Levetleigh

From Historical Hastings
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General information
Address
1890-1913
Dane Road
Location
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Located in Dane Road, this house was the residence of Conservative M,P. Arthur Du Cros who leased the property until 1912 when he moved out with his family. The following year - April 1913, the house was burned down with Kitty Marion, a leading militant in the Women's Social and Political Union being believed to be the culprit, in part due to papers supporting votes for women being found among the wreckage. Irrespective of the guilty parties[1], Du Cros was reportedly staunchly opposed to the principle of giving votes to women.

Levetleigh itself was constructed by the local builder A.H White in 1890. The first tenant would appear to have been a Mrs Rucker, mother of Dr Arthur William Rucker, a distinguished scientist.

The Du Cros family (first Arthur's father, then Arthur) leased the building from the Eversfield Estate in around 1906 until its destruction in 1913.

The remains were made safe by the removal of the chimneys and top floor and remained in that condition for 8 years until they were lowered to the first floor level and thus converted into three seperate bungalows.

One of these bungalows was then demolished in 1980 to build the block of flats called 'Nevill Court', the other two were demolished in around 2005 to build the block of flats called DuCros House.

Images

References & Notes

  1. Burton St. Leonards Society [https://bsls.org.uk/blog/st-leonards-and-violence-at-a-womens-tax-resistance-league-march-1913/ Womens Tax Resistance League march 1913