Hove in the Past: Selborne Road, Hove

Judy Middleton 2003 (revised 2022)

Background

There are two possibilities as to why the name ‘Selborne’ was chosen. Roundell Palmer, 1^st Earl of Selborne (1812-1895) was the solicitor-general in 1861; he became attorney-general from 1863 to 1866, served as Lord Chancellor from 1872 to 1874, and from 1880 to 1885. His son became High Commissioner for South Africa, and married the daughter of Lord Salisbury – it should be noted that a nearby road is named Salisbury Road.

On the other hand, perhaps the road-naming was in honour of Gilbert White (1720-1793) who was born at Selborne, and later became the vicar there and is remembered to this day for publishing in 1789 his celebrated work Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne.

The Street Directory for 1874 noted under the name of Selborne Road ‘houses building’. The location was given as ‘Cliftonville’ rather than Hove, in a similar way to streets near George Street such as Albany Villas, and Ventnor Villas.

Selborne Road was built on land belonging to the Stanford Estate, and number 1 Selborne Road housed the Stanford Estate office from the 1870s. It was still there in 1890 and there were two solicitors on hand to see to business – W. A. Day and M. C. Cather.

In 1877 the Hove Commissioners approved plans for a house to be built on behalf of J. Stenning.

In November 1880 Selborne Road from Church Road to the southern boundary of the Sussex County Cricket Ground was declared a public highway.

In May 1897 Young, Henderson & Sadler were offering unfurnished houses in Selborne Road for £80 a year.

It is interesting to note that later on some houses in Selborne Road became the place of business for the professional classes, as will be seen in the following house notes.

House Notes

Number 1 – Stanford Estate Office

Number 2 – An on-line source states that this house was erected on the site of the notable Hove Barrow. But an older source claims the back garden of 13 Palmeira Avenue was the site. The same on-line source records that the extremely rare Amber Cup and other artefacts were recovered from land later covered by 13 Palmeira Avenue, and queries whether these objects were discovered during house-building activities. However, the Amber Cup was located in a burial site inside the Hove Barrow and was discovered when the barrow was demolished. Moreover, nearly forty years elapsed between the barrow being removed, and the building of 13 Palmeira Avenue. (See also Ancient Hove)

In 1938 Alexander Hislop Hall OBE, physician and surgeon, lived in this house and he was still there in 1951.

Number 3

In 1938 the premises were occupied by John P. Spencer Walker, an ophthalmic surgeon, and he was still there in 1951, although in 1947 he was sharing the house with an osteopath by the name of Vladmir de Tilleman. It seems highly likely that Walker also lived with Revd John Spencer Mullins Walker, who was said to live in Selborne Road.

Revd John Spencer Mullins Walker was a pupil at Lancing College in 1865 and returned to the College ten years later as a House Master, he is credited with transforming the coaching of football in the College after watching the tactics employed by a Scottish side in a match against the Wanderers at the Oval in 1876. The Revd Mullins Walker was a Canon of Chichester Cathedral and a former vicar of St Michael’s Church, Brighton.

The Revd Mullins Walker was popularly known as the Grand Old Man of Sussex Football, having been the first president of the Sussex Football Association. Old age forced him to retire to a nursing home where he died in November 1953 at the remarkable age of 100.

In August 1993 this house was on sale for £275,000. It was described as a four-bedroom semi-detached house in the Willett Estate Conservation Area. There were two large reception rooms, and a spiral staircase leading to a lounge.

Number 4 – In 1947 William Christopher MacFetridge, ophthalmic surgeon, lived in the house, and he was still there in 1951.

Number 5 – In 1938 Miss Catto ran a private hotel on the premises.

Number 8 – Widowed Lady Mary Ackroyd lived in this house from 1913 to 1918, her former address having been at 14 Fourth Avenue, which is where her husband died on 5 February 1904. He was Sir Edward James Ackroyd, and his profession was described as a former ‘puisne judge supreme at Hong Kong’. It sounds frightfully important, but a glance at Chambers Dictionary tells us that ‘puisne’ was applied to certain judges, and its meaning actually meant junior, petty, or insignificant.

Lady Ackroyd intended to pay for a stained-glass window to be erected in his memory at All Saints Church, Hove, and it was to be placed as the east window in the north aisle. She went as far as employing the artist, Reginald Bell, to design the window. Then there was a hiatus, and a change of vicar meant that the fact Lady Acroyd had reserved this space had been forgotten. When Charles George Hotham died in 1927, his widow remembered that he had expressed a wish for a window in his memory to be inserted in that space. Then followed a flurry of letters between the parties while the unfortunate artist said the matter was nothing to do with him. Perhaps Lady Ackroyd was short of funds because it transpired that she was only prepared to fork out £300 for the window whereas the actual price was £368-10s. Finally a decision was made in Lady Ackroyd’s favour

Number 9 – In 1938 Sydney E. Johnson, dental surgeon, lived here.

