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In true Regency style

LEIGH ALLISON

What a splendid evening we had with the first Regency Ball held in the magnificent Assembly Rooms.

All the guests looked wonderful in their costumes. We were delighted to see they had gone to so much effort to join in with the spirit of the evening.

The Rose Gold string trio entertained guests on arrival as they nibbled canapes and had their photos taken as a memento of the evening. They then threw themselves into the dancing, led by Doves Vagiaries.  The resulting tangle of prancing bodies led to hilarity and a determination to complete the moves in one piece.

Our thanks go to everyone who helped out and to our guests for their enthusiasm.

Arthur’s features uploaded

CHRIS WOOTTON

We have now uploaded all Arthur Percival’s history features in the Faversham News from 2004 until 2014 on the website.

To access the articles, click on the “newspaper” button on the main website page. See the link below.

 The articles are ordered in year order and then individually in YYYYMMDD order. To search for a subject, click on the “newspaper index” button. You are then able to search using the Control + F keys. Photocopies of the newspaper pages containing the articles have been digitised. Some pages are not quite “square” and have the odd words missing, but are legible.

 Many thanks to Petra Luck, Martha Lammas and Paul Jessett for their hard work.

In addition, we have begun to make available the slide presentations Arthur used for his WEA lectures. These can be found in the “Curios” section of the website. To date, two sets of slides are available: “Faversham, the Kings’ Port” and “Victorian & Edwardian Faversham”. More will be uploaded in due course.

www.arthurpercivalarchive.co.uk

From the chair

ANN FUREDI

This being the last newsletter of the year, I should probably be starting with Christmas greetings … but I just can’t bring myself to do it.

However, I would like to make a brief, end of year, appeal … but for time, not money.

First, in the Season of Getting Together, check out if your friends and neighbours are members of the Faversham Society, or even familiar with it. If they’re not, encourage them to check out the website, or pop into the Visitor Information Centre at 12 Market Place, and join our happy throng. At the last board meeting we noted there are now just five short of 900 members, which is pretty extraordinary for a town our size – but it would be just amazing if we could get into four figures. Growing our membership extends our network of people who care about Faversham’s heritage and see the importance of developing a future that builds on it.

So many people don’t realise that Faversham Society volunteers maintain the museum, the Visitor Information Centre, run the Fleur second-hand bookshop and organise the town walks and many of the historical meetings. Or sometimes, even if they understand, people imagine we’re a closed, fussy clique instead of open-hearted, Faversham enthusiasts who are desperate for others to join in and help.

So here’s the thing … in addition to spreading the word, have a think about whether you can help as a volunteer. If you have some time to give, could you join the front-of-house team at the museum? Knowledge isn’t an issue – we need people to be welcoming to visitors when they arrive, not give lectures on local history (although if you’re a lecturer in local history, you’re welcome too!) It’s simply the case that the museum could open for more days if we had front-of-house volunteers to staff it.

If you have specialist knowledge in planning, in the restoration of timber-framed buildings, in archiving, we could really use your help. Likewise, if you can help out at events, or do digital media stuff, we would just love you to lend a hand.

Leave a note with your name and contact details addressed to the address below. Hope to see you soon.

mailto:Volunteer@favershamsociety.org

LEIGH ALLISON

The talk about Jane Austen in Kent was a sellout at the Assembly Halls. Thanks to everyone who came along on such a wet evening.

Dr Susan Civale explained how different Jane’s lifestyle was when living with her brother Edward, who had been adopted by rich relations. He lived first at Goodnestone Park and then Godmersham Park and Jane often visited, spending over a year there in total. Jane’s time spent living in such grand style, contributed to her writing about the class divide in society. It’s likely that many of her characters were inspired by people she met while staying in Kent.

In fact, Godmersham Park appears along with Jane on the £10 note. No, I’d never noticed that either!

We have no evidence that she came to Faversham, but Jane mentions Ospringe, presumably as a staging post for coach travel. Interestingly, her letters from Godmersham are signed “Miss Austen, Godmersham Park, Faversham, Kent.”

Museum’s big clean

HEATHER WOOTTON

The museum always closes in January for the annual spring clean. This year that will be from 12 to 16 January and from 19 to 23 January.

There are always lots of interesting jobs to do.  You don’t need any specialist knowledge as you’ll work within a team while we do an intensive clean of our displays. All equipment, including tea, coffee and biscuits are provided! So, if you have a couple of hours to spare, please contact me on mailto:chwoott@aol.com.

Magna Carta talk

NEIL TONGE

Neil Tonge

The Magna Carta is perhaps one of the most revered documents in our history but also one that is open to a number of misunderstandings. It is with great pleasure that one of the country’s leading experts will be coming to the Alexander Centre on 21 January to cast light on some of the dark shadows in this document and on the town’s charters.

