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256 HISTORY OF EAST grinstead. |
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framed in oak made from the "Royal George" and decorated and modelled in silver, with a very beautiful silver chiselled dolphin's head for a figure head, now in the possession of Mr. Hastie. On one side is the following Latin inscription:—
Carolo Nairn Hastie
qui sodalitatis literariae in Villa de East Grinsted constitute
per xxx annos immunis suaque voluntate rationes
fideliter procuravit
Hoc
Benevolentise simul gratique animi qualecunque
testimonium
DD
Amici ejus sodalesque
A.D. MDCCCXLI.
The following is a free translation :—
To Charles Nairn Hastie, who of his own free will for thirty years gratuitously managed the affairs of the Literary Society of East Grinstead, this slight testimonial of goodwill and grateful mind was given by his friends and companions in 1841.
On the other side is another Latin inscription as follows:—
E Nave
in classe Brittannica
Regalis Georgii cognomine insignita
quae a.d. mdcclxxxii rnari submersa est
Anno mdcccxli e fluctibus revocata
Excerptum est
hoc robur.
This may be freely translated :—
This piece of oak is taken from a ship in the British fleet known by the name of the "Royal George" which was sunk in the sea in 1732 and raised from the water in 1841.
When the book club came to an end in 1841 a circulating library was established in the back room of the shop of the late Henry Nicholas in the High Street. He was the first person to undertake the sale of daily newspapers in East Grinstead.
As the outcome of a meeting held on November 14th, 1843, at the Hermitage, the residence of Mr. W. Pearless, the first Literary and Scientific Institute was founded in East Grinstead. It occupied two rooms at Mr. Paul's, adjoining the Swan Hotel, and among the |
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