Judy Middleton 2002 (2021)
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| copyright © J.Middleton Looking west along Lansdowne Road from the Brighton boundary |
Background
Up until the 1850s the road was known as Wick Road. Lansdowne Road was built on land once belonging to the Wick Estate, later the Goldsmid Estate. The Street Directory of 1885 only lists the following:
Frederick Mahomed’s Gymnasium (eventually being identified as number 6)
Lansdowne House occupied by Mr Mahomed
Wick Farm House, occupied by W. Palmer, horse dealer
One other house
Cauliflowers
The Hove Gazette (17 September 1898) reported that there had been an invasion of caterpillars that had eaten its way through a crop of cauliflowers growing on a 70-acre field on the north side of Lansdowne Road. The caterpillars were described as large and green with black spots. Mr Clark farmed the field, and the damage caused was estimated at over £100.
6 Lansdowne Road
Mahomed’s Royal Gymnasium
In 1865 George Lynn & Sons erected the gymnasium on the south side of Lansdowne Road. It was designed by Frederick Mohamed, son of the celebrated Sheik Deen Mahomed who introduced Indian Vapour Baths to Brighton. In 1839 Frederick Mahomed introduced gymnastics to Brighton; his name soon became a household word whenever gymnastics were mentioned.
The Royal Gymnasium covered an area of 85-ft by 65-ft, and contained three handsome rooms where ‘fencing and all kinds of athleticism, as well as trapeze, horizontal bar and Indian club exercise cane be practised effectually’. During his career Frederick Mahomed was the owner and designer of eight popular institutions, mostly in Brighton, but there was another one in Hove situated on the north side of Western Road, near Cambridge Road. He died in 1888, and in the 1890s the gymnasium was run by the Misses Mahomed. It is interesting to note there was once a girl at Brighton High School for Girls known as Adeline Alice Bertha Mahomed. The Misses Mahomed continued to run the gymnasium until 1914 at least, but by 1920 there were different owners.
By 1913 there was also a dancing school located at number 6, which was the number eventually allocated to the gymnasium. It was run by Miss Doris Isaacs who later moved it to Brighton.
Brighton & Hove Progressive Synagogue
The congregation of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue held their first service in 1935 at Hove Town Hall, and the following year Rabbi Marcus Goldberg was engaged. The congregation then purchased 29 New Church Road with the generous assistance of Lewis Coleman-Cohen (later Lord Cohen of Brighton) and Naphtali Ernest Davis. According to the Jewish historian, David Spector, the Davis family had lived in the Brighton area since the 19th century, and the family fortunes were founded by a humble pedlar. This pedlar carried a traditional pedlar’s pack containing many little drawers and compartments in which to store his wares. He used to visit the grand houses in Adelaide Crescent where he would sell trinkets to the female servants of which there was a large number. N. E. Davis became a property developer in Hove, and Davis Park is named after him.
The house in New Church Road then became a Liberal Synagogue, and the first Bar Mitzvah was held there in 1937. But the premises soon became too small for the growing congregation and High Holy Days had to be celebrated in Hove Town Hall, Bernhard Baron Hall, or the Ralli Hall.
In 1937 number 6 Lansdowne Road was purchased, having once been Mahomed’s Royal Gymnasium. It is a remarkable coincidence that the Orthodox Synagogue in Holland Road occupies the site of the former Rolt’s Gymnasium. The plans by architect Edward Lewis for the conversion of the Lansdowne Road site into a synagogue were dated 13 December 1937, and by February 1938 they had been twice revised. On 18 September 1938 Rabbi Dr Israel Mattuch, chief minister of the St John’s Wood Synagogue, consecrated the Lansdowne Road Synagogue.
In 1949 the building was reconstructed, and while this was underway, the congregation de-camped to the premises of the former Commonwealth Club in Third Avenue. Lager on, the Religious School and administrative offices were added to Archie Fay House – Archie Fay being the name of the congregation’s first rabbi. On 17 September 1976 a canopy and new doors were dedicated in memory of Elizabeth Fay, founder member of the synagogue and wife of the first rabbi. Another part of the building has a Montefiore Hall.
In 1976 the title was changed from Brighton & Hove Liberal Jewish Synagogue to Brighton & Hove Progressive Synagogue.
In December 1993 Rabbi William Wolff became the synagogue’s first minister for seven years. The Mayor and Mayoress of Hove, Peter and Jacqui Martin, attended the ceremony. Rabbi Woolf’s first job was with Reuter’s News Agency, and he had worked as a journalist for more than 30 years. At one time he was a political journalist, and at another he was a gossip columnist on the Daily Mirror. In 1979 he embarked on the five-year course to become a rabbi. At his inaugural address, he used the occasion to give vent to his feelings about society’s trend to treat fathers as optional extras.
In March 1995 the congregation celebrated their 60th anniversary, and civic leaders attended the service conducted by Rabbi John Rayner – they were the Mayor of Brighton, Tehmtan Framrose, and the Mayor of Hove, Les Hamilton.
On 18 January 1998 Rabbi Paul Glenz, aged 31, was inducted as the new minister, taking over from Rabbi William Woolf. Rabbi Glenz came from north London and was ordained in July 1997. Ivor Caplin MP, and the Mayor of Brighton & Hove, Betty Walshe, attended the service.
In December 2000 Rabbi Elli (Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah) was appointed. She was the sole female rabbi in Sussex, and one of just 24 in the entire country. Rabbi Elli was ordained in 1989, and worked in three different positions before arriving at Hove. By September 1991 Rabbi Elli was aged 49; Aubrey Milstein, vice-president of the synagogue remarked ‘There was concern by some about her appointment but she has overcome these reservations. She has attracted much favourable comment by her friendly and compassionate approach.’
By 2013 it was felt that the building was long past the time when it was viable to undertake more repairs. Instead, it was proposed to demolish the present structure, but to re-build in a similar form, which would still be in keeping with its surroundings. Brighton-based ADC Ltd presented the planning application. (Argus 18/7/13)
Wavertree House
The house was built in 1892 for Dr John Caldwell Uhthoff.
John Caldwell Uhthoff was born in Harrogate in 1857 and educated at Brighton College and London University. At Guy's Hospital he served as a House Surgeon, House Physician, Obstetric Resident, and Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy. His was next appointment was House Surgeon at the Royal Surrey County Hospital. In the 1880s he moved to 9 Brunswick Place, Hove, after acquiring a large medical practice which he later ran from Wavertree when the house was built. Locally he also held the posts of Hon. Assistant Surgeon to the Sussex County Hospital, Hon. Surgeon to the Brighton and Hove Lying-in Institution and Hon. Surgeon at the Sussex Eye Hospital.
He was considered to harbour revolutionary views as regards medicine, and was a keen advocate for physiotherapy. His wife was closely associated with Mrs Katherine Eggar in establishing the Queen’s Nurses in Brighton. The daughter of the Uhthoffs was a star gymnast at nearby Moss’s Gymnasium in Holland Road, while the son, Captain Roland King Uhthoff of the Royal Engineers was awarded the Military Cross during the First World War, and survived the conflict. Later on, Dr Uhthoff served as a ‘medical referee under the Workman’s Compensation Act 1906’. Uhthoff also performed the duties of school doctor at the nearby boys prep school at Furze Hill known as The Wick.
The 1901 census found the Uhthoffs happily ensconced on the premises with their three daughters. It was just as well that there was plenty of space because the household also included a governess, a nurse, an under-nurse, a cook, two house-maids, one parlour-maid, one kitchen maid, and another female with the odd job description of ‘door-maid’ – presumably her chief occupation was the answer the front door.
Mr and Mrs Uhthoff were fond of their garden, and there were two greenhouses, one constructed in 1898, and the other built the following year. In 1913 Hove Council wanted a 35-ft length of their garden for road-widening purposes. But the good doctor was only willing to part with 24-ft because that would not involve the destruction or removal of some flowering plants ‘he wishes not to be disturbed’. This was agreed, and the council was also accommodating in 1899 when Uhthoff asked for the hackney stand, situated near his house, to be moved elsewhere. The Uthtoffs continued to live in the house until 1921. Dr John Caldwell Uhthoff died in Bournemouth in 1927.
