Hove in the Past: Denmark Villas, Hove

Judy Middleton 2002 (revised 2022)

copyright © J.Middleton
The Italianate villas are seen to good advantage in bright sunlight – they are on the east side

Background

There is an old photograph that shows sheep grazing contentedly in a field on the east side of the road. The 1870s Ordnance Survey map records several houses on the lower east side of the road.

Today, Denmark Villas is regarded as being one of the prettiest and unspoiled roads in Hove lined with elm and sycamore trees, and with many stately villas. Most of the villas were built in an Italianate-style with hipped, slate roofs, overhanging eaves, imposing porches, and bay windows. Some of them have their entrance doors placed at the side. It is interesting to note the colour of brick used in some of the houses on the west side – not white or yellow, but rather a warm, ochre. Number 49 on the west side is a fine example of a double-fronted Victorian villa.

At the south-west corner of Denmark Villas, abutting the grounds of the erstwhile Holy Trinity Church, there was a group of seven terraced houses called Hova Terrace, and it was marked as such on the 1870s Ordnance Survey Map. In 1902 these houses were absorbed into Denmark Villas, and all the houses were re-numbered.

It is amusing to note that one of the residents did not like the name ‘Denmark Villas’ and had gone to the extent of putting up an alternative sign reading ‘Cromwell Terrace’. Hove Commissioners were affronted at such a deed, and told the house-holder that if their notice was not complied with ‘necessary steps’ would be taken.

Mundane Matters

In 1879 the south part of Denmark Villas was declared a public highway. In 1881 tenders were invited for the completion of road works on the north side as follows:

J. G. B. Marshall £45

A. Oliver £90

Messrs Parsons £95

Cheesman & Co £140

Not surprisingly Mr Marshall’s tender was accepted.

In April 1880 it was stated that an additional water pillar was required at the north end for street watering purposes. It was the custom in those days for the water-cart to spray the roads with water in order to lay the dust.

House Notes

Number 1

In 1894 Captain D. G. Sandeman lived in the house. In St Andrew’s Old Church there is a memorial to Lieutenant Henry Sandeman, resident engineer and private secretary to the governor of the island of St Lucia, who died of yellow fever in 1852.

Other members of the Sandeman family with Hove connections were Captain William Wellington Sandeman who retired in 1888 after twenty years of service with the 2^nd Seaforth Highlanders, and held the Afghan Medal. Despite his age, he did his bit in the First World War and served as commander of the 4^th Royal Sussex Volunteers from 1915 to 1919. He lived with his wife Isabella Emma at 14 Second Anevue, and she received an OBE for her war work with the local branch of the Red Cross. Their son, Second Lieutenant William Alastair Fraser Sandeman was born at Hove on 29 March 1889, and enlisted in the Gordon Highlanders in August 1909. On 13 October 1914 near Bethune he was badly wounded, and his regiment were obliged to leave him behind when ordered to retire. He became a prisoner of war and died in hospital at Laventie on 19 October 1914.

Number 11

In 1880 the house was occupied by E. B. Ellice-Clark, surveyor to the Hove Commissioners. By 1910 Dr Frank Mott Harrison was in residence, and he was one of the many notable Old Boys educated at the school later known as the Brighton, Hove, and Sussex Grammar School. He was a member of Hove Council for over 20 years, and was made an Alderman in February 1942. He was a noted scholar of John Bunyan (1628-1688) accumulating a remarkable Bunyan library of over 400 volumes including one so rare that the only other known copy was in the British Museum; in 1932 published a comprehensive bibliography of Bunyan’s works.

It is pleasant to think of this scholarly man sitting in this house surrounded by such a wealth of unique volumes. In May 1935 London University conferred the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the faculty of Music on him for his thesis Some Aspects of Music in England the 17^th century with reference to the Puritan Influence. But he also made time for more practical matters and on 4 April 1924 he visited Davigdor Road School for Boys where he wrote the following in the Log Book. ‘It was a delightful experience to personally hear how the Bible is taught in our schools and it was also encouraging to find the Teachers so well equipped and enthusiastic in the instruction’. Mrs Harrison, his wife, was well known for her work as Honorary Secretary of the Brighton & Hove League of Dr Barnado’s Homes.

