Eastbourne Local History Society.


The Eastbourne Local Historian is the quarterly house journal of the Society which is supplied to all members and is published in March, June, September and December. It contains information about the activities of the Society and updates on local history and articles of merit concerning local history. The editor welcomes contributions from members and others interested in the history of the town.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Centenary of Aviation in Eastbourne By Michael Partridge Our town has a long and distinguished history in aviation. It began on 15 April 1911 when pilot OC Morrison crash-landed a Blériot monoplane in Devonshire Park. Later that year Frederick Bernard Fowler, a Selmeston-born man, purchased five Blériot types and taught himself to fly on one of them. He leased some 50 acres near St Anthony's Hill and formed the Eastbourne Aviation Company (EAC) on 1 December 1911. So this year 2011 is the 100th anniversary of the EAC and of flight in our town. Fowler soon acquired three two-seater Bristol Boxkites, friendly and safe aircraft, and opened his flying school. He also acquired two Henry Farman seaplanes with which he offered flights from the beach to the west of the pier. In March 1913 he leased land near to the site of the present day Sovereign Centre and built the EAC manufacturing facility. Before the war, four aircraft were built and during the war the factory produced more than 200 Avro 504Ks. Of Fowler's trainee flyers, most went on to serve in the Great War and some lost their lives. When war was declared, Fowler's airfield was taken over by the Royal Naval Air Service and new hangars were built alongside Lottbridge Drove. The airfield continued as a training base and more than 100 service pilots learned to fly there. Fowler, as a Squadron Commander, RNAS, commanded the unit for some time but also saw active service and was awarded the Air Force Cross. After the war the EAC resumed operation as a civilian training school and operated joy rides off the beaches at Eastbourne, Brighton and elsewhere. However by 1920 the company was in financial difficulties and by 1924 was bankrupt; the remaining machinery and tools were auctioned and the buildings were sold. A pioneering attempt to enter the field of aviation had failed, more because of prevailing economic conditions than any lack of ability. Aviation in Eastbourne saw a brief revival when in 1929, 1932, 1933 and 1935 Sir Alan Cobham brought his National Aviation Day display team to Eastbourne for one day or two, flying from Frowd's Field near to King's Drive. These were part of a grand tour of seaside and holiday resorts, aimed at making the nation air-minded for peace and, if necessary, war. Wilmington saw a brief exposure to aviation in the 1930s at Milton Gate farm, near to the A27, but an attempt to revive this in 1989 was turned down on planning grounds. In 1940, Gayles Farm and a part of Exceat Farm were requisitioned by the RAF and many Lancasters, Flying Fortresses and Liberators, damaged or low on fuel, made for Friston airf ield. From October 1943 Friston had its own squadron of Spitfires and by January 1944 had a complement of 1400 personnel. Many aircraft used the airfield in connection with the D-Day landings and during the summer of 1944 Friston's aircraft accounted for many V1 Flying Bombs. Friston was finally derequisitioned in April 1946. And to come right up to date, Eastbourne Airbourne began in 1993 and, over four days each August, claims to be the biggest seafront airshow in the world. The Society's book A History of the Eastbourne Aviation Company 1911-1924 can be purchased for just £5 plus £2 postage from Peter Tyrrell at 8 Chiltern Court, Albert Road, Polegate. BN26 6BS, tel 01323 487170 or by email to pltyrrell@btinternet.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anonymous Post Boxes By Peter Tyrrell
In life it can be common commodities that have an intriguing past and this is the case concerning post (or pillar) boxes. If you look down when posting a letter you will see an embossed allegiance to our monarchy that goes back to Victorian times when the Post Office became established. However an in-depth study of pillar box specifications and quirks can be intriguing enough to satisfy the most ardent addict. There remains an odd sequence of post boxes without any royal cypher. It is believed that Andrew Handyside Co of Derby, the manufacturer, somehow overlooked to add the Royal crest and cypher between 1883 and 1887. These artefacts are known as 'Anonymous' as they are completely plain on the front side. No explanation for the Royal omission has been forthcoming - it is simply not there. Another source states that a return to cylindrical boxes came about in 1879 but it was thirteen years before the manufacturer Andrew Handyside Co added the Royal cypher and the words Post Office - hence the Anonymous sobriquet. In Eastbourne we are aware of four such Anonymous post boxes. They are at Grange Road (opposite Jevington Gardens), King Edward's Parade (opposite the Wish Tower), Selwyn Road junction and The Avenue. One photographed in Royal Parade in 1993 may have been replaced by the nearby wall mounted post box. The former GPO Stanley Road site now has a pedestal type post box in place. There are two variants of pillar boxes - known to Royal Mail as A and B, A being of larger capacity than the B type which are Eastbourne's Anonymous boxes. Although with the B type there are high and low aperture variants. The first post boxes had been installed at St Hellier in Jersey in 1852 as a trial at the instigation of Sir Rowland Hill, then Secretary to the Post Office. This experiment was overseen by Anthony Trollope who worked for the GPO at the time. In 1853 the first mainland unit followed at Carlisle - some dozen years since the inaugural adhesive stamp and uniform penny post. The first round pattern post box appeared in 1879, with a variety of exceptions and materials utilised ever since. Royal Mail estimates that there are in excess of 100,000 post boxes in the United Kingdom. Andrew Handyside was born in Glasgow in 1805 and he became employed at his uncle Charles Baird's engineering company at St Petersburg. In 1848 Andrew Handyside acquired the Britannia Foundry in Derby, nestling beside the River Derwent