There have been occasions when the Guardians, in the plenitude of their duties towards the poor, and also to the ratepayers, have made their Board meetings the opportunity for feasting and guzzling. The most memorable time was in the summer of 1837, when they pampered their appetites with john-dorees, salmon, lobsters, Norfolk squab pie, poultry, and joints in profusion; red and white wines by the dozen, and spirits by the gallon; cigars by the box, and snuff by the pound; with a handsome snuff-box, too; and, the usual services of the House being too mean for them, sets of dish-covers were ordered, and dishes, dinner and pie plates, jugs, sauce tureens, cut decanters and stands, rummers, knives and forks, waiters, and a teaboard. Blacking too, was ordered, and one Guardian, Mr. Paul Hewitt, actually sent his boots to the Workhouse to be cleaned, and when done they were returned to his house again. Another Guardian, Mr. Storrer, also sent his dog to the Workhouse to be kept, as it was inconvenient to have it at home. The Guardians had also a summer house, wherein they smoked their cigars and quaffed their grog. This was at the period when out-door paupers had to slave up the Church hill for relief. The removal of the Board-room to Church street, the Pavilion property, has been a great convenience to the poor, and it has been the means of preventing even a hint that the present Board feast at the parish expense.
Immediately in connexion with the Workhouse, the two following extracts from the parish books, will not be found out of place:—
“Coppy of the Order for the Removal of Stephen Agnus.”
SUSSEX.
Hen. Pelham
Geo. GoreingTo the Churchwardens and Overseers of the POOR of ye Pish. of Brighthelmstone, in ye sd. County, & to the Churchwardens and Overseers of the POOR of the Pish. of Sittingbourne, in ye County of Kent, & to every of them.
Forasmuch as Complaint hath been made to us, whose hands & Seales are hereto sett, being two of his Majtes. Justices of the Peace for the sd. County (one of which is of ye Quorum) by the Churchwardens and Overseers of the poor of the sd. Pish. of Brighthelmstone that Stephen Agnus came Lately into ye said pish. not having nor renting Ten pound p. annum, nor otherwise gained a legal settlement there according to ye severall statutes in that case made and provided, but is likely to become chargeable to the said parish of Brighthelmstone.
These are, therefore, in his Majts. name, to will and require you, the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of ye sd. pish, of Brighthelmstone or some of you, to convey the said Stephen Agnus from the said pish. of Brighthelmstone To the said Pish of Sittingbourn, in Kent, where, upon the examination of the said Stephen Agnus upon oath, it appears that the said Stephen Agnus was last legally settled as an householder. And you, the Churchwardens and Overseers of the poor of the said pish of Sittingbourne, are hereby required and commanded him to receive and provid for, as an Inhabitant of yr sd pish. hereof, fail not at yr perril. Given under our hands and seals this 27th day of January, in the 13th year of his Majst’s reign, Anno Domi. 1701.
Certificate acknowledging a Parishioner.
Wee, Andrew Godwin, John Tappenden, William Ffullager, and William Deane, Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poore of the Parish of Sittingbourne, in the County of Kent, doo hereby owne and acknowledge Stephen Agnus, of the same Parish, to be an inhabitant, legally settled there. Witness our hands and seales this one and thirtieth day of January, Anno Dni. 1701.
Attested by us
W. H. Haussett, Jo. Hawkes
Andrew Godwin, *
John Tappenden, *
Will. Ffullager, *
William Deane. *
To the Churchwardens & Overseers of ye poore of ye parish of Brighthelmstone, in ye County of Sussex, or to any of them.
Wee, whose hands are hereunder written, Justices of ye Peace of the County of Kent, aforesd., doo allowe of the Certificate above written, dated ye 2nd day of February, Anno Dm. 1701.
Tho. Osborne,
Waltr. Hooper.Bastardy Bond, given by a Security, that the putative father shall indemnify the Parish against any expence that may be incurred in the birth of a Child.
Stamp One Shilling and Sixpence.
