ALRESFORD - Key Persons
Admiral de Grasse had replaced de Guichen and was engaged in recapturing the West Indian Islands one by one, which Hood was unable to prevent. Finally, the French by blockading Chesapeake Bay hastened the surrender of Cornwall is at Yorktown and the loss of the American colonies. When the news was received at home King George III, without consulting anybody, asked Rodney to go and save the West Indies from the French. Rodney, aged 64, stricken with gout, barely recovered from an operation, arrived off Barbados 'with his squadron and flying his flag in Formidable, after taking only five weeks to cross the Atlantic!
He collected all available ships and waited at St. Lucia for news of de Grasse, flying his flag in the Ville de Paris. He caught up with him off the Saintes Islands near Guadeloupe on 12th April 1782. This battle, one of the roost decisive in naval history, ensured that never again would the French maintain any large scale presence in the Caribbean. Rodney returned home, as a conquering hero using his tactics of cutting through the enemy line, he had actually captured Ville de Paris, the enemy flagship! (Fig.3). Landing at Bristol, his journey to London was in the nature of a triumphant progress. Reaching the capital, he was created a Baron and awarded another pension of £2,000.
When I was asked to write an article about my father, Thomas Charles Hankin, I began to realise that I knew little of him and that which I did know was by hearsay. I also began to understand what a very great impact he made upon Alresford and townsfolk in such a comparatively short time. He died in January 1933 having only come to live in Alresford in 1906. When he died I was 13 years old.
Ann Bassett, born in 1718, was the third daughter of Thomas Bassett, Yeoman Farmer at Ashton, near Bishops Waltham and his wife Ann. Earlier however, in May 1744, Robert Boyes had been elected Master of the Free School in New Alresford, at the age of 21 years.
Job Titles:
- Dean, Alresford, SO24 9BH
Job Titles:
- PERSONAL ASSISTANT SERVICES
Job Titles:
- Member of a Famous Parliamentarian
Celia Fiennes, a member of a famous Parliamentarian family, recorded some remarkable rides which she made on the famous Banbury Cross horse. In her journal for 1702 'travelling from Winchester to Alresford on a good chaulky way made slippery after a little rain - I was thrown'. Luckily she was unhurt and her horse did not bolt so that she was able to remount and continue her journey to see a relation here - Mrs.
Daniel Defoe writing in the early eighteenth century records that Alresford was a flourishing market town and remarkable for this: - 'Though it had no great trade, and particularly very little, if any, manufactures, yet there was no collection in the town for the poor, nor any poor law enough to take alms of the parish, which is what I do not think can be said of any town in England besides'. Be that as it may, the problem of vagrants in the town had become so acute by 1835 that a workhouse had to be built on Tichborne Down to accommodate them. The inmates were tolerably treated at first but the increasing application of the Poor Law system made, as a deliberate policy, Tichborne Down House an unpleasant place in which to live and thus the inmates were encouraged to move on to the next Union. On this same visit, Defoe remarked 'that the town had suffered a sudden and surprising fire in which the church, market house and most of the buildings had been completely destroyed'. He remarked that the town had been very handsomely rebuilt with the help of neighbouring gentlemen who sent in timber. Thus we have the first official account of the appearance of the town after the 1689 fire, which is how we see it today.
The Hon: John Byng (later 5th Viscount Torrington) kept a diary of his 'tours'. On Aug 24, 1782, travelling from Alton to Winchester he saw 'a promising looking Inn in Alresford called the Star (now the Running Horse)'. Although the weather looked threatening, he decided to press on to Winchester where, wet and tired, he found poor service for his horse, his dog and himself so that he wrote he was "heartily repenting of not stopping at Alresford, where I should have been respected and at my ease".