Number 15

This house was called Sunnyside, and Irish-born Dennis and Catherine Broderick lived here from the 1890s when the house was numbered as 3 Denmark Villas. Catherine’s parents emigrated from Ireland at the time of the famine, and Catherine grew up in very poor circumstances in London with little formal education. At an early age she was travelling around the countryside with a pedlar’s pack on her back. She married Dennis from Galway, and painstakingly taught her self to read and write. Catherine is said to have promised ‘Give me money, O God, and I will build you churches.’ The Brodericks traded in silks and eventually they made their fortune, providing enough revenue for Catherine to pay for the building of nine Roman Catholic churches. The three local churches were St Mary’s, Preston, Our Lady, Star of the Sea, Portslade, and the Chapel at St Joseph’s Home, Old Shoreham Road, Hove. It is rather a sad comment on our times that the two latter have since been demolished.

The Brodericks retired to Hove in their fifties. Denis died on 12 December 1909, and Catherine died on 20 February 1914. Catherine was given a splendid Solemn Requiem Mass sung by a choir of priests in St Joseph’s Chapel. The officiating priest was Father Hart of the Sacred Heart, Norton Road, while Dr Amigo, Bishop of Southwark, pronounced the Absolution. Other priests were as follows:

Bishop of Achonry, Ireland

Monsignor Johnston, St Joseph’s, Bristol Road

Father Hopper, St Mary’s, Preston Park

Father Haffenden, St Mary Magdalene, Upper North Street

Father Kerwin, Our Lady, Star of the Sea, Portslade

Father Redding, St Joseph’s, Elm Grove

There were no flowers by Catherine’s request. The Brodericks were buried in the Catholic part of Hove Cemetery, and a grey Celtic cross surmounts their grave.

Number 17B – In the late 1940s Major Charles John Vere Shoppee M.C. of 8th Parachute Battalion, lived at this address. The citation for the award of his Military Cross which he gained in the Normandy Campaign read:-

'For outstanding leadership and bravery. At Annebault on the 21st August. During the attack on the town, Major Shoppee's company was pinned down by heavy machine gun fire. Major Shoppee showing a complete disregard for his own safety rallied his men and personally led an attack on a house which contained 15 of the enemy with three machine guns. By his leadership his men overcame the position and took the occupants prisoner. At Blueville on the 26th August, Major Shoppee was in command of the leading company which came under Mortar and Machine Gun fire. Major Shoppee immediately pressed home the attack and by his personal leadership succeeded in driving off the enemy and preventing the advance from being held up. Major Shoppee was wounded later in the day leading another attack against enemy positions. Major Shoppee's conduct and leadership has been of the very highest order and he has shown a complete disregard for his own safety'.

Number 19 – Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Chambers MacDonald lived at number 19 from 1879 until 1881, he was born in Nagpur, India in 1831 and served in 108^th Foot of Infantry (Madras Infantry) from the time of the Indian Munity in 1858 until 1877. In 1878 while living in York Road, Hove, Lt. Col. MacDonald, a widower, married the India born widow Matilda Page White Laurie (nee´ Wahab) in St Nicholas Church, Brighton on 12 February. Herbert’s Great Grandmother was the famous Flora MacDonald, who is remembered for helping Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Edward Stewart - 'the Young Pretender') escape to the Isle of Skye from the soldiers of George II after the Battle of Culloden in 1746, the escape was immortalised in the Skye Boat Song.

Charles Ernest Pertwee, architect and surveyor, lived in this house from 1882 to 1891, and then moved to Chelsea. You could not have more English Christian names but the surname was unique because his family history was rooted in an aristocratic French past, being counts with the surname ‘Perthuis’. Knowing what a problem this surname would cause in England, somewhere along the way the surname was changed to ‘Pertwee’.

A section of the list of associate members of the Institute of British Architects for 1883, showing the date of entry into the Institute for (Charles) Ernest in Hove and his father Charles in Chelmsford.

The house in Denmark Villas was C. E. Pertwee’s first marital home. He married Emily Moore on 8 April 1882 in Chelmsford where he had been born in 1859. Emily was a Brighton girl and her family were long established chemists in the area. When the happy couple celebrated their first wedding anniversary, they were the proud parents of a seven-day old son Ernest Charles Guy Pertwee who was born at Hove on 1 April 1883.

