Emily Hudson

Emily Winifred Elizabeth Hudson  1914 – 2005

Family History and Reminiscences of a Shoreham Resident

 

Emily Hudson is descended from the Pages (on her mother’s side) and the Clements, both long standing Shoreham families.

 

The Page Family

Whilst there have been Pages in Shoreham since the 16th century the earliest traceable of Emily’s predecessors is John Page baptized in 1761 and died in 1823. He married Ann Bignall (1) at Shoreham in 1786 and they had seven children :

John baptised 1787 — died 1836

William b.1794

Sarah b.1797

Elizabeth b. 1799

John b.1800

Henry b.1804 but died that same year of smallpox.

James b.1806 (2)

 

(1) In the 1841 census and again in 1851, Ann is recorded two doors down from the White Lion Inn at West Street as a pauper but by the latter year despite her deprivation she had at least survived to the not inconsiderable age of 83.

 

(2) James’ baptism does not appear in the parish records and so may have been baptised outside of New Shoreham. Nevertheless there are a few clues to support the view that he was the son of John and Ann – his year of birth coincides with those of John and Ann’s other children; the subsequent record of James’ children shows that his son Matthew lived with his “grandmother Ann” in 1851 at a time when she was over 83 and was doubtless keeping an eye on her during her infirm years; James’ other son Alfred was, during the same year, looked after by his uncle William and aunt Elizabeth and the latter’s ages at the time of the 1851, 1861 and 1871 censuses coincides with William, John’s other son, who married Elizabeth from Preston, Lancashire.

 

James is shown as a ‘Licensed Trinity House Pilot, first married in 1824 to the strangely named Karrenhappuch Graves but she died in 1837 after bearing James five children. He then married Ruth from Seaford by whom he had a further three offspring:-

James Henry b.1826

Elizabeth b.1830

John George b.1832

Matthew b.1835 (3)

Ann Susannah b.1836

Leonard b.1841

Catharine b.1844

Edward b.1840

Alfred b.1849 (4)

 

James and his family lived in Surrey Street up to 1851 and then moved to Ham Road between 1861 and 1871 but by 1881 he was back in Surrey Street by which time he was an 84 year old widower living with his son Alfred’s family.

 

(3) Matthew, a ship’s master, resided first at Cavendish Place, Ship Street then by 1881 and 1891 he was with his family at 82, High Street. Interestingly, the ship ‘Integrity’ of Rye, a 36 ton smack used in the home trade (coastal trade) is recorded at Shoreham in the 1891 census. It had a crew of two on board at the time and the master was M.Page.

 

(4) Alfred was also born outside of New Shoreham but his existence as James’ son is proven in the census returns that clearly record him as such with a birth year of 1849. He is first shown as living with his uncle William and aunt Elizabeth in Ham Road aged just 2, whilst his mother and father were still in Surrey Street. This was doubtless a case of relatives helping out with James’ large family as he was probably often away at sea and William and Elizabeth had no other children with them at the time. By 1861, eleven year old Alfred was still at Ham Road but by then his mother and father with the rest of the family had moved in as well.

 

Elizabeth, wife of Alfred Page and Emily’s grandmother

Alfred married an Elizabeth (maiden name not yet traced) from Arundel and moved into 22 Surrey Street (perhaps this was his father’s old house). A ship’s carpenter and shipwright by trade, Alfred and his wife had no less than nine children:-

Alfred James b.1870

Elizabeth Ellen b.1873

Edward George b.1875

William Charles b.1878

Kate Elizabeth b.1880

Albert b.1882 (5)

Alice b.1883

Mabel b.1885

Winifred b.1889 (6)

 

By 1892 Alfred and his family were still at 22 Surrey Street and the locations at that time of their other relations were:-

11, Surrey Street — Alfred J. Page (born 1870) a painter with his wife Harriett, son Cyril and mother in law Eliza Dunstall from Eastdean.

 

82,High Street — Matthew Page (baptised 1835) master mariner with wife Eleanor. Their son Joseph (then 30 — a gardener) was the only one of their children still living with them. Strangely enough, Matthew had returned to 22 Surrey Street by 1900 and seems to have seen out his last years at 48 New Road by 1911. Son Joseph appears to have moved with his father and was still living at no.48 in 1929.