The next occupants were Revd R. C. Lathom Browne and his wife who moved there in 1922. After he died, his widow continued to live in the house until the 1930s. In 1934 the property was sold to the Royal National Institute for the Blind.
In 1991 two blind ladies in their nineties had a shock when a chunk of plaster, measuring 3-ft by 3-ft fell on them from the ceiling. The building inspector later declared the house to be safe. In October 1992 Wavertree House was listed as a building of special architectural or historic interest.
In the 1990s an ambitious scheme costing £3.5 million was undertaken to provide more accommodation. Money came from the RNIB, Anchor Housing Trust, the Government’s Single Regeneration Fund, and other sources, while in 1995 Hove Council awarded a grant of £95,000 towards the project. The old building was retained, but other buildings on the west side were demolished – the last part falling on 25 July 1997. Ivor Caplin MP laid the foundation stone of the new building in September of the same year.
The new development contained 42 self-contained flats, 39 single bedrooms, three bedrooms for couples, a resource centre, gym, plus conference and training rooms open to the public, and a jacuzzi and licensed bar. Manager Sally Wadsworth said people would be able to live there in a fairly independent way together with the reassurance that 24-hour care was available should it become necessary. The new Wavertree House would become the RNIB’s Sussex HQ, and twenty new jobs would be created. The official opening was supposed to take place in August 1998, but in the event it was October of that year before Francis Tonks, Mayor of Brighton & Hove, arrived to carry out that duty.
Wick Lodge
The original house was built in the early 19th century as a square block with an entrance on the north side. According to the 1877 Ordnance Survey Map there was a verandah on the south and west fronts. The property was enlarged in around 1900 with additions on the north side. The entrance was then re-located to the west side at a point where the old building met the new one. The entrance is fronted by a flight of stone steps, and there is a gabled, wooden porch. (Today the location is defined as being at 3 Lansdowne Road.)
In 1841 John Watson, a 65-year old gentleman of independent means, lived in the house with his family and seven servants. John Watson was the former owner of 250 slaves on the St James (Bellfield) Estate in Jamaica, when slavery was abolished in 1833, he received £4622 in compensation, equalvalent to £500,000 in 2021. Watson also put in a further claim for £6075 for the 311 slaves he said he owned on the Lacovo Estate in Jamaica, this claim was dismissed as a 'consensual settlement of the mortgagee's conterclaim'.
(N.B. freed slaves received no compensation)
Watson died on 29 November 1844, but his widow continued to live there. In 1851 she was aged 62 and lived with her two sons, her two daughters (one a spinster, the other married) a one-month old grandson, six female servants, and one male servant. Her son, William Watson, aged 30, was a West India merchant, and her son-in-law, Revd D. Robertson was a curate at Wiston. The other son, John Watson, died on 12 March 1852 and was buried in the churchyard of St Andrew’s Old Church, Hove. Also commemorated there was William Bryce Watson who died in Jamaica on 16 December 1878 aged 57.
The next occupant was John Vibart and his family, who were recorded there in the 1861 census. John Vibart was aged 63, and had retired from the Bombay Civil Service. He had been born at St Helena, while his wife Anna, aged 54, hailed from Scotland. Their family consisted of two sons – John was home on leave from the Bombay Artillery, while William was aged 19; and three unmarried daughters – Ellen 26, Pauline, 20, and seventeen-year old Anna. The Vibarts employed a butler, a footman, and five female servants. Also included in the property were stables, and a lodge for the gate-keeper. The coachman was 33-year old Charles Babb who lived with his wife, three sons, plus the groom. John Vibart died on 7 December 1862.
A Captain Sherlock was briefly at Wick Lodge, but by 1871 the Wilson family were installed on the premises. Mrs Amelia Wilson was a 63-year old widow living with her children Edith, aged 26 and Sidney aged 26 (unmarried), and a grand-daughter There were six female servants, and one male servant.
By 1900 Miss Ida Farrell had taken over Wick Lodge, which incidentally still belonged to the Wick Estate. She wanted to use the building as a girl’s school and in September 1900 Hove Council approved plans submitted by T. Garrett for additions to the house. The school was known as St Michael’s Hall, and Miss Farrell remained head until around 1906.
St Michael’s Hall stayed there for some 30 years but by 1931 it had moved elsewhere in Sussex. Holland House, a boys’ prep school, had moved from Cromwell Road to Wick Lodge in 1931 but by 1934 Holland House was no more – instead there was Claremont School. On 20 June 1934 the school received an important visitor, namely the Maharanee of Nahba, who opened a fete in the school grounds in aid of funds for Hove Hospital. In 1938 the heads of Claremont prep school were W. O’Byrne and J. W. Godfray.
There was an Open Day on 25 September 1999, and an old gentleman came to visit the place where he had once been to school. He recalled the occasion he had received ‘a back-handed cane from the headmaster who was the South of England Squash champion’.
Like other large properties in Hove, Wick Lodge was requisitioned during the Second World War and was known as Claremont House.
St Anne’s Convent
In 1945 Wick Lodge began another chapter of its life by becoming St Anne’s Convent. It was occupied by the Order of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God. Their mother house was in Roehampton, and it was the same order that had been established at Portslade Manor since 1904, and known as St Marye’s Convent. Traditionally, St Anne was the mother of the Virgin Mary; the fact that St Ann’s Well was nearby was a coincidence, although strangely enough St Anne was often associated with healing springs.
Wick Lodge became a Grade II listed building on 10 September 1971
The nuns ran a children’s home in the convent, and they also made use of an adjoining property called Woodside for use as a kindergarten for under-five year old children. This arrangement lasted until May 1983 when East Sussex County Council revised the options for children in care, and the new emphasis was in favour of children being fostered in ordinary families rather than living in an institution.
Instead, in September 1983 the convent opened its doors to homeless women. By March 1984 some 35 women had been admitted for short or long stays, and a day centre had been created for them out of the children’s nursery. At noon, soup and a hot meal were served. In 1984 Sister Alessio was sister-in-charge. In January 1987 Sister Eynard stated there was an average of 35 people for lunch. By May 1993 the service had expanded to include a clothing store, and recreational and washing facilities. Between 40 to 60 people had lunch every weekday, and Marks & Spencer made regular contributions of bread and salad.
Unfortunately, the sisters were in trouble with dwindling numbers, and by the 1990s there were only five nuns left – it was the same story at St Marye’s Convent, Portslade. It seemed a sensible idea for the sisters from St Anne’s to move to the smaller premises of Woodside. Unfortunately, that meant the historic Wick Lodge was left unoccupied, which proved an open invitation to squatters. The freehold of Wick Lodge was put up for sale in April 1994. In September 1995 the squatters were said to be composed of the Brighton-based Justice? Group, Camden’s Rainbow Tribe, and West Pier squatters. Apparently, they hoped to be able to purchase the property for the homeless. But the nuns sought eviction orders through the High Court. There was a delay of implementation because of concerns for a pregnant woman and child. Then, although an eviction order had been granted, the squatters appealed, and it was not until 10 November 1995 that around twenty squatters were finally moved on. The night before they left, a fire broke out in one of the bedrooms, and fire-fighters had to deal with it.
In late November some of the nuns returned to Wick Lodge to view the damage, and were horrified at what they found. Indeed, it was so bad Sister Joan said they could scarcely recognise the place as their once-spotless convent. Anything of value had been ripped out, and that included antique fire-places and door-knobs. Doors and cupboards had been wrenched off and used as fire-wood. Most of the walls were covered with graffiti.
On 29 November 1995 James Mannion, known as Seamus, aged 41, was buried at Woodingdean, having died of bronchitis ten days after being evicted. He said he hoped living at the convent would help him get back on his feet because he had been homeless for eight years.