Number 10 – In 1951 A. R. Hadsley-Bennett, dental surgeon, had his practice here. In the same year and in the same house, at flat number 1, Miss Jessie Eldred ran the Regency School of Elocution and Music.

Number 12

In March 1922 Henry Hoyne Fox was given planning permission to convert this house into two flats. His name should be better remembered because he was a promoter of Hove Pier that unhappily never got off the ground. The idea of a pier for Hove went back to the 1860s, and further schemes were suggested at different times from 1887 to the 1930s. But it is Hoyne Fox who holds the record for persistence, hammering away at it from 1911 to 1920.

The 1911 plans suggested that the pier decking should be supported on reinforced concrete piles 12-in by 17-in square; the girders would be 10-ft in depth. There would be a theatre, a central hall, a roof-top garden and ballroom, while below the decking were to be medicinal baths. The promoters were Hoyne Fox and Owen Davies. Such an ambitious project required permission from the government, but Hove Council decided in 1912 to oppose the Bill.

Hoyne Fox did not give up. He formed a company called the Hove Pier, Theatre and Kursaal Company; a prospectus was issued in 1914 – not a propitious time. Hoyne Fox felt that a theatre would be a good selling point because he stated that there was scarcely a town in England with a population comparable to Hove’s that did not have its own theatre. As well as entertainment, there were all sorts of treatments to promote good health – some of them sound quite alarming such as hydro-electric baths while there would be a special room for ‘medical gymnastics’.

As with the plans of 1911 reinforced concrete was to be used in the 1914 design. A letter from the Advisory Engineers Corporation to Hoyne Fox stated ‘We particularly commend the use of reinforced concrete, which is so extensively employed.’ It seems that at first Hove Council was seriously interested in the plan while Hoyne Fox was anxious to have everything in order so that work could start as soon as the war was over. Hove Council gave their approval but a year later in August 1916 the councillors began to have cold feet, being uncertain that the sum of £65,000 would be forthcoming. By November 1916 the council was seriously rattled because the Board of Trade would not express an opinion from the engineering standpoint. Therefore, the plan was turned down.

Hoyne Fox made one last, vain attempt in May 1920. This time the plan was much more modest with the deck being reduced from 25-ft to 15-ft. Perhaps it was a half-hearted attempt because he did not provide enough details and neither did he produce the opinion of an independent expert. Hove Council turned it down.

Number 15 – In 1938 Miss M. E. Whent, ran a nursing home here.

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
An example of F. W. Woledge's artwork, a view of Adelaide Terrace, Hove in 1848

Number 20 – Frederick William Woledge (1840-1887) lived in this house from 1881 to 1887.

It is a name not well known today, although in Victorian time he was a well regarded artist who exhibited his paintings at the Royal Academy in 1838 and 1846; today some of his works are to be found at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. Most probably in the 1960s, when Victorian paintings were not held in high esteem, his paintings would have been practically worthless, whereas today at auction you would expect one of his works to fetch at least a few hundred pounds, and possibly up to £1,000. Woledge also filled the post of Drawing Master at Brighton College.

Number 22 – In 1890 Charles Kendall ran ‘a preparatory school for gentlemen’s sons’ at this address.

Number 25 – He was born in Winchelsea but Major General William Croughton Stileman lived in this house from 1882-1888. It seems probable that he had retired to Hove after service in the sub-continent where he was Lieutenant Colonel of the 15^th Bombay Native Infantry. He would have found many men at Hove who had also been in India, and there are at least two officers from the Bengal Native Infantry buried at Hove Cemetery, although from different regiments.

Colonel George Herbert Trevor C. S. I. was born in 1840 and occupied this house in 1888. He was probably on furlough from his duties in India because he later returned there. He served in the Political Department in various capacities in the Central Provinces and Hyderabad. His work involved a delicacy of touch, and indeed when the Prime Minister of Hyderabad, the Indian prince Sir Salar Jung I, decided to go on a tour of Europe, it was the intrepid Trevor who accompanied him, acting as a general minder and facilitator. Trevor was still climbing the career tree, and he acted as an agent to the Governor General for Rajaputana and to the chief commander for Ajmir from 1890-95. At least he managed to live long enough to be able to retire in 1895; so many British people left their bones in India, in fact more were killed by disease or heat than were ever slaughtered in battle.

