I feel at home living next door to Eastbourne’s parish church, particularly as many of my ancestors were baptised and married there. Unlike me though, they seemed to be models of bravery and goodness – take for instance one of my cousins* Thomas Boniface. Boniface is an old Eastbourne name and over the years has been…
Category: Ocklynge Cemetery
The Murder of Inspector Walls
On the evening of 9th October 1912, Countess Sztaray left her house at 6, South Cliffe Avenue near the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne for a dinner appointment in town. As the Countess got into her carriage, the coachman, David Potter noticed a man on the ivy-clad balcony above the front door. The Countess returned to her house and…
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…
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…
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…
The Eastbourne Chair
The Eastbourne Chair was a style of invalid chair invented by a Sussex doctor, Astley Carrington Roberts and Fanny Sophia Smith. They were both named in the patent which was granted patent number 22,790 in 1899. The chair had wheels but also curved rear brackets which made it easier to get up and down stairs. (Easier but…
Quirky Sussex History by Kevin Gordon 