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove
Brighton Herald 25 August 1888, Ernest Pertwee and Madam Pertwee are listed amongst the 60 Professors at the Brighton School of Music

The Pertwee marriage must have been a remarkable one for Victorian times because not many husbands in those days would care to be influenced by a wife. Yet in 1885 C. E. Pertwee decided that he had had enough of being an architect and surveyor, he threw up his practice, and joined his wife at the Brighton School of Music in North Street as Professor of Elocution and Verse – Emily already being a Professor of Singing at that institution.

1888 advert showing that (Charles) Ernest regularly commuted from his Denmark Villas home to London and Cambridge to give private elocution lessons. (Ernest preferred his second name rather than Charles)

His family and friends must have been astonished. But it was obvious he had found his niche, and he went on to write books on the subject as well as being a lyricist, he staged one-man dramatic readings at various local venues including the Royal Pavilion.

The Pertwee family left Denmark Villas in 1891 and moved to Chelsea to enable Ernest to accept the position of Professor of Elocution at The City of London School.

The ‘Pertwee Series’ of books by Ernest are listed
in this 1910 advert at the price of three shillings and sixpence each.

(Ernest Charles) Guy Pertwee inherited the musical and drama genes and became a professional baritone singer and an author. Later on in his life he followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a Professor of Elocution and Verse at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and was also a teacher at the Central School of Dramatic Art. It is fascinating to note that he encouraged the younger generation in the shape of his nephew Jon Pertwee, ensuring he found a place at drama college, then when Jon Pertwee needed a place to stay as a student in London, it was to Uncle Guy’s house he went.

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove
Brighton Herald 15 February 1908
An advert from 1908, showing Guy's return from London
to perform in Brighton
(Guy preferred his third name rather than Ernest)

Ernest (he preferred his second name rather than Charles) and Emily welcomed the arrival of a second son who was born at Hove on 15 May 1885. He was Roland Pertwee (1885-1963) who went on to have an astonishingly productive writing career.

by Unknown photographer
1920s, NPG x194306

Roland wrote the screenplay for no less than 32 films, and four of his plays also made it to the silver screen; he scripted, as well as acted in, Breach of Promise (1942). Roland wrote 21 plays, 20 novels, 30 short stories, and five books for children. An astonishing tally. Roland also co-wrote with his eldest son Michael The Grove Family widely regarded as the first English soap opera and thus prominent in the history of television, and to think it was broadcast live! Not many episodes survive unfortunately, but there was a memorable granny who was always grumbling and uttering the immortal words ‘I’m faint for want of nourishment’, which became a popular catch-phrase. The powers-that-be cancelled The Grove Family in 1957 and Roland retired from writing.

Roland’s eldest son Michael Pertwee (1916-1991) was born in Kensington, and his mother was Avice Scholtz. Michael also became a screenwriter and is remembered for Alfred Hitchcock Presents as well as The Saint, and Danger Man.

Roland and Avice’s younger son was Jon Pertwee (1919-1996) who is universally remembered as the third Dr Who. But he had enjoyed a much longer tenure in The Navy Lark on BBC radio where he clocked up eighteen years playing Chief Petty Officer Pertwee and three other roles. Playing a petty officer would not have been difficult for him because he served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, and with the Naval Intelligence Division.

Bill Pertwee (1926-2013) was Roland’s second cousin. Bill Pertwee played the memorable role of ARP Warden Hodges in the ever popular comedy Dad’s Army.

By 1894 the house was occupied by the alarming-sounding Major Dudgeon who was a military author.

Number 25 – Captain Charles Edward Webster Wedderburn lived at this address in the late 1870s, he was the grandson of Sir James Webster Wedderburn and Lady Frances Caroline Annesley. Charles’ grandmother was the centre of a Regency scandal when she was accused of having affairs with Lord Byron and the Duke of Wellington, the latter ended up in court, being sued by her husband Sir James for £2000.

Number 26 – Major General Thomas Woollams Holland moved from 11 Ventnor Villas to live at this address in the early 1900s until his death in 1915. He was born in Lucknow, India in 1827 and served in the Bengal Army 1844-1879. Major Holland saw active service in the Battle of Sobraon, Sutlej Campaign, Assam Expedition, Relief of Lucknow and the Indian Mutiny, he was twice mentioned in despatches.

