Judy Middleton 2003 (revised 2022)
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| copyright © J.Middleton This group of houses were photographed on 15 September 2020 |
Background
Wilbury Villas was laid out on land that once belonged to the Stanford Estate. At first it was called Wilbury Road, but the authorities must have thought that Wilbury Road was already long enough, and that the northern extension might cause confusion, and thus it became Wilbury Villas.
In 1895 a letter was sent from Martyn & Martyn of London, on behalf of Ellen Benett-Stanford, to the Hove Commissioners asking them to take over the upkeep of Wilbury Road to the Old Shoreham Road. Part of the letter stated ‘The road, originally the communication between Hove and Preston, has been improved and maintained by the owners who have given up land on each side to widen it, and planted trees and formed footpaths.’ The surveyor reported that this portion of the road was 500-ft in length, of which 150-ft was 60-ft wide (from the bridge to Wilbury Avenue) with the remainder being 60-ft wide. The surveyor also stated that although part of the road was in good order, nothing had been done to maintain the road between Cromwell Road and the railway bridge in good condition, and this part was 340-ft in length with a width of 40-ft. The surveyor recommended this part of the road ought to be put improved before Hove Council formally adopted it.
In a report dated 15 February 1900 the surveyor stated that an agreement had been entered into between Hove Council and the railway company in respect of work on the bridge. The company had paid for the carriage-way to be metalled, but the council was responsible for paving the foot-ways and other works.In February 1904 the Borough Surveyor stated that the length of the road between Wilbury Avenue and Old Shoreham Road was 690-ft in length. On the east side, sixteen houses had been built of which two were occupied; on the west side there were eight houses, all occupied. There were two street lamps on the east side, but none on the west side. He suggested an additional lamp on the east side and two new lamps on the west side. The house-owners would pay for the lamps to be installed but the council would foot the bill for lighting them.
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© Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 22 April 1905 |
In October 2012 Network Rail were obliged to close the bridge to vehicles although pedestrians were still allowed to cross. This action was necessary because a crack in the ironwork had been discovered after a routine check. However, nearby residents said they had raised concerns about a possible structural defect more than a year previously. It seems that drivers had been flouting, or been unaware of, the bridge’s 3-tonne capacity. Indeed, a man with engineering knowledge stated he had seen vehicles using the bridge that were six times the permitted weight. The bridge was closed to vehicles for some nineteen months and in April 2014 it was said to be opening shortly. One person to heave a sigh of relief was Melanie White, business owner of a nearby café, which had only been open for five months before the bridge was closed. She said there would be a ‘proper old street party’ to celebrate the re-opening, and hoped to involve all the businesses at The Dock.
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| copyright © J.Middleton An unusual house in Wilbury Villas that has rather grand, statement entrances |
Film Location
It is interesting to note that Wilbury Villas and Lorna Road were used as outdoor locations when in 1904 James Williamson, the early Hove film pioneer, shot parts of Our New Errand Boy there.
Samuel Combridge (1862-1921)
Samuel Combridge was born in Hove in 1862, the son of Daniel Combridge, a butcher, and Sarah Pattison.
In 1915 Samuel lived at 15 Wilbury Villas after moving from Westbourne Gardens.
It was in around 1902 that Samuel Combridge took over an established bookshop at 56 Church Road, Hove. The firm later acquired number 70 Church Road as well. Combridges became very well known at Hove and lasted until the 1960s. It is interesting to note that Samuel Combridge had a half-brother, Mr C. Combridge, who ran a bookshop in Birmingham, and became a large supplier to public libraries.
Juliet Pannett (1911-2005)
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| copyright © J.Middleton The artist Juliet Pannett was born in this house |
The famous artist Juliet Pannett was born at 34 Wilbury Villas on 15 July 1911, the second daughter of Charles Somers and his wife May (née Brice). Eventually, there were to be seven children in the family. Even at the age of three young Juliet was quite happy to amuse herself with pencil and paper. Later on, she said the best children’s competition she ever entered was organised by Oxford Books for Boys and Girls and children had to submit a poster design. Juliet painted a library scene (perhaps based on Hove Library?) and came second. Her prize was to choose any books she liked to the value of £20. In around 1920 the family moved to Rutland Gardens.
Juliet attended a girls’ school called Girton House, situated on Kingsway, but she only stayed for two terms because she was bullied. Unhappily, her second school experience at Harvington School, Ealing, was no better, becausw she was bullied there too. Her happiest schooldays were spent at Wistons, a girls’ school in Dyke Road, Brighton, opposite to where the Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School was situated. A great advantage there was to be taught by Charles Hill Burleigh (1869-1954) an artist who strangely enough, lived at 7 Wilbury Crescent, not far from her birth-place, and whose wife Averil Burleigh, and daughter Veronica Burleigh were both artists too. Later on, when Juliet attended Brighton College of Art, she had the advantage of tuition from talented artists such as Morgan Rendle, Louis Ginnett and Charles Knight. She continued to handle paint in the way she had been taught and she particularly admired Ginnett’s work.
