Our High Constable, in consequence of a requisition addressed to him has given notice for a public meeting of the inhabitants to take place on Thursday next at the Town Hall, to consider the propriety of addressing his Royal highness the Prince of Wales, on his having accepted the Regency of the United Kingdom, when a very numerous and respectable assembalge is expected.

From The Sussex Weekly Advertiser, 28 January 1811

His Grace the Duke of Northumberland, has been three weeks or a month at Brighton under the care of Mr Smith, for the cure of the gout, by means of an apparatus, invented by that gentleman, upon the principle of the air pump.  His Grace, we hear, has experienced some benefit, and we hope it will prove a lasting one.  Mr Smith’s invention, however, is not altogether new as similar experiments were a few years since, tried on gouty patients, by a gentleman in London, with a machine constructed nearly on the same principle; but we know not with what success they were attended.

From The Sussex Weekly Advertiser, 25 January 1799

Snowdrops in the Pavilion Gardens

The Latin name comes from the Greek ‘gala [milk] and ‘anthos’ [flower].

Although it is often thought of as a British native wild flower, or to have been brought to the British Isles by the Romans, it was probably introduced around the early sixteenth century and is currently not  a protected species in the UK.

Celebrated as a sign of spring, snowdrops can form impressive carpets of white in areas where they are native or have been naturalised.

The snowdrop has particular relevance to the Regency planting of the Royal Pavilion Gardens as it is a woodland edge plant that suits the informality of its surroundings.

Galanthus is propagated by splitting the newly developed bulbs after flowering. The bulbs should be planted in late summer or early autumn in well-drained soil. Its flowering season is from January to March.

Barbara Garden
Volunteer