Mayday
From the Hastings News of 05/05/1848
Mayday - May 1 - was celebrated around the town, with the “shovel and broom gentry” in their “annual bal masque”. A wide range of characters, including Jack in the Green and the “characters of the soot bag”, were “tripping ...
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Hastings Council clamped down on the expanding beach trades by creating tough new bye-laws regulating the use of the beach by pleasure boats, their capstans and bathing machines, and introducing charges for them. Ladies bathing machines were the only facilities ...
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Fairs
12/06/1848
This was Whit Monday, the liveliest day in the town’s annual calendar. Large numbers of people came in from the surrounding countryside, and all kinds of fun, games and events took place. The three benefit societies hold processions and rural ...
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Hastings Regatta was held today.
The St Leonards Mechanics Institution was formed in the last few days.
A Fishermen’s Tea Meeting was held at the National School Rooms, Tackleway, with 170 people present.
The Hastings benefit societies organised a non-profit day-out excursion to Brighton and Shoreham, with 1,247 passengers aboard a 37-carriage train, hauled by two engines.
An exhibition of items for the forthcoming 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition was held at Messrs Rock and Sons carriage showroom at White Rock on 26/7 February. Children of Hastings Union Workhouse were taken to Crystal Palace by train on July ...
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Winter Fair
From the Hastings News of 28/11/1851
At the Winter Fair at the Fishmaket 70 horses were auctioned from the railway works, being not then needed.
Warrior Square Gardens opened to the public, with a band playing three times a week.
Christmas Dinner
From the Hastings News of 24/12/1852
Musgrave Brisco MP had given his tenants their annual dinner at his Coghurst Hall.
Opening of the St Leonards Exhibition.
The annual Rock Fair took place in a field in St Michaels, White Rock, 26/7 July.
Halton House Fete
From the Hastings Chronicle of 16/08/1853
A fete was held at Halton House, Robertsons Hill (off Old London Road), by owner Patrick Robertson MP, with music, dancing and fireworks.
A fete was held in the grounds of Hastings Lodge, Old London Road, by the owner, Frederick North.
Dinner at the Swan Hotel for Captain McClure RN, who explored the Arctic seas and North West Passage. The mayor and other dignitaries were present.
Pubs
From the Hastings News of 23/02/1855
A petition was being raised to close pubs and beer houses on Sundays.
The museum building of the Hastings Literary Institution was sold. The Hastings Mechanics Institute had hired a room at 62 George Street to the museum.
The song about Fairlight Glen, Music of the Stream, was published, with words by Arthur Ransom and music by George Lindridge.
Bathing
From the Hastings News of 10/08/1855
A bye-law was to be made that no person should undress on the seashore or beach except in a bathing machine.
A gala day was held at Tivoli Gardens, Silverhill.
Crimean War Ends
From the Hastings News of 06/06/1856
Peace celebrations in Hastings at the end of the Crimean War, with parades, fetes etc.
A new assembly room [later called the Public Hall] and arcade between Robertson Street and Priory Street were proposed, and a new company was formed.
A new concert room started at the back of the Castle Hotel in Wellington Square. The hotel was also to be improved. Assembly Rooms opened on 15 December 1859.
The big new Music Hall, also called the Central Assembly Room, lying between Robertson Street and Havelock Road, was opened on Wednesday 12 January. The News said it was "comfortably filled with, probably, the largest company that has ever gathered ...
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Hastings Council published an important new map of Hastings and St Leonards by the town surveyor, Mr Laing.
Market Hall
From the Hastings News of 11/11/1859
A licence was granted for the new theatre in the Market Hall, near the Anchor pub, George Street.
Jack-in-the-Green
From the Hastings News of 03/05/1861
May Day on 1 May was celebrated by the appearance of some ‘Jacks-in-the-Green' accompanied by amateur sweeps.
Rock Fair
From the Hastings News of 26/07/1861
'Rock Fair is Dead': A comment on the Hastings 'Rock Fair' which used to be held on the Priory Grounds and was now discontinued, although many new people still tried to celebrate the occasion.
The famous author Charles Dickens gave readings from Christmas Carol and Pickwick Papers at the Music Hall, Hastings.
Local festivities took place on the day of marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Hastings Band
From the Hastings News of 10/07/1863
The Hastings Band was re-formed, with the introduction of several stringed instruments.
Cricket Ground
From the Hastings News of 04/09/1863
Mr H Barham was the promoter of a scheme to procure the Priory Meadow for a cricket and pleasure ground.
