Sinking of the ‘Titanic’, 15 April, 1912

The people of Brighton and Hove were deeply shocked by the loss of ‘Titanic’ and a number of benefit concerts were held to provide aid for the widows and their children of those who had drowned.

Hippodrome Benefit Night . Brighton & Hove Society, 9th May 1912

Billy Boardman, famous showman of the Brighton Hippodrome, held a variety show to raise funds. A ‘number of society ladies took the collection’, amongst whom was the Polish Princess, Irene de Aveirino Wiszniewska, who ‘was elegant in black with flowing sleeves of pastel blue chiffon’. Alfred G Vanderbilt, owner (and sometimes driver) of the horse drawn coach ‘Venture’, which ran for a number of years from London to Brighton, was also in the audience. Ironically, he was to drown when the liner ‘Lusitania’, on which he was travelling, was sunk by a German U-boat in 1915.

A large concert was also held at the Dome on behalf of the Titanic Relief Fund on 17 May and included many of the town’s musicians and vocalists, among whom was Madame Lillian Ginnett who had married into the famous circus family.

Brighton Society (2 May 1912) reported :

‘On behalf of the Lord Mayor of London’s Titanic fund, the 4th Brighton Troop of Boy Scouts turned out with collecting boxes. The band paraded along King’s Road making a splendid noise … the big drum and bugles attracting great attention’.

'Titanic' benefit concert party
With thanks to Titanic Hidden Histories

Church services were also held in Brighton and Hove. St. Peter’s, Brighton’s Parish Church, was reported to be ‘packed to overflowing’. Among the congregation was the Mayor, Alderman Charles Thomas-Stanford. Handel’s ‘ Dead March from Saul concluded a very impressive service. £72 was collected’. A service was also held at St. John’s Church in Hove attended by the Mayor, Alderman Barnett Marks. Just over £46 was handed over to the Mayor’s fund.

Titanic pictures at the Academy Theatre, West Street

There appear to be few Brightonians with direct links to the sinking of the ship.

The Argus reported that David Reeves, a second class passenger on the ‘Titanic’, was ‘widely known in the building trade in Brighton’. The ship’s passenger list described him as a carpenter and joiner. He was amongst those drowned.

Amongst the crew lost was a George Frederick Turner or George Frederick Taylor, born in Brighton in 1880 (There is some confusion about his true name). If the surname was Taylor, he might be George Taylor whose father ran a lodging house at 16 Cannon Place, Brighton.  By the time of the 1901 census this George Taylor was listed as a ‘draper’s clerk’ at the store of Peter Robinson in London. In the 1911 census he was again listed as a draper’s clerk. The George Taylor on the crew of the Titanic was employed as a stenographer and did not survive the sinking. Although a G F Turner, of Brighton, is mentioned in the local press as being drowned, there seems to be no further mention of him or his family in the following weeks.

More fortunate were Brighton brothers Charles and Alexander Thomas whose family lived at 42 Portland Street. They had signed up to be tailors on the ‘Titanic’ but misread the sailing date and thereby missed the departure of the ship.

As part of the Brighton Fringe Festival, events will be taking part at Brighton Town Hall to mark the centenary of the sinking of the ‘Titanic’.

Paul Jordan, Senior History Centre Officer

Professor Zeidler, ‘Man of Laughter’

Professor Zeidler on Madeira Drive

‘Professor’ Charles Zeidler died in Brighton in June 1937. Known as the ‘man of laughter’, he had entertained the public in Brighton for twenty years. He stood outside ‘Laughterland’, the hall of mirrors, on Brighton’s Palace Pier and laughed. He would laugh as people went in and as they came out.

Born in Hastings in 1873 to German parents, the family had moved to Camelford Street, Brighton by 1881. Ten years later, he was listed as a ‘ventriloquist’ sharing lodgings in Portsmouth with a Herbert Clark, described as ‘pianist – this man is half developed’.

He married Amy Kirby, a well known music hall singer, in Doncaster in 1892 and by 1911, he and Amy and his four children had moved to Grosvenor Street, Brighton. He was again listed as a ventriloquist.

According to the Brighton Gazette in 1937, he was once the youngest conjuror in the world, performing at the age of twelve in London. He played at the Brighton Hippodrome, Brighton Alhambra and the Grand Theatre. Persons of note were said to have witnessed his laugh including the Duke of Kent, Earl Haig, and the Bishop of Birmingham. So famous was he that in 1936 he was featured on the radio show, In Town Tonight and told the country how he made his living by laughing.

Palace Pier programme, 1920s

He once boasted how he had put on seven stone by laughing, describing his occupation as a ‘healthy one’. But as the Gazette reported:

‘it was probably his weight which was a contributory cause to his death .…. He died from degeneration of the heart’.

Paul Jordan, Senior History Centre Officer

Mortal Clay, the Perils and Pleasures of Old Age

Old Age in the Ancient World

‘Man that is borne of a woman, is of few dayes, and full of trouble.
Hee commeth forth like a flower, and is cut downe…’
- King James Bible (1611) Book of Job 14: 1-2,

Enamelled figure presenting a typical image of old age, c1800

From earliest times human beings have been mindful of mortality and the transience of life. The words of Job, the Old Testament prophet, are characteristically pessimistic but true. The legendary Riddle of the Sphinx also comments poignantly on old age. The supernatural creature accosted travellers on the road to Thebes in Greece with the question: ‘Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?’ Only Oedipus escaped being killed and devoured by providing the correct answer, ‘Man—who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and then walks with a stick in old age.’

