Regency recollections paint a vivid picture

Circumstances combined to bring a highly-observant student to Guernsey in the early 19th century. Stephen Furniss looks at the life of Edward Boys Ellman

I RECENTLY visited the village of Berwick in East Sussex and found in a corner of the churchyard the grave of a former rector, the Rev. Edward Boys Ellman.

Mr Ellman lived through most of the 19th century and into the early years of the 20th and was, for more than 60 years, rector at Berwick.

He was born on 7 September 1815 in the quiet village of West Firle, four miles from the county town of Lewes in East Sussex, and was one of eight children born to John and Catherine Ellman.

The Ellmans were a family of some standing in the county and Edward's father was an ardent politician who was in contact with all the chief men of the day, including the Duke of Wellington, Lord John Russell, George Canning and the Duke of Sussex, all of whom either visited or dined at the Ellmans' house during Edward's childhood.

In February 1822 he attended the Grammar School in Lewes. The headmaster, the Rev. Dr George Proctor, had been appointed nine months previously and he increased the number of pupils from 30 to 50 by taking on boarders.

The pupils were generally the sons of the clergy, retired officers, solicitors, bankers, doctors etc. and Dr Proctor ran the school along very strict lines.

Although Edward was a bright child, he was slow to learn in the company of others. This often resulted in him being beaten for failing to keep up with the schoolwork required of him.

Nevertheless, he established a respect for Dr Proctor and in 1829 he asked his father if he might attend Elizabeth College in Guernsey, where Dr Proctor had just been appointed the new headmaster.

Edward's father agreed to let him attend the newly-rebuilt school in the company of more than 20 fellow pupils from Lewes whom

Dr Proctor was taking with him.

The boys were to be away from home for a whole year and so quite an outfit of clothing and other requirements had to accompany each new scholar.

It was the first time that Edward had been given pocket money and he spent the first month's instalment on a letter seal set in silver as a gift for his mother, which she carried in her pocket for the rest of her life.

Dr Proctor travelled to Guernsey on the Ariadne from Southampton on 1 July 1829 and three weeks later returned to East Sussex to collect the new pupils. He chartered a small vessel to carry all his furniture and the boys' luggage from Newhaven, arranging for it to arrive at the same time as his party.

Transporting his family and the scholars from the UK to Guernsey proved to be quite an adventure and the group was divided into two coaches.

The first, carrying Edward and some fellow pupils, was to go to Southampton, where they would board the Ariadne. Dr Proctor and his family and the remaining boys would proceed to Portsmouth, where they would join a steamer bound for Southampton to transfer to the Guernsey boat.

However, when the time came for the Ariadne to leave Southampton, Dr Proctor and his party had not arrived.

Captain George Babet, of the Ariadne, said they were sure to meet the steamer on Southampton Water so they set off and sure enough met Proctor's party, which transferred to the Guernsey boat. They arrived in the island on Wednesday 22 July 1829.

Upon arrival at St Peter Port it was discovered that the new college building was not quite complete. It would be three weeks before the classrooms would be ready and the residential portion would not be habitable until Christmas. This meant that after an initial three days at a hotel, Dr Proctor hired the corner house in New Street and moved his furniture, plus all the boys, into this temporary accommodation.

Naturally it was all a bit of a crush so as soon as the first dormitory in the new college building was completed, six of the boys, including Edward, moved in. Their accommodation was the top room in the north-east tower. The total number of pupils in 1830 was just over 200 and each boy had his own number, a tradition which continues to the present day.

Edward's was 219 and this was marked in his books, clothes and school cap.

All the pupils had to wear the college caps. The sixth-form boys had tassels on theirs, while all the others were plain.

The caps were known as congers because they were considered by the boys to resemble the shape of bowls used in the island for conger-eel soup. In time, the name college conger was transferred from the caps to any pupil, a tradition which has remained ever since.

These caps were very dangerous missiles and it seems several boys suffered cut heads when the headwear was thrown about during 'ragging' between the collegians.

The boys had to wear their congers at all times, which identified them when they were outside the school grounds. They were frequently attacked by local youths when they ventured to the outskirts of Town or into the countryside.