The School of Art and Design, Robertson Street, opened.
Priory Meadow
From the Hastings News of 11/03/1864
A public meeting was held at the Havelock Hotel Assembly Room on Wednesday 9 March about using the Priory Meadow as a 'Central Cricket and Recreation Ground'. A committee was formed, and the meeting was adjourned. That evening, the committee ...
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Whitsun Carnival
From the Hastings News of 20/05/1864
Hastings carnival procession took place on Whitsuntide.
Circus Performs
From the Hastings News of 26/08/1864
Sangers Circus was appearing at the new recreation ground for a short series of performances.
Gas Workers
From the Hastings News of 07/04/1865
At the gas works, the work was laborious and many men used this as an excuse for intoxication, so the company was providing nourishing, low-cost drinks at a nominal cost. A 17-piece brass band had also been formed for the ...
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Rock Fair Banned
From the Hastings News of 21/07/1865
The annual Rock Fair, usually held on 28/9 July, had been banned. Held usually at the Priory Field, it was reported to have become the attraction for revolting excesses.
Bopeep Races
From the Hastings News of 25/08/1865
The horse races reappeared over a new course which had been formed in the valley beyond Filsham and Grove Farms.
Halton Club
From the Hastings News of 13/04/1866
Council meeting, 6 April: Proposed new buildings included the Halton Working Mens Club, to be in West View.
Bopeep Races
From the Hastings News of 24/08/1866
Over 2,900 people travelled to the race course from Hastings/Gensing stations. The News said: “We were unpleasantly reminded by an influx of not very desirable nor quiet visitors” and described them as a “motley crowd”. The fete on 21st and ...
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A meeting was held on 8 December to promote a new public hall in St Leonards. The rooms included a swimming bath, hot and cold baths, Turkish baths, dining room, reading room, and a meeting room for 1,300 people. In ...
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Silverhill Club
From the Hastings News of 02/02/1867
The Silverhill Reading and Recreation Club had recently been founded.
The old Hare and Hounds Inn in Ore village, then let out as apartments, and an adjoining woodshop, once the old Theatre, burned out. It was insured, but the main sufferers were the tenants whose goods were destroyed by the ...
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Boy Gamblers
From the Hastings News of 21/02/1868
John Ball, aged 12, was fined 6d plus 4/6 costs for tossing coins in the streets. PC Dabson saw him toss two halfpence in Tackleway. Supt Glenister said there was enormous gambling among boys, especially on Sundays.
Local Museum?
From the Hastings News of 18/06/1869
There was talk of establishing a local borough museum.
The annual Whitsun Town Fair may be snuffed out by the erection of the new Fishmarket. There were only two or three small stalls on the ground at the fair on Tuesday 7 June.
The annual Town Fair was held, but it was very restricted, since the ground was occupied by the new Fishmarket and boats hauled onto the roadway out of reach of the gale. The home herring fishery had been good so ...
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Whitsun Fair
From the Hastings News of 02/06/1871
The Whit Tuesday Town Fair on 30 May had nearly disappeared. This year there were only six small stalls, for gingerbread and nuts.
Pleasure Ground
From the Hastings News of 07/07/1871
A promenade concert and rural entertainment evening were staged in Old Roar Glen on 5th July by HR Putland, the occupier. There were Herr Klee's band, balloons inflated, Chinese lanterns, coloured fires in the glen and fireworks. There were 400-500 ...
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Respected Death
From the Hastings News of 17/11/1871
On 12 November at home in Whipps Cross, Walthamstow, died Rickman Godlee, aged 67, of Lincolns Inn. He was one of the founders of the Literary and Mechanics Institutions, and he gave the first geological lecture in Hastings, classes etc. ...
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Fairs Abolished
From the Hastings News of 12/01/1872
The Council voted to abolish fairs held 23-24 November and Whit Tuesday - an "abominable nuisance" - to prevent the assemblage of a class of people who were no credit to the town or to anybody else.
Workhouse Data
From the Hastings News of 29/11/1872
New, tougher wards for the 'casuals' (tramps) had been built near the gates of the workhouse, reported the News in a long feature. It said: During the past few years it had been discovered that an astonishingly large number of ...
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Lost Museum
From the Hastings News of 03/01/1873
The News said the old Literary Institution was in a bad way. It "has done good work for both science and literature. It might now have had a valuable museum, had it been supported as it deserved to be. That ...
