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| Some of the houses of Mount Pleasant Crescent |
Mount Pleasant Crescent is a twitten running from Cromer Walk to Elphinstone Road. Most of the houses form a Victorian crescent-shaped terraced building back from the path. The only one not in the terrace is Quarry Cottage, on the corner of Cromer walk and Mount Pleasant Crescent. It appears the terraced houses were probably built about 1866, so were probably some of the first built in the Blacklands area.
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| Map showing the crescent shape of Mount Pleasant Crescent |
Originally, it must have been planned for houses to have been built on the other side of the path, because in one National Archive entry, it refers to 'even' houses and a shop to be built (1881). I found no evidence of any shop being in the crescent, but there was further planning permission for one at number 1 Mount Pleasant Crescent in 1905. The houses were likely re-numbered at a later date, when it was obvious that no other houses were going to be built.
Because I couldn't find out much about the buildings in the crescent, I thought I'd see if I could find any people who lived there... (To be honest, I didn't find out much, because I'm on a haitus from my Ancestry account, which is how I usually find out interesting tidbits in the censuses, but got a couple of snippets anyhow).
Quarry Cottage
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| Quarry Cottage on the corner of Mount Pleasant Crescent and Cromer Walk |
So, I hoped to find out a lot of fun things about it. Unfortunately, I found very, very little. Just a couple of planning permissions for 'additions' (1875/1900) and a temporary greenhouse (1952) in the National Archive. I'm still not sure when it was built.
The only other mentions I found were regarding a music teacher in a 1969 Hastings Music Festival Programme which mentioned the cottage.
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It was an advert for London's Trinity College of Music, in which it mentions that the local representative is one Mrs V. M. Harvey (A. Mus. T C L).
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With a bit of digging, I got a full name for Mrs Harvey: Violet Mabel Harvey. The following entry says she was born in 1909 and married Charles Harry Harvey. Also that she was a piano teacher and taught Musical Theory:
Some further research from these two bits of information, gave me that Violet Harvey was born in Hastings as Violet Fermor and she married Charles Harvey in 1940 near the beginning of WW2.
From the "Who's who in Music in the Musicians' International Directory' (1962) it says that she gave local Private Tuition. I'm not sure what the other entries for her name meant, but suspect the 's' is for musical education (schooling) and that she went to Harrogate Ladies College, (boarding school) and Queen Margaret's School (a prep school) to study Music. Either that, or that's where she taught music (if anyone knows what the entries mean, please leave in the comments below):
s: l. Harrogate; Harrogate Ladies' Coll. (college);Q. Margaret's Sch., Music
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| Pianoforte and Music Theory teacher, Violet Harvey, of Quarry Cottage Mount Pleasant Crescent |
[Update: Thanks to Janice leaving a comment below, we now know what some of the abbreviations are in the entry above. 'e:Privately' means she was privately educated by Elvey Cope (is this the one?) and Dr N. Sprankling [ Dr. N. SPRANKLING, Mus. Doc. (Lond.), 48, Linden Road, Redland, Bristol]. 's:1' means she had one son. and the schools were where she taught]
Other names I found related to the crescent were:
2 Mount Pleasant Crescent:
Isabel Emilia Lucy Maddison married to Nicholas Caesar Corsellis Lawton of Wyvenhoe Hall, co. Essex (2 Mount Pleasant Crescent, Hastings)
John Corsellis Lawton, b- Aug. 1868.Looking at the dates, it appears they married 21 Ap. 1896 in Tendring (confirmed on FreeBMD) so it seems their oldest son was born out of wedlock (?)
Sydney Corsellis Lawton, b. 6 Dec. 1896
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| Wivenhoe Manor |
3 Mount Pleasant Crescent
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| Principal of Preparatory School for Little Boys, Miss Martin of 3 Mount Pleasant Crescent |
7 Mount Pleasant Crescent
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| Michael Maloney, a gentleman, of 7 Mount Pleasant Crescent |
8 Mount Pleasant Crescent
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| Competition winner in Girls Own Annual Annie Roberson of Mount Pleasant Crescent (1897) |
9 Mount Pleasant Crescent
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| Check out Graphic Ideas at 9 Mount Pleasant Crescent |
12 Mount Pleasant Crescent
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| Fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute, Arthur Claydon, of 12 Mount Pleasant Crescent |
The s stands for son, and it's followed by the number 1. (If you look at other other entries, you'll see d for daughter plus a number. It's just the usual way for Who's Who and similar books to show the number of children the person had)
ReplyDeleteThe e is for where she was educated - which was privately (not unusual for that era for females).
