BARONESS EMMUSKA ORCZY -1947

Baroness Emmuska Orczy was born in Hungary but moved to London with her parents when she was fifteen. After attending a school in Wigmore Street she decided that she wanted to be an artist and enrolled at the West London School of Art. It was here that she met her future husband Henry Montague Barstow (1862/3-1943) and they married in London on 7th November 1894 and set up home in Holland Park.

At the turn of the century, when Orczy was in her mid 30’s, she began a second career as a writer. Inspired by a visit to Paris in 1900, she wrote ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ in just five weeks, although the novel was rejected by numerous publishers. However, Orczy and her husband did succeed in getting a dramatised version accepted for production, which had some success. In 1905 the novel was finally published and became an instant best seller after which Baroness Orczy wrote and had published a further eleven Scarlet Pimpernel adventures, as well as many others novels.

In 1908 the Barstow’s moved to Cleve Court in Acol, where they lived in some style. Baroness Orczy played an active role in the life of the district, sending her children to Ramsbury private school in Birchington and attending – on horseback- the annual Boxing Day meet of the Thanet Harriers. There were also references to Margate in several of her books and mentions in the press of openings of fetes and other events.
The Barstow’s left England after the First World War and took up residence in Monte Carlo and then Italy. They returned to Monte Carlo at the beginning of the war, where Montague Barstow died in 1943. Baroness Orczy remained in Monte Carlo until after the war when she returned to England. She died at Brown’s Hotel, London on 12th November 1947, of kidney failure and senility.

Caroline Fox was born on 27th March 1723 at Richmond House, the eldest child of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond and Lennox. Although her upbringing reflected her status as the daughter of one of the country’s premier families, she chose to marry, against her parents wishes, an aspiring politician, nearly twenty years her senior, called Henry Fox.

They married in secret in May 1744, however, their happiness seemed to vindicate Caroline’s choice of husband. Henry Fox became increasingly successful in his political career, not least financially. In the 1730’s he had a healthy income from politics, which was dwarfed by the vast profits he derived from the paymastership during the Seven Years War, which enabled him to indulge his passion for the construction of gothic ruins, of which his estate at Kingsgate, near Margate held many examples, later described by Hardwicke Lewis in ‘An Excursion to Margate in the Month of June 1786’ viz: ‘The entire architecture was a blending of Roman and Gothic’.

Henry Fox was created 1st Baron Holland of Foxley in 1763 and he and Caroline, now Lady Holland, lived in harmony until his death in July 1774. Caroline Fox died a few weeks later at Holland House, Kensington.

FANNY SCHMIDT –nee NEWLOVE
OWNER OF THE SHELL GROTTO, MARGATE.1824 - 1919

Margate has many attractions; however few are as fascinating and mysterious as the Shell Grotto. This extraordinary place was ‘discovered’ in 1835 by the young son, it is claimed, of local schoolmaster, James Newlove. The boy, to his amazement, found a ‘grotto’, the walls of which were completely covered in shells, however, intriguingly, the site had never appeared on any maps and the local residents had no idea it existed, nor did anyone, including we suppose Newlove, have a clue as it what is was or who built it, in other words, a complete mystery.

What Newlove did see was an opportunity to make money and within two years this weird underground structure was open to the public as ‘a lost pagan temple’. Publicity and mystery ensured that the Shell Grotto became a popular visitor attraction, maintained by descriptions such as the following taken from Lane’s Complete Up-To-Date Margate Guide ‘It consists of a series of curious vaulted excavations, terminating in an oblong rectangular cavern. The various passages, domes and chambers are entirely lined with a remarkable and very fine mosaic of shells arranged in a continuous succession of designs of much force and beauty. Its origin still remains a mystery, albeit many theories have been advanced by various authorities.

