For many years the arrival and departure of steam packets, employed in the passenger intercourse between Brighton and Dieppe, formed a great attraction for visitors to the Pier. The first steamer employed in the station was the Swift, of eighty-horse power. A packet service by sailing vessels, previously existed, during the times of peace, dating as far back as 1792, when the Prince of Wales, a schooner, Captain Burton; the Princess Royal, a schooner, Captain Chapman; and the Speedwell, a cutter, Captain Lind, were the vessels employed. These were succeeded by the Nancy, Captain Blaber, which was run down in mid-channel; Ann and Elizabeth, Captain Daniels; Nautilus, Captain Wingfield, who is still alive and vends pork in Brighton Market; Elizabeth, Captain Lind; Lord Wellington, Captain Cheesman, who was afterwards, for years, in the General Steam Navigation Company’s service, on the same route; Prince Regent, Captain Bulbeck; Neptune, Captain Wallis; and the Thomas, Captain Clear. This vessel was instrumental in saving the life of Mr. Charles Green, the celebrated aeronaut, on the occasion of his ascent from the Gas Works, at Black Rock, October 1st, 1821, with his Coronation balloon. The Thomas had left some of her passengers and the Captain at Eastbourne, and was just off Beachy Head, in charge of the Mate, Francis Cheesman, who bore down upon the balloon, then unmanageable upon the water, and driving the vessel’s bowsprit into the silk of the aerial machine soon liberated the gas, and rescued Mr. Green from his frail wicker-work car.
At various periods the Chain Pier has been the medium and focus of special entertainments in the separate and combined attractions of fire and water. The structure on the evening of its inauguration was illuminated on both sides throughout its whole extent, in coloured lamps forming “God Save the Queen, and the House of Brunswick.” More recently exhibitions of fireworks have taken place upon it. The most memorable event by way of pastime was the Brighton and Hove Regatta, which took place on Thursday and Saturday, July 21st and 23rd, 1853, when public money to the extent of £364, was competed for, prizes of £120, £105, and £52 10s, by yachts, and other prizes varying from £20 downwards, to the number of fourteen by sailing and rowing boats. The weather for several days previous to the Regatta—which had been arranged to extend through three days,—was most unfavourable, a strong wind from the south-west preventing the arrival of yachts which had just contended in the Yarmouth Regatta. Several however, of heavy tonnage were in the matches, the first of which was gained by the Alarm, 248 tons, J. Welds, Esq., in a contest with the Sveridge, 280 tons, T. Bartlett, Esq., which was declared by yachting men unparalleled in the superior nautical tactics which were displayed. The Hotel-Keepers’ Prize of 50 guineas, with 50 guineas added, was won by the Arrow, 102 tons, T. Chamberlayne, Esq., four competed. The Ship-Owners’ Prize of 50 guineas was gained by the Phantom, 25 tons, S. Lane, Esq., beating the Thought, 25 tons, G. Coope, Esq. The First Class Pleasure Boat match, £20, was won by the Skylark, Mr. A. T. Mills; and in the Second Class Pleasure Boat contest for 10 guineas, the Royal Frederick, Mr. B. Kent, successfully contended against three others. In the four-oared Galley contest for £15, the Arrow, Mr. J. Nottidge succeeded against six others. Friday, the intervening day of the matches, was an entire blank; a dense fog with a drizzling rain prevailing from sun-rise to sun-set. On the evening of Saturday, there was a grand display of fireworks on the Chain Pier.