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Street Life
From the Hastings News of 03/01/1873
There complaints of the dirty state of roads near the Memorial, suggesting able-bodied paupers should sweep the crossings. "Visitors have also complained of the coarse remarks and bad language used by the loungers at the corners of the streets in ...
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Claremont Circus
From the Hastings News of 20/03/1874
A proposed permanent theatre and circus at Claremont had been scrapped due to the opposition from local tradesmen, following a meeting at the Queens Hotel.
Thomas Brassey laid the foundation stone for the White Rock Baths and Aquarium on 28 June. The arrangement at present was to proceed with the baths, leaving the aquarium for subsequent consideration.
New Theatre?
From the Hastings News of 23/02/1877
There was talk of building a new theatre for Hastings, on the site of the Castle Mews, Queens Road. [To be the Gaiety.]
The first part of the new public baths at White Rock was opened by Thomas Brassey MP on Tuesday 28 May, "a most important event in the annals of this locality". The baths were said to be the largest of ...
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American Circus
From the Hastings News of 11/10/1878
The Myers grand American Circus arrived at the Central Cricket Ground on 4 October. The marquee was said to hold 10,000 people.
Origin of Library
From the Hastings News of 01/08/1879
Mr Brassey had given his recently-built Claremont Rooms to the Borough after a tiff between Brassey and the Rowing Club, which used the basement. Mr Brassey hoped the building would be used as a free library [which it was eventually].
The Royal Concert Hall in Warrior Gardens opened on 13 October. First called the Warrior Square Opera House and Concert Room, it was for many years the leading centre of entertainment and social function in St Leonards. Many famous artistes ...
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The new Harold Tea and Pleasure Gardens had opened. They were at Pinders Shaw, on the east side of the upper Clive Vale valley. They were built by Mr W Rogers, who had a large temperance hotel. There was a ...
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More Baths Open
From the Hastings News of 20/08/1880
The private baths section of the White Rock Baths opened on 16 August. The first part of the Baths had opened on 28 May 1878.
Library Opens
From the Hastings News of 21/01/1881
A free reference library for all the people of Hastings was opened on the ground floor of the Brassey Institute in Claremont on Saturday 15 January. The library was a gift to the town from Mr Thomas Brassey MP. A ...
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Opera House
From the Hastings News of 10/06/1881
A new 'opera house' was being built in Queens Road, by Mr Rodda. [It was to be the Gaiety Theatre; it opened on 2 August 1882].
A meeting of "influential residents" launched a movement to create a free lending library and museum in Hastings. The gentlemen met in the town hall on Tuesday 28 March. The Rev JW Tottenham said the reference library donated by Sir ...
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A large meeting of ratepayers in the town hall on Tuesday 16 May rejected a proposal to create a free lending library in Hastings. The meeting was organised by the Council, to decide whether the provisions of the Free Libraries ...
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Chess Club Formed
From the Hastings News of 30/06/1882
The Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club was formed at a meeting of gentlemen in the Temperance Hotel, Queens Road, on the evening of Wednesday 28 June. The motion was put by Mr H Cheshire, "who said there were several ...
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Gaiety Opens
From the Hastings News of 04/08/1882
The spacious and well-appointed Gaiety Theatre in Queens Road opened on Tuesday 2 August. The first performance was of Gilbert and Sullivan's English opera HMS Pinafore, by Mr D'Oyley Carte's company. Until then Hastings had lacked a good theatre, but ...
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Temperance reading rooms for working men were opened at Baldslow on Saturday 23 December by Mr and Mrs Ebden, who had made the donation. With the spread of development from Hollington, there were more working men in the area, and ...
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A meeting was held to form a new company that intended to create a new gentlemen's club for the borough. It was agreed that £15,000 capital would be raised to purchase the large building comprising 1 and 3 Warrior Square, ...
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The big first-floor room known as the Music Hall, between Robertson Street and Havelock Road, was to be renamed the Public Hall. The leaser, Mr Charles Lockey, was responding to this suggestion being made by several people, as it was ...
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The first annual meeting of the Hastings Chess Club took place in the Seaside Hotel, White Rock Place, on Friday 17 August. The chairman was Mr VB Crake. There was a fair attendance. The club then had 33 members, and ...
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A prominent and attractive bandstand was erected for the Town Band on the new Baths Parade, created by the building of the White Rock Baths.
Famous novelist Charles Dickens lectured at the public Hall in Robertson Street on 25 February.