Plans to convert Wick Lodge into a nursing home were put before the council, but nothing came of it.
Bodhisattya Mahayna Buddhist Centre
Buddhists purchased Wick Lodge. They used to be based in a terraced house in Vernon Terrace, Brighton, and it took two years of fund-raising before they could re-allocate to Hove. In July 1997 work started on the refurbishment of the building, and it was hoped to be ready for occupation by the Spring of 1998. Perhaps the work progressed faster than estimated – at any rate in November 1997 it was stated that there were around 25 Buddhists, both monks and nuns, living there. They belonged to the new Kadampa Tradition, wear sleeveless robes of yellow and purple, and shave their heads. In 1991 there were 22 Kadampa Buddhist centres in Britain, but by 1997 the number had grown to over 170.
On 25 September 1999 an Open Day was held so that members of the public could have a look around. In the entrance hall there was a Greek Revival-style frieze and capitals, and the doors were in a similar style, and somewhat squat-looking – they are being taken back to the original wood. The elegant cantilevered staircase still remained, although unfortunately several balusters were missing. The balusters were made of cast-iron with a stylised wheat design, while the handrail was of wood.
The three bays of the south front (the old part) were occupied by the Gompa Chapel, formerly the Convent Chapel. The community have retained the stained-glass window of the Virgin and Child, Jesus holding an orb, with the Virgin’s hair being a somewhat unusual orange/gold colour. The other widows were huge and rounded with stained-glass borders but otherwise filled with plain glass, and so there was plenty of light.
The Virgin and Child window is right next to the Buddhist altar, which is a large structure of light oak, glass-fronted, and extending the whole width of the wall. The monks crafted it, and the glass panel had only been installed the previous day. A figure of the Budhha takes the central position, and there is plenty of colour and variety on either side with offerings of wine, rice, food, water and flowers lined up along the front. There was also a photograph of Geshe Kelsang, a Tibetan Lama, and the community’s spiritual leader. Deep-pile carpeting covered the floor, and everybody had to remove their shoes before entering. There is another chapel on the north side of the house that contains an 8-ft statue of the Buddha.
In April 2000 John Rennie, administrator director, said the land at the back of the house was in a dreadful state, but they intended to convert it into a Peace Garden. The five-year scheme would cost around £50,000 but work would start at once with a grant of £1,500 from the Shell Better Britain Campaign, and £200 from the Place to be Small Projects Fund. However, first of all the old tarmac had to be removed, as well as contaminated earth and an old diesel tank. The plan was to create a raised area near the back of the garden, and paths between the different areas such as a bog garden, pond and fountain, and a wild grass meadow with flowers. There would be specially commissioned sculptures, hand-carved benches, a small temple and a stupa (a dome-shaped shrine). There would also be an organic vegetable plot so that the community could be more self-sufficient.
Today, the centre is still flourishing, although of course Covid-19 stopped it from being open to the public for such events as meditation classes. But there is now a World Peace Cafe plus a small shop where you can buy gifts and books. However, for Hove stalwarts, it is rather annoying to find that its on-line publicity describes it as being in Brighton; suffice it to say that Wick Lodge has been located within the boundaries of Hove for around 200 years, and counting.
Dunmore House
This was located next to Somerhill Road. During the 1920s and 1930s it was occupied by a man with the tongue-twisting name of Walter Walton
Mercia House
Major General Henry Tanfield Vachell R. A. (1835-1902) lived in Mercia house from 1887 until 1890. He served in the Bombay Artillery and saw action in the Persian Expedition and the Indian Mutiny.
Henry was born in Macao in 1835 the son of the Revd George Harvey Vachell, Chaplain to the East Indian Company in China. In his spare time the Revd George was a naturalist, illustrator of plants and a plant collector in China. The Genus Vachellia (tree) is named after the Revd George Vachell. After 1890 Major General Henry Vachell moved to 7 Adelaide Crescent where he died in 1902.
Captain James Terence Fitzmaurice (1835-1917) lived in Mercia House for around three years from 1904. He also had an ‘honourable’ attached to his name, which was only right and proper for the eight child and fifth son of the 5th Earl of Orkney. But as a fifth son, he was somewhat low in the pecking order, and needed to carve out his own career. Indeed, it was once stated, with some justification, that the British Empire was peppered with younger sons of the nobility making their own way in the world. As for Captain Fitzmaurice, he chose the Navy, and spent 27 years in the Senior Service. He must have had a robust constitution because he was much in foreign seas, and was to be found in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) from 1867 to 1870 where he filled the post of Inspector of Prisons.
However, the gallant captain was somewhat unfortunate in his wives who both predeceased him. His first wife Frances Rhoda Ousley died in 1907. In 1911 he married widow Mrs Eleanor Hodges. On 2 July 1913 the Honourable Mrs Fitzmaurice set off to attend a garden party at Furze Hill. Her means of conveyance was a stylish landau with coachman Edward Still, and groom Thomas Tillman, managing the two chestnut horses. The equipage must have cut quite a dash passing through the streets of Hove. After the party, Mrs Fitzmaurice and her friend Miss B. Farman, went on to visit a house in Wilbury Road where they stayed for some 45 minutes. It was while the coachman was trying to turn the landau around afterwards, that disaster struck because a carriage pole snapped, the legs of the horses became ensnared in the traces and the ladies were thrown out, landing on their faces. Still and Tillman had already jumped off to try and sort things out, and the carriage wheels ran over Still, breaking three ribs. But it was Mrs Fitzmaurice who was badly injured in her head, and despite medical attention she died four days later.
C. H. Charles Lamsden – He was a physician who wrote medical treatises and he lived in Mercia House during the 1920s and 1930s.
Lady Mabel Fairfield lived in Mercia House in the late 1940s. She was the widow of the Rt Hon. Sir Frederick Greer, Lord Fairfield of Caldy (1865-1945). Sir Frederick became a King's Counsel in 1910, and in 1919 a judge of the High Court of Justice. When Mabel married Sir Frederick, a widower, in 1939 she was a widow, having been formerly married to a Charles W Neele of 28 Second Avenue, Hove.
The Churchill Plaque
On the north side of the road there is a blue plaque to Sir Winston Churchill. This is the second plaque to be erected there, but unfortunately, since both of them were privately sponsored, the same mistakes have been repeated. The plaque states that young Winston attended school here 1883-1885 whereas it was actually 1884-1888. The plaque also records the worthy ladies who ran the school as the Misses Thompson but their surname had no ‘p’ in it. The plaque is also in an awkward place because the school it refers to was situated at 29/30 Brunswick Road, and people expect to see it on that frontage. The mistakes have been pointed out to the authorities without success. But surely four years of schooling at Hove in the life of such an important man should be more widely known.
19A Lansdowne Road
1924 Percy Edgar Thorowgood (a London Stock Broker) and his wife Florence lived at Homestead in Lansdowne Road before moving to 19A. Their son Private Vernon Edgar was killed at the battle of Ypres in 1917 aged 23. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission states, Private Vernon Edgar Thorowgood parents lived at 19A Lansdowne Road, Vernon's name is not listed on Hove's War Memorial, probably because he enlisted into the army in London. Coincedently a Captain Leslie Vernon Thorowgood RFC, also from London but lived in Sackville Gardens, Hove, is listed on Hove's War Memorial and probably a cousin or Vernon.
From 1928 to 1930 -William Wilkinson lived at 19A
From 1930 Lady Anne Charlotte Seymour (1853-1935) live at 19A until her death in 1935, she had previously lived in Grand Avenue, and was the wife of Sir William Henry Seymour (d.1921).
Lady Seymour was on the organising committees for the Lady Chichester Hospital in Brunswick, Brighton Medical Mission and the Belgian Refugees Local Relief.
It appears Lady Seymour lived with a relative at 19A, as a Miss Elizabeth Mary Seymour who continued to live at this address until 1956.