The Countess Marie de Borchgrave lived at this address from 1918 to 1926. The de Borchgrave family in Belgium were close friends of the British nurse Edith Cavell in Brussels. Baron de Borchgrave, a Belgium Diplomat, endeavoured to get letters from Edith to her mother in Norfolk, but due to the incompetency of the Police authorities in London, in sending these letters on to the wrong County Constabulary, they did not arrive in Mrs Cavell’s hands until after her daughter’s execution by the German occupying forces.

Number 27 – Lieutenant Colonel George Crane Cawood lived at this address from the early 1920s until the late 1930s. He was born in Pensax, Worcestershire, the son of the local vicar the Revd John Cawood. Lt. Col. Cawood served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and in India with the Bengal Lancers and the Hariana Lancers. Cawood died in 1939 aged 79, his wife Mary died in 1972 aged 103, they were both buried in Hove Cemetery. George’s brother was Captain William B. Crane Cawood, the headmaster of Holland House School in Cromwell Road.

Number 28

Miss Marian Donne lived here, and she was the daughter of Joseph Philip Donne (1844-1919) an engraver who lived at Stanley Cottage in Station Road, Portslade. He was a collector of material relating to the poet and Divine John Donne (1573-1631). When Miss Donne died in 1948 she was buried in Portslade Cemetery next to her Grandfather Henry Hudson of Cowhayes Farm.

Miss Donne donated much of his collection to Hove Library, as follows:

1919 – 290 volumes

1920 – 223 volumes, eighteen pamphlets

1927 – the Donne Collection, 41 rare books

Number 33

This house was occupied by Alfred Dupont who was a Suffolk man by birth but moved to this area in around 1875. He ran a famous riding academy in the former Market House, off Waterloo Street, for which business he was reputed to have forked out some £2,800 to acquire. In 1887 the establishment was advertised as Dupont’s Military Riding Academy, and he kept a large stud of horses including hunters, hacks, ponies and every description of carriage, for sale or for hire. There were special classes for children.

He lived in this house in Denmark Villas, although the family continued to spend some months in the old family home, Fountain Villa, Suffolk. His house in Denmark Villas was said to be cosy and comfortable with copious sporting pictures adorning the walls. These were not any old daubs either, and some were by famous artists such as Morland and Gainsborough.

It is a fascinating foot-note that there was a family connection with Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) because Gainsborough’s sister had married a Mr Du Pont. Amongst the many ornaments were silver-mounted hooves from favourite horses, and the brushes (tails) and pads of foxes. The most important of the latter souvenirs bore the inscription The pad of the last fox killed by George Champion, April 9 1883, who hunted the Southdown Foxhounds 26 years. The hall was embellished with a collection of stuffed birds most of which Mr Dupont had personally shot on the Norfolk Broads; unfortunately for modern sensibilities, many of them were rare species. Dupont was a frequent guest in Devon of the famous hunting parson Revd Jack Russell. Dupont’s engaging manner and personal magnetism made him many friends. On the occasions of the Duponts’ Silver Wedding, the couple were presented with some beautiful illuminated addresses to which prominent men such as T. W. Howlett, and Alderman Martin, Mayor of Brighton, added their signatures. The address from the Masonic Lodge was signed by H. Benett Stanford, and the local MPs. The Freemasons presented Mrs Dupont with a charming jewel case. Dupont also served as a Brunswick Commissioner, and for many years he belonged to the Brighton Detachment of the Middlesex Yeomanry.

On 3 July 1890 Dupont began to mount his horse outside his house in Denmark Villas, intending to ride with his 16-year old son, Herman, to Henfield where he had a number of horses out at grass. But somehow, the horse stumbled before Dupont had both his feet in the stirrups. Perhaps the horse had been startled because it then bolted with the unfortunate Dupont doing his best to get himself properly mounted. It proved impossible, and so when the horse reached Albany Villas, Dupont threw himself off. Unfortunately, he landed on his head and soon died; he was aged 51. The horse continued to bolt but was eventually captured and taken back to the stables. It is perhaps astonishing to us, but the inquest was held that very same evening. Dupont was buried on what should have been his 52^nd birthday, the funeral having been held at the parish church of Great Cornard. At the time of the fatal accident, Mrs Dupont and their three daughters were staying at Fountain Villa. The Sussex Daily News said he was ‘one of the most prominent and most highly respected of local public men’.

