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CHAIRMAN’S ANNOUNCEMENT

We were very sad to hear of the recent death of our past, long serving chairman, Peter Billington. Peter was chairman when I first joined the committee and I remember him in particular for the speed at which he moved through each year’s AGM formalities. He also worked on other charities (most notably Springboard) and served the community as a district councillor. He may be best remembered as being chairman of The Horsham Museum Society when The Friends of Horsham Museum was formed.

Horsham Museum Society is the legal owner of many of the artefacts in Horsham Museum and has been retained to protect them. Under agreements signed back in 1940 and 1974, artefacts belonging to The Society can only be sold with the permission of the Society’s trustees, which presently include local experts Rupert Toovey and Annabelle Hughes. So, for example, in what would be presumably an extreme case, if Horsham Museum were to close it would be up to the Society trustees to decide what to do with its items.

Everyone reading this newsletter is hopefully familiar with how The Friends of Horsham Museum support the work of the Museum. Having the status of a charity brings advantages, most notably the ability to increase our income by claiming Gift Aid on many donations. All the Friends committee members are Friends trustees, not of any artefacts this time, but of a charity. We have gained the advantages of charitable status and still protect the historic artefacts in Horsham Museum, all for the cost of holding two AGMs each year – and it does mean that following Peter’s example continues to be important.

Jonathan England

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NEW FHM PUBLICATION

Horsham on the Front Line

The First World War was not all trenches or misery: for some it was the great adventure, while for others the adventure turned to pain and anguish. Now, for the first time, the stories of what the men and women of Horsham who served thought about everyday life on the Front Line are told in their own words.

The new two-volume publication by Julie Mitchell and Jeremy Knight is more than just a collection of letters from the front, as it also includes a reprint of the Roffey camp newsletter Fortnightly Gazette as well as the remarkable diary of Canadian soldier Harry Mollins, who was stationed at Horsham. It is a brilliant insight to a soldier’s life, written by a foreigner, observing the town in that era with all its idiosyncrasies.

Volume 1 and 2 are available only from the Museum, priced

£12 and £6 individually, or £15 for the set.

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TALK REPORT

Gail Mackintosh used a selection of posters from the William Albery collection to illustrate her talk to the Friends on the corruption that pervaded British politics in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The election in Horsham in 1847 achieved the most notoriety resulting in nationwide publicity and led the Prime Minister, Lord John Russell, to set up an official inquiry.

One of the main causes for the corruption was that Horsham was one of the many Rotten Boroughs in the country. Before the development of universal suffrage only those who rented a Burgage property

could vote and voting was not a secret process. There were fifty two Burgage properties in Horsham, owned by The Lord of the Manor or the most powerful landowner. Therefore voting was under their control with the threat of eviction for any Burger who did not vote as required. Horsham returned two Members of Parliament whose power and influence could be manipulated to the advantage of the local lords. In Horsham’s case these were the Irwin and Eversfield families and from time to time the Duke of Norfolk.

Gradually during the latter part of the nineteenth century, various Reform Acts extended the franchise and more and more males were given voting power. However as Gail explained it was mainly through the efforts of the Suffrage Movement that women became enfranchised during the twentieth century.

Maureen Radbourne

For many, Shoreham is either a miss as you take the flyover, or a slow drive held up in the traffic as it meanders through the town. You very rarely get to see the history of a really fascinating town and one that has links with Horsham. Having moved to the area 6 years ago I have had cause to explore its backstreets and discover the town. Although not for the faint hearted (as those who did the Littlehampton walk know), join us on a stroll around Shoreham behind the high street. We will meet at Shoreham War Memorial next to St. Nicholas Church at 2pm on Wednesday 3 September 2014. Tickets are available from the Museum. Spaces are limited: strictly first come, first served.

Jeremy Knight

This drawing of an iron fireback was made by John Starkie Gardner, sometime Keeper of Metalwork at the Victoria and Albert Museum, in about 1890. The caption indicates that the fireback was in Horsham, and its design includes several interesting features, including lifting handles (which are rare) and a variety of distinctive motifs formed from the repeated use of individual stamps when the mould was made. A similar, but not identical, fireback was recently noted in Upper Beeding, but it was not possible to record its details because a stove obscured it. I am keen to trace the fireback shown in the drawing, to record and photograph it as part of an on-going project to catalogue early firebacks. If any reader knows the location of this fireback I should be grateful if I could be put in touch with the owner.

Jeremy Hodgkinson Author of British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to Mid-18th Centuries (2010)

FORTHCOMING SHOREHAM WALK

CAN YOU HELP?