Lady Almina, Countess of Carnarvon, and The Red House
The Red House was located in Lansdowne Road, and was built in 1913 for Lord Carnarvon. It has been difficult to work out who exactly lived there from 1914 until the early 1920s because the Red House does not seem to appear in the Street Directories.
George and Hilda Brigden occupied Red House from 1924 until 1925, followed by Mrs Rihil from 1926 until 1932. Mrs Jack Buckley’s School of Dancing at number 21, which incidentally is now the number allocated to the Red House; it is still in existence, having been converted into six flats by 1951.
The Brighton and Hove Street Directory for 1934 states that Lady Almina, Duchess of Carnavron, was the occupant of the Red House, still without a number.
Countess of Carnarvon (1876-1969) lived a long and eventful life. She was given a clutch of Christian names – Almina Victoria Maria Alexandra – perhaps as a counter-weight to her rather undignified surname of Wombwell.
There is a fascinating story about her unusual first name of Almina. Apparently, her mother was always known in the family as Mina, while the ‘Al’ was a nod to Sir Alfred Charles de Rothschild, her biological father. Of course such a secret was not noised abroad when she was young, but she was born after the Wombwells’ marriage had broken up. However, young Almina was blessed with great beauty and a tiny waist, not to mention the vast wealth accruing from Rothschild. It was no surprise that at the tender age of nineteen she married George Edward Stanhope Molyneaux Stanhope, 5th Earl of Carnarvon.
In fact it was her wealth that enabled Lord Carnavron to pursue his fascination with Egyptian archaeology. She did not always remain at home supervising the running of their great house Highclere, but often accompanied her husband on his travels. Perhaps her taste for travel evolved from their honeymoon on the continent. But Lord Carnavron suffered from ill health, and his wife had nursed him back to stability several times. However, when he became gravely ill in Egypt, she was staying at Seamore Place in London where she had been unwell herself. On hearing the desperate news from their daughter Eve who was with her father in Egypt along with her brother, Lady Almina at once made arrangements to fly to her husband’s side. He died on 5 April 1923, and his terrier dog, Susie, who was at home in Highclere, knew what had happened, gave one anguished howl, and died. It is said that the lights in Cairo went out.
Lady Almina was only 47 years old when she was widowed, and perhaps it was inevitable that she would marry again. But perhaps not quite so quickly because merely eight months later she became the wife of Lieutenant Colonel Ian Onslow Dennistoun. It was not a whirlwind romance because they were already good friends. He was confined to a wheelchair because he had a badly broken hip. But he was a kind man and helped her get over her husband’s death. She found that acting as a nurse to both husbands was not a chore at all, and indeed she felt that her true calling was nursing – during the First World War Highclere was turned into a military hospital, and she dreamed of opening a new hospital, which she finally managed to do in 1927, naming it Alfred House to honour her father.
Emmanuel Church
This church had the unusual distinction of being half in Hove (Lansdowne Road) and half in Brighton (Norfolk Terrace). For example, the chancel was in Hove, while the nave and aisles were in Brighton. Originally, the pulpit was in Brighton too but when refurbishment took place in 1878, the pulpit was moved and joined the reading desk in Hove.
According to Elleray the architect was probably S. Hemmings. The church was built of brick and faced with stucco, and consisted of a nave of three bays, aisles and transepts. It was in around 1868 that Revd D. R. Winslow opened the church as an independent Free Church. But then Dr Winslow and his congregation decided they would like to join forces with the Church of England. Therefore in 1870 the Bishop of Chichester ordained Dr Winslow, and licensed the church. But it is interesting to note that the church does not seem to have been consecrated. It maintained a strict Protestant character with a very plain altar and a service entirely devoid of ritual; it was also large enough to accommodate 1,500 people.
The emphasis was on the eloquent preaching of the incumbent, who as a description from 1874 records, was ‘a preacher of considerable power and ability, and can generally maintain the interest of his congregation, but his voice is insufficient to penetrate every part of his large church’. The congregation used a book containing 929 hymns compiled by Dr Winslow ‘nearly all of them being recognised Dissenting effusions’. It appears that the congregation at that time was wealthy.
The second incumbent was Revd John George Gergory, who arrived in 1878, and at once set about installing a new organ costing £500, the cost coming from his own pocket. Walter & Sons of London installed the organ, and there were 1,100 pipes. The organ screen and decorations were designed by the architect Mr Simpson, and the work was carried out by G. G. Grabutt.
In 1899 it was stated that the church was the private freehold property of Revd J. G. Gregory MA of Gaius College, Cambridge, and operated under a licence from the Bishop of Chichester.
In 1899 the church was leased to the Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion – their main church being in North Street, Brighton.
In 1912 Revd Harries S. Gregory MA of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, became the fourth incumbent, having inherited the freehold from his father, the second incumbent. He maintained the Protestant and evangelical witness of the church, and built up a large congregation. In 1913 the church was restored, together with the large hall and rooms attached. In 1936 the Church Association Trust (later the Church Society Trust) purchased the freehold from Revd Gregory on the understanding that it should be kept as a Protestant and evangelical Church of England place of worship for as long as possible. Revd Gregory retired in 1937 and died in July 1944; a memorial service was held at Emmanuel.
Sadly, after his death, a decline soon set in with the result that the last service was held on 26 August 1962, and the property was sold in 1963. There seemed to be no other option but demolition, but before that could happen, planning approval had to be sought from both Hove Council and Brighton Council. The church and buildings were demolished in 1965. The new Baptist Tabernacle now occupies the site.
Ministers
1868-1878 – Revd Dr Octavius Winslow
1878-1897 – Revd John George Gregory’s
1897-1912 – Revd J. H. Figgis
1912-1937 – Revd Harries S. Gregory’s
1938 Revd R. Daunton-Fear
1939-1943 – Revd R. J. Cobb
1944-1950 – Revd A. Phibbs
1951-1959 – Revd H. Anton
Hove Trial Centre
It occupies a corner site with Holland Road although the entrance is in Lansdowne Road. It was built after some some houses were demolished and was officially opened on 19 November 1971 with the name of Hove Magistrates’ Court.
Hove Planning Approvals
1913 – H. Cresswell, detached house, north side, west of York Avenue
1922 – G. M. Simpson for Miss Hancock, one pair semi-detached houses, north side
1925 – P. E. Weller, agent for the Wick Estate, proposed to erect a house between Holland Road and Salisbury Road, set 40-ft back from the foot-path, and assurance was sought by the council that it would not prejudice the building line of future houses.
1926 – P. E. Weller, agent for the Wick Estate, proposed to build a house 95-ft back from Palmeira Avenue and 27-ft from Lansdowne Road, although the building line for Palmeira Avenue was 18-ft, and for Lansdowne Road was 20-ft. The council agreed to the proposal.
1926 – Messrs William Willett Ltd, one pair semi-detached houses, south side
1926 – S. H. Tiltman for H. M. Gates, one detached house, north side, at Palmeira Avenue
1927 – Messrs Limpus & Sons for the Hove Estate Company, three blocks of 80 flats in Lansdowne Road and Furze Hill
Sources
Argus 18/7/13 / 25/9/10)
Carnarvon, the Countess of, Lady Almina and the real Downton Abbey (paperback edition 2012)
Ellaray, D. R. Victorian Churches of Sussex (1981)
Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
National Portrait Gallery
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Street Directories
Copyright © J.Middleton 2021
page layout by and additional research by D. Sharp
Up until the 1850s the road was known as Wick Road. Lansdowne Road was built on land once belonging to the Wick Estate, later the Goldsmid Estate. The Street Directory of 1885 only lists the following:
Frederick Mahomed’s Gymnasium (eventually being identified as number 6)
Lansdowne House occupied by Mr Mahomed
Wick Farm House, occupied by W. Palmer, horse dealer
One other house
Cauliflowers
The Hove Gazette (17 September 1898) reported that there had been an invasion of caterpillars that had eaten its way through a crop of cauliflowers growing on a 70-acre field on the north side of Lansdowne Road. The caterpillars were described as large and green with black spots. Mr Clark farmed the field, and the damage caused was estimated at over £100.