James Newlove died in 1851, leaving the Grotto to his wife, Arabella, who in turn left it to their remaining unmarried daughter, Fanny. Fanny then exhibited the Grotto until 1869, when she and her husband (who she married in 1861) Charles Schmidt, a surgical appliance maker at the Royal Sea Bathing Hospital in Margate, sold to George Burgess, manager of Hammond’s bank.

Fanny Schmidt, by then a widow, spent her final days at the Masonic Institute, London, where she died in 1919. The Shell Grotto remains in private ownership, and is still magical and not ready to give up its secrets.

HENRIETTA, COUNTESS OF BESSBOROUGH,
FREQUENT AND FASHIONABLE VISITOR TO MARGATE. 1761 -1821

Margate was at the vanguard of seaside resorts, being one of the first to realize and promote the benefits of sea bathing; the Kentish Gazette, as early as 1737, announced that sea bathing was available at Margate and this added considerably to Margate’s popularity with the aristocracy and gentry, who were quick to take advantage of the facilities now available.

By the latter part of the eighteenth century Margate had become a fashionable resort, offering amusements such as the Assembly Rooms and the Theatre Royal and appealing also to those who were prevented from visiting the continent by the Napoleonic Wars.

Few visitors were as fashionable or as well connected as Henrietta, (known as Harriet) Countess of Bessborough. Born Henrietta Spencer, daughter of 1st Earl Spencer, she married Viscount Duncannon, later 3rd Earl of Bessborough, in 1780, a cousin of the Duke of Devonshire, and they soon became immersed in the reckless hedonism of the Devonshire House circle, of which Henrietta’s sister, Georgiana, was a leading light.

The marriage to Bessborough was not particularly successful, in spite of producing four children, and subsequently Henrietta met and fell in love with a diplomat twelve years her junior called Granville Leveson-Gower. Her affair lasted more than fifteen years, in which time they had two children. Henrietta was a frequent visitor to Margate, usually taking a house for a least part of the season. In her many letters to Leveson-Gower she writes fondly of Margate and the many happy times spent there. In later years she found comfort in the company of her sons and grandchildren. She died in Florence on 11th November 1821.

JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER 1775-1851 AND MRS SOPHIA BOOTH

JMW Turner, who became one of England’s greatest painters, was born in Covent Garden, London, in 1775, the son of William Turner (1745-1829) and his wife Mary Marshall (1745-1804). Much of his childhood was spent staying with relatives, due to his mother’s ill health, and among these was a fishmonger in Margate, Kent, who Turner stayed with in 1786 and where he attended the school of Thomas Coleman, an active Methodist minister. Turner’s earliest surviving watercolour drawings are of subjects in or near Margate and were probably painted during these visits.

William Turner encouraged his son to further his studies in painting and this was to lead to exhibitions and tours and eventually membership of the Royal Academy. As his reputation grew he was able to travel, both in England and to the continent, however, it was in Margate that he painted some of his finest work and also where he began a relationship with his landlady, the twice widowed Mrs Sophia Booth, whose first husband Henry Pound drowned in 1821. Turner had visited Margate regularly over the years and latterly begun to stay with Mrs Booth, whose second husband had died in 1833, beginning a relationship with her the same year. They both found a perfect symbiotic companionship in each other. For Turner, Sophia had replaced the motherly side of his father and for Sophia, a widow with her own means who did not need support, Turner was the ideal partner.

In the 1840’s Mrs Booth moved to London to live with Turner in a cottage she purchased in Chelsea at 6 Davis Place, Cremorne New Road. They lived here for eighteen years as husband and wife under the name of Mr and Mrs Booth, although with the exception of the first year Turner, contributed nothing to their mutual support and Mrs Booth became the sole provider. Nevertheless she stayed with Turner until his death. Strangely, although his estate amounted to £140.000., he left her nothing.