Job Titles:
- Dean Farm, Kilmeston, Nr. Alresford, SO24 0NL
Job Titles:
- WATER RESOURCES CONSULTANT
Edward Hunt, the father of William Henry, inherited the Brewing business in partnership with his elder brother John in 1818; he married Elizabeth Jones of Lymington in 1820 and on his father's death in 1826 took over the family home of 33 West Street. Their first four children died young, but Richard, Charles Edward and William Henry eventually inherited and successfully continued the family business. Edward, like his father John Hunt, was also a farmer, an active member of the church, and in his business as architect and surveyor, constructed the new weighbridge house in 1825, erected the Alresford Union Workhouse on the Tichborne boundary, and also the South Gallery in the old Parish Church, i.e. before the Blomfield reconstruction in 1897. He was also in partnership with William Keene as 'Building Surveyors, General Agents, Auctioneers and Appraisers'. Edward served the Town of Alresford as Burgess for some forty three years including six terms in the office of Bailiff. On the death of his partner and brother, John in 1861, the family business of brewers and maltsters passed complete to Edward.
In 1866 Edward, then 76 years of age, passed the business over to his three sons, Richard, Charles Edward and William Henry. Richard did not take an active part in running the business becoming a chemist and druggist, first in partnership with George Gunner, husband of his cousin Elizabeth Hunt (daughter of John) in Winchester and then establishing the chemist shop at 45 High Street known as Hunt & Co. which today dispenses medicines and all pharmaceutical wares at their new shop in Silver Hill, Winchester. But Charles Edward became the directing force behind the family firm in Alresford and successfully controlled this old established business until his retirement in 1902, when it was sold complete to Crowleys of Alton.
Frank Benson remembered an occasion in Broad Street when a neighbour stopped her carriage, stepped up to a rather common individual of some twenty stone and said in a voice that could be heard all over town: "How do you do, Sir Roger? Welcome back to your native land". She then beckoned to the two little Benson boys and asked if they might have the honour of saying how do you do to the Claimant. Off came two little hats, out went two little hands and two little voices piped up the refrain of the countryside "Welcome back, Sir Roger Tichborne".
The arrival of the railway bisected the original Sheep Fair Field and separated the house from the home farm. When he was nine Frank and his brother Cecil went to Darch's preparatory school at Brighton, using the new form of transport, to make ready for Winchester; later he would reach his home on leave days more often than not on a penny farthing bicycle. After Winchester he went on to New College, Oxford whereon the suggestion of Oscar Wilde he directed the first serious attempt to perform the Agamemnon of Aeschylus in the original Greek also taking for himself the part of Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon. Praise was generous and success was complete : invitations followed for appearances at Winchester, Eton, Harrow and London (St. George's Hall). Ellen Terry and Henry Irving showed interest in his ability and it was probably because of their backing that he decided that acting was to become his profession. Before leaving Oxford in 1881 he won the three mile race against Cambridge.
During his adult life Frank lived mainly in theatrical 'digs', snatching short periods at Langtons whenever he could. Early one morning he and his youngest brother, Godfrey, (later Lord Charnwood) were aroused by the news of a fire at Cheriton. Away they sped, Godfrey to join the fire brigade and don his uniform, Frank straight to the scene of the fire. There they worked in sweltering heat with other volunteers for some eight hours till it was under control and greater destruction averted.
In the Spring of 1886 Frank Benson became engaged to a member of his company whose stage name was Constance Fetherstonhaugh. Soon after, her mother Mrs. Samwell, became very ill in lodgings in Glasgow and was nursed by her daughter until she died at the end of April. On July 24th Francis Robert Benson, third son of William Benson, Esq., of Langtons, Alresford, was married to Gertrude Constance Cockburn, only daughter of the late Captain Morshead Samwell, of the 48th Foot, and the late Mrs. Samwell, at the Parish Church of New Alresford. East Street became a polychrome of flags, mottoes and evergreens and the whole town celebrated whilst the happy couple went off to Devonshire, by way of the railway station, on honeymoon.
In the Spring of 1887 Constance was living with her mother-in-law at Langtons where she was expecting her first child, Eric William who was born on May 8th whilst his father was on tour. One month later, Alresford went wild on the occasion of the celebration of the Queen's Golden Jubilee. Prominent parts in the festivities were played by Lieutenant Godfrey Benson of the Volunteers and the Fire Brigade, the Winchester City Band and the local tradesmen. Fireworks and a huge bonfire were arranged after dark in the Langtons garden.