David Carpenter is professor of medieval history at King’s College London and author of Magna Carta: A New Commentary in the Penguin Classics series.  He recently discovered a hitherto unknown original of Magna Carta in the Library of the Harvard Law School.

Tickets cost £10,

thealex.org.uk/event/the-faversham-magna-carta

PAT ROSS

It is hard to imagine what the centre of Faversham would have looked like if the railway planners had had their way in the 1850s. Their projected chosen route would have passed the head of Faversham Creek and come across Court Street on its way to Canterbury.

This, however, would have brought the line – and its coal-fired locomotives – dangerously close to the explosives works and was strenuously and successfully opposed by the works’ owners who feared a calamity.

The route then selected to the south of the town revealed the long-forgotten Anglo-Saxon cemetery of Kings Field. With hindsight this change of route may be felt unfortunate as there was no opportunity for proper excavation of the graves and no proper records kept of the items uncovered. However, this large field of brickearth surrounding the railway line was later to prove ideal for housing when, inevitably, the hidden treasure would have been revealed directly as the brickfield workers began to dig out the clay. The result would most probably have been the same, given the lack of interest from significant institutions in this period of English history.

There is no doubt that the revelation of the “treasure” unearthed in the cemetery was hot news around town. The retired grocer William Gibbs was fascinated by archaeology – he was  a founder member of the new Kent Archaeological Society – and he would have gone straight up to Kings Field to see what was going on.

Gibbs was a man of the people: his concern was for the poor and for the education of children. He served on the Board of Guardians and was an active member of the board managing the National Schools. He would visit classes regularly to check how the boys were getting on. Frank Crosoer, the photographer, recalls “old Mr Gibbs” taking a keen interest, too, in art classes at the Faversham Institute, visiting frequently to note students’ progress.

William Gibbs obviously also appreciated how hard life was for the railway and brickfield workers, who were quite poorly paid. Kings Field had been leased to Thomas Kingsnorth of Perry Court to extract the brickearth. With his acquiescence, Gibbs offered to give the workmen a fair price for every relic uncovered that was worth saving.

Day after day, he would visit the site to add items to his collection. Workers came to recognise likely spots and would start sifting the clay carefully to avoid damaging any items about to be revealed.

Once Gibbs had paid for a find, he would take it home to 9 East Street. His home was later described as a museum, an Aladdin’s cave – because he managed somehow to find room for the 500 or so items in his collection! How Mrs Gibbs felt about this is not recorded, but reading between the lines she was proud of his achievement. When the collection was catalogued by Charles Roach Smith after Gibbs’s death, she gave a copy of the catalogue to the Faversham Institute.

The Institute Journal reports in June 1871: “No doubt many of our members saw the collection during Mr Gibbs’s lifetime as that gentleman was never more pleased than when showing and explaining to his numerous friends the merits and probable uses of his various treasures.”

On 4 March, 1870, James Tassell informed the South Kensington Museum – now the V&A – that Mr William Gibbs had bequeathed to the museum a collection of Roman, Celtic and Anglo-Saxon relics. He appointed Henry Minter of Graveney Court, a farmer, and Edward Garraway of Faversham, a surgeon, as his executors.

The collection, in summary, has been described as a profusion of jewelled gold and bronze brooches, pendants and ornaments, bracelets and buckles in silver, silver gilt and bronze, girdle plates, clasps and pins, finger rings, waist chains and beads. There were horse trappings, iron weapons, swords, knives and spear heads javelins and shield bosses; there were pottery and glassware and bronze bowls.

Roach Smith, an eminent authority, was impressed with William’s good taste in his selection and preservation of the antiquities disinterred. He thought the horse trappings were unique and belonged to royalty or nobility. George Payne, a fellow archaeologist who founded Rochester Museum, also admired the collection and was able to say, so he must have counted them, that there were 2,419 beads made into necklaces of different lengths!

William Gibbs clearly had great foresight. He appreciated that future archaeologists and historians would find his collection of great assistance when studying the Dark Ages. His family did not demur when he bequeathed his entire collection to the South Kensington Museum, at a time when the family could have sold the collection and kept the proceeds. The Rigden brothers, who owned the field, decided to carry on brickmaking after Thomas Kingsnorth died in 1885. Further discoveries continued until the field was almost clear of brickearth. The Rigdens also agreed to buy any relics from the workmen at the same rate that Gibbs paid.