The Regatta was of simple origin. A few of the principal tradesmen who were accustomed to meet of an evening in conviviality at the New Ship Hotel, chanced in the early part of March, 1853, to have in their company Captain Moore, connected with several yachting clubs. He spoke of the admirable position of Brighton for yachting matches, and the attraction they would be to the inhabitants and visitors. A communication was forthwith made to the Commodores of the various Royal Yacht Clubs, and the idea being favourably entertained by them, a committee was formed, with Mr. H. P. Tamplin, the High Constable, as their Chairman, and the author of this book as their Honorary Secretary. Subscriptions came in bountifully, the whole of the town being most favourable to the project. The Railway Directors presented 50 guineas; the Hotel Keepers gave a prize of 37 guineas; the inhabitants of Cliftonville 50 guineas; the Ship-Owners 50 guineas; and Chain Pier Company 18 guineas. The Theatre was placed at the service of the Committee, and the proceeds of an amateur performance under the management of Mr. D. H. Greenin, aided the funds, as did also a fete at the Swiss Gardens, Shoreham, and a concert at the Royal Pavilion. So anxious and energetic, in fact, was the public in general for the Regatta to be a great success, that at its termination, the sum of £148 remained in the hands of the Treasurer, arising principally from the weather preventing the whole of the programme being gone through.
As an Englishman’s conclusion to a popular enterprise, a dinner took place at the Old Ship Hotel; and then, at the New Ship, where the Committee held their meetings, the Committee—of which Mr. Charles Sprake, the landlord, was a member,—gave an invitation dinner to the Honorary Secretary, who was presented, at the hands of the High Constable, with a most gratifying testimonial, thus inscribed,—surmounted with the Brighton Arms,—upon a silver-mounted portemonnie:—“Brighton and Hove Regatta, 1853. Presented to Mr. J. A. Erredge, with a Complimentary Sum, by the Committee, for his Valuable Services, as their Honorary Secretary.” As a feature of and to commemorate the Regatta, Mr. John Smith, King’s Road, who fitted-out several of the Committee in nautical attire, had an appropriate gilt button struck, of neat design.
Amongst the matches not contended for in the Regatta, was that for the Cliftonville Prize, which remained in abeyance till the Autumn of 1856, when fresh subscriptions and the interest of the money in hand, accumulating the Fund to £304, a second Regatta was arranged, which came off on the 26th of August, when Prizes to the amount of £207 were awarded. A grand display of fireworks and the discharge of incidental expenses cleared off the balance.
A great attraction to the Chain Pier, after the packets ceased running to and from Dieppe, was a band of music that entertained the company who promenaded the Pier-head. The Military Concerts at the Pavilion, however, are at present the musical feature for visitors, who every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon throng the suite of Assembly Rooms; and, when the season and weather are favourable, the eastern lawn, where also, for nine years past the Brighton and Sussex Horticultural and Floricultural Society have held their Summer and Autumn Shows, which annually increase in attraction and importance. The Museum and Picture Galleries that occupy upper portions of the Pavilion, likewise afford visitors many an hour’s agreeable ramble amongst the works of art and other rarities which are daily accumulating. An annual exhibition in connexion with the Brighton and Sussex School of Art, with an Art Union attached, takes place in the Galleries; and there is also an apartment appropriated to the School of Art. In the height of the season, grand concerts by artistes of celebrity take place in the Music Room, which, being easier of approach than the Town Hall, has superseded the large room there, where on the occasion of Jenny Lind—the Swedish Nightingale,—singing on the 23rd of August, 1847, the receipts were £1,200.
A species of diversion, termed a soirée, has of recent years been very popular, the intellectual being by it agreeably blended with the recreative; science and the fine arts gracefully admitting a sistership with Terpsichore, the active votaries of which goddess in their sundry modern gyrations of polka and schottische, contrasting strangely with “Lady Montgomery’s Reel,” led off in the same Pavilion, August 13th, 1805, by the Honourable Miss Seymour and a son of the Duke of Clarence, “with suitable ease, spirit, and vivacity,” and in a country-dance to the tune “Murphy Delaney,” the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Clarence “taking an active part in the wholesome exercise.” There was as great a diversity then in dance music as at the present time, passing events suggesting new ideas to composers and musicians. Upon one occasion, Mr. Kramer, the leader of the Prince’s private band, being in the Telemachus Room of the Old Ship Hotel, arranging the music for a ball which was to take place in the evening at the Royal Pavilion, had his attention attracted by the voice of a noted character from Lewes, Jemmy Gosney, who with a peculiar nasal twang was announcing in Ship Street that he had for sale “Book almanack, new almanack, Moore’s Almanack.” To the surprise of the vendor of Vox Stellarum, he heard his words repeated at a window opposite, where, on his clarionet, Kramer so imitated the old man’s voice, that, in the evening, he availed himself of the incident to introduce it as a novelty, in the course of a dance, much to the delight of His Royal Highness and the company in general.