This same year also saw the death of old William Benson and the break-up of the old home. In later years Frank was to recall how much his father had done for his family.
At the end of August, 1888, a daughter, Brynhild Lucy (later known in the company as Dickie) was born in Ealing. On the night the birth was announced F.R.B. had been playing Shylock. When he reached the line "I have a daughter", he added "but only a little one!" It is interesting that the Alresford register of births set down the father's occupation as "Gentleman"; at Brentford in the following year he was firmly "Actor".
Eric and Dickie did not have much of a family life. They were both good at games and were taught to ride as soon as they could walk. They went to boarding school at an early age and spent most of their holidays on tour with the Benson company. Neither went on the stage. Eric was awarded the Military Cross in the First World War and was the youngest Lieutenant Colonel in the Army when he was killed in September, 1916. Dickie became Mrs. Richard Kelly.
Although Frank Benson was responsible for twenty six of the annual Shakespeare Festivals at Stratford and often had more than one company 'on the road' at the same time, he had no head for business. What money he made on one production he would lose on the next, but Stratford and the theatrical world loved him. He ought to have done well out of the pageants he had staged, but he was nearly always out of pocket. That at Winchester before the Wolvesey ruins in 1908 was his greatest triumph.
George Rodney came of an ancient family. Sir Richard Rodney fought beside Richard the Lion-heart at Acre. But long before that the family had been settled at Stoke Rodney in Somerset and for five hundred years the estates were handed down in unbroken succession. Rodney's father did not inherit then?: they passed through an elder branch into the Brydges family. George was born in 1719 and his father died in debt in the West country, George was brought up from early infancy by his godfather, George Brydges of Avington Park. Thus Rodney's introduction to the locality came at the very beginning of his life.
George was educated at Harrow, but at twelve years of age went to sea as a King^s Letter Boy. He was the last officer to enter the Navy in this way, as Lord Torrington was in the process of forming a Naval College at Portsmouth. At twenty Rodney received a commission just as the War of the Austrian Succession broke out. He served under Admirals Matthews and Vernon: then under Hawke he took part in the Battle of Finisterre in 1747. Now in command of the 60 gun Eagle Rodney received first £8,165 and in a later action £5,000 in prize money for enemy ships captured.
Now that he had some money of his own Rodney started the building of Alresford House on land which he had purchased near Old Alresford church. In this he was helped by his godfather: his banker was Mr. Magnus. In 1748 he bought further land which included Lanham and Pinglestone Farms and Gooseland Meadow. Alresford House took several years to complete. The contractor was Mr. Atkinson of Alresford and the architect was a Mr. Jones. Rodney paid a 'Mr. Chear' (later identified as Sir John Cheere) £300 for a carved chimney piece.
After his exploits at sea Rodney, introduced by Lord Anson,found favour with King George II and was popular at Court. In appearance he was an aristocrat with a thin masterful nose and a sharp chin. He was a dandy and very fastidious. Moreover he was a first class swordsman.
Rodney was appointed Governor of Newfoundland in 1749 and Mr. Brydges, his godfather watched over his interests in his absence. Before the house was completed George Brydges died whilst attempting to save one of his dogs from drowning in the river Itchen and the Avington Park estate went to the Duke of Chandos. All Mr. Brydges' other estates in the Alresford area were left in trust to his widow, to go after her death to Captain Rodney and his heirs: and failing them, to James his brother. This will was to cause a family quarrel and bring George much unhappiness.