 

(5) Albert Page b.1855 lived at 26 John Street from at least 1921 to 1929.

 

(6) Winifred, the youngest in the family was later to become Emily’s mother after marrying John Clement in 1913.

 

Elizabeth Page or Aunty Dolly as she was known, married David Hopkins and at various times had a tea shop in the High Street next to Stone House and also ran the Rising Sun pub at Upper Heeding. Later they lived at `Normanhurse in Ravens Road where they let out some of their rooms.

 

The Clement Family

 

Thomas Clement appears to be the first of the family in Shoreham. He was born in Pulborough about 1827. He was a mariner, married Emily Norris and had the following children:-

Kate 1852 (7)

Albert 1855

Alice 1858 (8)

Harry 1860 (9)

Annie 1863

William 1866 (10)

Thomas 1868

Frank 1873

 

Like the Pages, the Clement family were living in Surrey Street in 1861 but by 1871 they had moved to 6, Commercial Terrace (next to the Swiss Cottage Inn). When she was 19, Kate (7) was a servant in East Street at Lladloes (the old house that once stood where Luckings’ shop is now) where she worked for Doctor Thomas Fuller, Surgeon, and his family. Sixteen year old Alice (8) is recorded as a servant for Henry Cheal, a painter and his family in Southdown Road. On the day of the 1871 census eleven year old Harry Clement (9) was shown as staying with his grandparents John & Mary Norris in Ham Road (the Norris’s were from Billingshurst, John was an ostler).

 

William (10), like his father before him, was a mariner and in 1891 was living at 7, Ship Street with his wife Emily b.1867 and their three children:-

Annie b.1887

William b.1889

John b.1890

Thomas

 

The Twentieth Century

 

William Clement b.1866

By 1902 William Clement had moved with the family to 74, High Street (the eastern half of what is now the Indian Curry House) where the Payne family had run a fishmonger business before and where William set up a general store and fish shop. There is a family photo of William, who was also a Shoreham lifeboatman, and Emily outside the shop with their son John. The wording on Williams’ pullover ‘My Lady’ reflects the name of his own boat that he kept moored at Suters’ Yard behind the Bridge Hotel and Johns’ shows the name ‘Worthing Belle’ another boat that he worked on for a time that made pleasure trips out to the Isle of Wight and hack. During the Great War John served as a merchant seaman and was torpedoed in 1918 whilst on duty in the Channel. By 1921 the fishmongers business is recorded under the name of John Albert Clement.

A delightful period photo of William, son John and wife Emily outside their shop at 74, High Street (note the bay windows that have long since been removed)

 

In 1900 Harry Clement (9), the son of Thomas, is shown at 17 New Road then no.3 in the same road by 1911; 10 Buckingham Road in 1918 and again in 1921 but by 1929 only Mrs.Clement appears.

 

Thomas’ other son Frank turns up at 30, Victoria Road in the early 20’s and John, Emily’s father, is recorded at 15, Church Street in 1929.

 

Aunty Kate (nee Page) lived at 42, New Road with her husband Harry Thompson and Albert Page, Winifred’s brother, was at 26, John Street and her other brother Edward George Page is shown at 6, Surrey Street — like many in the family, Edward had a nickname and his was `Fairy’ which may have been a corruption of ‘Ferry’ but Emily cannot remember that he was involved with the river crossing trade at all.

 

John Clement married Winifred Page at Shoreham on Saturday the 27th December 1913. “There was a double wedding. There was my Aunty Gerty and my Mum, a double wedding. There was a fly-past it was the first time.” (Apparently the family knew someone at the airport who flew aircraft there – could this have been the Pashleys?)

Shoreham Herald report of the double wedding 27th December 1913

 

A striking portrait photo Emily’s mother, the tragic Winifred Clement

Emily Hudson was born Emily Clement on the 22nd of October 1914 at School House in Ham Road next to the infants school itself which she attended in her early years. Her mother and grandma Page helped to clean the school next door which helped to get them lodging at the school house as the headmistress and other teachers such as the Misses Barford, Peacock and Phelps lived elsewhere. When she was six Emily moved with the family to the shop at 74, High Street and Grandma Page went with them. Here the family continued family business of fishmongers and general stores that had previously been run by John’s parents. The first offspring of her parents she was followed by her brother Claud Frank in 1917 and sister Joan in 1920. There was a fourth child but this died shortly after it’s birth and, sadly, her mother Winifred also died shortly after at the age of 37 in 1926.