Know all Men by these presents, that I, Buckrell Bridger, of the Parish of Brighthelmstone, in the County of Sussex, mariner, am held and firmly bound unto Stephen Richwood, and Stephen Poune, Churchwardens, and Robert Davis and Edward Stiles, Overseers of the Poor of the Parish of Brighthelmstone, aforesaid, in trust for themselves and others, the parishioners of the said Parish, in Fifty Pounds of good and Lawfull money of Great Britain, to be paid to the said Churchwardens and Overseers, or their certain Attorney, Executors, Administrators, and Assigns, for which payment well and faithfully to be made, I bind my Heirs, Executors, and Administrators, and every of them, firmly by these presents, scaled with my Seal, dated this sixth day of May, in the Ninth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, George the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, and in the year of our Lord One thousand, Seven hundred, and Sixty-nine.
The Condition of this obligation is such, that, whereas Mary Hill, of the Parish of Brighthelmstone, aforesaid, single-woman, hath, in and by her voluntary examination, taken in writing and upon oath before John Fuller, Esquire, one of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace in and for the said County, declared that she is with child, and that the said child is likely to be born a bastard, and to be chargeable to the said Parish of Brighthelmstone, and that Buckrell Bridger, the younger, of Brighthelmstone, aforesaid, mariner, is the father of the said child. If, therefore, the above bounden Buckrell, the elder, or the above named Buckrell Bridger, the younger, or either of them, then, or either of their Heirs, Executors, or Administrators, do or shall, from time to time, or at all times hereafter, fully and clearly indemnify, and save harmless as well, the above named Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the said Parish of Brighthelmstone, and their successors for the time being, and also all other the Parishioners and Inhabitants of the said Parish which now are, or hereafter shall be for the time being, from and against all kind and all manner of Costs, Taxes, Rates, Assessments, and charges whatsoever, for or by reason of the birth, education, and maintenance of the said child, and of and from all Actions, Suits, Troubles, and other charges and demands whatsoever, touching or concerning the same, then this obligation to be void, or otherwise to be and remain in full force.
Buckrell Bridger. *
The mark of Buckrell Bridger × the elder. *Sealed and delivered, being first stamped in the presence of us, the interlineations being first made.
Geo. Abington,
Thos. Scrase.
But a quarter of a century since it was customary to employ the out-door paupers in scavenging, cleansing, and watering the streets, the poor creatures being harnessed, by means of ropes, to the muck-trucks and barrel-constructed water-carts, after the manner that convicts are put to labour in the Government penal establishments and the navy dockyards. The parish officers eventually got shamed out of the system of thus employing those whose only crime was poverty; and for awhile they substituted the health-destroying and heart-breaking plan of wheeling shingle and sand from the beach to the Workhouse-ground in barrows, till one unhappy creature sunk beneath his burthen and died of “disease of the heart!” The custom then was abandoned. The course now pursued towards the indigent is thoroughly to investigate their several cases, and relieve them according to their necessities and deserts: and where laziness and not misfortune is the cause of their penury, to give them an “Able Bodied Ward” ticket of admission to the Workhouse, which not one indolent person in fifty avails himself or herself of, but rather leaves the Board of Guardians, dissatisfied, and eventually resolves upon an attempt at industry, which results in a benefit to themselves and the ratepayers. The system has succeeded beyond all expectations; and many a man who considered the “house” his birthright, because his father and his grandfather from time immemorial wintered there, has taken to provident and industrious habits, and learned the sweet uses of adversity.
Chapter X.
THE ATTACK ON BRIGHTHELMSTON BY THE FRENCH, IN 1545.