After returning from Newfoundland Rodney, in 1753, married Jane Compton, sister of the Earl of Northampton. They lived happily for four years in a rare period of peace at Alresford House. Two sons were born: George, who became the second Lord Rodney and Jemmy, who as a naval commander was lost at sea in 1776. Among the Rodney papers about sixty letters have been preserved, which in the fashion of the time the couple wrote to each other even when together. They reveal mutual devotion of a high degree between two people who were wrapped up in their private lives, their children and their home- In one letter, to justify the expense of buying Old Alresford Pond, George wrote to Jane: 'the sale of the reeds (for thatching) only will pay me the interest on the money, and I may never again have such an opportunity of showing our mercy in not suffering the poor birds to be shot at -not to mention the opportunity of always having what fish we please'.
The Seven Years War broke out in 1755 and Rodney was recalled for service. This also marked virtually the end of their life together. In 1757 after the birth of a third child, Jane died at the age of 27 and was buried in St. Paul's. An. old family friend and several aunts looked after the children, whilst George placed a large and rather flamboyant memorial to Jane in Old Alresford Church. During the Seven Years' War Rodney served under both Hawke and Boscawen. In 1759. when British arms were triumphant in Canada and India, Rodney added to the record by destroying the flat bottomed boats of the Invasion Scheme at Le Havre and as a result was made a Rear Admiral at the age of 40. In 1761 he was appointed to the West Indies Station - 'The Station for .Honour', as Nelson put it later.
When he arrived at the station he set up headquarters in Antigua, One of the two main French islands, Guadaloupe, had been captured so the other, Martinique, was obviously the next point of attack. Martinque was thought to be impregnable. Rodney took personal charge of the combined operations. He landed the soldiers by a trick but they could not climb the fortified hills which surrounded Fort Royal, the capital. The officer In charge of the soldiers said he would need batteries drawn by mountain goats, When Rodney heard this, he sent his blue jackets ashore. There is in existence an eye-witness account of the action which followed ;
Grenville Gore Langton came to Alresford in 1964. Again he sells mostly to dealers from an exquisite bow windowed house in East Street. The house has a splendid staircase, humble and noble at the same time. His rooms are crammed with small sized reasonable things, small desks, and chest of drawers which flat dwellers in Germany and Holland lust after. The French like walnut, the other two like oak. The Italians have almost stopped buying for obvious reasons. The English have begun to hang on to their possessions, out of love and prudence. Never sell to a man who knocks at your door with a roll of bank notes just within sight.
John Arlott died in December 1991, at the time when the current issue of Alresford Displayed (No. 17 - 1992) was in production and therefore no mention of his passing appeared in it. Not surprisingly, most national reports of his life deal with his professional career and little information has been printed of his twenty or so years residence in Alresford, The writer has been unable to find any reference to Alresford, not even the name, in anything Arlott wrote, including his autobiography, except for contributions he made regularly to the Hampshire Magazine and other publications. Even in the biography details of the tragic deaths of his son and wife Valerie appear to have been penned by someone else and Alresford and his residence are not mentioned, this may well have been to preserve his privacy.
In the early years in Alresford, however, he was a cheerful sight around the place and could often be found taking coffee in the Hobby Horse Antiques or talking books in the Studio Bookshop and Gallery.
The Sun Inn at the junction of East Street and Sun Lane had been closed for business in 1958. The property was bought by an antiques dealer, Mr. Gardner Tait who sold it to John Arlott in 1961. John renamed it The Old Sun and without making any structural alterations to the outside renovated the inside completely. In particular he made use of the large cellar beneath the house to build up his famous collection of wines. This cellar itself had a long history, which John needed little encouragement to recount. It seems probable that drovers coming down Sun Lane, then Bramdean Way, bringing livestock to the Fair in the 18th century when smuggling was rife in Southern England, also brought other wares. Illicit brandy obtained at the coast would have been passed across to be stored in the cellar - the drovers would have been well paid by the landlord.
John Arlott also collected a comprehensive library of literary works of friends he had met through broadcasting. An auction by Christie's last month (September) of the non-cricketing section, of his library included signed first editions by E.M. Forster, William Golding, Kingsley Amis and Stevie Smith as well as a letter from Dylan Thomas to John. In this Dylan admitted making a wrong choice, of poems for a radio broadcast, when John was literary producer for the B.B.C's Easter Service. The auction brought in around £100,000 including £1,650, for Thomas' letter.