 

The 1918 Wedding Photo.

 

Gertie Kerley and Winifred Clement (Emily Hudson’s mum) were the Page cousins of the 1913 double wedding. In 1918 there was another family wedding when Bertha Page married Frank Van der Linde, a Canadian soldier from the Military Camp at north Shoreham. A photo of the wedding group taken inside the East Street premises of photographer William Page provides a valuable record of the Page family then.

 

Gertie Kerley’s son Fred is on the floor in the sailors’ suit and Emily is the second child from the left.

 

Nelly Boyd was John Clement’s sister and she looks surprisingly young in contrast to her daughter Kit Grove. Nelly and her husband kept the Burrells Arms pub at one time. She later died of tuberculosis.

 

Maud Davis was not a relation but worked for ‘Dolly’ Hopkins (Winifred’s sister) who took her out of a home and provided accommodation for her.

 

Tom Clement was John Clement’s younger brother.

 

Lily was the beautiful wife of William Page and stands out in the crowd with her almost modern looks – the camera capturing her at a moment when her gaze across the room  suggests, perhaps wrongly, a somewhat aloof or bored individual.

 

Mabel Turrell, another of Winifred’s sisters, was perhaps a widow by the time of this photograph was taken, if not, then her husband was away at war as probably was John Clement, Winifred’s husband. Mabels’ children arc Ivy and Eileen.

 

Alice Piper is yet another of the Page sisters and stands to the front and side of her husband Bill.

James (Jim) Page, the father of the bride and his wife Dory, were close cousins of Winifred’s side of the family.

The bride, Bertha Page sits alongside her new husband Frank Van der Linde, a Canadian soldier who was stationed at the army camp behind Shoreham then.

Fred Page is Winifred’s eldest brother.

 

The 1920’s and 1930’s

 

Thereafter, John found it impossible to carry on in the shop but it so happened that Mabel Turrell, Winifred’s younger sister then renting the house at 15 Church Street, had lost her husband Frank during the Great War. The Turrells previously had a florist’s and greengrocer’s shop in the High Street at the bottom of Middle Street where the carpet shop is now. With two children of her own Mabel was finding it difficult to cope. “My mother died when I was 12 and Mum had the 3 children and the fourth one died. She died just after that. Dad couldn’t stop at the shop any longer. My Aunty was a war widow, and struggling to live, with two children. Uncle Frank got killed so Dad thought put the two families together because he had the wage and he had the biggest truck in the yard, they had to make the gate big enough to get the truck in. So we put the two families together.”

 

“When my Aunty had been left on her own here she had to, – — well John Brown’s offices were across the road and when they had a manager or someone come from a distance, they used to come across and say, “Can you put them up May? The eldest girl hated it, but she had to do it to make ends met because she was only renting the place. Just before my Dad came, she was under notice to get out, they tried to get her out but they couldn’t because she was a ‘war tenant’, at least not that quick. She hated it when the man came for the rent so my Dad said, “Well he can have it” and he bought the house. He went and bought it. At that time the house had no bath, no toilet just an outside loo, and just gas for lighting. After a while he really would have liked to marry Aunty. He took her over to France and showed her Menin Gate where her husband had died, or where they thought he had died. Even my son has been over there to the memorial and he found the inscriptionl which said ‘Frank Frederick Turrell, son of Mr and Mrs Turrell at Church Street.’

 

I can remember when I first came here, my Uncle’s photograph was in one recess in the front room and in the other recess were his medals. His sister was Mrs Beasley I think. Mr Beasley used to be the printer.” (This was the printer who jointly ran the Pope & Beasley printing works in Middle Street).

