Cemetery Tenders - Consecration &c.
Cemetery Tenders. In correlation to Mr. Stent's letter re. the Cemetery, it may here be stated that the tenders for building the chapels and the front wall were £2830 by Pattenden; £2714 by Burchell; £2701 by Cousens; £2533 by Philcox of Brighton; and £2145 by Smith of Brighton. Thus not less than £685 difference between the highest and lowest.
The Consecration. Another connective event in the same year was that of the consecration of the cemetery. This, as reported in the St Leonards Gazette, was performed in the following manner:-The ceremony of consecrating the Borough Cemetery took place yesterday (Nov. 28th) in the presence of the Municipal authorities, clergy, magistrates and a large concourse of inhabitants and visitors. The proceedings commenced with the reception of the Bishop at the church of All Saints, where a petition was formally presented to him by the Mayor and other members of the Corporation, praying to consecrate the said ground. The Bishop having consented, the ordinary morning service was engaged in, the proper psalms being the 39th and 90th, and the lessons taken from the 23rd chap. of Genesis and the 5th chap. of John. The hymn selected for the occasion was that of which the first verse was "Beneath our feet and o'er our head, Is equal warning given; Beneath us lie the countless dead, Above us is the heaven". At the conclusion of this part of the service, Archdeacon Otter preached a suitable and impressive sermon from Act. XVII 32. "And when the heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said 'we will hear thee again of this matter'". The service at the church being over, carriages and flys were quickly in requisition for conveying the officials and others to the ground, where on arrival the Bishop proceeded to explain some alteration in the law relating to burial grounds that had been made for the better. The deed of conveyance and the sentence of consecration having been read, and the Bishop's signature attached thereto, his Lordship delivered an extempore address, after which the ground was traversed and the proceedings closed with prayor and benediction."
The 'First' Interment - Mr John Smith
Although the ground was consecrated, the buildings were not yet completed, and the said ground was not fully laid out; yet, only one day later, the death of an inhabitant occurred, who although one of the objectors to the site was the first to be interred thereat. It was the well-known builder and contractor, Mr. John Smith, more familiarly known as "Yorky" Smith, in contradistinction to other John Smiths, one of whom was a painter, and another, whose sobriquet was "Canary" Smith. The deceased had resided in Hastings about forty years, his last place of residence being Stratford (now White-rock) place. He was a native of Woodhouse, near Leeds, in Yorkshire and was born in the year 1788. He was apprenticed in Leeds, but before the term expired, he left his master, and walked to London in search of employment. He was engaged, with other workmen on extensive alterations at the Bank of England, Sir John Soane being the architect. He had not more than arrived at man's estate when he was employed in the construction of the Grand Redoubt at Eastbourne. He was, after-
