History
buffs will be buoyed to read that reports of Hastings court cases from
the Victorian era are being released online along with other items of
local historical interest. Their publication is part of the 125th year
celebrations of Sussex law firm Gaby Hardwicke Solicitors, which was
founded in 1889, the year in which the hit BBC One TV series Ripper Street is set.
Only
a year after the infamous ‘Jack the Ripper’ killings, Britain was a
very different place in 1889, and this is reflected in the often bizarre
nature of local court cases. Alongside the familiar occurrence of
burglaries and assaults, quirky cases involving speeding ponies, drunken
horsemen, unlicensed hawkers, rogue railway porters and animal theft
were regularly heard in the Hastings courts.
The
archive also sheds light on the serious issue of social deprivation at a
time when poverty was widespread and Hastings had its own workhouse.
Sadder cases include a woman charged with keeping her child from school
because she couldn’t afford to buy him boots, and a girl charged with
begging alongside her mother, who was charged with causing the child to
beg.
Elsewhere
in the new ‘125th year’ section of Gaby Hardwicke’s website are
extracts from wartime letters about local bombing (including the 1940
bombing of Gaby Hardwicke’s Hastings office), reminiscences from
solicitors and employees from days gone by and profiles of the firm’s
key former partners, among them some well-known local figures.
David
Young, Senior Partner at Gaby Hardwicke, said: “History and a sense of
place are important to all of us. Over the years, Gaby Hardwicke has
been an important reference point and resource for the whole community
and I am delighted with the positive feedback we have received from
those with whom various episodes and personalities in the firm’s
colourful and rich history have resonated so loudly. We are immensely
proud of our unique heritage.”
The material is available online at http://www.gabyhardwicke.co.uk/history.asp
For further information, please contact:
Alex Daley
01424 735083
atd@gabyhardwicke.co.uk
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