 

Emily has seen many changes to the town during her life, most in her opinion, were for the worse, including the demolition of the lovely old suspension bridge but at least the lion and the unicorn statues that once stood on the tops of the ‘gateways’ were saved and placed in Arundel Castle. Besides the ferry itself, she also remembers the horses as they crossed the river on the ford route from the bottom of East Street as well as the lovely old High Street as it was in its’ almost village like state before the demolition and road widening of the 1930’s. Workhouses still existed and the Steyning Union Workhouse that, despite it’s name, was situated in Shoreham in the area where the Police Station and the Co-operative Store now is. Emily was later to see it changed into the St.Wilfrids’ childrens’ home when the workhouse was moved to new premises at Southlands. Star Chapel in her own street was a cinema known by them as the ‘flea pit.’ The fire station was alongside the old town hall and there was a shooting gallery underneath the latter in the old cellars that was used by the rifle club. There were railway cottages between where the railway line of the Steyning route forked off from the main Worthing line.

 

Emily would often walk this way to her Aunty Pipers’ house from Church Street through the twitten opposite the church into Middle Street, along North Street, into the other twitten in West Street next to Leazells, a sweet and general shop (now the veterinarian surgery) where they had a pet parrot on the counter, and across to her Aunt’s place but had a great fear of the cows that were sometimes herded from the field north west of the railway arches to the milking sheds behind ‘Rose Cottage’ (a garage in later years) just south of the railway line. Sometimes these walks were continued along the river bank, across the toll bridge and around the north side of Ricardo’s to the delightfully named Cuckoos’ Corner towards the Sussex Pad Hotel. Other times she remembers that involved cattle was when Mr.Samson drove his cattle on foot down road from Steyning to the slaughter house in John Street where garages now back on to the rear of the Sovereign pub.

 

Patching’s hardware shop in the High Street on the corner with West Street

 

There was Mr.Lind who sold papers at the (railway) station, and in the High Street Farleys the butchers, Davies the chemists, the Home & Colonial Stores and Mr. Butcher the hairdresser. Battens’ dairy was at the Vinery (a Georgian building that once stood on the corner of St.Mary’s Road with Brunswick Road) and the Patchings ran an oil and hardware store at number 78 in the High Street and delivered his orders by horse and cart. Thought to be related to them was Albert Patching of Gordon Road,  a keen cyclist and Secretary of the Shoreham Cycle Club and there still exists a picture of him and his wife with a tandem bicycle. He is remembered as something of a prim and frosty character whilst Mrs Patching, a handsome looking woman, was always over dressed, ‘a bit stuck up’ and although pictured with her husband’s tandem was never seen upon it and was generally thought to have considered cycling to be beneath her.

 

The ‘aloof and frosty’ Albert Patching and his handsome wife who, despite the evidence of the photo, had never been known to actually ride a bike

At the end of the High Street on the western end by the bridge stood May Villa, an old house that was occupied by the Suter family that built boats at the yard on the riverside between the Town Hall and the bridge itself. Where the High Street branches northwards towards Old Shoreham stood the Ropetackle shops just above the Kings’ Head where Doris Sharp was the landlady. Here were Slaughters the greengrocers and Ansells Dairy amongst others and on the eastern side of the road Emily’s uncle Sid Page was landlord of the Arundel Arms – he was fondly known as ‘Charlie Chaplin’ by most then – a comical figure whose’ small stature and gait was very similar to that of the film star.

 

Mr. Smart the milkman

 

Tradesmen and suppliers such as Battens Dairy employed the likes of the Snellings of Church Street to deliver their milk in a three-wheeled hand pushed cart or trolley. Another milkman Mr.Smart could also be seen delivering his own milk by horse and cart at a time when many including the baker still used horses, even the smelly carts that emptied the cess pits from houses that were still not linked to the mains sewage system were horse drawn.

 

In West Street the tall warehouse-like buildings still standing on the west side belonged to Harkers Stores where grain etc.’ was kept and in John Street, just below the old catholic church, was a stable. It was here that a fire broke out and another of Emily’s uncles – Albert Page who lived at no.26 just across the road from the stables and known as ‘Buffer’ apparently because of his portly figure – saved the horses in there by going in and shooing them to safety into the street. The building was not totally burned down but in recent times history repeated itself and the same building, then McNeills the builders, was once again engulfed in flames and this time could not be saved.