Unless granted a special permit, the boys were limited to an area bounded by about a mile and a half on two roads and less distance on others. They were expressly forbidden to go into Town, although Edward frequently found himself sent there to do errands for either Dr Proctor or his wife.

A roll call was introduced, which prevented the boys being absent for more than an hour and a half at a time.

Understandably, Edward found this very annoying and he wrote to his father requesting a watch, which was duly sent to him.It meant he was now able to venture into the countryside to read a book in solitude, knowing how long he had before he needed to return for the next roll call.

Of course, in 1830 the countryside would have begun no further away than Les Gravees and Town was a relatively-small urban sprawl.

Edward found he studied much better on his own, away from the distractions of a class of fellow pupils, so he greatly enjoyed and benefited from being able to sit quietly in a field and read a book.

If unable to leave the confines of the college, he spent a great deal of time in the basement, where three or four large rooms were still being finished off by the builders and where he could read in peace.

A shy boy, he never cared to join in games and on some of the 12 fixed holidays of the year often sought permission to walk to a distant part of the island. These holidays were single days - the main school ones were once a year, in June. Therefore, Edward and the other boarders would return home to see their parents for only a few weeks each year.

The pupils frequently used to write on the college walls 'only 48 weeks to the holidays' and mark them off as if they were in prison.

Edward's island walks were often in the company of a fellow pupil, George Crockford (1814-81), a friend from Lewes who later went back there to become a doctor.

The two boys soon became acquainted with all parts of the island, walking up to seven or eight miles from the college to Torteval common (Pleinmont) and Lihou.

On one occasion, Edward saw five yoke oxen and six horses pulling a plough on a three-acre field set on a steep slope in the Castel.

This would have been la grande charrue and he noted that the owner of the land, instead of paying for the use of the animals, feasted their owners, expecting the same treatment from them when their land needed ploughing.

His memory also extended to the carts, which were very low and heavy and would usually be drawn by oxen in the shafts with a horse as the leader, the harness being composed entirely of rope and matting. Country women used to ride to market sitting between a pair of panniers, with one leg on either side of the horse's neck.

Particular treats were visits to Fermain, Saint's and Petit Bot Bays for swims.

Young Edward taught himself to swim by deliberately walking out of his depth and then treading water to keep from sinking. He soon mastered the doggy paddle and from that was able to progress to other strokes. However, he noted that there was generally a man nearby in a boat in case of any accidents.

The most frequently-visited spot was Soldiers' Bay, where the boys were often joined by officers from the garrison at Fort George, who would arrive on the beach in a dressing gown to bathe before ascending to their quarters to dress.

Edward often came across a horse swimming alongside his master a long way out to sea. The animal's owner, a Mr Le Feuvre, would periodically climb on its back for a short rest.

Roughly once a year Dr Proctor took a party of boys to Herm, where they collected some of the variety of shells to be found on Shell Beach.

So popular was this pastime, not only for Edward's generation but also for the Victorians who followed, that in no time the beach was stripped of the sizeable exotic shells washed in from the Caribbean by the Gulf Stream. By 1830, the ormer was protected not only as an edible shellfish but also for the mother-of-pearl shell it yielded for ornamentation.

In 1830 the Fish Market was built in St Peter Port and it was said to be the finest in the world at the time. It boasted 45 marble slabs, which were usually plentifully supplied with fish.

Most commonly found for sale were the 'gar', John Dorys and large conger eels which the vendors had frequently to stop wandering off the slabs.

Crabs, crayfish and lobsters came from Norway. Edward once boarded a lobster boat, recently arrived from that country, and saw the vivarium pierced with holes to let in the seawater full of live lobsters.

Guernsey traded with most parts of the world in the 1830s and many boats were crowded into the small harbour. One must remember that neither the Castle Emplacement nor the White Rock had been built and the Inner Harbour was tidal.

The mail packets, when the weather permitted, came from Weymouth three times a week. Delays were frequent and the island was often without any letters for more than a week. Whenever the mail arrived, a crowd soon collected around the post office, waiting for up to an hour for the letters to be sorted.

