Category: 19th-Century

The Buckingham Book

The Buckingham Book

In 2025 a Shoreham resident acquired at auction a significant historical find. It was a rather battered leather bound family scrapbook dating from 1889. It contained photographs, sketches, and cuttings collected by the Head family of Great Buckingham, Old Shoreham. The story behind the “Buckingham Book” book is tantalising. It had been kept in the Head family’s possession for 80 years but had been torn in two, and separated, with the front part donated to a museum. We now have possession of the second half along with its accompanying covering letter from an author unknown. The images in the book are in this gallery.

Covering letter:

This Family Scrapbook compiled by the Head Family to record their time at Buckingham (Buckingham House, Old Shoreham) from 1889 to 1905 was in the possession of Lady (Hester) Marsden-Smedley (née Pinney), the daughter of Lady Hester Pinney (née Head). Before she died, Lady Pinney stated that she wanted me to have it because of its relevance to Shoreham. In due course I made contact with her daughter in Chelsea and arranged to go up to collect it.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Lady Marsden-Smedley would have liked to have kept it, since it contained so much of Family interest. In the event, she simply tore the book in half and gave me the front part, and this I placed in Marlipins. It may since have been dismembered, which is a great pity.

The other half I was very surprised to be offered many years later through a friend. and bought it, at a price, and did not enquire as to its provenance. I still have it, in its somewhat battered slate.

It is (was) three-quarter leather bound, about 100 mm thick in all, the boards approx, 370 x 298mm, with interleaved pages designed as a commercial scrap-book.

It is clear that the Head boys were responsible for most of the snaps, but there are other more professional photos taken probably by William Page, Photographer, of Shoreham, whom Hester (Pinney) said she encouraged. There are also watercolours by Hester of a competent, but amateur quality, together with sundry printed items of interest, and photos of local views and personalities.

The whole gave a unique and fascinating view of the very happy life at Buckingham until Henry Head’s death in 1905, when the family quit Old Shoreham. The house lay empty and in 1911 was gutted, with the grounds occupied by a new house erected to the North.

During their stay at Buckingham, the Heads effectively filled the role of ‘Lords of the Manor’ in the Town, and were most popular. Henry Head was an outgoing and generous personality, and he was clearly led by his very positive daughter Hester (Pinney), abetted by her brothers. The Park was regularly opened to the townsfolk, and Henry seems to have been the leader in the 1897 Diamond Jubilee celebrations. When, apart from a Grand March through the Town to a Fair and general festivities in the Park, there seems to have been a very early filrnshow in the field by the old Swiss Gardens. Fifty years later, Hester Pinney was stilt fondly rernembered in the Town.

The Book records Hunting, Cricket, Yachting (Steam and Sail) Golf, Shooting, Riding, and alfresco entertainments.. The girls from the London Store, D. H. Evans, which the Heads owned, were also entertained in the Summer and are seen obviously enjoying themselves. The Book is a wonderful, unique, record of a lost age, which was soon to come to a tragic stop. One son was lost on the Titanic (sic Christopher Head), and one at Gallipoli (sic. Bernard Head); it is fitting that their memorials are in Old Shoreham Church, in the place that they so enjoyed.

Author unknown, date post-1983

Buckingham House 1904. Built 1820 and abandoned by 1911. The little girls in this photograph maybe the same grand daughters of Henry Head seen in the image below. Hester Harriott Pinney on the right.

The background to the Head family

We can surmise that the book was split in 1983 after Hester’s death. Whilst it is reasonable to assume the Marlipins Museum holds the other half of the book they are currently unable to confirm this.

In the same year as the 1891 census this family group photograph is on the East steps to Buckingham. It appears to show Henry Head (age 56) next to his daughter Hester Head (16) (standing) and seated an unknown woman. Henry’s wife Hester Head Snr (56) is seated in black (probably in mourning for her son Hugh who died in Nov 1890). Henry’s sons are seated, believed to be John Alban Head (17)and Bernard Head (15) later killed in Gallipoli in 1915. The other ladies are not identified.
The same view 130 years later

Hester’s father was Henry Head b.1834 m.1860 Died 1st July 1905
Hester’s mother was Hester Head (née Beck) b.1835 m.1860 d.1907
Hester became Hester Pinney (née Head Jnr.) by marriage in 1900 b.1875 d.1958
Hester’s daughter Hester Harriott Marsden-Smedley (née Pinney) b. Pune India 21st June 1901. Married Basil Futvoye Marsden-Smedley 1927. Hester died in 1982 in Chelsea.
Hester’s daughter was Henrietta Hester Marsden-Smedley b.1935 d.1998

0215 –  – Henry Head with his daughter Hester Pinney and grand-daughters at Buckingham House. It is probably Hester Harriott in her mother’s arms. c.1903 a couple of years before his death. Location at the front door to Buckingham ©SAS

Sons and daughters of Henry and Hester Head:

Link to Head Family Tree
Census returns for Buckingham 1841-1901

The contents of the Buckingham Book (II)

The mystery of what happened to the first half of The Buckingham Book is perhaps explained by a number of photos in the SAS / Marlipins Collection of images. Whilst there seems to be just 11 images they are of a similar nature to those in the second half of the book. The suggestion is these 11 were cherry picked by SAS and the rest of the book is in their archive awaiting full scrutiny and publication.

