Damaris is an unusual name. It is thought to derive from ‘little calf’ an old Greek term of endearment. The name is mentioned in the bible and indeed the Greek Orthodox Church recognise Damaris as a saint. Damaris Richardson was born in Brede, East Sussex in 1834 and baptised at St George’s Church, Brede on 27th April that…
Category: East Sussex
Sussex Photographic Rambles 1924
My grandmother Bessie Roberts lived at Taddington Road, Eastbourne. She was interested in photography and owned a ‘Box-Brownie’ Camera. She was the secretary of the Eastbourne Brownie Photographic Club which met at the Technical Institute (Eastbourne Library is now on the site) and in 1924 kept a record of the club’s ‘photographic rambles’. All the photographs…
A Remarkable Eastbourne Engineer
Colonel Charles Manby lived at The Greys in Borough Lane, Old Town. (Greys Road is named after the building) Charles Manby was born on the Isle of Wight in 1804. He was the son of Aaron Manby (1776-1850) who was a Shropshire ironmaster who took his expertise to France where he established several ironworks. His father…
He didn’t get home for Christmas
James Gorringe was the third and youngest son of James Gorringe of Upperton Farmhouse, Eastbourne. He was born in May 1866 in Eastbourne and educated at Brighton. James married Alice Maria Spray (1864-1948) from Pevensey and they lived at ‘Kingsley’ 27, Devonshire Place, Eastbourne. They had two children Alfred Edward Kingsley Gorringe born 18th September 1894…
Summerdown Kate
Early in the Great War, the Summerdown Convalescent Camp was established on fields to the north-west of Eastbourne just off the East Dean Road. The camp had its own entertainment troupe called the Knut Kamp Komedy Kompany which were based in the camp Recreation Hut and gave weekly concerts. The troupe consisted of musicians, comics and even…
The Lewes Riots
This story has it all – rioting, nuns, a funeral and a Christmas carol – and it’s all based in Sussex! I suppose the story starts with Edward Bouverie Pusey (1880-1882). He was a theologian who, along with John Henry Newman (later Cardinal Newman) (1801-1890), was one of the founders of the ‘Oxford Movement’. This group…
The Cuckmere Railway
The Cuckmere Railway The Cuckmere River (never the River Cuckmere!) has always decided its own route to the sea. This map shows the various places where the mouth of the river has been since the eighteenth century. The map shows something else of interest, a thin black line at the top marked ‘Tramway’. Cuckmere Haven once had its…
The Forgotten Soldiers of the Great War
Seaford Cemetery contains over 300 Commonwealth War Graves. Although they commemorate many local soldiers, most bear the Canadian maple-leaves. Nineteen graves however are carved with the crest of the British West Indies Regiment (BWIR). I have done extensive research and published details of the Canadian soldiers but this year I would like to tell the…
A Butcher’s Car Discovered
A couple of years ago Sue Jones of The Real Car Limited contacted the Eastbourne Local History Society regarding a Rolls Royce they had acquired. Real Car Limited is based in North Wales and specialise in selling early Rolls-Royce and Bentley Cars. The car in question was a 1928 20-horsepower Rolls Royce registration HC8815. ‘HC’ was…
The Canadian Farmer mentioned on a Sussex Grave
David James McCurdy was born in Winnipeg on 5th December 1886. His father was a farmer and he became a farmer too. His name is recorded on two graves – one in Canada and another thousands of miles away in Sussex On 14th August 1914, soon after war was declared, David enrolled in the Canadian Expeditionary Force at…
Quirky Sussex History by Kevin Gordon 