An interesting new slant on the Duponts and Gainsborough has only recently come to light. It concerns the famous painting known as The Blue Boy (1770) of a young lad aged between eight and thirteen with an enigmatic expression, and dressed in a spectacular blue silk suit. The point is that although the British Museum think the portrait is of Jonathan Buttall (1752-1896) there are other scholars who are of the opinion that the youngster was the artist’s nephew, Gainsborough Dupont; there are additional clues because in 1773 Gainsborough actually did paint his nephew wearing a blue suit, not to mention the fact that if it were Buttall in The Blue Boy he would have been eighteen at the time of the portrait. The Blue Boy is a massive work, measuring 5-ft 10-in by 3-ft 8-in. In 1922 the portrait was sold to America to general lament. But one hundred years later, it will return briefly to the National Gallery, London, where it may be viewed from 25 January to 15 May 1922. (Daily Mail 1/7/21)

Number 44 – Dr William Hoggan of the Royal Navy, Inspector General, occupied this house in the 1890s and up to around 1904.

Number 46 – Lieutenant Colonel P. G. W. Eckford lived at this address from 1934 until 1955. He was a veteran of the South African War 1899-1901, he served in Natal, Orange Free State and notedly the Relief of Ladysmith. Eckford was awarded the Queen’s Medal with four clasps.

Number 47 – Colonel Stollery and his wife lived in this house. They had just the one child, a son John Cecil, who was considered somewhat delicate, and therefore they did not want to send him off to endure the rigours of the standard prep or public school. Instead, he was educated at Hove, first at Holland House and then at Cottesmore. Although these schools might have been beneficial for his health, he found himself at a disadvantage when it came to going up to Christ Church, Oxford, because he was a stranger to the public school old-boy network. But he soon settled in, and made good friends with some Rhode scholars. In 1911 he was called to the Bar, and in 1914 he joined the Royal Fusiliers. In the same year, after some fierce fighting at Armentiers, he was invalided home. But in May 1915 he was considered fit enough to be despatched back to the Front. He was attached to the Warwickshire Regiment. At first he was fortunate, coming through some fierce fighting at Ypres unscathed when a large number of men in his platoon were wounded or killed. His unit was sent back behind the lines for ten days rest, before returning to the Front. On 24 May 1915, during the 2^nd Battle of Ypres, the men were ordered to re-take trenches the Germans had overcome by the use of gas. The soldiers gallantly took the first trench, and Lieutenant Stollery was giving orders to his men when a sniper shot him through the head at a place the British nick-named Mousetrap Farm, near Ypres.

Number 49

This house was also known as Denmark House, and at one time the Brighton & Hove Dancing School were based here, and stayed until the 1970s. In the 1980s the house was claimed to be in a bad state of repair, and the new owner wanted to demolish it. Instead, he wanted to build a three-storey block of one-bedroom flats on the site, which would sell for around £24,500 each; there would also be parking spaces for seventeen cars. Neighbours were horrified, and David Tanat-Jones, estate agent, who lived in Denmark Villas, led the fight to save the house from demolition. The campaign was backed by Hove Civic Society, whose president Rex Binning said ‘Denmark Villas is almost the only street in Hove which is virtually untouched.’ Fortunately, Hove Council was soon on the case, and made most of Denmark Villas a Conservation Area with immediate effect.

Number 59 – Captain Charles and Emma Elizabeth Sackville West lived at this address during the 1880s and 1890s. Captain Charles Sackville West served in the 59^th Regiment of Foot until his retirement and was a relative of Lord Sackville West. Their only son, Lieutenant Llewellyn T. C. Sackville West RN, who was born in Brighton, was tragically killed in 1911 on HMS Endymion, when he accidentally shot himself with his own gun.

Number 62 – Caroline Seyliard D'Albiac nee Hyndman, lived at this address from 1914 until 1927. She was born in Hyde Park Square, London in1844. Her father John Beckles Hyndman was a merchant who inherited a fortune made from slavery and sugar plantations in the West Indies, this fortune was further enhanced when the British Government paid out massive compensation to the Hyndman family when slavery was abolished in 1834. (N.B. freed slaves received no compensation). Caroline married George D'Albiac in Wandsworth in 1869.

