THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE —  These Chronicles are created by Valerie Martin and contain scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER

Copyright Valerie Martin 2003

Originally published in Along the Furlong in November 2003.

As so often happens, one thing leads to another and sets off a chain of events that enhances the rich pattern of the history of simple village life for me to relate.   

This story happened during the reign of George III in our rustic village of Findon with a population of some 430 inhabitants, mostly poor and engaged in agriculture.  Sixty or so children attended the school on School Hill.  There were cattle, flocks of sheep and pigs kept on the surrounding countryside and draught horses and oxen worked the land.  These were the days when the postal address for the parish was not yet Worthing, but Findon near Shoreham.

It was reported as extremely cool in Findon during the summer of 1816 — maybe caused by a volcanic eruption — although I doubt whether any of the Findon inhabitants realised it at the time as they would not have know much about the outside world.   That year was known in Findon as "the year without a summer".   The mackerel fishery in nearby Worthing was reported to be the poorest since 1779, so when a rare catch of "fine specimens" was landed at Worthing they sold for 2d each.

A massive volcanic eruption had occurred during 10th/11th April 1815 at Mount Tambora, Indonesia.   It was the deadliest volcano in recorded history and killed an estimated 92,000 people.  Almost 80,000 of the victims died of starvation brought on by the agricultural devastation in the volcano's wake. The eruption and the resulting massive clouds of dust and ash affected most of the northern hemisphere, causing unusually cool temperatures and failed crops in Findon in 1816.

In the month of May 1816, a Findon farmer was taken to court, and not long afterwards the word spread around the village that he had been imprisoned for arrears of money.  His elderly mother was very shaken by the events and felt the shame of his committal to jail badly.  In fact, so much so that she immediately took a turn for the worse on her sick bed.  She died a week later, having given up the will to live.

The villagers in Findon rallied around the family and did everything they could.  The Reverend John Hind was the vicar of Findon and the lady was to be buried in the churchyard of St. John the Baptist Church in the village.  

The Clerk to the Church set out to walk to Arundel (yes, I do mean walk) to acquire materials for making her coffin.  He thought he was fortunate in procuring a lift on a passing horse and cart, but it was in fact fate.  In retrospect he wished he had continued on foot for the duration of his journey.  Somewhere along the route, disaster befell him and he tumbled out of the vehicle.  The fall was a nasty one and resulted in his ankle being run over and badly crushed by the wheel of the moving horse and wagon.  The day ended by him having to undergo immediate surgery as his leg was so smashed that it became necessary to amputate the injured limb.

The Church Clerk’s wife, thinking that her husband was on his way walking to Arundel, took the opportunity to be away from home.  It so happened that she was nursing another person, (who coincidentally also had a broken limb).  She was immediately summoned back to attend to her poor husband when he was brought home in a critical condition.

All of these occurrences had arisen because a Findon farmer had been sentenced to prison for the offence of non-payment of money, proving that one thing can lead to another as the snowball of events grows.  The moral of the story is that one must always pay one's bills before it sets off a change reaction to anything else!

What else happened locally in 1816?   The mackerel fishery in nearby Worthing was reported to be the poorest since 1779.   Suddenly there was a rare catch of "fine specimens" and they immediately sold for 2d each.   As this was worth recording, I guess it was considered an extraordinary amount.

Continue if you would like to read The Blaze That Threatened The Rectory.

www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.