The selected contents of the Buckingham Book (I)

Further reading:

The timeline of Buckingham House(s)

The Ayling Family

The Aylings were family grocers, drapers and furnishers at 54 and 56 High Street on the western corner with John Street. Henry Ayling born 1838, a master grocer from Midhurst and his wife Fanny arrived in Shoreham during the mid/late 1860’s after acquiring the premises. 

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War Hawk

Montague Dawson artist - possible copyright but take a chance with Herald use copy

It often amazes me that a website for a small town like Shoreham attracts visitors from around the world including particularly Australia, America and Canada. One though was especially surprising coming as it did from Estonia and concerned a rather special Shoreham built ship.

During research looking for old newspaper reports, ship launchings at Shoreham frequently appeared but one in particular took my eye. At 12 noon on Tuesday the 10th May 1853 James Britton Balley’s new 340 ton vessel ‘War Hawk’ first took to the water heralded as ‘a finely modeled, beautiful clipper expected to be the fastest sailer ever built in even this fast port.’

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Osman Pacha – The last Shoreham built square rigged ship

Article written by Ken Wilcox

`Making a passage` etching A. Briscoe c. 1890.

Introduction

By the latter half of the 19th century the continuing industrial revolution in iron and steam shipbuilding had resulted in the decline of large wooden commercial ship construction. However from 1880 to 1890 the British and Commonwealth Merchant fleet still made up 50% of the world`s sailing ship tonnage and when steam ships were also considered then the combined fleet constituted some 60% of the world`s registered tonnage. Britain would remain the world’s principal maritime nation until the end of World War II. It is into this climate of maritime dominance the Osman Pacha was launched on a spring tide in February 1878. The launch marked a watershed in Shoreham`s long commercial and naval ship building history which had been one of the most important economic elements of the port’s activity since the mediaeval period. As the new century dawned the artisan`s skills turned to smaller recreational yacht building and the memories of Osman Pacha ebbed away……

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A Southwick Quaker

Early Memories of a Southwick Quaker

A unique record of the 1830’s Southwick childhood reminiscences of Lucy Rickman Penney (nee Lucas). Documented by B. R. Bryant in 1913 it was discovered in Southwick resident Alf Browning’s collections and has been kindly loaned by Yvette Hammond and photographed by Neil De Ville.

The complete 42 page typed document includes the Lucas family’s travels to, and living at, various places far beyond our locality. Selected extracts have therefore been made together with additional background research to provide a little of the story of Lucy’s Quaker family during their residence at Southwick that include visits to the Brighton Meeting House and her father’s beautifully described walk to Portslade.

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Ropetackle – the last 300 years

– a collection of images from the galleries and collections of shorehambysea.com illustrating the changes to the area since the 18th century.

What a wonderfully eccentric place it was! Besides a fascinating ropemaking and shipbuilding past there were, in Victorian times, ancient buildings still standing, quaint cottages, wharf houses, a gas works and, spookily, a mortuary alongside an incinerator! In the Little High Street there were peculiarly shaped houses and strange, shop-like windows.

It was never a fashionable area, being part industrial and part residential where the poorer, labouring families largely dwelt. In 1817 William Butler’s poor grammar  described it as being “the lower ‘hend’ of town” and goes on to mention a ‘pour new’ shop where he had ‘connections’ with Sarah Fillaps. Something of a mystery and perhaps a pawn shop (a corruption of the French ‘for us’) or as William’s escapades suggest one of the numerous brothels in Shoreham port then?

During the early part of the 19th century Ropetackle included wharf houses, sheds, a brickyard, coal yard, a bonding pond, Thomas Clayton’s deal yard, his cement factory, stables, a mixture of 17th to 19th century houses and even a mill pond. By the Victorian era there was also a sewage plant and of course the gasworks, flint-built ware houses, incinerator and mortuary. It all added to a certain air of eeriness and mystery to the area.

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A Roadside Memorial

During the 1950’s when roads were much quieter we would occasionally cycle up to West Grinstead railway station where one of my predecessors served as stationmaster there in the 1880’s. Rather than returning on the busier road we would drop down to pick up the B2135 to Partridge Green and on to Shoreham.

The first part of the route took us past the catholic church ‘Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation’ at West Grinstead, resting place of the much loved Sussex writer and historian Hilaire Belloc and his wife, then continued along a pretty, meandering switchback of a road with occasional views in the distance to the South Downs.

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Blind Fanny Winton

Blind Fanny Winton

Description: Macintosh HD:Users:rogerbateman:Desktop:ZFanny Winton:IMG_20151120_0003fb.jpg

I’ve known about Old Shoreham’s blind Fanny Winton for many years but never got round to reading Martha Rigden’s account in her 1873 book ‘By A Way They Knew Not.’

In clearing some old papers recently I discovered this anonymous resume of the book that condenses Fanny’s story of a hard life, going blind, travelling to Brighton for (somewhat harsh) treatment, bedridden for 30 years etc., and also tells us a little of the area and the people in it.

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