There are complaints on social media today that Eastbourne toilets now cost £1. Local loos however have always been an issue …. Despite our idea of Victorians being genteel and prudish they would have got used to seeing people going to the toilet in public. If you stayed at a hotel or inn you would have…
Month: June 2025
The Adventures of a Sussex Marine
Frederick (Fred) James Gordon was my great-uncle. He was born at 1am on 11th February 1894 and was delivered by Doctor Muir Smith at 23, Commercial Road, Eastbourne. His parents (my great-grand parents) were Frederick and Hannah Gordon. Frederick had a long and adventurous life and my cousin Leeanna and myself hold photographs and postcards that he sent…
The Last Sussex Clown
James Ward Doughty was born in Bristol in 1818. He was a nephew of Theodore Hook (1788-1841) who was famous as a practical joker and the receiver of the first postcard. Hook was responsible for the infamous ‘Berners Street Hoax’ of 1810 (Google it!). Maybe James picked up on his uncle’s penchant for entertainment as, at the…
An Incorrigible Thief
One morning in September 1888, Mrs Mary Torry left her bedroom at the Diplocks Hotel in Eastbourne and went downstairs for breakfast. She left her bedroom door unlocked and when she returned she noticed that money and jewellery were missing from her handbag. Suspicion fell on the young, well-dressed chap in the adjacent room. He…
Known to millions but now forgotten
When the Reverend Power died in Eastbourne in 1899 the press said that his name was ‘a household word’ and he was ‘known in millions of homes around the world’, but today he is virtually unknown. Philip Bennett Power was born in Waterford, Ireland in 1822. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin where he…
Quirky Sussex History by Kevin Gordon 