6 Lansdowne Road
Mahomed’s Royal Gymnasium
In 1865 George Lynn & Sons erected the gymnasium on the south side of Lansdowne Road. It was designed by Frederick Mohamed, son of the celebrated Sheik Deen Mahomed who introduced Indian Vapour Baths to Brighton. In 1839 Frederick Mahomed introduced gymnastics to Brighton; his name soon became a household word whenever gymnastics were mentioned.
The Royal Gymnasium covered an area of 85-ft by 65-ft, and contained three handsome rooms where ‘fencing and all kinds of athleticism, as well as trapeze, horizontal bar and Indian club exercise cane be practised effectually’. During his career Frederick Mahomed was the owner and designer of eight popular institutions, mostly in Brighton, but there was another one in Hove situated on the north side of Western Road, near Cambridge Road. He died in 1888, and in the 1890s the gymnasium was run by the Misses Mahomed. It is interesting to note there was once a girl at Brighton High School for Girls known as Adeline Alice Bertha Mahomed. The Misses Mahomed continued to run the gymnasium until 1914 at least, but by 1920 there were different owners.
By 1913 there was also a dancing school located at number 6, which was the number eventually allocated to the gymnasium. It was run by Miss Doris Isaacs who later moved it to Brighton.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 1 December 1917 |
Brighton & Hove Progressive Synagogue
The congregation of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue held their first service in 1935 at Hove Town Hall, and the following year Rabbi Marcus Goldberg was engaged. The congregation then purchased 29 New Church Road with the generous assistance of Lewis Coleman-Cohen (later Lord Cohen of Brighton) and Naphtali Ernest Davis. According to the Jewish historian, David Spector, the Davis family had lived in the Brighton area since the 19th century, and the family fortunes were founded by a humble pedlar. This pedlar carried a traditional pedlar’s pack containing many little drawers and compartments in which to store his wares. He used to visit the grand houses in Adelaide Crescent where he would sell trinkets to the female servants of which there was a large number. N. E. Davis became a property developer in Hove, and Davis Park is named after him.
The house in New Church Road then became a Liberal Synagogue, and the first Bar Mitzvah was held there in 1937. But the premises soon became too small for the growing congregation and High Holy Days had to be celebrated in Hove Town Hall, Bernhard Baron Hall, or the Ralli Hall.
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| copyright © J.Middleton The Synagogue |
In 1937 number 6 Lansdowne Road was purchased, having once been Mahomed’s Royal Gymnasium. It is a remarkable coincidence that the Orthodox Synagogue in Holland Road occupies the site of the former Rolt’s Gymnasium. The plans by architect Edward Lewis for the conversion of the Lansdowne Road site into a synagogue were dated 13 December 1937, and by February 1938 they had been twice revised. On 18 September 1938 Rabbi Dr Israel Mattuch, chief minister of the St John’s Wood Synagogue, consecrated the Lansdowne Road Synagogue.
In 1949 the building was reconstructed, and while this was underway, the congregation de-camped to the premises of the former Commonwealth Club in Third Avenue. Lager on, the Religious School and administrative offices were added to Archie Fay House – Archie Fay being the name of the congregation’s first rabbi. On 17 September 1976 a canopy and new doors were dedicated in memory of Elizabeth Fay, founder member of the synagogue and wife of the first rabbi. Another part of the building has a Montefiore Hall.
In 1976 the title was changed from Brighton & Hove Liberal Jewish Synagogue to Brighton & Hove Progressive Synagogue.
In December 1993 Rabbi William Wolff became the synagogue’s first minister for seven years. The Mayor and Mayoress of Hove, Peter and Jacqui Martin, attended the ceremony. Rabbi Woolf’s first job was with Reuter’s News Agency, and he had worked as a journalist for more than 30 years. At one time he was a political journalist, and at another he was a gossip columnist on the Daily Mirror. In 1979 he embarked on the five-year course to become a rabbi. At his inaugural address, he used the occasion to give vent to his feelings about society’s trend to treat fathers as optional extras.
In March 1995 the congregation celebrated their 60th anniversary, and civic leaders attended the service conducted by Rabbi John Rayner – they were the Mayor of Brighton, Tehmtan Framrose, and the Mayor of Hove, Les Hamilton.
On 18 January 1998 Rabbi Paul Glenz, aged 31, was inducted as the new minister, taking over from Rabbi William Woolf. Rabbi Glenz came from north London and was ordained in July 1997. Ivor Caplin MP, and the Mayor of Brighton & Hove, Betty Walshe, attended the service.
In December 2000 Rabbi Elli (Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah) was appointed. She was the sole female rabbi in Sussex, and one of just 24 in the entire country. Rabbi Elli was ordained in 1989, and worked in three different positions before arriving at Hove. By September 1991 Rabbi Elli was aged 49; Aubrey Milstein, vice-president of the synagogue remarked ‘There was concern by some about her appointment but she has overcome these reservations. She has attracted much favourable comment by her friendly and compassionate approach.’
By 2013 it was felt that the building was long past the time when it was viable to undertake more repairs. Instead, it was proposed to demolish the present structure, but to re-build in a similar form, which would still be in keeping with its surroundings. Brighton-based ADC Ltd presented the planning application. (Argus 18/7/13)
Wavertree House
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| copyright © J.Middleton Wavertree House has an impressive frontage |
The house was built in 1892 for Dr John Caldwell Uhthoff.
John Caldwell Uhthoff was born in Harrogate in 1857 and educated at Brighton College and London University. At Guy's Hospital he served as a House Surgeon, House Physician, Obstetric Resident, and Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy. His was next appointment was House Surgeon at the Royal Surrey County Hospital. In the 1880s he moved to 9 Brunswick Place, Hove, after acquiring a large medical practice which he later ran from Wavertree when the house was built. Locally he also held the posts of Hon. Assistant Surgeon to the Sussex County Hospital, Hon. Surgeon to the Brighton and Hove Lying-in Institution and Hon. Surgeon at the Sussex Eye Hospital.
He was considered to harbour revolutionary views as regards medicine, and was a keen advocate for physiotherapy. His wife was closely associated with Mrs Katherine Eggar in establishing the Queen’s Nurses in Brighton. The daughter of the Uhthoffs was a star gymnast at nearby Moss’s Gymnasium in Holland Road, while the son, Captain Roland King Uhthoff of the Royal Engineers was awarded the Military Cross during the First World War, and survived the conflict. Later on, Dr Uhthoff served as a ‘medical referee under the Workman’s Compensation Act 1906’. Uhthoff also performed the duties of school doctor at the nearby boys prep school at Furze Hill known as The Wick.
The 1901 census found the Uhthoffs happily ensconced on the premises with their three daughters. It was just as well that there was plenty of space because the household also included a governess, a nurse, an under-nurse, a cook, two house-maids, one parlour-maid, one kitchen maid, and another female with the odd job description of ‘door-maid’ – presumably her chief occupation was the answer the front door.
Mr and Mrs Uhthoff were fond of their garden, and there were two greenhouses, one constructed in 1898, and the other built the following year. In 1913 Hove Council wanted a 35-ft length of their garden for road-widening purposes. But the good doctor was only willing to part with 24-ft because that would not involve the destruction or removal of some flowering plants ‘he wishes not to be disturbed’. This was agreed, and the council was also accommodating in 1899 when Uhthoff asked for the hackney stand, situated near his house, to be moved elsewhere. The Uthtoffs continued to live in the house until 1921. Dr John Caldwell Uhthoff died in Bournemouth in 1927.
The next occupants were Revd R. C. Lathom Browne and his wife who moved there in 1922. After he died, his widow continued to live in the house until the 1930s. In 1934 the property was sold to the Royal National Institute for the Blind.
