Destructive gales and tides - jealousy anecdotes
The year 1833 was ushered in at St. Leonards by a good deal of turbulent weather, and much concern was felt by the founder and the builders, as well as by some of the inhabitants for the safety of the property, much of which was inadequately protected. The January and February gales of that year left their mark upon the newly formed parades, and also inundated the old roads between the new town and the old. The sea played havoc with the southern extremity of the old White Rock, and partially demolished the faggoted approaches to the steep road whosé summit was near where now stands the Hospital, and was nearly as high as the top of that building. A great deal of property was destroyed in the Rope-walk and other parts of Hastings by the storms and high tides of those months, and more so by the almost continuous storms of the following winter. It was then the belief of the Hastings people that the erection of the South Colonnade on the spring-tide high water mark of the beach, and the necessitous planting of groynes for its protection, together with the long parade wall which shut out the sea from where it used to flow, was the cause of encroachment upon the old town. The fishermen and other inhabitants of Hastings used to say "It’s all through Mr. Burton" or "It’s all through the walls and groynes at the new town." It was a frequent remark of a facetious friend of mine that "seeing how much of the new town has been built upon the domain of the sea, it is not at all wonderful that it has been named St. Leonards-on-Sea." Far be it from me, as a native and 24 years' inhabitant of Hastings, and (at the time I write) a 57 years' resident of St. Leonards, to wish to revive old animosities; but it would ill become me, as a local historian, to altogether ignore one of the most patent facts of the period to which I am referring. I have already stated that "as I proceed with my history, I shall have occasion to explain a few of the causes of rivalry and jealousy, but my readers may rest assured that nothing but a perfectly friendly review of those causes will be recorded by my pen."
The following anecdote is one instance of the petty jealousy which existed at about the time of which I am writing. In George street, Hastings, there was a good looking couple of the name of White, who sprang from the fishery class, but who kept a green-grocery store where now is No 21. To enter this shop, it was necessary to descend two or three steps from the street, on account of the previous heightening of the roadway with a view to keep out the The couple in question had a daughter—a bonnie lass—who, on being requested by a lady to send some fruit to 48 Marina, replied, "That’s the new town, mum, I suppose. Well then (at the same time putting her arms akimbo) I shall do nothin’ of the sort; nuther shall my mother, nuther shall my father; we've heer'd anuf about that place, and suffered anuf too!" At the present time, when the Hastings tradesmen are willing to send so small an article as a loaf of bread or a yard of ribbon to a purchaser at St. Leonards, it appears extra-ordinary that persons could be so blind to their own interests as was the shopkeeper here alluded to. Fortunately the trades-men of the old town were not all of Mr. White's stamp, or they might not have accumulated wealth as many of them did, and retired from business. Still the jealousy was very wide-spread; so much so, that it was difficult at first to get a sufficient number of men to carry on the building operations, many of the mechanics and labourers preferring to work in Hastings at less wages than were offered by the contractors at St. Leonards. But if there was a difficulty in getting workmen, it was a still greater task to get the tradesmen of Hastings to open branch shops at St. Leonards; and the result was that the early groceries, bakeries, butcheries, confectioneries, &c., were kept either by persons unacquainted with the business, or by tradesmen from Bexhill and ther villages or hamlets. By far the greater part of the money expended in St. Leonards, went, however, to Hastings, either at first hand by the well-to-do inhabitants or at second hand by the small shop-keepers for their wholesale purchases: This continued in a modified degree for many years, and it can hardly be said to have ceased even now. It is more than a truism to say that "St. Leonards was the making of Hastings"; that is to say Hastings in its commercial aspect.
Another cause of jealousy was the comparatively low rents at which the new and handsome houses at St. Leonards were let during the first ten or twenty years of the town’s existence. I have already stated that whilst such houses as those at Gloucester place, Hastings, were let for £8 per week, some of the large houses in the Marina, at St. Leonards, were rented at £35 per annum only. My readers will, of course, understand that the former were furnished and the latter were not. It may not be out of place to mention the rents of some of the smaller property in the year 1833. Mr. James Mann had a house and shop in the West Marina (then called the Market) for which he paid £12 a year; Mr. William Barham rented a house at the same place for £11; and Mr. Thos. Barnes a house and shop at £10. The rent of the smaller houses in the market itself, inhabited by Samuel Bishop, William Bell, James Oliver, and others, was £6 per year; whilst the Sussex Tap, kept by John French, was £8. But now what a change!
It used to be said by the Hastings people in derision of their western neighbours, that they only had one £5 note among them, and that the said note was handed from one person to another to "show off" with while feigning to make small purchases in the old town. Perhaps at a subsequent period this standing joke was a truer index of the negative wealth of the inhabitants than they would care to admit. That commercial failures were at one time of almost daily occurrence was a fact too well attested. Such a condition was thought to be mainly due to the too rapid growth of the town and a too inadequate support by those who took up their abode therein for short seasons, as well as by those of a humbler sphere who for labour supplied drew their wages from St. Leonards and spent them in Hastings. Certain it is, as already intimated, that there was a strong disposition on the part of both visitors and residents to spend the greater part of their money at Hastings, thus making it impossible for many of the tradesmen to succeed, or even to live. That I am not alone in the knowledge or belief of the somewhat unfriendly rivalry that existed between the two towns is shown by a passage in Parry's Coast of Sussex, published in the same year as that of which I am treating. It runs thus :-
After passing this [the White Rock] range of unfinished houses [ Verulam Place ] which exhibit a tendancy to connect St. Leonards with Hastings; in fact, this would be a desirable consummation. At present they have separate interests; and while that state continues, there must, in the course of things, be jealousies and oppositions between them; whereas, if, St. Leonards be made to form a 'new town' to Hastings, the mutual interests of both will be strengthened, whilst the feeling above mentioned which is always to be deprecated - will be abolished. The mother and the daughter will then play into each others hands without the matronly and girlish enmity of Honoria and Flavia in the Spectator. If such a junction does not place, it seems highly probable that one or the other will suffer from mutual opposition. Vaulting ambition in one or both of the rivals will overreach itself and fall on t'other side. These hints are thrown out without the slightest shadow of an interested motive; let the high contending parties look to it, and be timely wise."
I remember a street discussion carried on with some warmth by an inhabitant of each town. One’s name was Sinnock and the other’s was Pulford. The latter contended that St. Leonards was the place for quality, and the former that Hastings was the place for quantity. With no little jibing and jeering, and a fair admixture, of tall talk, the two argued at, some length for superiority, when Sinnock, with great vehemence, expressed himself thus :— "You! you! why you can’t go nowhere's! You can’t even go to jail nor to the workus without coming to: Hastings and being beholden to