From July 1966 he was for fifteen years President of the newly founded Alresford Historical and Literary Society. On the occasion of the Society's dinner in the following December at the Bell Hotel he made a speech. In it he uttered his now famous description of Alresford:
John Hunt, the grandfather of William Henry, came from the Basingstoke district and established the Brewing, Maltster and Cooperage business, in partnership with John Anderson of 33 West Street. However John Anderson died soon after and the whole of the business including the Inns and Alehouses passed to John Hunt. He married Hannah Cooper of Bramdean in 1771 and of their eleven children, John the eldest son and Edward the youngest, eventually inherited their father's business. In addition to brewing, John was a farmer, churchwarden, Burgess of the Town of Alresford for some twenty years, serving four terms as Bailiff. He was also a land surveyor and was appointed, with William Harris, as Surveyor to administer the findings of the Land Enclosure Act of 1807.
Alresford is first mentioned in a ride made in September 1822, although Cobbett chose to avoid the town and rode from Preston Candover where he comments on the avenue of yew trees a mile long, through Ovington to Winchester. At Northington he passed between the two estates or the sons of Francis Baring, the founder of Barings Bank. One of them, Alexander, had enclosed Northington Down and his planting of the down with clumps of unsuitable trees, brings forth the critical comments of Cobbett the countryman.
In November 1822 he was once again riding through Hampshire past Micheldever Woods, East Stratton, Abbotstone to Alresford where he arrived on the evening of the 17th.
"I saw at a village called Stratton, I think it was, the finest campanula that I ever saw in my life. The main stalk was more than four feet high and there were four stalks, none of which was less than three feet high. So that the goldfinches, were got here in flocks, and, as they continued to fly along before me, for nearly half a mile, and still sticking to the roads and banks I do believe I had, at last, a flock of ten thousand flying before me".
He stayed the night in Alresford although we do not know where; in those days there were many more hotels and inns in the town than there are today. The next morning he rode on to Hambledon through Tichborne, Cheriton and Kilmeston.
Perin Barton, a great grand nephew of Henry Perin, inherited the Old Alresford estates, also estates in Hambledon, and appointed Robert Boyes his Land Agent in 1756; and from him Robert Boyes purchased pieces of land in the Common Fields situate in Upper Witton, Jacklins Hill, Great Swetley and Hawkesbury Furlongs together with pasture land in The Dean, most of these lands being let to Tradesmen in Alresford. Perin Barton, a bachelor died in 1762 and in his Will is described as an Apothecary in Gracechurch Street, London. In his Will he bequeathed £20. a piece "to my friend W. Robert Boyce of Alresford aforesaid and his three daughters".
But unhappiness came upon Robert Boyes and his daughters in 1762, when after a long illness his wife Ann died and was buried in the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist. The grief and sorrow felt is beautifully recorded on the carved stone plaque built into the north wall of the north aisle, and it reads "Near this place lie interred the remains of Ann Boyes, the wife of Robert Boyes of this Town, who amiable conduct and steady perseverance in the uniform and faithful discharge of every religious, domestic and social duty, made her, still the more beloved the more she was known; and her death a loss most afflicting to those who had the greatest experience of her endearing virtues. Having undergone a long and tedious illness with exemplary patience and Christian fortitude and enjoyed the foretaste of approaching bliss in the contemplation of a well-spent life, she calmly resigned her soil to God April 4th 1762 aged 44. Learn Reader! Bless her memory and follow her example". Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, now 17, would have taken over the running of her Father's household and the wife of Robert Boyes of this Town, who amiable conduct and steady perseverance in the uniform and faithful discharge of every religious, domestic and social duty, made her, still the more beloved the more she was known; and her death a loss most afflicting to those who had the greatest experience of her endearing virtues. Having undergone a long and tedious illness with exemplary patience and Christian fortitude and enjoyed the foretaste of approaching bliss in the contemplation of a well-spent life, she calmly resigned her soil to God April 4th 1762 aged 44. Learn Reader! Bless her memory and follow her example". Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, now 17, would have taken over the running of her Father's household and caring for her younger sisters.
