Road, spending her final months there before dying at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. (Argus 26/11/07)

Dimitri de Grunwald died aged 76 in May 1990. He collaborated with his brother Anatole to make The Way to the Stars and The Winslow Boy. In 1960 he produced the British film The Millionairess starring Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren.

Brian Ralfe – He was born on 10 January 1945 at Brighton. During the 1960s he enjoyed a career with P&O Shipping as a catering officer / entertainment officer on board such ships as the Canberra and Arcadia. By 1974 he had joined the Royal Navy where he rose to the rank of Chief Petty Officer, still exercising his skills of staff management and catering. During this time he managed to stage several events when on leave, and when he left life at sea, he decided to become a self-employed show business promoter. Amongst his many successes were Sounds of the Sixties and Seventies staged at the Dome and Brighton Centre in 1988; a concert with Dorothy Squires at the Dome in 1990; and the Rocky Horror Show at the Brighton Centre in 1994/95. He also staged fund-raising events for organisations as diverse as the Sussex Beacon, the Royal British Legion, the British Heary Foundation, and the Royal Variety Club. He became the show business correspondent and presenter on Southern Counties Radio. Ralfe has also enjoyed playing the part of the Ugly Sister in Cinderella at Bournemouth.

In December 1997 Ralfe threw a memorable Christmas party in his flat at Eaton Manor. Guests included Chris Ellison and several cast members of Eastenders such as Paul Moriarty (George Palmer) Mona Hammond (Blossom) Victoria Gould (Polly the journalist) and Harry Landis (Felix the hairdresser). Also present was Lord Bassam, council leader, and MPs Des Turner and David Lepper. It is said that no less than 70 bottles of champagne were consumed. Ralfe took part in the TV show The Weakest Link broadcast on 9 September 2002, and he reached the final four. He said that Anne Robinson was not nearly as fierce as she appeared to be on-screen. In September 2002 he also starred in a BBC2 documentary about the seedy side of Brighton called Brighton out of the Closet. He describes himself as honest and hard working.

David Spector (1912-1997) He always took an interest in politics and in 1934 took part in a violent demonstration against Oswald Mosley. Within two days of the Second World War being declared he had enlisted in the Army. He later volunteered to join the Jewish Brigade where he rose to the rank of brigade Major. Spector served at the front line in Algeria and later in Italy where the Jewish Brigade distinguished itself against crack German forces. As the war ended he helped thousands of Holocaust survivors to make their way to Palestine. Some of the officers he trained, later became senior officers in the Israeli Army. Besides his British war medals, he was also awarded two Israeli ones. He retired from the City in 1975 but kept up his interest in Middle East affairs becoming something of an expert on the subject. Another abiding interest was the history of Jewry in Brighton and Hove from 1776 and the many distinguished Jewish families with local connections; he became a well-known writer and speaker on the subject. For some years he was treasurer and trustee of the Middle Street Synagogue and led a campaign to have it re-furbished and declared a listed building, which it is now.

Tennis

The first tennis courts in The Drive were situated south of Cromwell Road and between the Drive and Wilbury Road. William Willet was responsible for their establishment, which he did specifically to enhance the facilities of the neighbourhood, where he was engaged in extensive house building. Nash’s Stranger’s Guide (1885) had this to say:

Mr Willett has laid down in a central position on the estate some three acres as The Drive Lawn Tennis Club and Recreation Grounds. These gardens with their rustic summer-houses and banks well stocked with evergreens and trees, which form a screen from the surrounding roads, add to the charm of the place.’

It was later known as the Wilbury Lawn Tennis Club. In the 1953 Town Map the area was designated as an open space with seven tennis courts.

In April 1957 outline planning consent was granted for the development of the site for residential flats and garages but nothing came of it.

In 1968 Hove Council granted planning permission to Seeboard for 61,525 square feet of office accommodation plus 200 car-parking spaces for Seeboard’s HQ. As a result of this planning permission Seeboard purchased the site for around £100,000. In 1970 planning permission for a larger building was refused. This setback was followed by two further schemes, one in July 1973 and the second in August 1964 but both were turned down,. Seeboard then appealed against Hove Council’s decision but this too was dismissed. By this time the two earlier planning permissions had lapsed and there were no consents for the land.