Henry the Eighth having ravaged Artois and Picardy, by the superiority of his forces, and made himself master of Boulogne, the French king to retaliate the wanton desolations, sent Admiral D’Annehault with a considerable fleet to devastate the country on the southern coast of the island. The invasion is thus described by Holinshead:—
“In 37 Hen. 8th, 1545, July the 18th, the admiral of France, Mons. Donebatte, hoisted up sails, and with his whole navy (which consisted of 200 ships and 26 gallies,) came forth into the seas, and arrived on the coast of Sussex, before Bright Hampstead, and set certain of his soldiers on land to burn and spoil the country: but the beacons were fired and the inhabitants thereabouts came down so thick, that the Frenchmen were driven to their ships with loss of diverse of their numbers, so that they did little hurt there. Immediately hereupon they made to the Isle of Wight, when about two thousand of their men landed, and one of their chief captains, named Chevalier Daux, a Provençois, being slain with many others, the residue, with loss and shame, were driven back again to their gallies. And having knowledge by certain fishermen whom they took, that the king was present on the coast, (Portsmouth) and a huge power ready to resist them, they disanctioned (disanchored) and drew along the coast of Sussex, of whom few returned to their ships; for divers gentlemen of the country, as Sir Nicholas Pelham and others, with such power as was raised upon the sudden, took them up by the way and quickly distressed them. When they had searched every where by the coast, and saw men still ready to receive them with battle, they turned stern, and so got them home again without any act achieved worthy to be mentioned. The number of the Frenchmen was great, so that diverse of them who were taken prisoners in the Isle of Wight and in Sussex, did report they were three score thousand.”
A curious Picture Map of this attack is engraved in the 24th vol. of the “Archæologia” of 1832, from the original in the Cottonian Library. A copy of this map is in the possession of the compiler of this history. It bears date, “1545, July, 37 Henry VIII.” The number of ships attacking the town is twenty-two; and the largest, probably the Admiral’s, lying nearest the shore, has four masts; seven have three masts, three two masts, and eleven are galleys with one mast and numerous oars. Eight of the latter are on shore, and the armed men from them have disembarked on the beach, the place where they landed being inscribed,—“here landed the galleys.” On the shore also, high and dry, are six large boats of the inhabitants, and several smaller ones. On the beach, likewise, at Hove, are five small boats. On the sea, towards the west side, is inscribed,—“Shippes may ride all somer tem in a myle the town in V fathome water;” and on the east,—“Thesse grete shippes rydeng hard abode shore by shoting into the hille and wallies on the towne, so sore oppresse the towne that the countrey dare not adventure to rescue it.” The ships are pierced for guns, and the prows and sterns are raised three or four stages. Numerous pennons and streamers adorn each ship, some bearing a fleur-de-lys, and others a cross. On shore the houses under the cliffe are on fire; from the upper town also flames are issuing from almost every house. There are five rows of houses running from north to south; and at the extreme north a row of houses runs from east to west. A square space in the centre is marked,—“A felde in the middle of the town.” A road to the east of the town, about the spot now occupied by the Old Steine, and going in the north-east direction is inscribed,—“the valey comyng from Lewes town to Brighthampston.” On this road and on the hill adjacent bodies of armed men are marching towards the town. On the cliffe, eastward of this road, is an erection from which is suspended a frame containing some burning substance, and is inscribed,—“the towne fyre cage.” This is at about the spot where the offices and auction room of Messrs. Parsons and Son now are. From thence, eastward, is inscribed,—“The East pte of brighthampston riseng onelye on cleves high.” North of the town is the church, about which persons, some armed, appear in the attitude of prayer. Beyond the church are two mills, marked,—the “wynde mylles;” and still farther a blazing construction on a pole, marked,—“the bekon of the towne.” A road from this spot is continued to the sea, about midway between the church and Hove Church, marked,—“hoove Churche.” This road, along which armed men are coming towards the town, is inscribed,—“the valey comyng from pouynge (Poynings) betwixt brighthampston and the vilage, hove.” As this road approaches the beach it is inscribed,—“Upon this west pt may lond CM psones (100,000 persons) unletted by any pvision there.” At the back of the town is inscribed,—“The towne of brighthampston,” and immediately to the east of the town is a body of armed men. Hove,—two rows of houses,—is marked, “hove village,” and the road running westward from thence, “the west parte of brithampston lowe all daungerous and wout cleves (without cliffs.)”
The next attempt of the French was on Newhaven, where they landed to a considerable number, and proceeded to pillage the town and environs; but the gentry and yeomen of the coast having been collected on the neighbouring hills to oppose the expected descent, attacked the invaders so vigorously that many were slain in attempting to recover their galleys.