The schools listed are where she taught.
P.S. My comments refer to Violet Harvey of Quarry Cottage. I was interested in her as I'm a piano teacher too, now retired. (Also, I was a Junior Exhibitioner at Trinity College of Music in 1969 and the name 'Myers Foggin' is very familiar to me as it appears on my piano exam certificates for Grades 6-8.) As I am reading your page on my phone, I can't see all of her entry in Who's Who, but will try to access it in full on my laptop tomorrow.
DeleteThat is soooo helpful, Janice! I will now be able to amend the information in the post. It's nice to have someone who knows about a subject. That is fabulous that you were also part of Trinity College of Music in 1969! Do you remember Violet Harvey at all? Perhaps you have an interesting tale or tidbit about your time there? Thank you for contributing to Blacklands History!
DeleteNo, I never met Violet as she, being a local rep for Hastings, would have been working in this area collating exam entries, examiners and venues (possibly even in her own house), and I didn't really know Hastings till the 1990s.
DeleteIn 1969, I was traveling up to London from Surrey for my music lessons on Saturdays but it's possible that some of my teachers knew her if she visited Trinity College for meetings - also, musicians tend to have quite a small number for their 'degrees of separation' anyway.
I have found out quite a lot about Violet - she seems to have lived in the same house up to her death died in 2008. Her son was listed on the electoral roll with her, so for confidentiality I am wary about writing any more on a public page.
DeleteBut I have found some info about her teachers, Elvey Cope and Norman Sprankling:
Charles Elvey Cope was born in St Leonards-on-Sea in 1871.
In the 1911 Census, he is recorded as a 'Tutor and Teacher of Music' living at 17 Wellington Square with his wife and their two sons (with the middle names of Mendelssohn and Tennyson) and 1 daughter (with the middle name of Gainsborough). He is listed in Kelly's Directory as a music teacher either qualification of ARCO (an Associate of the Royal College of Organists). He died in 1943.
Dr. Norman Riardan Rutherford Sprankling was born on 10 July 1886, and became a music instructor to organists and other musicians. He is listed as a teacher to E. G. Laycock (a musician noted in the Biographical Dictionary of the Organ) and his work was specifically linked to professional training for organists (see references in The Musical Times and biographical records) - he is recorded as an Exam coach in 1921. He lived in the Bristol area all his life and I haven't yet found out how he taught Violet - maybe the lessons were in London. He too is listed in Kelly's Directory as a Mus.Doc. London, LRAM (a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music), ARCO, professor of music He died in 1958.
A little about Violet's life before her marriage. She was the only child of Herbert George Fermor (1869-1954), a Hastings-born carpenter / joiner / machinist (who was recorded in the 1921 census as working for Mr Bones of Earl Street), and Harriett (nee Thomas, 1872-1952) who was born in Westfield. Following their marriage in 1897, they were recorded as living at 30 St Mary's Road in the 1901 census, and Violet is recorded with them at the same address in the 1911 and 1921 censuses and in the 1939 Register.
DeleteOh Wow, Janice! I am feeling a real bond with you as a fellow researcher! That is such a lot of great information about these people and who they were... (and it seems like you might have a working Ancestry account or similar - yes!)
DeleteThank you for all your wonderful digging to give us a wider picture about Violet, the music teacher of Quarry Cottage - and some important people in her life. Even small amounts of information make them more real.
And, yes, I appreciate your not sharing more modern stuff - I wouldn't want to step on the feet of living people, nor disrespect their privacy (if any of them ever want to include details they dont mind sharing, that's all good :-) )
Thanks again, Janice. Really loving your contributions <3