and a steep embankment. This firm had established an enviable reputation for assured quality since it opened as Weatherhead and Glover about 1820. Their standards were based on employees' workmanship skills and the fine local sand. Between 1840 and 1846 the Handyside Co constructed 400 bridges for the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway among an array of other national commissions. The iron work castings of this company had become renowned globally for their robustness and quality. Contracts for post boxes were just a minor aspect of their order books. The company's strength lay in its civil engineering reputation - building bridges, railway station roofs, piers, street lamps, fountains and ornamental ironwork that found a market-place across the blossoming globe from industrial Victorian England. Their first post boxes were manufactured in 1853 and in 1879 they secured their first volume contract to supply the nation. The order book for post boxes ran into the early 20th century. Over the years other manufacturers and materials have been consigned to make post boxes, but the most familiar of all bear the name of Handyside. In 1893 the London property now known as Olympia was built by the firm. It is said to be the largest hall in the nation covered by a span of iron and glass and opened as the National Agricultural Hall. Handyside supplied the Manchester Ship Canal with structures, including the Barton Aqueduct and the Barton Road Swing Bridge that are said to have been assembled first in Handyside's work yard before going for installation. They progressed dramatically with the use of steelwork frames. Improving the strength of the product which as tested at Woolwich in 1854 proved a tensile strength of 20 to 23 tons per square inch opposed to the then standard of 17 tons. The company went on to establish an all time record book of achievements. Andrew Handyside died in 1887 and the firm he created went into decline, eclipsed by modern manufacturing methods. It closed in the early 1900s. His foundry was shut and stripped of its assets - the site being absorbed in a housing estate and only the name Handyside Street remains in acknowledgement. Although for countless hundreds of people across the world the name of his foundry retains pride of place. Into the 21st century organisations like the www letter box study group with their 800 odd membership remains. Sources: 1. Tony Bryant Esq. for the idea 3. Andrew Handyside and Company - Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. 4. BBC - A History of the World. 5. Pillar box. Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia. 6. www.lbsg.org. 7. The British Postal Museum and Archive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Enthusiastic Cyclists in 1900 By Rosemary Temple On reading the reference to cycling on page 3 of the Autumn Issue 161 of the Local Historian I was reminded that by chance I have recently been reading a series of letters written in 1900 by my grandfather Henry Cobb. His father ran a grocery store in the town of Battle in East Sussex and somewhere I have a photo of Henry with some friends including his girlfriend later to be my grandmother and her sister. They all had bicycles. Cycling was then a very popular pastime for young people because it enabled them to travel greater distances to visit friends and family and gave them more freedom than earlier generations had ever known. One of Henry's cousins rode 135 miles from Northampton to Battle. Other journeys frequently made were to Hastings, Chichester, Lewes and Haywards Heath. A letter dated 25 May 1900 relates how the people of Battle celebrated the Relief of Mafeking by organising a Bicycle Parade through the town. My grandfather describes how the idea came from his elder brother Tom, and it soon caught on. Enthusiastic friends joined them and they started arranging things. Henry drew up a 'bill' inviting all cyclists to join the parade in costume with their bicycles all dressed up. He expected that some would have lanterns and others fairy lamps on the handlebars, but when the local paper later described the event in detail it was clear that it had become much more than that - 107 cyclists started off, one after the other, the whole procession being one mile long! There was great excitement in the town and many people said that they had never seen anything like it before, it was even boasting that the Battle parade had outdone neighbouring towns including Eastbourne and even far off Bournemouth! In the letters Henry describes cycling to Eastbourne several times. On one occasion he tells of enjoying 'a lovely ride last night which took just over an hour ...' but he says that he 'got a nice little bit of glass through the back tyre just by the crossing gates and had to mend it by the roadside.' He had another unlucky ride when he 'managed to get a two inch nail and about a half inch brad through the back tyre coming home, but got home without having to mend this time.' One tragedy mentioned in the letters however concerned something more familiar perhaps. 'A gentleman was found at Catsfield in the ditch last Monday, he had cycled from Eastbourne and had sunstroke. They took him to the Vicarage, where he died, it was an awful day here!' These journeys were undertaken without the aid of modern gears and equipment and no bottles of water or crash helmets and of course by women who wore the long skirts of the day. They were enthusiasts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The above articles are taken from the Eastbourne Local Historian Winter 2011 Issue 162. (The quarterly publication of the Eastbourne Local History Society available free to members)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Information for Contributors All work on Eastbourne Local Historian is voluntary and payment cannot be made for any published material. All material remains the copyright of the contributor unless specifically stated otherwise, and may not be reproduced in any form without the express permission of the copyright holder. All contributions for possible inclusion should be addressed to the Editors. Email: info@eastbournehistory.org.uk Closing dates for submission of material are 15 February, May, August and November. Views expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect those of the Society.