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RETURN TO HORSHAM WITH THE BOROUGH BAND

The Friends will be holding a concert with Horsham Borough Band on October 25th at Holy Trinity Church. We did this quite successfully in 2012 ― the Band played the music and we illustrated the pieces with a slide show of our Cramp photos, Albery posters and band archive material. This time, a major part of the concert will be a piece of music called “Return to Horsham”, which was written by David Woods (several members of the family were stalwarts of the Band and became professional brass players) when he visited Horsham around 2000 after having emigrated to Canada. The musical descriptions of Horsham past contained in the seven movements can easily be visually accompanied by projections of our historic photographs and posters, but our ingenuity may be stretched as to how we illustrate the popular classical and film score pieces that will complete the programme. The night’s entertainment will include refreshments and a raffle.

Jonathan England

DESK SET COMES HOME

In 1905, cabinet maker Percy Frost emigrated to Canada with his family and, as a memento of his late father George, took with him a silver desk set. George Frost was the Congregational minister in Horsham from 1869 and had previously been minister at Wivenhoe in Essex, the congregation of which had presented him with the set in 1862. In 2013, the set was unearthed in a second-hand shop in Kamloops, Alberta, by Canadian genealogy enthusiast Judy Bradley who set out to research George. Through the Ancestry website, Judy connected with Hugh Clark at Horsham Museum who had constructed a family tree on Ancestry as part of his researches into the Frost and Stephens families. Judy was keen for the set to be returned to Horsham and a deal agreed between Jeremy Knight and Judy means the set is now back in Horsham where George spent so many years and Percy grew up.

Percy Frost’s sister Florence was the wife of J.H. (John) Stephens who owned a successful Horsham ironmongery business that traded on the corner of West Street and Springfield Road.

Hugh Clark

NEW MEMBERS

The Friends extend a warm welcome to new members who have joined recently:

Mr James Farr, Horsham Mrs Pam French, Southwater Mr Simon Machin, Horsham

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FLASHING BLADES [Craft Gallery] Until 20 September In its first decades the Museum had a number of weapons donated to it, from spears to rifles, and knives to shields. This exhibition offers a chance to explore one of the Museum’s more unusual collections.

WITHIN THE WOODS [Art Gallery] Until 30 August Peter and Sarah Slight combine their interests in art and photography in this playful exhibition that showcases their main influences, including folktales and fables, 1960s and ’70s design, woodlands and nature.

INTO THE DRAGON’S LAIR [Temporary Exhibitions Gallery] Until 4 October In 1614 a pamphlet was published in London declaring that a dragon had been seen near Horsham. It even included a picture of the frightening beast. Today, Horsham Museum & Art Gallery is celebrating the 400th anniversary with an amazing display of a collection of dragons drawn from across the world.

Guided Tour of Shoreham, led by Jeremy Knight 3 September 2014, tickets £3.

PADWICK RETROSPECTIVE [Art Gallery] 5 September to 25 October Nowadays a neglected artist, Hugh Philip Padwick (1876-1958) painted widely in West Sussex, his landscape views in public and private collections. This retrospective brings together a number of Padwick’s more intriguing pieces.

elements: REFINED [Craft Gallery] 5 to 24 October 2014 The Surrey Guild of Craftsmen celebrates 21 years of excellence with a stunning touring exhibition in 2014: featuring ceramics, glass, textiles, jewellery, wood, leather, kaleidoscopes, batik and metalwork.

“Return to Horsham” ― a concert by Horsham Borough Band and Friends of Horsham Museum at Holy Trinity Church, Rushams Road, Horsham RH12 2BL on Saturday October 25th at 7:30pm. Tickets, available in advance from Horsham Museum or Horsham Band members, cost £7.50 (£5 for OAP and children 14-18; free for children under 14).

Talk by Jessica Jacobs will describe and illustrate the methods she used in the conservation of the posters from the William Albery collection. She will also describe the preservation process for removing water and acid marks from paintings in watercolour. Wednesday 5 November at 8pm in the Wesley Hall, Methodist Church.

FORTHCOMING EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS

FHM COMMITTEE Liz Harvey, Maureen Radbourne, Julie Mitchell, Jenny Cheal, Gail Mackintosh Chairman: Jonathan England; Secretary: Audrey Coventry; Treasurer: Brian Frogley Officers can be contacted in writing: Horsham Museum, 9 Causeway, Horsham, West Sx. RH12 1HE www.horshamposters.com