Mrs Caroline D'Albiac had previously lived at 73 The Drive, the 1911 census showed she employed the following servants:- Lily Bacon a cook, Mary Ann Chalk a parlour-maid, Lilian Smith a house-maid, Henry Holloway a footman (born in Bombay) and Rhoda Hennahane a kitchen-maid.
Caroline D'Albiac died in 1927, aged 81

Number 66 – Surgeon Major-General Byng Thomas Giraud occupied this house. He had served for 26 years as a medical officer with the armed forces, and was the proud owner of seven medals, besides clasps, and was twice Mentioned in Dispatches. Among his decorations were the following:

Russian War Medal 1855

Baltic Medal

Indian Mutiny 1858-9 with clasps

China 1862

Afghanistan 1880

Egypt 1882

Giraud ended his career as Principal Medical Officer at Netley Hospital, which was a large military establishment near Southampton. It seems as though the gallant old soldier must have ruffled some feathers, leading someone to ponder as to why such an old war-horse was still in the army at all. Indeed, Giraud’s name appears in Hansard (April 25 1895 Vol. 32) when Sir Albert Rollit, MP for Islington South, asked a question in the House of Commons as to whether or not Giraud had been given an extension of duty after the official age of retirement. The Secretary of State for War, Mr Campbell-Bannerman, affirmed it was laid down by Royal Warrant that the retirement age for a Surgeon-Major General was 62, but that ‘it was deemed advisable to retain Dr Giraud’s service at Netley till he reached retirement age.’ He had been told verbally that when he reached that age, he would retire.

Giraud died in July 1912 aged 76.

Numbers 69 / 71 – This house was called Hillsborough, and was originally numbered 55 / 57. In 1906 Miss Taylor and Miss Dorrington ran a ladies’ school here, and they claimed to give special attention to backward girls. At that time there was only enough space for ten boarders only in what was described as ‘select accommodation’.

Number 79 – In 1910 the house was occupied by the Denmark College for Boys.

The Ralli Hall

This handsome structure was built in memory of Stephen Ralli, and was designed by Read & Macdonald of London. On 2 November 1992 the Ralli Hall became a Grade II listed building.

The Ice-Skating / Cinema Site

It is interesting to note that this site once contained a well that supplied water to the West Brighton Waterworks Company, which was sold in 1876 for £27,000 to Brighton Corporation Waterworks.

Later on, W. Miles’s Nurseries occupied the site, and there were greenhouses, stables, and a jam factory. Produce was sold in Miles’s shop at 16 Church Road, Hove.

Then in 1929 an ice-rink was built. In the same year Margery Roberts, whose father was the curator of the Royal Pavilion, decided she would like to go ice-skating. She had a special red dress made for her with a pleated skirt, the outfit being set off with a small hat. She had a vivid memory of the roaring fire the management kept going so that the skaters could warm themselves up and buy refreshments. A local ice-hockey team called the Sussex Lions used to play there in 1930 and 1931. Informed opinion was that this was the best ice-rink in the south, and much better than the one in West Street, Brighton. Unfortunately, it could not have been a commercial success because it closed two years after opening.

In 1931 County Cinemas Ltd – an all-British cinema organisation – purchased the building, and within the remarkably short time of ten weeks Robert Cromie had converted it into a cinema. The exterior facade was painted a dazzling white, while the scheme of the interior was green and old gold. The cinema possessed two unique characteristics – one being the fact that there was no balcony, and the auditorium, containing 2,081 seats, stretched back endlessly. Thus the seats at the back were the cheap seats, but you would need good eye-sight to see the silver screen. At least the seats were accommodating, and were described as being ‘the acme of comfort, giving adequate knee room’. Then there was the ever-present noise of the trains rumbling by.

The cinema was called the Lido, and on 6^th May 1932 the Mayor of Hove, Councillor E. J. J. Thompson, opened it. The ceremony began when the curtains were raised to reveal Miss Turner who then proceeded to give a splendid rendering of the National Anthem. The Mayor and Mayoress sat on the stage with the directors of the company, and Donald, Calthrop, a famous British ‘talkie’ star. The group was backed with a shimmering silver curtain, and flanked by green plush curtains. In his speech the Mayor said there was now no need for Hove inhabitants to go to Brighton for entertainment. The inaugural programme contained a Laurel and Hardy comedy Come Clean, and Bobby Howes and Jean Colin in Lord Babs. The newspaper account went on as follows:

‘A great treat was experienced when Reginald Foort, the famous organ broadcast star, appeared at the great Wurlitzer Hope-James Unit Orchestra, an organ which combines the world’s finest pipe organ with all the different instruments of the symphony orchestra under the control of one musician’.