In 1991 two blind ladies in their nineties had a shock when a chunk of plaster, measuring 3-ft by 3-ft fell on them from the ceiling. The building inspector later declared the house to be safe. In October 1992 Wavertree House was listed as a building of special architectural or historic interest.
In the 1990s an ambitious scheme costing £3.5 million was undertaken to provide more accommodation. Money came from the RNIB, Anchor Housing Trust, the Government’s Single Regeneration Fund, and other sources, while in 1995 Hove Council awarded a grant of £95,000 towards the project. The old building was retained, but other buildings on the west side were demolished – the last part falling on 25 July 1997. Ivor Caplin MP laid the foundation stone of the new building in September of the same year.
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| copyright © J.Middleton Some of the new buildings can be seen behind Wavertree House |
The new development contained 42 self-contained flats, 39 single bedrooms, three bedrooms for couples, a resource centre, gym, plus conference and training rooms open to the public, and a jacuzzi and licensed bar. Manager Sally Wadsworth said people would be able to live there in a fairly independent way together with the reassurance that 24-hour care was available should it become necessary. The new Wavertree House would become the RNIB’s Sussex HQ, and twenty new jobs would be created. The official opening was supposed to take place in August 1998, but in the event it was October of that year before Francis Tonks, Mayor of Brighton & Hove, arrived to carry out that duty.
Wick Lodge
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| copyright © J.Middleton The southern frontage of Wick Lodge |
The original house was built in the early 19th century as a square block with an entrance on the north side. According to the 1877 Ordnance Survey Map there was a verandah on the south and west fronts. The property was enlarged in around 1900 with additions on the north side. The entrance was then re-located to the west side at a point where the old building met the new one. The entrance is fronted by a flight of stone steps, and there is a gabled, wooden porch. (Today the location is defined as being at 3 Lansdowne Road.)
In 1841 John Watson, a 65-year old gentleman of independent means, lived in the house with his family and seven servants. John Watson was the former owner of 250 slaves on the St James (Bellfield) Estate in Jamaica, when slavery was abolished in 1833, he received £4622 in compensation, equalvalent to £500,000 in 2021. Watson also put in a further claim for £6075 for the 311 slaves he said he owned on the Lacovo Estate in Jamaica, this claim was dismissed as a 'consensual settlement of the mortgagee's conterclaim'.
(N.B. freed slaves received no compensation)
Watson died on 29 November 1844, but his widow continued to live there. In 1851 she was aged 62 and lived with her two sons, her two daughters (one a spinster, the other married) a one-month old grandson, six female servants, and one male servant. Her son, William Watson, aged 30, was a West India merchant, and her son-in-law, Revd D. Robertson was a curate at Wiston. The other son, John Watson, died on 12 March 1852 and was buried in the churchyard of St Andrew’s Old Church, Hove. Also commemorated there was William Bryce Watson who died in Jamaica on 16 December 1878 aged 57.
The next occupant was John Vibart and his family, who were recorded there in the 1861 census. John Vibart was aged 63, and had retired from the Bombay Civil Service. He had been born at St Helena, while his wife Anna, aged 54, hailed from Scotland. Their family consisted of two sons – John was home on leave from the Bombay Artillery, while William was aged 19; and three unmarried daughters – Ellen 26, Pauline, 20, and seventeen-year old Anna. The Vibarts employed a butler, a footman, and five female servants. Also included in the property were stables, and a lodge for the gate-keeper. The coachman was 33-year old Charles Babb who lived with his wife, three sons, plus the groom. John Vibart died on 7 December 1862.
A Captain Sherlock was briefly at Wick Lodge, but by 1871 the Wilson family were installed on the premises. Mrs Amelia Wilson was a 63-year old widow living with her children Edith, aged 26 and Sidney aged 26 (unmarried), and a grand-daughter There were six female servants, and one male servant.
By 1900 Miss Ida Farrell had taken over Wick Lodge, which incidentally still belonged to the Wick Estate. She wanted to use the building as a girl’s school and in September 1900 Hove Council approved plans submitted by T. Garrett for additions to the house. The school was known as St Michael’s Hall, and Miss Farrell remained head until around 1906.
St Michael’s Hall stayed there for some 30 years but by 1931 it had moved elsewhere in Sussex. Holland House, a boys’ prep school, had moved from Cromwell Road to Wick Lodge in 1931 but by 1934 Holland House was no more – instead there was Claremont School. On 20 June 1934 the school received an important visitor, namely the Maharanee of Nahba, who opened a fete in the school grounds in aid of funds for Hove Hospital. In 1938 the heads of Claremont prep school were W. O’Byrne and J. W. Godfray.
There was an Open Day on 25 September 1999, and an old gentleman came to visit the place where he had once been to school. He recalled the occasion he had received ‘a back-handed cane from the headmaster who was the South of England Squash champion’.
Like other large properties in Hove, Wick Lodge was requisitioned during the Second World War and was known as Claremont House.
St Anne’s Convent
In 1945 Wick Lodge began another chapter of its life by becoming St Anne’s Convent. It was occupied by the Order of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God. Their mother house was in Roehampton, and it was the same order that had been established at Portslade Manor since 1904, and known as St Marye’s Convent. Traditionally, St Anne was the mother of the Virgin Mary; the fact that St Ann’s Well was nearby was a coincidence, although strangely enough St Anne was often associated with healing springs.
Wick Lodge became a Grade II listed building on 10 September 1971
The nuns ran a children’s home in the convent, and they also made use of an adjoining property called Woodside for use as a kindergarten for under-five year old children. This arrangement lasted until May 1983 when East Sussex County Council revised the options for children in care, and the new emphasis was in favour of children being fostered in ordinary families rather than living in an institution.
Instead, in September 1983 the convent opened its doors to homeless women. By March 1984 some 35 women had been admitted for short or long stays, and a day centre had been created for them out of the children’s nursery. At noon, soup and a hot meal were served. In 1984 Sister Alessio was sister-in-charge. In January 1987 Sister Eynard stated there was an average of 35 people for lunch. By May 1993 the service had expanded to include a clothing store, and recreational and washing facilities. Between 40 to 60 people had lunch every weekday, and Marks & Spencer made regular contributions of bread and salad.
Unfortunately, the sisters were in trouble with dwindling numbers, and by the 1990s there were only five nuns left – it was the same story at St Marye’s Convent, Portslade. It seemed a sensible idea for the sisters from St Anne’s to move to the smaller premises of Woodside. Unfortunately, that meant the historic Wick Lodge was left unoccupied, which proved an open invitation to squatters. The freehold of Wick Lodge was put up for sale in April 1994. In September 1995 the squatters were said to be composed of the Brighton-based Justice? Group, Camden’s Rainbow Tribe, and West Pier squatters. Apparently, they hoped to be able to purchase the property for the homeless. But the nuns sought eviction orders through the High Court. There was a delay of implementation because of concerns for a pregnant woman and child. Then, although an eviction order had been granted, the squatters appealed, and it was not until 10 November 1995 that around twenty squatters were finally moved on. The night before they left, a fire broke out in one of the bedrooms, and fire-fighters had to deal with it.
In late November some of the nuns returned to Wick Lodge to view the damage, and were horrified at what they found. Indeed, it was so bad Sister Joan said they could scarcely recognise the place as their once-spotless convent. Anything of value had been ripped out, and that included antique fire-places and door-knobs. Doors and cupboards had been wrenched off and used as fire-wood. Most of the walls were covered with graffiti.
On 29 November 1995 James Mannion, known as Seamus, aged 41, was buried at Woodingdean, having died of bronchitis ten days after being evicted. He said he hoped living at the convent would help him get back on his feet because he had been homeless for eight years.
Plans to convert Wick Lodge into a nursing home were put before the council, but nothing came of it.