In 1947 Miss Daphne Andrewartha, a speech therapist, lived here.

Number 26 – Major C. F. Marriott lived in this house from 1891 to 1893. He served with the Carabiniers in the Afghan War 1879-80, and on the expedition against the wonderfully-named Wuzeere Khugianis. But make no mistake – military actions in Afghanistan have always been disastrous for the British, and it is a pity that lessons have never been learned from history. It would be interesting to know what Major Marriott thought at the time.

Number 27

Sir Charles Aubrey Smith Lived here in his youth

Sir Charles Aubrey Smith (1863-1948) was familiar with this house. His family had a long residence at Hove.

They started out at 19 Albany Villas where they lived from 1870 to 1886, then moved to 27 Selborne Road, where in 1890 they shared the premises with Lieutenant R. Heneage RN; by 1894 the family were to be found at 2 Medina Villas; there is a blue plaque to commemorate him at 19 Albany Villas. Aubrey Smith made his very first stage debut at Hove Town Hall on 8 November 1888. His father was Charles J. Smith (1838-1928) a surgeon, and his mother was Sarah Ann Smith (1836-1922).

Number 29 – Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Peere Williams-Freeman lived in this house from 1893-1923. It is interesting to note that the family grave is in Hove Cemetery, and the inscription on the tombstone runs as follow:

In loving memory of Ada wife of Lieutenant-Colonel F. P. Francis-Williams late Royal Bengal Artillery born 14 March 1842 died 5 February 1917. The spirit shall return from God who gave it.

Also of their son Harry Peere Captain Royal Warwickshire Regiment killed in action in Italy 9 August 1918 aged 38 years and of Lieutenant-Colonel F. P. Williams-Freeman born 20 October 1841 died 5 February 1924. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.

It is rather sad to think of this elderly soldier losing his son in the First World War, although his wife Ada was spared the sad news because she died the year previously. The old soldier then decided to depart this life on the seventh anniversary of his wife’s death.

Number 31 – Colonel M. J. Brander once lived in this house. He served in the Bengal Army, and saw action in the Burma War of 1852-53. He was also present at the famous Relief of Lucknow that took place during the Indian Mutiny, now referred to in India as the First Patriotic War. Not surprisingly in a place like Hove where so many veterans of service in India spent their retirement, there are other strands linking Hove and the Relief of Lucknow. For example, Simon Nicolson Martin of the Bengal Civil Service and his wife Sophia were together throughout the Siege of Lucknow and now lie buried in Hove Cemetery. Then there is Clement Headington Dale, Military Knight of Windsor, who was present at the defence and relief of Lucknow, and is also in Hove Cemetery. In St Andrew’s Old Church there is a memorial to Colonel Robert Parker Campbell who commanded the 30^th Light Infantry at Crimea, and died in 1857 of wounds received during the Siege of Lucknow.

Perhaps the most famous person with such a link is Lord Garnet Joseph Wolseley (1833-1913) who was actually the first man from the relieving forces to greet the beleaguered Lucknow garrison. This heroic action was greeted with fury by the commander-in-chief Sir Colin Campbell who had planned that his pet 93^rd Highland Regiment should take the final steps with their bagpipes skirling. But it was Wolseley’s men who carried out the advance. Wolseley’s exploit was not Mentioned in Despatches. In 1935 his daughter deposited half of her father’s papers at Hove Library in the Wolseley Room, and it is now a national archive.

Number 33 – Admiral Andrew Kennedy Bickford lived in this house from 1917 to 1925. He was born in India on 16 July 1844, and entered the Royal Navy in 1858 while he was still a raw teenager, but this was not unusual at the time. He certainly fulfilled the old adage of ‘join the Navy and see the world’. Early in his career, as a sub-lieutenant, he was to be found serving in the far east around China and Japan, then he had a spell at Alexandria organising naval transports, and was later in the south Pacific at Samoa. He was a man of many skills because he was senior gunnery lieutenant aboard HMS Amethyst when she was in action against the iron-clad Huascar, a Peruvian rebel ship. When it came to delicate negotiations concerning the release of the captured crew of the Nisero, it was Bickford who filled the role.

While he lived in Hove, he was still in the Senior Service. He was ADC to Queen Victoria from 1896 to 1899, and from 1898 to 1899 he was superintendent of Sheerness Dockyard. He also had a spell as Captain of the Fleet Reserve at Portsmouth. When he did eventually retire, he took on the task of Land Tax Commissioner for Sussex.

Number 36 – In 1938 Miss Irene Cowen ran her own business on the premises offering massage and medical electricity.