In August 1764 Robert Boyes was elected a Burgess of the Town of New Airesford, a position he held until his death and included two terms as Bailiff in 1768 and 1777. Amongst other public duties he served terms as Verderer and Hayward and in 1772 was elected Constable. Also, as many other Townsfolk, he was presented at Court for encroachments in The Dean and on the Lords Waste, and the 29th September 1770 records "We present Robert Boyes for erecting Parlour windows two feet without his Front Wall into West Street" - but several Townsfolk were presented for a similar encroachment! Further lands in the Cannon Fields were bought from Thomas Cotman, all being let to local Tradesmen, and in 1767 Robert Boyes was admitted to the Copyhold of lands in Huntbourne Manor, near Hambledon, being farms let to John Newman and Charles Robey; these lands were acquired for his daughters Ann Bassett and Martha, but were not bequeathed to them in his Will.
Due no doubt to his life-long interest in books, Robert Boyes had become acquainted with Thomas Burrough, a bookseller, engraver etc., in Devizes in Wiltshire. This friendship with Thomas Burrough and his family developed quite deeply for on the 27th December 1767 Robert Boyes married Sarah, the second daughter of Thomas Burrough, in the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist in Devizes. She was twenty years of age.
The impending second marriage of her father had a great effect on Elizabeth, his daughter, for having tended her father's household for seven or eight years - remember her Mother had endured a long illness before she died in 1762 - her stepmother, Sarah, who was two years younger, would take over responsibility. Elizabeth married William Green of Havant, but it is clear from the wording in his Will later that the marriage was not successful and caused much sorrow and distress to Robert Boyes in later years; for he writes "I do hereby authorise my said Executors...in case my said daughter Green shall be distressed after my Death to apply a reasonable part of the monies.... towards her necessary relief....And I do leave it to the Equity Charity and discretion of my said Trustees to allow her what they think reasonable.... and I trust my said Daughter will use her best endeavours to be as little Burthensome as possible as her misfortunes and my own have put it out of my power to leave her a Competency without her own Industry and Endeavours and my pity and concern for her is the greater as I am satisfied her poverty was not bought on her by her own wilful misconduct. And I pray God give a blessing to her and all my Children and family".
Commander R.E.C. Dunbar RN had long service in command of ALRESFORD and records that 'after a refit in the early summer of 1942 when additional armament was installed, she was detailed to take part in the Dieppe raid of 13th August'. ALRESFORD carried a party of Free French troops but the main force was Canadian. An early contact with a German convoy alerted the shore defences and the raid was a costly one. ALRESFORD survived considerable enemy fire and managed to take in tow a damaged L.C.T. and get the vessel and its Canadian wounded back to Newhaven.
Job Titles:
- MASTER of the FREE SCHOOL in NEW ALRESFORD C. 1723 - 1782
The year 1982 was the two hundredth anniversary of the death of Robert Boyes, Master of the Free School in New Alresford and the first Historian of the Town. He was born in 1723 and probably educated at the Free Grammar School, and died in 1782. Robert Boyes lived a very full life and with his untiring and indefatigable energy, apart from his successful administration of the School, he laid the foundations of the known history of Alresford, and chronicled many events, all in much detail. His writings are unique and Alresford will never be able to repay its debt to this remarkable man.
His parents would be John Boyes and his wife Mary (Russell) who lived in West Street adjacent to the Swan Inn - "After the fire Robert Heath built our House on the Ground where the 3 tenements stood". Shortly after 1742 his Father "John Boyes by his Will left it in fee to his wife who in 1763 conveyed it to her daughter, Mary Boyes, who in 1775 sold and conveyed it to William Houghton and his Heirs forever".
The first recorded event concerning Robert Boyes was his marriage to Ann Bassett in the Bighton Parish Church on the 20th December 1744.
