Today we realise that we should not discriminate a person because of their physical appearance but this has not always been the case. It is clear that in the past, dwarves were used for entertainment particularly amongst the royal families of Europe. One of them possibly had a local connection. His name was XIT and…
Category: Royalty
Beacons for the Queen (and the French!)
Next week beacons will be lit all over Sussex, and indeed the whole country, to commemorate the 90th birthday of Her Majesty the Queen. Beacons have been used for many years for celebration and also as a means of communication. This was particularly the case to warn us good Sussex folk from invasion against the…
A Royal Flower Girl who packed a punch!
Elizabeth Quill, (known as Kitty) was born in Kingstown, Ireland in 1861. At some stage she moved to London where she met a labourer David Quill. Although they lived in London Kitty spent the summer in Eastbourne where she lodged and did a brisk business as a flower seller. The Dukes of Devonshire regularly hosted…
The tragic Saint who left her mark in Sussex
On 21st August 1878 a royal party arrived at Eastbourne from the Isle of Wight. This group consisted of Louis IV, the Grand Duke of Hesse and his wife Princess Alice, the Grand Duchess of Hesse. Princess Alice was the second daughter of Queen Victoria and had been visiting her mother at Osborne House. The…
Quirky Sussex History by Kevin Gordon 