Socrates, the Athenian philosopher, was perceptive about the shortcomings of old age. If you try to resist the overtures of death, he said,

‘… Nature steps in and grabs her pledge – your sight, your hearing, often both. And if you hold out she paralyses you, mutilates and tears asunder.’
- Axiochus (1st century BC)

‘…Old age will only be respected if it fights for itself, maintains its rights, avoids dependence on anyone and asserts control over its own to the last breath.’
- Cicero On Old Age (published 44 BC)

Cicero, the great Roman politician and orator exhorted old people to stand up for themselves and to remain independent in words that could have been written today.

The Seven Ages of Man

During the Middle Ages old people were regarded as part of the symbolic order of things according to God’s plan, as well as an actual component of society. Human life was divided into stages, usually between three and seven; these were often illustrated as a circle or wheel.

Average life expectancy was low largely because infant mortality was so high. But people who reached adulthood had a good chance of living to be 60 or 70 and the onset of old age was set at anything between 35 and 70.  Shakespeare’s famous speech on the Seven Ages of Man describes the last two stages:

Butter Dish c1840, illustrated with quotations from the Seven Ages of Man speech in Shakespeare’s As You Like It (Act 2 Scene 7)

‘…The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide
For his shrunken shank; and his big manly voice,
turning again toward childish treble, pipes
and whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.’
- Shakespeare As You Like It

Age and Decay

Two Figures of Winged Time c1775 and c1820

Two Figures of Winged Time c1775 and c1820

Traditionally old people were revered and respected for their knowledge and experience. They represented continuity with the past and the passing of time was symbolised by the ancient, bearded Father Time. Old women, the repositories of folk memory and wisdom, became the community story tellers. Within families, older women have always performed an essential role in looking after children while younger women worked.

But old people have have also been mocked and bullied. Popular proverbs of the Middle Ages warn them against handing over power and property to the young before they have to, lest they be manipulated and abused like Shakespeare’s King Lear. They need no reminding of their physical infirmities. When the aged Falstaff volunteers to lead a company of soldiers he is questioned by the Lord Chief Justice,

‘…Have you not a moist eye, a dry hand, a yellow cheek a white beard,
a decreasing leg, an increasing belly? Is not your voice broken, your wind
short, your chin double, your wit single and every part of you blasted
with antiquity?…’
- Shakespeare Henry IV Part2

Men lose hair from their heads while women begin to grow it on their faces. Hearing fades and eyesight dims. Noses and ears grow but gums recede from the teeth. Bones become brittle and tend to break. The ‘Dowager’s Hump’ of osteoporosis was a typical hallmark of elderly women in the past, as were the broken arms and hips of the aged male.

In the 17^th century the ageing process was seriously misunderstood. It was believed that post-menopausal women retained poisonous blood which left their ‘humours’ out of balance. They could cause fruit to wither on the vine and trees and livestock to die. In an atmosphere fraught with fear and superstition the world of women and witches combined, contributing to a rash of witch hunts. By the 18^th century wrinkled faces and gnarled hands were acknowledged as evidence of experience and expertise, particularly in skilled crafts such as weaving, embroidery and lace-making. Artists portrayed and philosophers praised the wisdom of the old.

Retirement and Pensions

599. Mug c1825, a little girl gives food to an old man who walks with a stick

There was no retirement age before the 19^th century. Elderly people had to work until they were no longer able to. The only deference to age was exemption (around the age of 70) from compulsory public duties such as military service or the town watch. Ageing workers were offered less secure, lower-skilled and lower-paid casual jobs, and were the first to become unemployed during economic downturns. The poorest were forced to beg for food and shelter and might have to enter the parish workhouse. Here conditions were harsh and married couples were separated.

Trade guilds and Friendly Societies provided early forms of insurance and pension schemes. In 1896 the Ancient Order of Foresters had 900,000 members and £5million in capital. In return for regular payments earlier in life, such bodies covered sick pay, burial expenses, unemployment, medical treatment and pensions.

Bismarck, the German Chancellor was among the first to regard adequate provision for old age as a state responsibility. He addressed the Reichstag in 1884:

‘Why should the soldier of work not have a pension like the soldier of civil service? That is state socialism, that is the legitimate operation of practical Christianity.’

In 1889 Germany introduced the first state pensions for male workers over 70, followed in 1892 by Denmark who provided for the poorest (mainly women) over 60. The United Kingdom introduced a state pension for those over 70 only in 1908. In 1925 the age of eligibility was reduced to 65 and from 1940 women could claim it at 60.

Older Achievers

Some remarkable people continue to make major contributions to society and to arts and culture well beyond retirement age. The exceptionally long reigns of King George III (1760-1820), Queen Victoria (1837-1901) and the present Queen Elizabeth II (60 years so far) contributed enormously to the stability of the United Kingdom.

Among our oldest statesmen were the Duke of Wellington, who continued to attend the House of Lords into his 80s and William Gladstone, the original ‘Grand Old Man’. Gladstone was four times Prime Minister, finally resigning at the age of 84. Winston Churchill was already 66 in 1940 when he was appointed Prime Minister. He served throughout World War II and again from 1951-1955.

Cup and Saucer c1960, designed by Susie Cooper

Artists such as Titian (c1490-1576), the Venetian painter of the 16^th century and Picasso (1881-1973) could still produce challenging masterpieces in their 80s. Michelangelo (1475-1564) was appointed architect of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome at the age of 74 while the great Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer is now 105 and still designing. Many ceramicists have proved to have similar staying power. Susie Cooper was designing for Wedgwood and Lucie Rie was throwing pots in their 80s. Eva Zeisel, the American ceramic designer and political activist died in December 2011 aged 105.

Stella Beddoe, Senior Keeper and Keeper of Decorative Art

Our Mortal Clay exhibition is presently on display in the Willet Gallery of Brighton Museum & Art Gallery until 10 March 2013.