This website created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

GEORGE BOOTH ARRIVES IN FINDON

Copyright Valerie Martin 2005

Originally printed in Along the Furlong in January 2005

George Booth was a Yorkshireman and I have discovered that he was born in 1791 in Rotherham. He was in his early forties when he arrived in Findon in the summer of 1833 to take up the position of vicar following the death of the Reverend John Hind.  He could have been described at the time as a classical scholar.

At this time, the village had a population of some 545 residents and was brimming with character. George had been educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, as had many of the incumbents before him. He was a good classical scholar with a certain extraordinary aptitude for composing verse. This flair came in very useful when he created memorial inscriptions for the villagers.

Penelope, widow of the Reverend John Hind, vacated the Rectory in Findon’s main street (now the Findon Manor Hotel) and moved into a property at the foot of School Hill — now known as the Village House. George Booth and his wife, Mary Ann, immediately made some alterations to their new home at the Rectory. The nineteenth century clergyman’s household consisted of a number of live-in servants, including a coachman, footman, housemaid and kitchen maid.

When the Booths arrived in Findon it was a thriving community with a windmill working on the Downs to the north-east of the village, and a racecourse still in existence on the Downs to the west of Muntham Court. This old Findon racecourse has now been almost forgotten but it did exist and was situated between the Muntham Well House and Chantry Post.

The original St. John the Baptist Primary School and schoolmaster’s house had just been built at this time. It was on the site of the old Cock Pit on School Hill. William Westbrook Richardson of Findon Place, who also supplied the necessary building materials, had donated the land for the venture. The school was considered to be very up-to-date in its day. During the first year there were some thirty-five boys attending and fifty-six girls. Subscriptions and payments supported the school. An Evening School was also held in the winter for older pupils as a way of further education.

It was the Reverend's pleasure to give a dinner at the schoolhouse to those village children who had sung psalms at the school throughout the year. The clergyman's interest in the school, the church and all the Findon charities was constant, unwearied and most practical.

The Children’s Gallery in the Church was under construction during the Reverend's first year in the village. The Gallery project was possibly hastened along when the parish considered not enough had been done in the past to accommodate the village children.

At one time there had been at least one lancet window of the Early English period at the west end of the aisle in the church. It appears that this was demolished soon after George Booth’s arrival. The area was converted to make way for an entrance to the Children’s Gallery. This was approached from the churchyard through a brick porch, a flight of steps and a doorway. The Children's Gallery has long since gone.

When George Booth arrived in Findon it was usual for there to be two Sunday services at the church, and communion was taken four times a year. He was a new broom and began to celebrate communion some eight times a year, and also added extra services in Lent. One of his assistant curates held strong tractarian views and was a supporter of High Church principles, which were apparently unpopular with the inhabitants. Nevertheless, the Booth family settled down well in the village and was popular with all. 

Two years after the new vicar’s arrival there was an unusual exodus from Findon. The congregation dwindled somewhat when a group of thirty-seven villagers emigrated. The reason for their departure was agricultural depression and the fact that there were more inhabitants than work could be found for. The population had over-reached the maximum the land could support. In the 1830s, over 1800 people were sent out from Sussex to Canada in chartered ships as part of an emigration scheme under the auspices of the wealthy and eccentric third Earl of Egremont and other landlords.  Findonians were part of a larger movement of working-class people from the south of England to Ontario. 

Much of the parish during George Booth's lifetime belonged to the four large estates. These were the Findon and Muntham Manors, Findon Park and Cissbury. Most of the Findon Manor Estate, comprising Tolmare Farm and Spencer’s Farm (Rogers Farm), was let to one farmer, but the other three estates were kept in hand. One smaller estate of a hundred and eleven acres belonged to George Lyall, (later this land was to be known by everyone as Findon Farm owned by the Short family).

Read more on the Findonian's exodus to Canada by clicking on Emigration to Canada.

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This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created exclusively for documenting life in Findon.