Trades People

The Post Office Directory of Sussex was first published in 1845. Eight editions were published before the directory took the name of its editor and appeared as Kelly’s Directory of Sussex. It is from seven editions of the Post Office Directory and 18 of the 19 editions of the Kelly’s Directory ending in 1938, that the names of the tradespeople of Westbourne have been gathered. The second part of this booklet presents these in 38 tables which cover the different trades and which show the years in which the trader was recorded as being in business.

Information in the directories was not limited to lists of traders; private residents were listed separately and an account of each area was given. In 1845 Westbourne was described as an extensive parish that “gives its name to a Hundred and Union in the rape of Chichester; its western limit made by a small bourne, or stream, dividing it from Hampshire Racton, Funtington, Chidham and the northern branch of Chichester Harbour form the other boundaries”. The area of the parish was given as 4230 acres and the population (1841) as 2093. Principal landowners were stated to be Messrs. Dixon, Hipkin, Reeks, Wyatt and Col, Wyndham. By 1938, these had been succeeded by Alfred Edward Everall and Archibald H. Tennent, while the population of the (civil) parish had risen to 4123. Within the civil parish the ecclesiastical parish of Southbourne embracing Nutbourne, Hermitage, Prinsted and Gosden Green was established in 1876. Southbourne was given its own entry in Kelly’s directory of 1878.

Traders outside the town of Westbourne have been excluded from the tables, as have most farmers, horticulturalists and professional people. From the last group it is interesting to note that a professor of music, Philip Lyne., was recorded in 1845 and 1852; and that Henry Joseph Irish, listed as a farrier (Table 25) in 1852 and 1855, was entered…..

Published 1981 ISBN 0 9507496 0 5

TRADES PEOPLE OF WESTBOURNE 1845-1938