The Hastings Mechanical Institute was wound up.
Clive Vale Institute
From the Hastings Chronicle of 11/01/1888
The Clive Vale Institute and Reading Room opened in temporary rooms some weeks since at Grove Road [now called Clive Avenue]. On Monday 9 January permanent quarters at Messrs Moon and Garner's Assembly Room [on the west corner of the ...
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Brassey’s Gift
From the Hastings News of 22/06/1888
The formal handing over of the Brassey Institute, containing the reference library and the School of Art, from Lord Brassey to the town took place on 9 June. But Hastings Council did not adopt the Public Libraries Act to support ...
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Gaiety Theatre
From the Hastings News of 27/07/1888
The Gaiety Theatre in Queens Road was to be made into public company, it was decided.
On 3 January there was a meeting of the committee about the proposed free library. It was decided to press forward the adoption of the Free Libraries Act in Hastings. (p3)
A meeting of the committee in favour of the free lending library on 4 February decided to press forward with the adoption of the Free Libraries Act in Hastings. The News of 21 February reported that there had been a ...
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Chess Tournament
From the Hastings News of 16/01/1891
A Living Chess Tournament was held at the Royal Concert Hall in Warrior Square on 14 and 15 January, starring Lord and Lady Brassey.
An electric lighting sanction was given at a Town Council meeting on 3 April to extend the main from Warrior Square along the seafront to St Leonards Pier. Plus it was agreed that the second floor of the Brassey Institute ...
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Shareholders decided on 31 July to wind up the Royal Concert Hall Company. The large hall, in Warrior Gardens, St Leonards, had been in financial difficulties for some time. But when it was put up for auction on 5 October ...
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The opening ceremony of the Hastings Museum, in the Brassey Institute in Claremont, took place on Tuesday 16 August. The Museum was situated on the upper floor. The mayor (Alderman Tree), Mr Wilson Noble MP and others presided.
The popular local personality Harry Furniss put on a two-day performance at the Royal Concert Hall, Warrior Gardens, on 16 and 17 January. The "clever caricaturist" was exhibiting his series of "amusing drawings".
The new Conservative Club at Silverhill was opened on Wednesday 6 September. The club was in specially built premises at the junction of Sedlescombe Road South and Battle Road, opposite the Clarence Hotel on the corner of Beaufort Road, the ...
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The eminent naturalist and philosopher Dr Dallinger gave a lecture at the Public Hall in Robertson Street on 22 and 23 November, under the auspices of the YMCA.
Elizabeth Parfill received one month's hard labour for fortune telling on 29 May.
Ten beach minstrels were prosecuted by the Council on 22 August for causing a crowd of several hundred to assemble on the beach at Carlisle Parade to watch them perform, in the evening of 14 August. The crowd was blocking ...
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Hastings had been the setting for the major International Chess Tournament throughout August. It had been based at the Brassey Institute, and participants came from all over the world, and it was widely reported in the national press. It was ...
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Benefit Concert
From the Hastings News of 20/09/1895
A benefit concert was held in the Market Hall, George Street, on 18 September for the blind John Bennett, street musician and singer.
A supper took place at Central Hall to celebrate the re-opening of the much improved Central Hall, in Bank Buildings. The hall, which was to be used as an auction mart, was upstairs, above the Hastings News printing offices. The ...
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Loan Exhibition
From the Hastings News of 20/03/1896
The Age of Chivalry loan exhibition opened at the Brassey Institute. A unique collection of valuable relics, on loan, were on show for a fortnight. They included arms and armour, paintings, costumes and textiles. It was organised by the Museum ...
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A woman who was to become one of Adolf Hitler's closest friends was born in Hastings. Winifred Williams was the daughter of Welsh theatre critic John Williams and his German wife Emily Karop. Both died before Winifred was two, and ...
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Improvements were being carried out at the Gaiety Theatre. A new iron-framed asbestos fireproof curtain, iron escape ladders and balcony projections would be provided. The News of 29 July reported the fatal fall of Thomas Streetton, of 11 Hill Street, ...
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The Empire Theatre of Varieties was declared open by the mayor on Thursday 30 March. The Empire was situated at the east end of Pelham Place on the seafront. [It was soon renamed as the Hippodrome, then the Cinema de ...
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The Council meeting of 21 April agreed to allow mixed bathing, after a long period of considering the matter. They at last agreed to overcome their fears and change byelaws, thereby giving it the go-ahead in the coming summer.
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