Bodhisattya Mahayna Buddhist Centre
Buddhists purchased Wick Lodge. They used to be based in a terraced house in Vernon Terrace, Brighton, and it took two years of fund-raising before they could re-allocate to Hove. In July 1997 work started on the refurbishment of the building, and it was hoped to be ready for occupation by the Spring of 1998. Perhaps the work progressed faster than estimated – at any rate in November 1997 it was stated that there were around 25 Buddhists, both monks and nuns, living there. They belonged to the new Kadampa Tradition, wear sleeveless robes of yellow and purple, and shave their heads. In 1991 there were 22 Kadampa Buddhist centres in Britain, but by 1997 the number had grown to over 170.
On 25 September 1999 an Open Day was held so that members of the public could have a look around. In the entrance hall there was a Greek Revival-style frieze and capitals, and the doors were in a similar style, and somewhat squat-looking – they are being taken back to the original wood. The elegant cantilevered staircase still remained, although unfortunately several balusters were missing. The balusters were made of cast-iron with a stylised wheat design, while the handrail was of wood.
The three bays of the south front (the old part) were occupied by the Gompa Chapel, formerly the Convent Chapel. The community have retained the stained-glass window of the Virgin and Child, Jesus holding an orb, with the Virgin’s hair being a somewhat unusual orange/gold colour. The other widows were huge and rounded with stained-glass borders but otherwise filled with plain glass, and so there was plenty of light.
The Virgin and Child window is right next to the Buddhist altar, which is a large structure of light oak, glass-fronted, and extending the whole width of the wall. The monks crafted it, and the glass panel had only been installed the previous day. A figure of the Budhha takes the central position, and there is plenty of colour and variety on either side with offerings of wine, rice, food, water and flowers lined up along the front. There was also a photograph of Geshe Kelsang, a Tibetan Lama, and the community’s spiritual leader. Deep-pile carpeting covered the floor, and everybody had to remove their shoes before entering. There is another chapel on the north side of the house that contains an 8-ft statue of the Buddha.
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| copyright © J.Middleton The potting shed at the Buddhist Centre photographed in September 2015 |
In April 2000 John Rennie, administrator director, said the land at the back of the house was in a dreadful state, but they intended to convert it into a Peace Garden. The five-year scheme would cost around £50,000 but work would start at once with a grant of £1,500 from the Shell Better Britain Campaign, and £200 from the Place to be Small Projects Fund. However, first of all the old tarmac had to be removed, as well as contaminated earth and an old diesel tank. The plan was to create a raised area near the back of the garden, and paths between the different areas such as a bog garden, pond and fountain, and a wild grass meadow with flowers. There would be specially commissioned sculptures, hand-carved benches, a small temple and a stupa (a dome-shaped shrine). There would also be an organic vegetable plot so that the community could be more self-sufficient.
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| copyright © J.Middleton A quiet corner of the garden |
Today, the centre is still flourishing, although of course Covid-19 stopped it from being open to the public for such events as meditation classes. But there is now a World Peace Cafe plus a small shop where you can buy gifts and books. However, for Hove stalwarts, it is rather annoying to find that its on-line publicity describes it as being in Brighton; suffice it to say that Wick Lodge has been located within the boundaries of Hove for around 200 years, and counting.
Dunmore House
This was located next to Somerhill Road. During the 1920s and 1930s it was occupied by a man with the tongue-twisting name of Walter Walton
Mercia House
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| Illustration of Mercia House from the 1881 The Builder magazine |
Major General Henry Tanfield Vachell R. A. (1835-1902) lived in Mercia house from 1887 until 1890. He served in the Bombay Artillery and saw action in the Persian Expedition and the Indian Mutiny.
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| Text from The Builder magazine |
Henry was born in Macao in 1835 the son of the Revd George Harvey Vachell, Chaplain to the East Indian Company in China. In his spare time the Revd George was a naturalist, illustrator of plants and a plant collector in China. The Genus Vachellia (tree) is named after the Revd George Vachell. After 1890 Major General Henry Vachell moved to 7 Adelaide Crescent where he died in 1902.
Captain James Terence Fitzmaurice (1835-1917) lived in Mercia House for around three years from 1904. He also had an ‘honourable’ attached to his name, which was only right and proper for the eight child and fifth son of the 5th Earl of Orkney. But as a fifth son, he was somewhat low in the pecking order, and needed to carve out his own career. Indeed, it was once stated, with some justification, that the British Empire was peppered with younger sons of the nobility making their own way in the world. As for Captain Fitzmaurice, he chose the Navy, and spent 27 years in the Senior Service. He must have had a robust constitution because he was much in foreign seas, and was to be found in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) from 1867 to 1870 where he filled the post of Inspector of Prisons.
However, the gallant captain was somewhat unfortunate in his wives who both predeceased him. His first wife Frances Rhoda Ousley died in 1907. In 1911 he married widow Mrs Eleanor Hodges. On 2 July 1913 the Honourable Mrs Fitzmaurice set off to attend a garden party at Furze Hill. Her means of conveyance was a stylish landau with coachman Edward Still, and groom Thomas Tillman, managing the two chestnut horses. The equipage must have cut quite a dash passing through the streets of Hove. After the party, Mrs Fitzmaurice and her friend Miss B. Farman, went on to visit a house in Wilbury Road where they stayed for some 45 minutes. It was while the coachman was trying to turn the landau around afterwards, that disaster struck because a carriage pole snapped, the legs of the horses became ensnared in the traces and the ladies were thrown out, landing on their faces. Still and Tillman had already jumped off to try and sort things out, and the carriage wheels ran over Still, breaking three ribs. But it was Mrs Fitzmaurice who was badly injured in her head, and despite medical attention she died four days later.
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| copyright © J.Middleton Mercia House |
C. H. Charles Lamsden – He was a physician who wrote medical treatises and he lived in Mercia House during the 1920s and 1930s.
Lady Mabel Fairfield lived in Mercia House in the late 1940s. She was the widow of the Rt Hon. Sir Frederick Greer, Lord Fairfield of Caldy (1865-1945). Sir Frederick became a King's Counsel in 1910, and in 1919 a judge of the High Court of Justice. When Mabel married Sir Frederick, a widower, in 1939 she was a widow, having been formerly married to a Charles W Neele of 28 Second Avenue, Hove.
The Churchill Plaque
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| copyright © J.Middleton The Churchill Plaque |
On the north side of the road there is a blue plaque to Sir Winston Churchill. This is the second plaque to be erected there, but unfortunately, since both of them were privately sponsored, the same mistakes have been repeated. The plaque states that young Winston attended school here 1883-1885 whereas it was actually 1884-1888. The plaque also records the worthy ladies who ran the school as the Misses Thompson but their surname had no ‘p’ in it. The plaque is also in an awkward place because the school it refers to was situated at 29/30 Brunswick Road, and people expect to see it on that frontage. The mistakes have been pointed out to the authorities without success. But surely four years of schooling at Hove in the life of such an important man should be more widely known.
19A Lansdowne Road
1924 Percy Edgar Thorowgood (a London Stock Broker) and his wife Florence lived at Homestead in Lansdowne Road before moving to 19A. Their son Private Vernon Edgar was killed at the battle of Ypres in 1917 aged 23. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission states, Private Vernon Edgar Thorowgood parents lived at 19A Lansdowne Road, Vernon's name is not listed on Hove's War Memorial, probably because he enlisted into the army in London. Coincedently a Captain Leslie Vernon Thorowgood RFC, also from London but lived in Sackville Gardens, Hove, is listed on Hove's War Memorial and probably a cousin or Vernon.
From 1928 to 1930 -William Wilkinson lived at 19A
From 1930 Lady Anne Charlotte Seymour (1853-1935) live at 19A until her death in 1935, she had previously lived in Grand Avenue, and was the wife of Sir William Henry Seymour (d.1921).
Lady Seymour was on the organising committees for the Lady Chichester Hospital in Brunswick, Brighton Medical Mission and the Belgian Refugees Local Relief.