 

Carnivals and fetes were a popular source of enjoyment in those days in which most of the town participated including Emily and her family. “Well I can’t remember when they were, but I know my Aunty was keen to go down there over the footbridge. One of my Uncles was dressed up as an ape and there was big lorry like a cage, it was stood outside the Crown and Anchor. His name was Frank Mitchell; there was an older man and he was dressed up as an ape there were two fellas, I can see them now.” Uncle Frank must have been something of an entertainer as often at number 15, he would play the piano accompanying Emily’s Dad who sang the songs.

 

Participants in one of the fancy dress carnivals, taken behind the Shoreham Grammar School

 

“They used to have do’s on the river, a regatta. I used to love to see the greasy pole. That was real good fun ‘cos we used to get down the gap (i.e. Star Gap) you see. Then there used to be quite a lot of functions up at the park. It was different up there then ‘cos there was a big house up there (i.e., Downs School house just north of where the ruins of Buckingham House are) where we used to change our clothes and I was in that. I was in the Japanese Fete ‘cos my Aunty made me pom pom things and a kimono thing, a dressing gown with stitching on the back. I had that for years. Then we were in the Dutch Fete, my cousin and I. It was all quite good:”

 

Emily and her brother Claud in fancy dress

 

As a fishmonger, Emily’s father would sometimes buy his fish from their cousins, the Laker family, as well as from the Pages. The Pages kept their boat on the beach near the bottom of Ferry Road and the Lakers had theirs a bit further westwards near All Saints church — both would sit there watching for the tell-tale splashes in the sea caused by the shoals of mackerel and herring — a sight that sadly is rarely if ever seen now.

 

After the infants school in Ham Road Emily went to Victoria Road school where teachers that she remembers included Mrs. Warden, Mrs. Brown and Mr.Ball and his daughter Miss Ball, the latter of whom used to live in Ravens Road. At about the age of 12 or 14 Emily left school and went to work on the Beach where she cleaned for the owners of the railway carriage bungalows there, three in particular, since demolished during the war, which were named `Miavota,’ ‘Fretstow,’ and ‘Ventnor,’ – there was plenty of that kind of work available then. In 1930 at the age of 16 she went to work at Southlands. “I didn’t like the work on the beach much and when I was about 16 I got a job at Southlands. It was hard work.” Southlands, shortly after Emily joined, went through a transition from workhouse/institution to hospital and initially her job was in the kitchen showing the inmates how to prepare food.

 

One of Emily’s favourite pastimes was dancing which locally, during the thirties, was held at St. Mary’s church hall but she would also travel often into Brighton to the Regent Ballroom. The menfolk in Emily’s circle of family and friends sometimes went rabitting in the fields by Coombes and Botolphs — one local man, Alex Bluett, was on his way rabitting on his motorbike but was thrown off and killed when his gun caught on an obstacle near the bridge. Of course, the sport was a means to an end as it provided extra food and another source still talked of by others in the town was ‘pritching,’ which involved the use of a nail bent into a hook to catch flat fish from the river where mussels were also picked at low tide.

 

By now John Clement bought most of his fish from the market under the pier at Brighton. “My Dad, you know, if he had a good catch, he would take some of the surplus of the herring and mackerel. Dad used to go to the market every morning, seven o’clock we used to get up. We had a cup of tea then I’d go up to the hospital, and he’d go to Brighton, used to go to the station and go down where they had the market on the Brighton front. That’s where the market was then. He used to come home, and he used to have somebody drop it off for him, as he couldn’t manage to bring it home. A man from Worthing used to drop it in for him, he had two shops in Worthing and one in Storrington, and he used to say to my Dad, ‘You’re such a good buyer Jack, you buy for me and I’ll drop your fish home for you as well.’

 

When my Dad died, the Worthing man often used to come and see us down here then; cos I was down here looking after things then. He used to say, ‘I’ll miss your Dad, I’ll miss him very much’. He was very sorry. My Dad died in the May (1960) and if he’d lived to the October he’d have been 70. My Aunty lived about 2 or 3 years after, but she wouldn’t sleep here on her own.”

 

My Aunt Dolly, one of the eldest (in the family), she was about 92 or 93.When she reached 90 all the family came and we had a room down where the children’s home used to be. We had another party down in St. Mary’s Hall for one of the other Pages, an anniversary and we had a photograph which I can’t find of all of the cousins. I pushed Aunty Dolly round to the `whist drives’ in her bath chair which I liked doing.1 pushed her round everywhere and once pushed her over to the old Beach Church. “Well” she said, “I’ve lived in Shoreham all my life and I’ve never been here”. I said, “Well now you have.” I remember once on Mothers Day, pushing Aunty up to the Lancing Chapel. She didn’t half like that.”