During the sojourn of William and Adelaide in Brighton, in 1834, Sir Andrew Barnard, at the request of his Majesty, enquired of Mr. Gutteridge, the organist of the Royal Chapel, if there was anything to be obtained in the way of singing amongst the townsfolk. Mr. Gutteridge recommended the members of the Brighton Madrigal Society, with whom, for eight guineas the evening, an engagement was effected, but at so short a notice that the singers were perplexed to procure the appropriate dress for the occasion, namely, black coats and white vests. At the suggestion of a friend, however, a second-hand clothes’ shop in the Lanes was visited, and there they found all that was required; but one of the party, who was desirous of the loan of a coat for the night,—for which loan a half-crown was asked,—not having the cash about him for the deposit that was required to ensure its safe return, was necessitated to go out and obtain a well-known hair-dresser in Ship Street as his bond. The performance of the Madrigals took place in the Royal Music Room, in the presence of their Majesties and party, amongst whom was Lady Kennedy Erskine, the King’s daughter, an excellent judge of music, who highly complimented them on the efficient manner in which they had acquitted themselves. After the singing, they withdrew and partook of supper, at which they were attended by two footmen in the Royal livery, to one of whom the leader of the party—who had a black ribbon pinned in his waistcoat pocket to simulate that he wore a watch, and who was unaccustomed to a servant in waiting,—said, “Hulloa, old fellow, don’t bother yourself about us, sit down and have some with us.” The servant smiled, but declined, and only forgot his position as attendant by taking, when urgently pressed, a glass of wine all round with the guests.
In 1834, when Madame Sala, the mother of Mr. F. A. Sala, the novelist, was in the zenith of her profession as a songstress, and also as a teacher of singing, a placard on a board was placed at Eber’s Library, now Dutton and Thorowgood’s shoe warehouse, Castle Square, announcing a concert at the Town Hall, for her benefit; when some person,—it was supposed envious of her fame,—two evenings previous to that announced for her concert, disfigured the placard by cutting out some of the letters of her name, making it to read thus:—MAD SAL, which, coming to her knowledge, caused Madame to abandon the concert from fear of further insult. Her patrons recompensed her, but could not erase from her recollection the unmerited malignity.
Only a few years since, Brighton was greatly infested with street music from organs, hurdy-gurdies, and pianettes; a crusade, however, of the peace authorities drove them from the town, to which they have not since been allowed to return. Itinerant bands of wind instrument players yet remain, greatly to the annoyance of the inhabitants, of whom the performers most importunately ask remuneration for the woful discord they discourse. An accredited Town Band of no mean talent is in existence, supported by voluntary contributions and subscriptions; but it struggled for some years before it could attain a position, intruders upon their presumed rights frequently drafting off, by offers of superior engagements, their best performers. German bands were at one time very prevalent, but they remained only the novelty of a few seasons; pilferings by their leaders, petty quarrels and jealousies amongst themselves, and the non-appreciation by the public of what by some persons might be termed their talent, causing most of them to leave the town, if not the kingdom. The most respectable of them formed the nucleus of the Town Band, whose most general place of performance is on the lower western Esplanade, contiguous to the principal pleasure-boat station, where parties for a sail or row, or fishing excursion meet with everything they desire for a nautical pastime.