Eastbourne Memories - A Victorian Perspective

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46                   Old Memories of East-Bourne. [Chap. IV.
as it it were a part of the " General Confession " which it is the duty of the congregation to repeat after the Clergyman. The Miss Lays were succeeded by 3 Miss Hopkinses ; then came a cousin of theirs, Mr. Hopkins, in 1857, and finally Mr. T. S. Gowland in 1862.
To go back to the Marine Parade—next to the library were the Baths known as " Mrs. Webb's Baths," but in my time I think Mrs. Webb must have disappeared from the scene, only her name perhaps remaining as a "trade­mark," because I only remember a certain Mrs. Ingledew and her daughter there.
Starting again to go along the Marine Parade, the house on the wall of which the word " Library " appears in large characters was No. 22, then came 23 and 24. These were twin houses, 23 being in the occupation of Captain L. K. Willard, whilst 24 was owned but only at a later date inhabited by Dr. D. J. Hall. As they were held on a 60 years lease, and the lease expired in the year 1863, it may be presumed that they were built about 1803. Captain Willard went about on crutches and had lost an arm at the Battle of Laswaree in India in 1803 (or at Salamanca in 1812 ; I cannot remember which). He drove about in an open carriage drawn by a pair of mules. These 3 houses were pulled down not long ago and rebuilt to make an addition to the Albion Hotel, having previously been used as annexes to that hotel after the expiration of the 60 years lease just mentioned. The Albion Hotel had a very chequered history for many of its earlier years. It was built as a Boarding-House and failed as such. Then it was empty for a long time, and about 1852 was bought by the Earl of Ashburnham as a seaside residence for his children. I well remember and used to play on the beach with 2 of them, Lord St. Asaph (the present Earl) and his sister Lady Katherine Ashburnham. Lord St. Asaph after­wards became a Roman Catholic. The Ashburnham ownership did not last long. The old Earl used to complain that people passing by looked in at the windows, but I never heard that they did anything more than what the traditional cat did to the King. Mr.
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