 

“My sister and her friend worked in the Sussex Pad, and they wanted to go on holiday, and I had a fortnight there. They wanted me to stay, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to stay there, but it was a good job. That was over 35 years ago.”

 

It was whilst she was at Southlands that she met Stanley George Hudson and ambulance driver who she subsequently married in I 939. Stan was a Londoner from Bermondsey who had run away from home to avoid the cruelty of his father and lied about his age to get into the Army. He served in Ireland and India then returned to England, by coincidence, with the Winton family from Shoreham. Well liked by Emily’s family and those at the hospital, Stan also went on to drive lorries for Beves Timber as well as John Browns at Ropetackle where he kept his lorry in the old flint barns there.

 

The report of Emily’s wedding in the Shoreham Herald of 1939

 

With the outbreak of war Emily’s dad became an Air Raid Warden while Emily and her husband moved to New Barn Road opposite the hospital near the now forgotten Burfoots Golf Clubhouse, a building of predominantly timber construction. There were only six or so bungalows there so were virtually in the countryside then. Unhappily, she lost her first baby at this time and as the war progressed she, like many at the time, began to experience occurrences that would not have been known in peacetime. Soldiers were billeted in parts of the hospital for a short while and as their accommodation was totally unexpected they were reduced to overcrowded conditions, even having to sleep against the walls. Ack-Ack guns were sited only just down the road at Burfoots’Gardens near the Green Jacket pub and were a frightening thunder of noise when enemy aircraft were about. As it happened, Emily’s home was one of the few in Shoreham to suffer a hit from German bombs, in her case an incendiary bomb which brought her ceiling down but luckily burned itself out without destroying the bungalow.

 

Besides his warden duties Emily’s Dad continued with his fish business with regular daily trips to Brighton bringing the fish hack to Shoreham where he would hose them down before selling them on from his costers’ cart around the town. His main ‘pitch’ was outside of the Marlipins Museum where he became a well known figure both then and after the war.

 

John Clement serving from his fish cart outside Marlipins Museum

 

“There was a bit in the paper about my Dad, because during the war he was called “hosepipe Johnny.” Things were hard to get and he used to get the fish and a lot of people used to say to him “Save me some of this Jack” or “Save me some of that.” Even Inspector Bough — well, he had 2 daughters, one was in the office down the Woolworth’s at one time, big girl she was, and Mr Bough used to come along to him and say “Save me some fish Jack.”

 

1945, the end of the war and the birth of her son John brought happier times for Emily although she well recalls not being able to celebrate VE Day as for a while John was poorly and she was tired and depressed. Nevertheless she still managed to attend some functions “I remember the procession with the fireworks ‘cos when I went up New Barn Road to live after I was married, I would be at the front of the parade with his torch. Mr Winton used to do a lot of the things that were going on years ago (he used to organize Shoreham’s fetes, fairs and regattas). He was a very prominent man. A few doors up you’ll see “Winton” on the door he used to live two doors along.” (number 9 Church Street)

 

Shoreham Herald 27th May 1960

 

“My Aunty Mabel was left here on her own, when my Dad died, Eileen (Turrell – Mabel’s daughter) was the one who asked me to come back down here. We thought about it as Stan was coming up to retirement in about another year, I said to him if we take Church Street perhaps we could do some letting.”- and so Emily returned to the house at 15, Church Street where she had lived as a child.

 

Emily Hudson died on the 3rd of December 2005 and is buried at Mill Lane Cemetery.

 

Roger Bateman

Shoreham

September 2002 and updated 2005

 

Written, researched and edited from interviews at Mrs Hudson’s house, 15, Church Street, Shoreham, with additional material from a taped interview of her by Geoff Howett and supplemented by other Shoreham reminiscences of Doris and Dick Steers.

 

Photographs are the copyright of John Hudson except those of Patchings’ shop, Mr and Mrs Patching, and Mr. Smart the milkman which are from the collection of Doris and Dick Steers.

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