It is not clear when the Rigden brothers started their own collection but it has been described as vast. It included numerous brooches, pendants, buckles, earrings, rings, glass cups and 590 beads. A David Kennard from Linton also amassed a fine collection over three years, including brooches, pendants, buckles and pins, glass vessels, beads, coins, pottery, an iron sword and two spearheads.

When people look at the history of Faversham, certain names stand out: King Stephen, who built an abbey and was buried here; Thomas Arden, whose murder caused a Shakespeare connection; and the two great benefactors, Henry Hatch, who left a vast sum to the town for improvements to the creek, care of the highways and church ornaments; and Henry Wreight who left money for two schools and met part of the cost of the recreation ground.

To that list I would add William Gibbs. When you consider that he spent his time and his own money in collecting and ensuring that Faversham’s treasure was kept safe by bequeathing it to the nation, so that it would be available for future generations to see and to study, I hope you agree that he deserves greater recognition.

William Gibbs’s son, Richard, was keen to commemorate his father in some way that would benefit the town. It was agreed that the town lacked a senior school for girls, and so a one was built bearing William’s name, and paid for by Richard. The school was built in Orchard Place and designed for 72 girls, including 20 boarders, and there were two ceremonies to mark its foundation. The inaugural meeting was held on Friday, 8 June, 1883, when Richard handed over keys to the building to trustees who would be responsible for its management. He did indicate in his speech then that he was aware extra money might well be required at the start and he would try to help.

Some time later, the second ceremony took place when the school was officially opened. Very unfortunately, the authorities forgot to invite Richard. His reply to a letter from the town clerk made his feelings about this quite plain:

“My dear Sir … I had no opportunity of being present at the formal opening of the school I had founded – even had I been inclined to attend – for I received no intimation of the ceremony until it was over. True you wrote to me the day after the opening telling me it had taken place. The principal purpose of that letter was, however, to tell me how much more money was needed …”

Richard sent no extra money.

• The William Gibbs collection is now in the British Museum, along with more than 200 Anglo-Saxon artefacts also from Kings Field from other sources.

TESSA KNOTT

This year I thought I would have a traditional Victorian Christmas. Not your Coca-Cola style, but a Christmas that genuinely sourced from documents of the period. So what better place to start than the records of the Faversham Institute?

The Faversham Institute for the encouragement of literature, science and art was established in 1854, publishing its first journal in 1862. I will come back to the Institute at a later date. For now, Christmas is fast approaching so let’s get started on some suitable presents for friends and family.

The first stop in 1862 was the local chemist to purchase some “elegant personal requisites” as patronised by Her Majesty the Queen and throughout the royalty and aristocracy of Europe. Choose from macassar oil to promote the growth, restoration and beautifying of human hair. It is also invaluable for children, as used in the royal nursery!

(Editor’s note: Who recalls antimacassars – the cloth coverings on the back of chairs? They were to protect the furniture from being ruined by this wretched stuff.)

To maintain the “healthy purity of complexion”, how about some Kalydor? Guaranteed to “eradicate freckles, tan, pimples, spots, discolorations and other cutaneous visitations”. As, indeed, recommended by the genteel ladies of Cranford, in Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel.

I’m not convinced my family and friends will be suitably appreciative. Perhaps they would prefer a selection of British and foreign fruits from Benjamin G. Berry at 8 Market Street, Faversham.

Ah, this is more like it. Let’s pay a visit to J. Carter, watchmaker and jeweller who invites us to pay “special attention to his large and varied stock of goods suitable for Christmas presents. The whole selected with great care and affording an excellent choice both for variety of price and taste.”

Now, this does sound exciting! If we go to Court and Allen, we will find “an extensive and varied stock of all the novelties of the trade”. What has really caught my eye is the endless variety of “elaborate cosaques”. This took a bit of research. Initially I found was that “cosaque” was French for Cossack, which seemed a little improbable for what seems to be an upmarket grocer. Eventually I found one reference from the Oxford English Dictionary of 1893, which cited a dictionary published in 1858 by a newsagent and journalist, Peter Simmonds, which states that cosaque is fancy French paper used to wrap sweets and confections. That word didn’t catch on.

Well, with beauty products, jewellery and sweet treats sorted, we’d better head to F. Austin in West Street to buy some Christmas cards, which have, apparently, been purchased on very favourable terms, so we should not be deceived by other retailers offering large discounts. We can even ask for a parcel of Christmas cards to be sent out for us to make our selection at home.

And, as a final thought, if you over-indulge, how about some Holloway’s Pills, as recommended by Sir Samuel Baker?