After Turner’s death it became clear that Mrs Booth felt honoured to look after someone she so greatly admired and seeing him paint was reward enough. She was also an understanding and welcoming hostess, quoted later as explaining ‘I have set a sandwich and some sherry on the table’ she said to a wandering artist a few days after Turner’s death, ‘sit down and rest yourself, after being so long in the cold.’ And Mrs Booth was blessed with rare instinct; she understood that Turner’s first mistress was his painting and seemed to understand that possibly it was the position of her Margate house which first drew Turner to her. If her house had not the finest view in Margate would he have looked at her twice?

There appears to be little information about Mrs Booth in her later years apart from the record of her death in Buckinghamshire in 1878, where she is described as woman of independent means.

MARY LAMB. CHILDREN’S WRITER. 1764-1847

Mary Lamb, born in London in December 1764, was the sister of the renowned essayist, Charles Lamb (1775-1834) who was well known for his love of Margate.

Mary Lamb was self educated and remarkably, taught herself Latin, French and Italian, helped by access to the library of her father’s employer Samuel Salt, of the Inner Temple. After Salt’s death in 1792 her parents were forced to leave the Temple and moved with Mary and Charles to cramped and impoverished lodgings in Little Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields. It was there that Mary Lamb, in a fit of sudden insanity, killed her mother with a knife stab to the heart. This act was attributed to a psychological disorder later to be called manic depression.

In 1796, the year the crime took place, the law allowed violent lunatics to be released in to care of relatives, and subsequently, Charles Lamb undertook to care for Mary for the rest of her life. Mary and Charles lived together until Charles died in 1834; neither had ever married and although Mary’s periodic illnesses sometimes interrupted their seemingly contented life, they lived happily together in what Charles described as ‘double singleness’.

Mary Lamb went on to become an established writer of children’s books and outlived her brother by several years. She died at her home in St.John’s Wood on 20th May 1847 and was buried in Charles Lamb’s grave in Edmonton churchyard in Middlesex.

MARY MACKAY (MARIE CORELLI) NOVELIST 1855-1924

Mary Mackay, who adopted the pseudonym Marie Corelli, was, in her time, one of the most widely read authors of fiction in Britain. Her books were overwhelmingly popular and published in their millions, even though the critics loathed her and savagely criticised her characterisations and plots. She was read and admired by Queen Victoria and the future Edward V11, as well as finding many admirers amongst the literati of the day.
Marie Corelli was born the illegitimate child of Charles Mackay; journalist and writer of Scottish songs. She originally planned a career as a concert pianist and singer but turned to journalism and in July 1885 had her first work published in Temple Bar Magazine. This was an article titled ‘One of the World’s Wonders’ about the mysteries of the Shell Grotto in Margate, which met with popular acclaim and was reproduced in the magazine ‘Cameos’ in 1886. Marie Corelli went on to write her first novel ‘A Romance of Two World’s’ in 1886.

Her huge success continued until 1910, when her literary reputation began to decline, and by the end of the Great War public tastes had altered with the consequent loss of sales. Marie Corelli died on 21st April 1924 and was buried at the Evesham Road cemetery, Stratford upon Avon.

MRS ANN HILL. OWNER OF GROTTO HOUSE, HIGH STREET,
MARGATE. DIED 1817

Mrs Ann Hill was a fashionable lady of the late eighteenth century who owned a large house off the high street in Margate. This house is interesting because it was discovered that underneath it there was a chamber embellished with numerous shells of varying types and sizes.

An article in the Courier Magazine of 27th September 1804 described this in great detail and concluded that ‘this grotto was a small, secret chapel for the worship of the Catholic faith, when that was suppressed in this country’. There is no evidence to suggest that Mrs Hill was a Catholic or that she was aware of the existence of this ‘grotto’.

MRS ROSALINE FOX: ‘THE MYSTERY OF ROOM 66’
AT THE METROPOLE HOTEL, MARGATE

The case known as ‘The Mystery of Room 66’ involved that most rare of crimes, matricide - the unlawful killing of a mother by her child and certainly one of the most dastardly and infamous crimes ever committed in Margate.