Number 40 – This was once home to Colonel Benjamin Bloomfield Connolly and he was born on 10 September 1845, the son of Revd J. C. Connolly who had served as chaplain to the Royal Navy. He ensured that his son received an excellent education starting off at the Merchant Taylors’ School. Then it was off to the dreaming spires of Oxford where he studied at Gonville & Caius College. He must have excelled at his studies earning a BA, MA, and MD and finishing with a FRCS from Guy’s Hospital. It seems somewhat odd with such a solid English background that he should choose to serve in the Franco-Prussian War on the side of the French. Perhaps it was just gaining practical experience. At least it added interest to his accomplishments because he was awarded the relevant medal, not to mention further on in his career earning the Order of Osmania, and being Mentioned in Despatches twice. In 1871 he was appointed assistant surgeon with the Army Medical Department. He certainly moved around, being in India in 1877-78 when there was fighting against the Jowahi Alfridis, then he was present at battles in Eastern Sudan. He was part of the Nile Expedition in 1884-85, and served as commander of the Camel Bearing Company, which presumably was removing the injured from the battle-field to a field hospital. One such convoy was attacked by the enemy, and he acted bravely to defend his patients.

In April 1891 Connolly was promoted to Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel, but just six months later his name was on the retired list. Who knows whether or not he expected to spend a leisurely retirement, but when duty calls, it’s all men to the pumps, and during the Boer War he was on hand at Greenwich, being promoted to colonel in 1902; in 1900 he had already been made a CB. The old war-horse was not done yet, and at the conclusion of the First World War, we find him being thanked for his ‘valuable services rendered in connection with the European War.’

Number 41 – In 1904 Major A. W. Robin lived in this house. He was not the usual British retiree because he had served with the New Zealand Mounted Infantry. Moreover, he had served in the South African War 1899-1900, and was something of a war hero, having been Mentioned in Despatches no less than four times, and there were three clasps to his Queen’s medal.

Lady Elizabeth Ann Tindal lived in this house from 1905 to 1909. She was the widow of Sir William Tindal Robertson (1825-1889), who, as well as being a physician, had also represented Brighton as a Member of Parliament from 1886 to 1889.

Colonel Hugh de Burgh Miller, CBE DSO lived in this house from 1923. He was born on 4 June 1873, and he served during the South African War 1899-1902. He thus had first-hand knowledge of events that have since become legendary. For example, he was present at the Relief of Ladysmith, and when the news arrived in Britain, there was great rejoicing in the streets. He was also at Spion Kop, and the name was appropriated for the raised ground at the Goldstone Football Ground. Miller earned five clasps for his Queen’s Medal, and two clasps for his King’s Medal, besides being Mentioned in Despatches.

In 1906 he was promoted to the rank to Lieutenant Colonel, and, by special appointment, he served at the Ministry of Munitions. This was no sinecure because there had been a huge scandal about the needless slaughter of British soldiers because they had run out of ammunition or weapons. There had to be an immediate shake-up in the way supplies were organised. In 1919 he was appointed deputy director of artillery at the War Office.

Number 42 – In 1938 A. Fraser Taylor & Son were to be found here. They were solicitors and commissioners for oaths.

Number 43 – In 1938 Miss C. F. Dennis, a chartered masseuse, lived in this house. She also offered artificial sunlight treatment (reputed to be beneficial for those with ‘weak’ chests) as well as medical electricity. She must have had a steady stream of clients because she was still in business in 1951.

Number 44 – In 1938 Miss A. Cunnane ran a nursing home here.

Number 46– Lieutenant Colonel B. J. Goldie lived in this house from 1895-1918, having retired from his post as superintendent engineer at Ambala, Haryana, in India. While living in Hove he served as Honorary Treasurer of the Brighton and Hove branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and when Mrs Goldie donated a collection of twenty volumes to Hove Library, the subject matter was foreign missions and military history. Goldie also took an active part in church life at Hove, he served as churchwarden at St John the Baptist’s Church, Hove, for many years, and was a committee member of the Convalescent Police Home in Portland Road.
Lt.Col. Goldie's son Major Kenneth Oswald Goldie OBE also served in the Indian Army.

Number 47 – Major General A. T. Etheridge lived in this house from 1895 to 1909. Like so many who lived in Selborne Road, he too had seen military service in the sub-continent, although his experiences included none of the dramatic set-pieces, but was rather the small wars and skirmishes that helped to maintain the Pax Britannica in India. For example, he served in the Conean and Khandeish wars of 1844-45, he was in Mahee Kanta and took part in operations against the Dessaiees in north Canara and Bedee. He commanded the 23^rdBombay Native Infantry, and also served with Guicowar’s Horse in 1848. It was not uncommon for there to be small detachments of horse for military action named after a person or a region. In Hove Cemetery lies buried Lieutenant Colonel J. J. Holdsworth, late of the Gorakhpure Light Horse. Some of these small groups sported colourful uniforms and exotic turbans.