In around 1929 Juliet’s first studio was situated at 15A Farm Road, Hove, where she walked under an arch leading to the mews, and up some rickety steps to reach it – the rent was four shillings a week. In those days she painted under her maiden surname, and in 1932 she held her first public exhibition at the Wolseley Room in Hove Library. The critic from the Brighton & Hove Herald (9 July 1932) was enthusiastic, stating that Juliet Somers showed promise of an exceptional kind and that she could do ‘three things supremely well. She can draw. She can design. She can convey an impression’. Lady Wolseley instituted the custom that from every exhibition held in the Wolseley Room, one sample should be retained for the collection. The one chosen was a painting of West Blatchington Windmill.
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copyright
© Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove |
Juliet Pannett made a number of character sketches from life, taking her sketch-pad onto the Downs to draw old-time shepherds such as Walter Wooler of Pyecombe and Charles Mitchell. Some were published in the Sussex County Magazine under the title ‘Sussex Types’. One sketch featured George May, a fishing-net maker of Shirley Street, Hove, and his wife, both aged 92. She drew gypsies at Broadwater, cricketers at the Sussex County Cricket Ground (including Maurice Tate), and Herbert Menges on stage at the Dome. When she came to have an entry in Who’s Who she entered under recreation ‘painting surgical operations, musicians and old barns’. One of the latter – a watercolour of Clapham Farm – hangs in Hove Library. The Forum Society presented it to the Library in celebration of their Silver Jubilee in 1983.
Juliet Pannett took samples of her work to Sir Bruce Ingram, editor of the Illustrated London News. He told her he wanted an illustration of a forthcoming occasion when Lady Reading was to be the first peeress to be introduced to the House of Lords. There was one problem – nobody was allowed to sketch inside the chamber: she had to position herself just outside the door, pop her head round the door to take in the scene, then withdraw to sketch, and so on until she had finished. She became Special Artist to the Illustrated London News from 1957 to 1964. She was the first person to be allowed to sketch in the Press Gallery in the House of Commons. One historic occasion was Sir Winston Churchill’s final day in the Commons – she produced a wonderfully succinct sketch – just a few lines but unmistakably Churchill.
Her first royal portrait was of Princess Marina; then followed portraits of the Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra, and pastels of Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. When she painted the Queen, she was granted four sittings lasting 90 minutes each in order to complete a full-size painting in oils. She found the Queen to be absolutely charming. Pannett also made a pastel copy of the portrait as a rush job for presentation to Malta.
There are 22 works by Juliet Pannett in the National Portrait Gallery, but this is only a tiny sample of her output. At home she kept albums containing indexed images of some 900 leading figures she has portrayed over the years. There were separate volumes for different professions – thus, music, theatre, literature, politics and diplomacy. The following are some of the famous people she has portrayed:
Louis Armstrong
W. H. Auden
Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader
Sir Adrian Boult
Benjamin Britten
Gracie Fields
Christopher Fry
Lord Hailsham
Bishop Huddleston
Cardinal Basil Hume
Sophia Loren
Joe Loss
Yehudi Menhuin
Patrick Moore
Lord Mountbatten
Ginger Rogers
Margaret Thatcher
Lord Tonypandy
When Pannett painted Lord Hailsham, he continued to work at his desk as usual; while Harold Wilson chatted away during his sitting – Arthur Dickson Wright, the eminent surgeon continued to look gloomy but this was his habitual expression. Two of Pannett’s favourite sitters were Lady Baden Powell, founder of the Girl Guides, who became a great friend, and Sir Barnes Wallis, the famous inventor of the bouncing bomb.
The Pannetts purchased a house in Angmering in around 1963. Her husband died in 1980, and she had to give up painting in 2000 at the age of 88 due to eye problems. She died aged 95 on 22 August 2005.
Arthur Frederick Graves
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| copyright © J.Middleton Mr Graves, who lived in this house, obviously appreciated fine furniture and excellent literature |
In 1930 he lived at 36 Wilbury Villas. A year later a catalogue of furniture and effects from the house was produced and in January 1932 Graves & Son held the sale. It is interesting to note that Mr Graves must have been an avid reader because there was an extensive number of books in his library including the following:
18 volumes of Shakespeare
32 volumes of Dostoevsky
14 volumes of Balzac
19 volumes of Thomas Hardy
36 volumes of the Sussex Record Society
74 volumes of the Sussex Archaeological Collections
There were first editions of the following:
J. M. Barrie Peter Pan
Bernard Shaw St Joan
Rudyard Kipling Just So Stories
Lytton Strachey Queen Victoria
The paintings included examples from local artists such as Louis Ginnett and Robert Bevan. The house contents ranged from a valuable old English grandfather clock by Benjamin Lamb to a Henderson 5-valve portable wireless in a mahogany case. Cutlery included silver-plated knives and forks with pearl handles.