In October 1929 a Mrs Rosaline Fox and her thirty six year old son Sidney arrived in Margate to stay at the Hotel Metropole, a comfortable establishment frequented by commercial travellers. Arriving with no luggage they told the management that it had been sent on ahead and now seemed to have gone astray. However it was revealed later that although mother and son seemed devoted to each other, they were almost without funds, having left a trial of unpaid bills behind them on their journey from London to Margate.

On the evening of October 23rd 1929 Sidney Fox brought his mother a half bottle of port as a nightcap. Sometime later, just before midnight he was seen running from her room in the direction of the stairs shouting ‘my mummy, my mummy, Fire! Fire!’ Another guest of the hotel, Samuel Hopkins, crawled into the smoke filled room and found Mrs Fox dead on the bed. Subsequently, an inquest found that Mrs Fox had died from shock and suffocation and recorded a verdict of ‘Death by Misadventure’ and the body was released for burial, which took place at Great Fransham in Norfolk.

Luck was not to remain on the side of Sidney Fox. An insurance company became suspicious when it was discovered that a policy under which he had insured his mother against accidental death expired at midnight on the very night of the fire in her room. The appropriate authorities were alerted and the case reopened. Mrs Fox’s body was exhumed on November 11th and sent for analysis by the eminent Home Office pathologist, Sir Bernard Spilsbury, who told the reopened inquest at Margate borough magistrates court that ‘The injuries to the neck and tongue could, in my opinion, only have been produced by strangulation by the hand.’ Fox was found guilty of matricide and was hanged at Maidstone Jail in April 1930, the first convicted murderer not to appeal against his sentence.

PHYLLIS BROUGHTON. GAIETY GIRL 1862-1926

In its obituary of 24th July 1926 the Isle of Thanet Gazette stated; ‘Miss Broughton seemed particularly to belong to Margate’. This association began forty or so years before, firstly through her mother and latterly upon her marriage to Margate doctor, Robert Thomson MD, whom she lived with at India House, in Hawley Street. However, it was as one of the famous Gaiety Girls that she found fame and fortune.
Phyllis Broughton began her career as a dancer at the Canterbury Music Hall before being chosen by John Hollingshead to appear in his burlesque show at the Gaiety theatre in London. She first found success at Christmas 1880 in ‘The Forty Thieves’ by Robert Reece, which was to establish her a performer not only blessed with great beauty but as ‘a clever artiste, who knew how to reach an audience’.

From 1886 onwards Phyllis Broughton became the idol of the London theatre going public, playing practically every theatre in London, although after 1897 her appearances on the stage were few and far between and often for charity.

Phyllis Broughton’s personal life was at times rather turbulent. At the height of her fame she became engaged to John Headly, a rich colliery owner but inexplicitly, a few days before the wedding, she sent a telegram cancelling the marriage. John Headly never got over Phyllis and to the day she died sent her flowers every week. After John Headly she was engaged to Earl Cowley, which also ended mysteriously when Phyllis sued him for breach of promise.

Phyllis did finally find happiness with Dr. Thomson and turned her attention to the interests of Margate. She became well known in the town for her charm and gentle nature and widespread charity which earned her the title of ‘The Fairy Godmother’ .

Phyllis Broughton’s philanthropic interests made her a truly special person in the life of Margate and one that was sadly missed when she died suddenly after a brief illness in London. The funeral was held at St. James Church, Piccadilly, London and she was laid to rest next to Dr. Thomson in Brompton Cemetery. A memorial service was held at St. Paul’s Church, Cliftonville. In 2003 a blue plaque was put up to Phyllis Broughton at India House.

SARAH THORNE. ACTRESS AND THEATRE MANAGER 1836-1899

Sarah Thorne was born in London on 10th May 1836, the eldest of the ten children of Richard Samuel Thorne, (d.1875) an actor and manager, and his wife Sarah. Acting was in her blood and she made her stage debut on the 26th December 1848 in a pantomime put on by her father. Sarah continued to perform, playing minor roles at the Surrey Theatre in 1854 and touring the country with stock companies. She also joined her father for summer seasons at Margate, which he had leased in 1855, making her first appearance on 6th August 1855. In time most of her seven brothers and three sisters would perform at the Theatre Royal.