Bessie Sala lived at number 47 for two years from 1911. It might seem like an ordinary name, and so it was, but she was linked with a very famous man in his time – George Augustus Sala (1828-1895) who was highly regarded by no less a person than Charles Dickens. Sala was a brilliant journalist and wrote extensively for the Daily Telegraph, reporting on diverse matters such as the American Civil War, and the coronation of Czar Alexander III in St Petersberg. But he well recognised the ephemeral nature of his writings, and bemoaned the fact that when he was dead he would be remembered as ‘the unknown writer of some smart articles and a very weak romance.’

Sala’s first wife was Harriet Hollingsworth, whom he married in September 1859. They must have seemed an odd couple because she was described as ‘pretty but uneducated’ while he was a fountain of knowledge and although smartly dressed, he possessed a huge, bulbous nose that he called his ‘incarnadined proboscis’. This feature originated in a fracas outside a Haymarket pub when a man wearing a diamond ring dealt him a savage blow, and his nose was never the same again. Harriet accompanied Sala on a visit to Australia where unhappily she became ill with peritonitis and died.

Sala’s second wife was Bessie Stannard and the wedding took place in 1891 when she was 32 years old while the bridegroom was 29 years her senior. Bessie either inspired him, or nagged him, to put pen to paper once more, and of course she was determined that she should be provided for after his death. A weekly miscellany was produced called Sala’s Journal and came out on 30 April 1892 on sale at one penny. Although you could not say it was a snappy title, it certainly had all the ingredients of a modern-day magazine such a gossip column, cookery features, interviews with celebrities, and of course a letters page. Sala also produced five books including Brighton as I have known it (1895) the year of his death.

Fred Rickaby senior
('Men of the Day. No. 823.')

Vanity Fair 12 September 1901

NPG D45083

Frederick Edward Rickaby, senior (1869-1941) spent longer living at number 47 than former occupants, in fact he was resident from 1921 to 1932. His line of business was also unique because he was a famous flat-racing jockey, winning such exalted events as the 1,000 Guineas Stakes (1891) the Oak Stakes (1891 and 1896) the Ascot Gold Cup (1901) and the Dewhurst Stakes (1890). It is pleasant to record that his son Fred, junior, followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a noted jockey too. There were also two daughters, Iris and Florence, and Iris was the mother of Lester Piggott, a name that still resonates today although people might have forgotten Rickaby.

It is interesting to note that a lodger during the time of Rickaby’s tenure, was Lieutenant-Colonel Leonard Francis Wylde, late of the Indian Army. He became the Public Relations Director of the Social Credit Secretariat, which is indeed a clumpy title but it was in aid of an excellent cause, being a national political organisation for the abolition of poverty in the depression of the 1920s and 1930s; Wylde was also a Theosophist, adding interest to his character. Indeed he gave public lectures on the subject in England and the USA. It seems quite likely that during his time in India he became acquainted with the redoubtable Annie Besant (1847-1933) who was also there promoting Theosophy, having taken inspiration from Madame Blavatsky’s book The Secret Doctrine. Besant would not have been popular with the British ruling class because from 1902 onwards she was an ardent advocate of self-rule for India. Besant also acted as a surrogate mother to Krishnamurti, whose own mother had died when he was aged ten. Besant thought the youth might become the expected world leader. Although when he grew to manhood, Krishnamurti’s spiritual views began to differ from Besant’s, the two remained fond of one other. (A Theosophical Society Lodge had been established in Brighton in 1890).

Number 51 – In 1883 this house was home to Sir John Forsyth. He was an elderly gentleman by then, having been born in 1799. But in his prime he had served as Inspector General of the Medical Department, Bengal Army.

Sources

Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade

Middleton, J. A History of Hove (1979)

National Portrait Gallery, London.

Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

Hove Library

In two articles in the Brighton and Hove Gazette in 1975 it was stated that the plans for Hove Pier from 1911 to 1923 had been destroyed in the fire at Hove Town Hall in 1966. This is not the case, and indeed there are 46 plans of various dates safely lodged at Hove Library, and including:

Prospectus of Hove Pier, Theatre and Kursaal Company 1914

Copyright © J.Middleton 2022
page layout and additional research by D.Sharp

14 November 2022

Selborne Road, Hove