The organ had come originally from Munchen Gladbach. In 1934 John Wright was the resident organist at the Lido. After many years the mighty Wurlitzer was no longer regarded as a wonder, and in 1961 it was removed. The Edinburgh Organ Club were glad to take over the ownership.

Managers

Cecil Arthur Maguire was the manager of the Lido from 1932 to 1940; he was an ex-Colonel from the Boer War and still maintained his upright military bearing.. He was a kindly man, and considerate to his staff, and he had the delightful custom of standing in the foyer to welcome the customers as they arrived. In 1940 he left Hove for the Majestic Cinema, Wembley.

The next manager was Mr D. Newman-Holdsworth, who had previously been the under-manager. He was a graduate of Ripon Cathedral Choir. He was also the complete opposite to Maguire – there was no formality – and it was ‘Call me Don’ to everyone. In appearance he resembled George Formby, and he left in 1943.

George Stevens was then the manager, but he did not stay long, and retired in February 1946.

Youngsters

The Lido catered for youngsters too. In January 1933 there was a special showing of Byrd at the South Pole for Hove’s school-children. On 25 May 1936, Empire Day, there was a special screening of suitable films for older children. This occasion was also used to give prizes to winners of an essay competition organised by the Royal Empire Society. By at least 1938 the Mickey Mouse Club was in full swing, and there were meetings every Saturday morning.

Dave Huggins has some colourful memories of his Saturday morning trips to the Lido where his mother worked shifts in the Lido cafe. The children all belonged to the Mickey Mouse Club – no fee involved – but each child was given a badge and a membership card. The performance started with the Mickey Mouse Club Song, which the children were expected to sing and the words appeared on the screen with a tiny ball bouncing along on top of each word to help them. It is amusing to note that the song included ‘good deeds in Mickey’s House’. Perhaps this was a vain hint from the management that they should behave themselves.

However, when the film abruptly stopped, a not uncommon occurrence, the children became rowdy, chucking orange peel and apple cores at the screen besides booing and shouting. They kept this racket going until things were sorted out in the projection room, and the film started again.

The films the children watched usually included the adventures of Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers or a cowboy feature and cartoon. But Dave’s visits ceased when he left his membership card in the breast pocket of his shirt, and it was boiled in the wash. He hoped to attend the children’s Christmas Party in 1938 and explained the situation to the manager who was unsympathetic, and since he did not have his card, he was not allowed to attend.

Social Conscience

The management had a philanthropic attitude; in July 1938 there was a special screening of the March of Time, which provided a grim portrait of what life was like in the distressed areas of South Wales. The Hove Rotary Club appealed for funds, and the audience was informed that the club had already helped some 286 mothers from Merthyr Tydfil to enjoy a holiday.

In February 1940 before the showing of the famous film The Lion Has Wings there was an urgent appeal on behalf of the Brighton & Hove wing of the Air Defence Cadet Corps by Lieutenant Colonel Sir Cecil Levita, Boer War veteran, and former Hove councillor.

Social Gathering Place

The Lido was so much more than just the place where you went see the latest films. It was something of a social centre as well, the building being open from 11 a.m. to 9. 30 p.m. daily. There was a large restaurant where ‘dainty teas’ were served, as well as suppers and light refreshment. (It is interesting to note that during the Second World War a secret list was drawn up of suitable sites for rest centres in Hove in the case of an emergency, such as people being bombed out of their homes; the cinema appeared on this list).There was a ballroom where you could dance to a live band on a Saturday evening for an outlay of 1/6d.

Miss Marjorie Bentley presided over the Lido School of Dancing, and she taught pupils up to championship level in a room above the foyer.

There was also the Lido School of Motoring as well as the Lido Sports Club, which apparently was a night club.

You might wish to take drawing or painting lessons. If so, Wilfred Powell was the resident artist there in the 1930s. In 1940 he joined the RAF, and served for nine years as an intelligence officer. When he returned to civilian life, he took up painting again, and embarked on a life-size painting of Princess Elizabeth.

A New Owner

In 1938 the Odeon Circuit took over the cinema but it kept its original name for a while, and was not re-named the Odeon until 1941. According to Adam Unger of the Cinema Theatre Association, the name ‘Odeon’ derives from the Greek word ‘Ordeione’ meaning an amphitheatre. Mel Mindelson visited Greece in the 1920s and suggested the name to Oscar Deutsch (Daily Mail 3 February 1998).