Mullard
Mullard
was a British company making electronic components. They had premises
in Wilbury Villas next to the steps leading down to Lorna Road. The
firm was first mentioned in local Directories in 1949. During the
1950s there was a brief period of expansion when they had premises at
36 Davigdor Road, and from 1958 to 1962 they had premises at 80-86
Davigdor Road as well. But by 1964 they were just using the Wilbury
Villas premises, and they were still there in 1974. In the Argus
(5
September 1998) a photograph was printed sent in by Sylvia Edwards,
former welder, showing staff members at the company’s annual dinner
at its factory in Mitcham.
copyright © J.Middleton
Rayner Optical Company
(For full details of the Rayner Company, please see separate page on Holland Road). From 1978 to 1986 the Rayner Optical Company had premises in Wilbury Villas. It operated as a subsidiary company within the Rayner Group known as Rayner Intraocular Lenses. It should be remembered that the first artificial lens in the world was made at Hove by Rayner. Although today cataract operations are relatively commonplace, back in the 1940s it was a revolutionary concept, and the first operation to cure cataract was carried out in London by Harold Ridley on 29 March 1949.
Red Cross
During the 1960s the Red Cross established their headquarters in Wilbury Villas. In October 1990 Lavinia, Duchess of Norfolk, re-opened the HQ, which had undergone a renovation and extension programme costing £200,000. The architects for the project were Beecham More Partnership, while F. T. Wilson undertook the building work – both of them being local firms.
The Red Cross services in Sussex were run from here – the area covering a triangle bounded by Rye, Chichester, and Gatwick. Although the British Red Cross was responsible, together with their counterparts abroad, for emergency relief, the emphasis at home was on work in the community such as providing courses in First Aid, hiring out equipment (like wheelchairs for instance), and providing holidays for handicapped children. A unique service was their cosmetic camouflage to help people disguise their scars. In 1994 Brereton Nash-Wortham was the director of Sussex Red Cross, and Vicky Scourse was the president.
In January 1995 it was announced that the Sussex branch of the Red Cross had sold their HQ in Wilbury Villas, and moved to Howard Terrace, Brighton. In 1999 the Red Cross decided to divide its Sussex operations into five parts, with one part being the Brighton and Hove area, which had two centres – in Prestonville Road, Brighton, and at Marine Drive, Rottingdean.
St Teresa’s School
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| copyright © J.Middleton The school was located at 31 Wilbury Villas, Hove. |
This establishment was located at 31 Wilbury Villas and lasted from 1931 to 1970. It was purchased as a going concern from Mr and Mrs Morris who had run a school there since 1900 called Hawthorndean. (For further details, please see separate page under Hove’s Old Schools).
Other Educational Estabishments once located in Wilbury Villas:-
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© Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 29 December 1917 |
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© Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 4 December 1920 |
Hove Planning Approvals
1898 – A. C. Udney for A. Cresswell, 2 pairs of semi-detached villas
1899 – A. Cresswell, one pair of semi-detached villas, west side
1900 – C. Nye, junior, one pair of semi-detached villas, north-east end
1902 – A. Cresswell, 2 pairs of semi-detached villas, west side
1903 – G. M. Jay, 4 pairs of semi-detached villas, east side
1903 – C. M. Jay for W. & A. Elliott, 2 pairs of semi-detached villas, east side
1903 – C. M. Jay for Caxton Jay, one pair of semi-detached villas, east side
1905 – H. W. Sanders for A. Cruttenden, 2 houses
1905 – Overton & Scott for F. Reynolds, 2 semi-detached houses, east side
1905 – C. Botham for Parsons & Elliott, one pair of semi-detached villas, east side
1905 – Overton & Scott for B. Marston, one detached house, corner of Wilbury Crescent
1905 – Overton & Scott for B. Marston, one pair of semi-detached villas, east side
1905 – Overton & Scott for A. Cruttenden, one pair of semi-detached villas, west side
1906 – Overton & Scott S. Cropper, one detached house, north end
1906 – Overton & Scott for S. Cropper, one detached house, north end, west side
1914 – F. Parsons, one detached house, west side
Sources
Argus (5/9/98 / 23/10/12 / 2/11/12 / 14/4/14)
Brighton Herald
Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
Hove Counci Minute Books
Personal interview with Juliet Pannett
Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove
Copyright © J.Middleton 2020
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