Friends of Hastings Cemetery


Hastings and St Leonards Observer - Saturday 28 March 1874
DEATHS. March 18th. at North-street, St. Leonards, Mary Ann. wife Mr. Charles Chapman, dairyman,after a prolonged illness, aged 41 years.

                                










Hastings and St Leonards Observer - Saturday 09 November 1889
OUR PORTRAIT GALLERY. THE NEW TOWN COUNCILLOR. MR. CHAS. CHAPMAN. FOUR GENERATIONS OF MILKMEN.
Under the above headings the following interesting article appeared a day or two ago in our contemporary the Journal, the accession to its numbers of Mr. Charles Chapman, the Hastings Town Council has gained a man of much force of character, who will be an acquisition to tbat body. There are not many men in the borough at all like Cllr. Chapman, perhaps none.

As he occupies a distinctive position, and is so well-known and widely respected, and also by reason of the fact that he has just become a member of the Corporation, we have chosen him as the first in a series of public men whom it is our intention to introduce the public through the columns of The Journal.  Really, however, in this c»se at any rate, no introduction is necessary, for the subject of our sketch is so well known to all, and has so long been a "prominent man." " Charlie "…  has taken an active part in the debates of that body during the eleven years he has sat at Cackle-street, and made himself one of the most prominent of the representatives of the ratepayers.

He has a way of sticking to a point which sometimes does not always win for him the heartiest approval of those of his colleagues who differ from him, and his indomitable pertinacity occasionally inducts his Poor Law opponents till they hit out at him pretty hard....  But whatever the other gentlemen think of his speeches, they all agree that be means well, and that he is actuated by a sincere desire to do right.... He attends to his duties most faithfully, and his rugged, honest face is heartily welcomed by all the inmates of the House when he goes his round.   He takes a special interest in the children, and has been an active mover in more than one of the outings which they have enjoyed..........he is a member of the ADELAIDE LODGE of the Manchester Unity of Oddfellows, in which organisation he has held just about every position one could hold — including those of Deputy-Grand Master and Grand Master.  At the present time he is senior Trustee to the Lodge, and Treasurer to the Hastings district..... Mr. Chapman is the possessor of nice gold watch, which bears the following inscription:—"From John Penhall to Charles Chapman, in remembrance of his hard and disinterested services in connection with the surgeoncy of the Adelaide Lodge, Manchester Unity, 1861. ...

He is 53 YEARS Of AGE, his father and grandfather both being milkmen, as also is his son.  His education was rather neglected, for he had to begin work for part of the day when only eight or nine years old, and when only ten, was required every morning to get up at four and go from his home in North Street to the Harrow to fetch cream, and then return with it to Gensing Farm, where Pevensey-road is now.  Most of his education was derived at the St. Leonards Mechanical Institute, the value of which he heartily recognises.  Mr. Chapman, who was the second of 13 children, has been married twice, and has two sons and a daughter. He is a Wesleyan, and attends the Norman road Chapel. The new Councillor is a Director of the Cottage Investment Building Society, and a Director of the Working Men's Mutual Loan Society.

Hastings and St Leonards Observer - Saturday 09 November 1895
The profoundest sympathy will be felt for Mr Charles Chapman, not only by his supporters in the late election and by the many admirers of his sterling, blunt character amongst the townspeople generally, but by those who felt their duty to oppose him in the recent Municipa campaign.  It was generally known that he took the opposition to his return to the Council very much to heart, and it was even said that in the event of his defeat he would disappear altogether.

When, therefore, he was not to be seen, and none in Hastings knew anything of his movements after Saturday morning, and as time went on, and he was sought for in vain, a very general apprehension as to his fate became acute …… the painful surprise, not to say the horror, of the Mayor, Mr. Alderman Tree, and Mr. Sutter, who were on periodical visit to certain of the town's lunatics at Camberwell Asylum, on their alighting from their train in London, to perceive Mr. Chapman, a shocking figure, staggering, all unkempt, ….. In answer to some sympathetic enquiries oi the Mayor, the poor man said that he was so thoroughly upset by his defeat that he left Hastings, not only not caring what might become of him but even with desperate thoughts as to the end . While in this distracted state he fell from a tram car, and was afterwards knocked down and robbed by some London desperadoes. Major Weston begged Mr. Chapman to return home, and asked him to meet him when the visitation was over.  This the ex-Councillor did, with the result that he is now in his own home in St. Leonards. ……. In the process of his restoration to bodily health and mental peace he will be attended by the best wishes, without exception, of a community he has so long and so zealously served. -   

Hastings and St Leonards Observer - Saturday 28 December 1895
Receiving Orders.—The following receiving orders have been officially announced :—Charles Chapman, residing and carrying on business at 23, St. Leonards-on-Sea, and carrying on business at Battle Barn Farm, the parishes Battle and Westfield, dairyman and farmer ; fastings Court; date of petition and order, December 16th ; debtor's petition.—Thomas James Collins, Benenden, miller ; Hastings Court transferred from Brighton) ; date of receiving order, December 13th.  -

In the Hastings and St Leonards Observer is an account of Charles Chapman being summoned in respect to polluted well at 23, North-street, St. Leonards, —Defendant said he had lived there all his life, and personally did not think there was anything the matter with it. —An order was made for the well to be closed in a month. Mr. Chapman :It won't kill me during the month, will it, as my life is insured ?

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Charles W Chapman & Family

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