It appears Lady Seymour lived with a relative at 19A, as a Miss Elizabeth Mary Seymour who continued to live at this address until 1956.
Lady Almina, Countess of Carnarvon, and The Red House
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| copyright © J.Middleton The Red House |
The Red House was located in Lansdowne Road, and was built in 1913 for Lord Carnarvon. It has been difficult to work out who exactly lived there from 1914 until the early 1920s because the Red House does not seem to appear in the Street Directories.
George and Hilda Brigden occupied Red House from 1924 until 1925, followed by Mrs Rihil from 1926 until 1932. Mrs Jack Buckley’s School of Dancing at number 21, which incidentally is now the number allocated to the Red House; it is still in existence, having been converted into six flats by 1951.
The Brighton and Hove Street Directory for 1934 states that Lady Almina, Duchess of Carnavron, was the occupant of the Red House, still without a number.
Countess of Carnarvon (1876-1969) lived a long and eventful life. She was given a clutch of Christian names – Almina Victoria Maria Alexandra – perhaps as a counter-weight to her rather undignified surname of Wombwell.
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| copyright © National Portrait Gallery, London after Paul César Helleu, photogravure, after 1895, NPG D32692 |
There is a fascinating story about her unusual first name of Almina. Apparently, her mother was always known in the family as Mina, while the ‘Al’ was a nod to Sir Alfred Charles de Rothschild, her biological father. Of course such a secret was not noised abroad when she was young, but she was born after the Wombwells’ marriage had broken up. However, young Almina was blessed with great beauty and a tiny waist, not to mention the vast wealth accruing from Rothschild. It was no surprise that at the tender age of nineteen she married George Edward Stanhope Molyneaux Stanhope, 5th Earl of Carnarvon.
In fact it was her wealth that enabled Lord Carnavron to pursue his fascination with Egyptian archaeology. She did not always remain at home supervising the running of their great house Highclere, but often accompanied her husband on his travels. Perhaps her taste for travel evolved from their honeymoon on the continent. But Lord Carnavron suffered from ill health, and his wife had nursed him back to stability several times. However, when he became gravely ill in Egypt, she was staying at Seamore Place in London where she had been unwell herself. On hearing the desperate news from their daughter Eve who was with her father in Egypt along with her brother, Lady Almina at once made arrangements to fly to her husband’s side. He died on 5 April 1923, and his terrier dog, Susie, who was at home in Highclere, knew what had happened, gave one anguished howl, and died. It is said that the lights in Cairo went out.
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| copyright © J.Middleton The front porch of the Red House |
Lady Almina was only 47 years old when she was widowed, and perhaps it was inevitable that she would marry again. But perhaps not quite so quickly because merely eight months later she became the wife of Lieutenant Colonel Ian Onslow Dennistoun. It was not a whirlwind romance because they were already good friends. He was confined to a wheelchair because he had a badly broken hip. But he was a kind man and helped her get over her husband’s death. She found that acting as a nurse to both husbands was not a chore at all, and indeed she felt that her true calling was nursing – during the First World War Highclere was turned into a military hospital, and she dreamed of opening a new hospital, which she finally managed to do in 1927, naming it Alfred House to honour her father.
Emmanuel Church
This church had the unusual distinction of being half in Hove (Lansdowne Road) and half in Brighton (Norfolk Terrace). For example, the chancel was in Hove, while the nave and aisles were in Brighton. Originally, the pulpit was in Brighton too but when refurbishment took place in 1878, the pulpit was moved and joined the reading desk in Hove.
According to Elleray the architect was probably S. Hemmings. The church was built of brick and faced with stucco, and consisted of a nave of three bays, aisles and transepts. It was in around 1868 that Revd D. R. Winslow opened the church as an independent Free Church. But then Dr Winslow and his congregation decided they would like to join forces with the Church of England. Therefore in 1870 the Bishop of Chichester ordained Dr Winslow, and licensed the church. But it is interesting to note that the church does not seem to have been consecrated. It maintained a strict Protestant character with a very plain altar and a service entirely devoid of ritual; it was also large enough to accommodate 1,500 people.
The emphasis was on the eloquent preaching of the incumbent, who as a description from 1874 records, was ‘a preacher of considerable power and ability, and can generally maintain the interest of his congregation, but his voice is insufficient to penetrate every part of his large church’. The congregation used a book containing 929 hymns compiled by Dr Winslow ‘nearly all of them being recognised Dissenting effusions’. It appears that the congregation at that time was wealthy.
The second incumbent was Revd John George Gergory, who arrived in 1878, and at once set about installing a new organ costing £500, the cost coming from his own pocket. Walter & Sons of London installed the organ, and there were 1,100 pipes. The organ screen and decorations were designed by the architect Mr Simpson, and the work was carried out by G. G. Grabutt.
In 1899 it was stated that the church was the private freehold property of Revd J. G. Gregory MA of Gaius College, Cambridge, and operated under a licence from the Bishop of Chichester.
In 1899 the church was leased to the Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion – their main church being in North Street, Brighton.
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| copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove Brighton Herald 5 December 1908 |
In 1912 Revd Harries S. Gregory MA of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, became the fourth incumbent, having inherited the freehold from his father, the second incumbent. He maintained the Protestant and evangelical witness of the church, and built up a large congregation. In 1913 the church was restored, together with the large hall and rooms attached. In 1936 the Church Association Trust (later the Church Society Trust) purchased the freehold from Revd Gregory on the understanding that it should be kept as a Protestant and evangelical Church of England place of worship for as long as possible. Revd Gregory retired in 1937 and died in July 1944; a memorial service was held at Emmanuel.
Sadly, after his death, a decline soon set in with the result that the last service was held on 26 August 1962, and the property was sold in 1963. There seemed to be no other option but demolition, but before that could happen, planning approval had to be sought from both Hove Council and Brighton Council. The church and buildings were demolished in 1965. The new Baptist Tabernacle now occupies the site.
Ministers
1868-1878 – Revd Dr Octavius Winslow
1878-1897 – Revd John George Gregory’s
1897-1912 – Revd J. H. Figgis
1912-1937 – Revd Harries S. Gregory’s
1938 Revd R. Daunton-Fear
1939-1943 – Revd R. J. Cobb
1944-1950 – Revd A. Phibbs
1951-1959 – Revd H. Anton
Hove Trial Centre
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| copyright © J.Middleton Hove Trial Centre |
It occupies a corner site with Holland Road although the entrance is in Lansdowne Road. It was built after some some houses were demolished and was officially opened on 19 November 1971 with the name of Hove Magistrates’ Court.
Hove Planning Approvals
1913 – H. Cresswell, detached house, north side, west of York Avenue
1922 – G. M. Simpson for Miss Hancock, one pair semi-detached houses, north side
1925 – P. E. Weller, agent for the Wick Estate, proposed to erect a house between Holland Road and Salisbury Road, set 40-ft back from the foot-path, and assurance was sought by the council that it would not prejudice the building line of future houses.
1926 – P. E. Weller, agent for the Wick Estate, proposed to build a house 95-ft back from Palmeira Avenue and 27-ft from Lansdowne Road, although the building line for Palmeira Avenue was 18-ft, and for Lansdowne Road was 20-ft. The council agreed to the proposal.
1926 – Messrs William Willett Ltd, one pair semi-detached houses, south side
1926 – S. H. Tiltman for H. M. Gates, one detached house, north side, at Palmeira Avenue
1927 – Messrs Limpus & Sons for the Hove Estate Company, three blocks of 80 flats in Lansdowne Road and Furze Hill
Sources
Argus 18/7/13 / 25/9/10)
Carnarvon, the Countess of, Lady Almina and the real Downton Abbey (paperback edition 2012)
Ellaray, D. R. Victorian Churches of Sussex (1981)
Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade
National Portrait Gallery
Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Street Directories
Copyright © J.Middleton 2021
page layout by and additional research by D. Sharp