The history of mid Sussex in the 20th century.

Coming of the councils.

Mid Sussex Times January 21 1999

One of the major advances in Sussex near the end of the 19th century was the creation of the county council.

Principles of democracy had gradually been extended in national and local institutions across the country, and the fact that county government was in the hands of non-elected magistrates was increasingly seen to be out of keeping with the times.

The Local Government Act of 1888 gave the rise to elected county councils, which then took over the administrative functions of the ‘Quarter Sessions’, the traditional systems of local government.

The first elections to the new West Sussex County Council took place in January 1889. One keenly fought contest gave an indication of the changing times, when Admiral Sir Jeffrey Philip Hornby, a magistrate and leading light of the quarter sessions, was defeated by one of the newcomers, a Mr R. B. Willis.

It took some years, however, for local elections to gain credibility among either council or electors, and in late Victorian or early Edwardian times the county councils remained firmly under aristocratic management.

It was presided over by some of the most powerful landowners in the country – indeed, between them, they actually owned most of the land in Sussex. 

One of the first problems facing the new county council, which first met in April 1889, was ‘the development of motor transport and its effects on the roads’. 

Roads in Sussex had long had a notorious reputation – the term ‘the Sussex bit of the road’ was often used to describe any potholed or muddy section of the highway. 

The only form of mechanical transport on the roads in 1889, however, was the steam locomotive or traction engine, used for haulage. The rest of the road traffic was on foot, horseback, horse-drawn or on bicycles, which was becoming a popular form of transport and leisure. 

In 1896, the growth in road traffic had been held back by the Locomotive Act, which applied a speed limit of 4 mph to all vehicles, except in built-up areas where the limit was 2 mph. 

A new Act in 1896, however, allowed speeds up to 12 mph and did away with the need for an attendant to walk in front of the vehicle. 

From this time, motor traffic increased by leaps and bounds. The poor road surfaces were often unable to cope; punctures were common and the faster moving traffic caused clouds of dust in summer and thick mud in winter. 

In an effort to control the dust, the council used to water its main roads, finding seawater most effective. The problem was not solved, though, until the innovation of tar, which was first used in Sussex in 1902. 

In 1890 the County surveyor produced a detailed report on the highways of Sussex. He had to carry out most of the inspection himself, which involved a combination of travel by rail and horseback - a formidable task which must have taken several months.

Even at the turn of the century, the motor car proved a headache for the council. In 1900, during a debate on vehicle registration, Colonel St John said: “a great difficulty now experienced is that the police and others find it perfectly impossible to identify the drivers of motor cars. They come down on Sunday from London at the rate of 20 or 30 miles an hour and the drivers wear masks so that they cannot be identified”.

By 1904, number plates and licenses were introduced, the national speed limit was set at 20 mph and road traffic signs first appeared in the county at Horsham. 

The late 19th century saw the beginning of the modern age in other respects. Local government began to take responsibility for major issues such as education, health and unemployment relief. 

The local police force had their first uniform – a serge tunic with high collar, eight buttons at the front, a leather belt, a helmet (replacing the top hat) and a cutlass.

Fire brigades in Sussex, however, were not so well organised and were usually made up of volunteers, such as the brigade formed in Haywards Heath in 1889. Most towns had a large bell outside the fire station to call men when there was a fire – messengers would be sent to summon the firemen who could not hear it. 

The fire engines were horse-drawn and often relied on hiring horses from local traders. Steam engines did not come in until the new century and though some parishes provided firefighting equipment for use by the local people, most towns were ill prepared to deal with an emergency.

Certain complaints about society at that time have an echo a hundred years later.

The establishment thought drinking was a major problem – on average, every inhabitant of Sussex drank 34 gallons of beer a year, although drinking was as socially segregated as many other activity, with distinctions between the ‘respectable’ pubs and others.

In 1900 a newspaper observed: “The barrel is many still many laps ahead of the Bible in the estimation of the majority of young men”. 

Many churches were built in the last century but a census taken in 1851 showed organised religion was in slow decline – nearly half the population never went to church, in Sussex or elsewhere. 

More evident is the patriotic fervour of the late Victorian age, as witnessed in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of 1897 in almost every town and village and in the excitement of royal visits.

On June 29, 1897, the Middy wrote: “The street decorations by day and the beacon fires and illuminations by night, were on a scale never equalled in the district……Queens Day was marked by general good feeling and enthusiasm”.