Shortly after Edward's arrival in the island, gas was used for lighting for the first time. Previously, the streets were illuminated by oil lamps and the story was recounted to him of a Russian vessel being shipwrecked off the coast and the sailors climbing the lamp posts and drinking the oil. This would have been whale oil - before the Seamen's Mission was established, shipwrecked mariners often had to fend for themselves while they waited for other ships to take them on as crew.

When Edward first arrived in the island, old French coins were in use, many so worn that it was difficult to make out the inscription, but in 1830 a new copper coinage of pennies, half-pennies and doubles was introduced, requiring very careful calculation to add up a sum of money. The largest silver coin in common usage was a two-and-threepence-halfpenny.

Pound notes were also in common use and on one occasion, Edward was sent to the bank to get change for a note. He received it in doubles, resulting in 1,920 coins for a pound. Luckily for him they came straight from the mint in paper rolls of a shilling and sixpence so he did not have to count them, the size of the roll and weight being sufficient to show the value.

In 1831, Edward found he was suffering from deteriorating eyesight. For three months he was unable to look at a book and for several weeks had his eyes bandaged, unable to stand the glare of the sun on the sea or on a road.

He also suffered from whooping cough, which was prevalent in the island at the time. He was treated by Dr Samuel Hoskins, who prescribed some disagreeable medicine which smelled so foul the other boys said the doctor was experimenting on Edward in a way he would not dared to have done on a Guernseyman.

It was decided that Edward should return home a little earlier than the annual holidays and that his father would meet him at Southampton.

The sea crossing took 14 hours, leaving Guernsey at 2pm. The sea was so rough that several of the passengers who had travelled from Jersey disembarked at Guernsey, afraid to continue the journey to England. Likewise, several Guernsey passengers deferred their intended crossing until the next boat two or three days later, but Edward decided to go and found the crossing much better for the cabin being less crowded.

His only regret was that he was unable to spend the night on deck.

He was primarily treated by a doctor in Lewes who, with one of his lotions, stained the whites of Edward's eyes. He then made two visits to a Dr Alexander in London and although we do not know what form of treatment he received, his eyes were better by the end of the holidays and he was able to go back to Guernsey.

Upon his return he began to study Hebrew under the tutorage of vice-principal the Rev. W. L. Davies, but the classes were abandoned after a few months due to the latter falling ill.

Elizabeth College was governed by a body of 14 directors, who held fortnightly meetings. They would not allow Dr Proctor, as principal, to have any authority over the other masters and the consequence was that insubordination was almost impossible to restrain.

It was this situation which hastened Dr Proctor's decision in 1832 to resign. He moved to Kemptown, Brighton, where he established a new school.

Dr Proctor asked that Edward and a few other boys accompany him to the new school, which they did.

Edward was not 16-and-a-half years old and had found that the mild winters in Guernsey had undoubtedly saved his life - he had always suffered from bad colds in winter in East Sussex.

By his 15th birthday, he was already over six feet tall.

Upon leaving school, Edward attended Wadham College, Oxford, becoming a BA in 1838. In the same year he became curate of Berwick, a post he held until 1844, when he became vicar at Wartling, near Hurstmonceaux, again in Sussex.

In 1846 he became rector of Berwick, a position he was to keep for the remainder of his life. Devoted to his parish and to his wife, Georgina, whom he married in 1853, Edward presents to us the very ideal of a typical Victorian country parson.

His life was filled with the struggle to restore the crumbling fabric of the ancient church in Berwick, founding and running a school in the village and tending to the spiritual needs and general well-being of his parishioners.

Edward died on 22 February 1906 and was buried in Berwick churchyard on Thursday 1 March.

His memoirs, Recollections of a Sussex Parson, were published in book form in 1912 and afford us not only a glance at rural life in East Sussex in the 19th century but also the most wonderful account of school life at Elizabeth College in the Regency period.

* With thanks to Bow Windows Bookshop, Lewes, East Sussex, for its kind loan of the book.