Robert Boyes fame as the Historian of Alresford was rapidly growing and in 1774 he accepted an invitation from Sir Thomas Gatehouse of Hedley Park to compile a MSS History of Alresford, to be incorporated in his own MS "Survey of the County of Southampton" and dedicated to the Duke of Chandos. Robert Boyes revised his manuscript in 1781 and then made a copy for circulation "amongst such as are anyway interested in the prosperity of the inhabitants or have any particular attachment to the place" and he considered "that it could give no pleasure to anyone whilst lying in a heap of dusty papers, but circulated might at least afford a short amusement to some", so, "Why may not the good people of Alresford be gratified...." Subsequently Alresford inhabitants, and many others, appear to have taken up the challenge in as much as further copies have continually turned up from time to time, but with the Copiers name attached in lieu of the original Author.
It was probably now due to financial pressures gathering from the difficulties in establishing agreement to increases in the School endowment revenues and ever necessary support for his eldest daughter Elizabeth Green and her family that Robert Boyes decided to raise capital by disposing of some of his lands. In 1774 Lower Stoke Close and Upper Stoke Close, each at the western end of Lower and Upper Brook Furlongs were sold to William Harris, the chief shareholder then in Ownership of Alresford New Farm. On this piece if land William Harris built an Italinate Georgian residence for his own occupation, which stands today and is known as Arlebury House.
Charlie Hankin, as he was known, his father was Thomas Hankin, was born in London in 1881, was educated at Westminster School and started work apprenticed to Harvey Nicols, Silk Merchants, in the City of, London. His address in 1900 was 50 St Pauls Church Yard, so he certainly was a true Londoner. At the time of his leaving London he was working for Harrods.
His early interests were very much connected with the Church, the Boys Brigade and music. Undoubtedly he was a worker in all three and in 1904 was presented with a watch from the Rockland Musical Society, 'For Services Rendered'.
His father was the Landlord of The Swan Hotel in Alresford and when he died in 1906' Charlie was asked by his widowed mother to come home and help. He soon found that the Hotel business was not his interest and he encouraged his mother to buy a car to act as an Hotel 'courtesy car', from the station to the hotel, and from the hotel to the villages around, after the Clients had wined and dined. This was done and he was trained to maintain the Argyll car by a Mr. Taylor in Winchester. He soon started to maintain the very few cars around and advise the owners in Alresford and the neighbouring villages. So started the firm of Hankins.
Outside of his business interests his community interest started. In the Church he found scope for music, where he played the organ and the piano. His sister was the church organist and he sang in the choir for the rest of his life. He was also a member of the Parochial Church Council. In the early days he became a member of the Volunteer Fire Brigade and in 1910 became a Parish Councillor, two years later a Town Trustee. He was a natural leader in all these spheres. He became Chief Officer of the Fire Brigade, and Chairman of the Parish. Council in the early 1920's. In 1924 he became a member of the Alresford Rural District Council.
His musical interests went beyond the church into the local Musical Societies, Alresford Choral Society (Harry Hall of Cranley, Broad Street) and Ovington (Mrs. Hoares' Society).Then there was general entertaining, no television nor much radio in those days, so his strong bass voice was in demand in the villages around, in what we would now refer to as Charity Concerts. The Alresford Choral Society put on several Gilbert & Sullivan productions in the Town Hall, and on one occasion, the Dogs of Devon in the grounds of Langtons. The Church also produced a series of Missionary Pageants in the Rectory grounds (Sun Lane); in one he was St. Paulinus, Bishop of York, and in another a Black Chieftain. In most of this he took lead bass and was very much part of the organisation.
In both the Parish and Rural District Councils he took a very active interest working on many of the committees. He was a great protector of the rate and the effects that an increased rate would have on the businesses of the town. His attitude was that if the businesses failed the town itself could not survive.