“In his work on the sources of the Nile, he says: I ordered my dragoman Mahomet to inform the Faky that I was a doctor and that I had the best medicines at the service of the sick, with advice gratis. In a short time I had many applicants to whom I served out a quantity of Holloway’s Pills. These are most useful to an explorer, as, possessing unmistakable purgative properties, they create an undeniable effect upon the patient, which satisfies him of their value.”

Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas, however you choose to celebrate.

Remember: a book is not just for Christmas 

PETER QUINCE

I love handling books, the physicality of slim paperbacks and weighty hardbacks. But more than the clever fusion of paper, ink and binding, I love reading: the act of sitting in a cosy environment and immersing myself in the world of a good novel, or a fascinating history that transports me back centuries, or an illuminating biography that allows us to step into the life of an individual who may have been dead for centuries.

I’m sure I speak for other volunteers at the Fleur second-hand bookshop when I say that we like to be surrounded by books; by the possibilities they provide us with; by their revealing of new worlds and their transmission of knowledge; and by the expansion of our own mental and emotional universes that they engender. Added to which is the vital and sometimes mysterious connection between author and reader.

It is an interesting exercise to ask people’s views of books and reading. Some authors say little or nothing about their work; others can’t stop talking about themselves and other writers, in praise or condemnation. But a general survey of opinions on books and writing can prove entertaining and enlightening.

I am as intrigued by the author, the intellectual force behind the creation of the work, as I am by the work. I want to know what inspired this author to produce this unique narrative, which is what makes biography such an important and necessary genre.

Recently I finished reading a biography of George Orwell, which explained the genesis of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, two dystopian novels I used to teach years ago. Reading Orwell: The Life, by D. J. Taylor, gave me an invaluable insight as to why he came to write those two novels.

The same is true of countless other novelists: read their creative writing and then achieve a deeper understanding of the motivation behind the narratives.

To return to the question of authors’ opinions of books, writing and others authors, a few choice quotes would not go amiss. Charles Dickens wrote in Oliver Twist: “There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.” I know not to judge a book by its cover – dip inside before you commit yourself! That sounds like common sense, but covers are designed to be persuasive.

I agree with G. K. Chesterton: “A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.” But what constitutes “good” and “bad” novels? I’ve read Tolstoy’s War and Peace, undoubtedly one of the greatest novels, three times. Some might ask why. My hardback copy, Cyrillic wording in red on the cover, much annotated and exhibiting a few tea and coffee stains, is one of my most treasured possessions. So, I am wary of the opinion of the novelist E. M. Forster who said: “One always tends to overpraise a long book because one has got through it.” I got through War and Peace with no problem. It’s an amazing novel.

Aldous Huxley, celebrated author of Brave New World, once said “the proper study of mankind is books”. He was not far wrong – but we must be careful not to substitute reading for direct experience of the world out there. I love working in the Fleur Bookshop, but I also love working in my garden: the fresh air, the smell of the soil, the singing of birds, direct experience of life beyond the written word. Then, in the evenings, I am eager to get back to the novel I am reading.

Paul Moorbath,1947-2025

JACQUELINE SPENCER

Paul and the book he found

Paul Moorbath, honorary librarian of the Faversham Society for some nine years, died at his home in Ospringe in June.

Paul was born in 1947 in Warwick. His father, Henry, was a doctor who had come to England from Nazi Germany as a Jewish refugee in 1939 and who, after the war ended, was established in Newcastle where Paul grew up and went to university. His father had changed his name from Moosbach to Moorbath after receiving a letter from the tax office calling him by this name.

Paul was senior librarian at St Bartholomew’s School of Nursing in London, making use of his background in science. While in that role he published in professional journals. He remarked of his work at Bart’s: “In those days an old book was ten years old or even less” but he had a keen interest in history and after retirement became honorary librarian for the Faversham Society’s Fleur de Lis Museum, where he was very generous with his time.

He was also a valued member of the Maison Dieu Museum in Ospringe, librarian for the Marlowe Society and custodian of the Doddington Parochial Library, adding its holdings to the English Short Title Catalogue.

Paul’s email address was clarinetconcertopaul: giving a clue to his love of music– classical in the main – but he was also interested in jazz clarinet and he augmented church choirs when invited for important occasions.

Paul had an eye for order and detail and he was an indefatigable researcher. In later years he sought evidence that Shakespeare had visited Faversham and in the final year of his life he found both what he was looking for, information that will be included in a future exhibition at the Fleur de Lis Museum, and a completely unexpected treasure from the Tudor period. In the attic of the museum, he identified a copy of the very rare Catherine Parr’s Prayers or Medytacions dated 1545 bound with two other fragments of English prayer books that had been found secreted in a chimney by a local builder.

That his article on the find was published in Information Professional magazine in June 2025, the month of his death, is a fitting memorial to him.