As Sarah Thorne’s reputation began to grow she took on leading roles; Desdemona to Charles Kean’s Othello and Lady Macbeth opposite Gustavus Vaughan Brooke. In 1867 she succeeded her father as lessee of the Theatre Royal, Margate, opening on 29th July with H.T. Craven’s ‘Meg’s Diversions’ and ‘The Child of the Regiment’. Her policy was ‘to offer the newest pieces approved in the metropolis as occasion permits’ but never to neglect ‘Old and legitimate productions’ (from the theatrical newspaper ERA. 4th August 1867). Sarah Thorne’s lease ended when the theatre was sold at auction in August 1873, to Robert Fort, although she did return briefly to Margate at Christmas 1874 during a tour of her now established annual pantomime.
Sarah Thorne continued in the role of actor/manager at various theatres until she was able to resume the lease at Margate in January 1879. She continued with the rapidly disappearing stock company system during the summer months and engaged some of the burgeoning touring companies for the rest of the year. The Theatre Royal, Margate, prospered under Sarah’s management and became one of the leading provincial theatres. Sarah also gained a substantial reputation for training young players, opening her School of Acting in 1885, and who had among her pupils many who became leading actors.

Sarah Thorne, apart from her management role, continued to play a wide range of parts, with a preference for Shakespeare’s Beatrice, Desdemona, Juliet and Lady Macbeth. She insisted on good taste in her choice of plays and in their production although she was said to have had ‘a somewhat imperious manner (Thanet Times 3rd. March 1899) a Margate contemporary spoke of her generosity, especially to the poor and elderly, whose rent she would sometimes pay herself. (Chatham Observer)

Sarah Thorne’s last performance was at her benefit at Margate in September 1898, when she played the part of Parthenia in Maria Lovell’s Ingomar. She died in Chatham on the 17th February 1899, shortly before the celebration of her theatrical jubilee that was being arranged for 16th March at St. James Theatre, London.
A great lady of the theatre has passed on, however, there are those that believe the ghost of Sarah Thorne is responsible for mysterious happenings at the Theatre Royal, Margate; locked doors being opened, lights and gas heaters switched on at night in the deserted theatre and many alleged sightings. Maybe her spirit has never left the Theatre!

SELINA HASTINGS. COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON 1707-1791

Selina Hastings was born Lady Selina Shirley, daughter of Washington Shirley, 2nd Earl Ferrers. She married Theophilus Hastings, 7th Earl Huntingdon on 3rd June 1728 and became an early convert to Methodism, joining the first Methodist Society in Fetter Lane, London in 1739. After the death of her husband in 1746 she joined forces with John Wesley and George Whitefield in their work of promoting the Methodist cause; a brave move, particularly in view of her problems with the Anglican clergy from whom she preferred not to separate.
Lady Huntingdon went on to form the ‘Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion’, a Calvinistic movement within the Methodist Church, and was responsible for the foundation of sixty four chapels, including Zion Chapel, Margate, built in 1802 ‘in a field beyond Union Crescent’, which later on became the first place of worship in the town to be lit by gas. The history of the site dates back to 1771, when the Countess received some anonymous letters urging her to send a minister to Margate, as it was ‘a licentious place, particularly in the watering season’, and subsequently Mr Joseph Cook and a student, Mr Alridge, were despatched to preach, firstly out of doors and then in Margate and Dover. Zion Chapel was demolished in 1881 to make way for the new Emmanuel Church in Victoria Road. As well as founding the chapels the Countess also converted the old mansion of Trefeca, near Talgarth in South Wales, into a theological seminary for young ministers for the Connexion and it was said that Lady Huntingdon expended some £100,000 – a vast amount at the time- in the cause of religion.

