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148 Old Memories of East-Bourne. [Chap. XII.
Seeing the name Delmar Cavendish attached as Purser to certain notices posted up in the ship, I hunted him out and found he was the cricketing friend of my youth. I discovered 3 other people with East-Bourne associations, who by a singular coincidence, were on board that ship. One of the officers said to me, " what is the best place from which to get a good view of the eclipse." I replied, mockingly, " The masthead." Shortly afterwards I saw my young friend being hauled up to the masthead in a large basket where he did observe the eclipse. After he descended he came to me and said " I know you : I have been to your house at East-Bourne : my name is-Bacon : you know my father and mother." All of which was true, for I found he was the son of a Captain Bacon who used to live at 7 Burlington Place. The third East-Bourne link was made by the wife of a County Court Judge on board, who had a married sister living
in Granville Road. The 4th link was a Miss------, who
came to me one evening in the saloon and said, " May I venture to introduce myself, though you will not know my name, but I am a cousin of the Whelptons of East-Bourne and I was once at Northfield Grange for one of your Shakespeare Readings."
Up to the time when the Devonshire Park was formed and the land walled in, the ground had been used for a Cricket Club. As compensation for the loss of that ground, the Duke of Devonshire provided a new site (now covered by Ashford and Tideswell Roads), but the townspeople resented very much the action of the Duke's Agent, and it was a long time ere the Devonshire Park gained the sympathetic support of the townspeople generally, if it has ever done so. The conversion of the Saffrons Field into a cricket ground was carried out at a very much more recent date.
About the middle of the 19th Century, and later, there was in Sussex, as in many parts of England, much archery. The " South Saxon Archers " was a very well-known and important Club, which held its meetings at different centres. In July 1878, I was staying with my family at Horsham, and under the date of July 22, I find |
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