Northfleet History Group - January 2014 Meeting.
THE STORY OF HUGGENS COLLEGE
It was almost standing room only for our first meeting of 2013, when Alex Pavitt gave a talk on the history of Huggens College and the life and times of its founder, John Huggens, a Sittingbourne corn dealer and brickmaker who made his fortune during the Napoleonic wars. He decided to build almshouses for gentlefolk who found themselves in reduced circumstances, and being refused planning permission in his home town of Sittingbourne, chose Northfleet, which was then a pretty village of cherry orchards and arable land, as the location for his ‘little charity’ as he called it.
We learned something about a few of the more colourful characters who lived in the College in its early days, including Madam Rolse, lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Kent, who was the first person to live in house No.1, and Mrs Murray (No.17), who was private secretary to the opera singer Jenny Lind, famously known as the ‘Swedish nightingale’. All the Collegians lived rent free and in addition, received a pension of £1 a week.
The massive gates of the College at the top of Stonebridge Hill were a landmark of Northfleet High Street for over a hundred years, until the rising cost of maintenance in the mid-1960s caused the Trustees to demolish the 50 Victorian dwellings and replace them with 30 modern bungalows, financed by selling off eight acres of the College grounds to the council, on which the Wallis Park flats were then built.
After the tea interval, the Group’s Annual General Meeting took place, when the current Officers were re-elected, except for the Hon. Secretary, Michael R. Thompson, who had decided to stand down due to his other commitments, although he did agree to continue to maintain the Group’s website. Alex Pavitt agreed to be nominated as Hon Secretary, and was duly elected.
Visitors are most welcome at all of our meetings. No need to book. Please contact Ken McGoverin on 01474 355569 or Stan Martin on 01474 355020 for further details
It was almost standing room only for our first meeting of 2013, when Alex Pavitt gave a talk on the history of Huggens College and the life and times of its founder, John Huggens, a Sittingbourne corn dealer and brickmaker who made his fortune during the Napoleonic wars. He decided to build almshouses for gentlefolk who found themselves in reduced circumstances, and being refused planning permission in his home town of Sittingbourne, chose Northfleet, which was then a pretty village of cherry orchards and arable land, as the location for his ‘little charity’ as he called it.
We learned something about a few of the more colourful characters who lived in the College in its early days, including Madam Rolse, lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Kent, who was the first person to live in house No.1, and Mrs Murray (No.17), who was private secretary to the opera singer Jenny Lind, famously known as the ‘Swedish nightingale’. All the Collegians lived rent free and in addition, received a pension of £1 a week.
The massive gates of the College at the top of Stonebridge Hill were a landmark of Northfleet High Street for over a hundred years, until the rising cost of maintenance in the mid-1960s caused the Trustees to demolish the 50 Victorian dwellings and replace them with 30 modern bungalows, financed by selling off eight acres of the College grounds to the council, on which the Wallis Park flats were then built.
After the tea interval, the Group’s Annual General Meeting took place, when the current Officers were re-elected, except for the Hon. Secretary, Michael R. Thompson, who had decided to stand down due to his other commitments, although he did agree to continue to maintain the Group’s website. Alex Pavitt agreed to be nominated as Hon Secretary, and was duly elected.
Visitors are most welcome at all of our meetings. No need to book. Please contact Ken McGoverin on 01474 355569 or Stan Martin on 01474 355020 for further details