Up to 1779 Lady Huntingdon and her chaplains were members of the Church of England, but in that same year her chaplains were banned from teaching in the Pantheon, a large building in London, rented by Lady Huntingdon, leaving her no choice but to take shelter under the Toleration Act, thereby legally placing her among dissenters.

Lady Huntingdon continued to exercise active and sometimes autocratic supervision over her chapels and chaplains and although she was unpopular in some circles she was much admired in other quarters; Horace Walpole described her as ‘The patriarchess of the Methodists’ and John Henry Newman commented that ‘She devoted himself, her means, her time, her thoughts, to the cause of Christ. She did not spend her money on herself; she did not allow the homage paid to her rank to remain with herself.’
Lady Huntingdon died in 1791, a pivotal figure in the Evangelical Revival of the mid eighteenth century.

VICTORIA SANGER FREEMAN. CIRCUS QUEEN 1895-1991

Victoria Sanger Freeman was the last of the great Sanger family circus dynasty, which proudly bore the title ‘The Greatest Name in Circus’. Victoria (or Vicky, as she was commonly known) was the great granddaughter of ‘Lord’ George Sanger, one of Britain’s greatest showmen, who had this title bestowed upon himself out of pique when faced with a court battle with ‘The Honourable’ Buffalo Bill Cody.

George Sanger launched his first circus in 1854, touring the continent before establishing himself at Astley’s Amphitheatre in London, where he presented ‘The Greatest Show Ever Seen’. The circus continued touring and Sanger’s relationship with Margate began around the 1860’s when he brought his show to the town. In 1873 Sanger’s daughter, Harriett, married Arthur, son of prosperous businessman and Mayor of Margate, Dalby Reeve, who had recently bought The-Hall-By-The-Sea, originally the booking hall for a proposed but never built new railway line, from Spiers and Pond, caterers to the railway company. Reeve and Sanger jointly agreed to develop the site and with his talent for showmanship, Sanger instigated a programme of refurbishment which included a restaurant by day and ballroom at night, a picturesque ornamental garden featuring a medieval ‘ruined abbey’, a small lake, populated by wildfowl and several summerhouses in which to rest.

In addition there were swings, archery ranges and all manner of other attractions, not least the indoor menagerie, with twenty three cages containing wild animals including lions, tigers, bears, and baboons. When Thomas Dalby Reeve died in April 1875 George Sanger purchased the freehold of the site and continued to build further attractions to add to the success of The Hall before meeting an untimely end on 28th November 1911, when he was reputedly murdered by Herbert Cooper, a former employee. Such was his reputation that his death made the national news and his funeral was a fitting – if somewhat bizarre- occasion, with fifty carriages, one hundred and twenty three floral tributes and an estimated twenty thousand mourners. The-Hall-By-The-Sea was left to Harriett Reeve and her husband, Arthur, who remained in charge until 1919, when they sold to businessman, John Henry Iles, who went on to redevelop the site into Dreamland.
Although Victoria was not directly involved with the Hall-By-The-Sea she travelled for many years with the ‘Lord’ John Sanger circus, formed by her uncle, carrying on the Sanger family circus tradition. After this circus ceased to operate Victoria and other members of the family went on to perform with others including Bertram Mills circus at Olympia, London and the annual Christmas circus at Crystal Palace, South London.

In 1917 Victoria married James Freeman (1888-1961) who worked for Sanger as a rider, high wire walker, trapeze artist and clown and who in his heyday was considered the most versatile of all British circus performers. Their only son, Patrick, followed them into the circus as a clown, rider and animal trainer as did their grandsons, making Victoria extremely proud and happy. Victoria Sanger Freeman died on Monday, August 5th 1991, at St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, aged 96. She was cremated at Streatham on August 12th and her ashes taken to be interred in the Sanger family plot in Margate.

BETTY MARIE PATRICIA WHITCOMB. ‘AUNTIE PAT’ 1920-1994