The Hove Odeon lasted for twenty years and closed its doors in February 1961; its last screening starred Dirk Bogarde in The Singer not the Song.

The Cinema Site

After the Odeon closed, Rank converted it into a bowling alley known as the Hove Bowl.

In 1968 local businessman Arthur Segal made a bid to convert the premises back into an ice-rink and an amusement centre, but unhappily for him there was a rumour that a builders’ merchants had offered £90,000 for the site to use as a warehouse and distributing centre.

In 1970 the building was demolished and a cash-and-carry warehouse was erected on the site. It became Norman’s Retail Warehouse.

In 1990 the Royal Mail sought planning permission to use the building as a letter-delivery depot. Hove councillors were not particularly happy about the idea, especially at the prospect of some staff starting work at 5 a.m. However, the go-ahead was given and the conversion work took 32 weeks to complete at a cost of £3.5 million. In February 1993 the Mayor of Hove, Councillor Arlene Rowe, opened the new Royal Mail Delivery Office. It employed 145 full-time staff, and there was a special weighing machine to ensure that no postman or postwoman left the premises with a bag heavier than the maximum of 15lbs.

Miscellaneous

In October 1992 fifteen people were evacuated when fire broke out at a newly-refurbished building in the road. The attic flat was destroyed, and there was smoke and water damage to ten other homes, but fortunately nobody was hurt.

In June 1999 a woman living in a basement flat applied for, and received, permission to keep ducks in an enclosure in her back garden, but there could be no more than five ducks.

In January 2000 an elegant and spacious villa was advertised for sale. There were four bedrooms and a magnificent reception area. The lower ground-floor flat was sold leasehold, which produced ground rent of £50 a year. The house was on offer for £299, 500.

Denmark Mews

In the 1870s there were already some stables here, and on 6 June 1879 fire broke out in the stables and workshop belonging to Mr Lidbetter, the Cliftonville contractor. The workmen left as usual at 5.30 p.m. but the carters remained behind to see to the horses. They sent a boy to heat up some water in the carpenter’s shop but he accidentally set fire to some wood shavings left lying about, and the flames spread quickly. The Hove Fire Brigade came within a quarter of an hour of receiving the information. They arrived with the fire engine and one hose-reel from Victoria Terrace with the second hose-reel arriving from Brunswick Street East. Thirty-three fireman turned up (there were only 34 altogther) plus Chief Superintendent Breach and Sergeant Bottrell with a dozen Hove policemen. To add to the general confusion ‘spectators vied with each other in their efforts to supplement the exertions of the fireman and police’.

There was some difficulty in obtaining water, but then the main in Denmark Villas was opened up to supply the engine, one hose was attached to a hydrant in Ellen Street, and another to a hydrant near Hove Railway Station. There were four valuable horses in the adjoining stables and they were rescued safely, but the poor animals were much alarmed by the heat and the noise. In less than hour the workshop was completely gutted, and the concrete roof fell in, leaving only the walls standing. The firemen continued to keep the hoses playing for a further two hours to prevent a flare-up. The cost of the damage was estimated at around £500, partially covered by insurance but unhappily the tools of over a dozen carpenters were destroyed.

In 1880 it was reported to the Hove Commissioners that the six stables did not have the proper receptacles for manure, and notice was served on the owner to comply with section 11 of the Sanitary Bye-laws.

On 3 September 1896 Hove Council approved the plans for stables submitted by Mr G. M. Nye on behalf of Mr Lidbetter.

In 1917 Arthur Simmons and his wife Ivy began to sell bicycle tyres from Denmark Mews; their son was born in Denmark Villas, and his son continued to carry on the family business until 1989 when they moved to more spacious surroundings at 196 Old Shoreham Road, Hove. By this time the firm was known as the South Coast Vulcanizing Company that sold everything for the motor trade.

In June 2000 Gleeson Homes were given planning permission to build twenty new homes in Denmark Mews and Railway Mews. On 16 June 2001 the show house was opened, and a large advertisement in the local Press offered 22 luxury two-, three- and five-bedroom town houses with prices starting at £225,000.

Sources

Argus

Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade

National Portrait Gallery

Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove

Seymour, E Secret Brighton (2020)

Street Directories

QueenSpark Books Back Row Brighton: Cinema-going in Brighton and Hove (2009)

10 July 2021

Denmark Villas, Hove