Many people would have preferred the site remaining open ground as laid down in the Town Map, and Michael Ray, Hove’s Chief Planning Officer, supported this view. Unfortunately, Hove councillors voted five to three in favour of turning the site over for housing. Sidney Green, a company director living in The Drive, offered to buy the site at open space value and present it to Hove. This generous gesture cut no ice with Seeboard who were determined to sell it as viable building land, which would raise the price to £200,000.

Sheltered housing for elderly people were duly built, which were to be called Elizabeth House and Philip House. Perhaps house was thought too prosaic. At any rate by February 1979 Muriel Edelshain, chairman of the housing committee, had changed them to Elizabeth Court (east block) and Philip Court (west block). The flats cost £1.3 million to build and were finished by 1981. Peter Gladwin, Mayor of Hove, officially opened them in May 1982.

There were other tennis clubs in The Drive too. Grasshoppers Tennis Club moved to The Drive in 1916 from its previous home in St Ann’s Well Gardens. (See under number 87). Then there was the Pavilion Lawn Tennis Club, just off the Drive in Wilbury Avenue. By 1997 it was known as the Pavilion and Avenue Lawn Tennis Club and was moving to a new site in The Droveway. The club was given planning permission to build houses on its former courts. But to compensate for the loss of open space, the club paid £40,000 towards a multi-sports area in Stoneham Park

The Drive Bowling Club

The club was established at its present site in 1905. Originally, the club was called the Sussex County Bowling Club but when the County Association got under way, the name had to be changed. First of all it was The Drive Bowling Green and then in 1934 it became The Drive Bowling Club.

There are six rinks and one full-size green. A path runs down a steep bank with dense bushes on either side, which makes the approach resemble a secret tunnel. From the north comes the sound of passing trains. The land was once part of the Stanford Estate but in 1877 William Willett, the noted builder, leased the site and it was subsequently sold to him.

By 1919 both William Willet, senior, and William Willet, junior, had died, and the next heir had died in 1917. This left Revd Charles James Sharp as the sole executor to administer the will. The clergyman also held the title to the bowling green, which on 21 April 1920 was sold to the club for £1,200 with the condition that it must only be used as a bowling green, tennis ground, garden or other open space. This sale had to be agreed by court and Ellen Thomas-Stanford, as beneficial owner, also signed the conveyance. The men who purchased the ground on behalf of the club were as follows:

Charles Gosling, 61 Church Road, Hove

Dr Edmund Hobhouse, 12 Second Avenue

Arthur Nye, 13 Sackville Gardens

Thomas Wilkinson, North Street, Brighton

Hammon Weare, 22 The Drive

The conveyance was actually drawn up on 16 July 1919 but legal niceties meant it did not become valid until some nine months later.

In 1972 the old single-storey clubhouse was extended by placing a first floor on top at a cost of £6,200. No doubt it was a practical solution but the design smacks of a Sixties slab whereas the original edifice had a certain old-world charm.

In 1998 the club finally caught up with the modern world by allowing females to become full members for the first time; there were around fourteen members of the ladies’ section.

In 1951 the annual subscription was 5 guineas

In 1973 it was £10-50

In the 1990s it was £100

Early presidents of the club were as follows:

1907-1914 Alex Mackintosh JP

1915-1918 Revd S.B. Field

1919 Charles Gosling

1920 Dr E.H. Booth

1921 Dr C.B. Richardson

1922-1924 Sir George Casson Walker

1925 Revd H. Ross Williamson

1926-1929 Sidney Herbert JP

1933-1934 Claude Ismay

1934-1935 Arthur Henderson JP

1938 Claude Ismay

1941-1943 Percy Bennett CMG

1946-1950 Brigadier General Sir Herbert Wilberforce KBE, CB, CMG

Some distinguished club members were as follows:

Sir Walter Bull

De Edgar Colin-Jones

John Costello, chief cashier of the Bank of England

Brigadier Peter Crosthwaite

Jack Davies CMG, OBE

Lieutenant Colonel D.S. Dean

Colonel T.B.A. Evans-Lombe OBE

John French, MC

Lieutenant Colonel Bill Griffiths, DSO, MC

Commander J.S. Hoad RN

Lieutenant Colonel Reggie Jeffes

Sir Raymond Jennings QC

Lieutenant Colonel H. Leapman

Howard Longden, OBE, Hove Borough Treasurer

Jack Munro, CB, CMG

Edward Newbold, MC

Commander J. de C. Richards RN

Sir Cecil Myers, KCMG, CVO

Lieutenant Colonel Ted Wray

People Associated with The Drive

Comton-Burnett, Ivy – see Number 20

Dixon, Charles – This was the pseudonym of G.A. Campbell who wrote crime novels and in the 1960s lived in Bowen Court. In 1962 he published So Slender the Thread.

Duthy, Mrs G. P. – Her maiden name was Georgina Persis Rooper, and she was one of the grandchildren who was brought up at historic Wick Hill, Furze Hill, where her grandparents and parents lived. The name Rooper looms large in the history of Hove, and there is a large memorial plaque in the north aisle of St Andrew’s Old Church. On 26 July 1946 Mrs Duthy celebrated her 100^th birthday at her flat in The Drive. Miss Rooper married Walter Duthy, and the couple spent seven years in India where her husband occupied a high position in the telegraph service.

Evans-Lombe, Colonel Brian – In July 1993 he celebrated his 100^th birthday at his home in The Drive. He was the last surviving original Boy Scout, having been one of the twenty boys who were taken on an experimental camping trip by Lord Baden Powell in 1907. As a surprise for his birthday, a bugler from the Sussex-based Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars played the regimental call of the 8^th Hussars, a tune the colonel said he had heard every day for half of his life-time. When the colonel moved to Hove in 1962 he joined the Dyke Golf Club and The Drive Bowling Club.

McMillan, Gordon – He was a 36-year old First Officer with Gatwick-based airline JMC and a former helicopter pilot with the Royal Navy. On 3 August 2002 after a night out with friends, he stepped out onto the third-floor balcony of the flat he rented, tripped, fell over the balcony and died of his injuries. Hamilton Holdings owned the flat. At the inquest in October 2002 the issue was raised of the balcony’s safety. It was stated that had new council regulations been in force at the time McMillan had moved into the flat the previous year, the accident might have been avoided.

Marks, Rose Morria – She died on 29 July 1997 leaving estate valued at £943,910.

Moor, Mrs Gerald – see number 30

Sargeant, Sir Akfred – see number 10

Osborne, Leslie – He enjoyed a long song-writing career that culminated with an association with Simon May. They wrote the theme tunes for East-enders and Howard’s Way. Osborne died at the age of 87 in 1990.

Mary Phillips - (suffragette) see numbers 15/17 Hovedene Hotel

Pollak, Mrs Frances Winnie – see number 18

Treves, Dr – In the 1900s Dr Treves lived in the Drive and he was the brother of one of the Court Physicians.

Walter, John – He died at his home at the age of 95 in August 1968. He was former chief proprietor of The Times, which was founded in 1795 by his great-grandfather, also called John Walter.

Webb, Angela – She was an artist who lived in the road in the 1960s.

Whittington, Dr Richard – He served as a voluntary Medical Officer during the Boer War. He was a member of Hove Council for twelve years. His wife, who died in 1929, was the younger sister of Mrs Baldwin, whose husband Stanley Baldwin, was three times Prime Minister.

Willett, William – see number 58, also under Listed Buildings, Tennis, and The Drive Bowling Club

Sources

Crawford, E The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide 1866-1928

Directories

Hove Council Minute Books

Middleton, J Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade

Mr. S. Gray
Mr. Michael Ray
National Library of Australia
National Portrait Gallery
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

Spurling, Hilary, Ivy When Young 1884-1919 (1993 revised edition)

Spurling, Hilary Secrets of a Woman’s Heart. Ivy Compton-Burnett 1920-1969 (1984)

The Times 28 June 1969
Wojtczak, H. Notable Sussex Women (2008)

page layout and additional research by D.Sharp

Hove in the Past

Pages

25 August 2023

The Drive, Hove