An interesting series of cross responsibilities arose in respect of his role as Chief Fire Officer and his membership of the Parish Council. In 1920 they were the authority responsible for the Fire Service. In 1921 the District Council took over the Service. We see him on November 1920 writing to the Parish Council, of which he was a member, saying : 'Owing to the delay in the negotiations with the A.R.D.C. the members of the Brigade are unable to take further responsibility with regard to the fire appliances, neither can they any longer take the responsibility for life or property due to the inefficiency of the Brigade'. The first Fire Service strike? In February 1921 the take over took place and his position as Chief Officer was confirmed by the new authority.
In January 1923 he resigned as he was to stand as a District Councillor and his Second Officer Mr. Smith was appointed chief. However as a result of a petition from the members of the Fire Brigade he was reappointed as Chief, but as a volunteer rather than retained. He did in fact not become a member of the District Council until the following year when his position was confirmed as Honorary Chief Officer.
In the Fire Brigade he was responsible for the change from the era of the horse drawn steam pump to the motor fire engine. In the first war there was a shortage of horses and the steam fire engine was sometimes drawn by a motor van from one of the businesses in the town. After the first war a second hand motor chassis was purchased and converted into a towing vehicle, this being replaced in the late twenties by a "proper" fire engine.
Tom Taylor was ranked by Nyren in the finest eleven of Hambledon cricket history. A considerable all-rounder, he constantly took useful wickets; was an attacking batsman and, at cover point, his speed in gathering, and accuracy of return, ran out many men on what appeared safe singles. He was born at Ropley, in 1753, but lived for much of his life at Alresford where he kept the Globe Inn, and regularly appeared for Alresford in matches played for stakes. A brilliant cutter, he was said to take risks - and often lose his wicket - by playing that stroke at a ball too near the stumps. Nyren, in his summing-up, thought Taylor 'had an excellent general knowledge of the game; but of fielding, in particular, he- was perfect both in judgement and practice. He was a short, well-made man, strong and as watchful and active as a cat; but in no other instance will that comparison hold good, tour he was without guile, and was an attached friend.' He died in 1806 and was buried at Old Alresford.
Job Titles:
- Dean, Alresford, SO24 9BQ
"I saw the park pales with sorrow there is not more than one pale in a yard and those that remain and the rails and posts and all seem tumbling down." Cheriton he describes as a "....little hard won village where all seems to be as old as the hills that surround it." At Kilmeston he found what had formerly been a large village but now mouldered into two farms and a few miserable tumble down houses for the labourers. The same passage contains an account or Old Alresford pond, the Itchen valley and of the villages falling into decay through the accursed Pitt-system as Cobbett described the Enclosure Acts and patronage which was rife at that period.
Cobbett seems to have been attracted to Selborne by reading Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne and he was one of the few clergymen for whom the author had a good word. Anglican clergy normally attracted severe criticism from Cobbett as he regarded them as part of the system which he opposed, especially in relation to Tithes aid livings held in plurality.
Although Cobbett made several more rides through Hampshire he never seems to have passed through Alresford again. In 1832 he became a Member of Parliament not as might have been expected, for a Southern Constituency, but for Oldham in the first election held after the Reform Bill. He was re-elected in 1835, but died the same year on the 18th June and lies buried in the churchyard at Farnham his birthplace.
William Cobbett was here at least three times at the beginning of the XIXth century. He approved our beech woods and condemned the planting of Northington Down with `unsuitable trees'. In particular he commented that Alresford, which is a nice little town in itself, presented a singularly beautiful view from the last little hill coming from Abbotstone'. It is still the best view to point out to visitors.
By 1830, the troubles of which Cobbett had warned the country - the Labourers rising - had reached the district. Late that autumn, an attempt to break up the threshing machines at Itchen Abbas was frustrated by the Duke of Buckingham sending the Rector with a hundred `specials' to oppose them.
William Henry Hunt was born at No.33, West Street, Alresford and baptised in St. John's Parish Church on the 23rd of November 1834. He was the tenth child of a family of eleven children born to Edward Hunt who was also the tenth child of a family of eleven children born to his father, John Hunt of Alresford, being successive generations in the family business of Hunt & Co. Brewers, who brewed beer and ale and supplied Alresford for well over 120 years.
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