The History of 25 Sussex Square

Postcard sent from ‘.The Staff. 25 Sussex Square ’ June 4th 1900

The first resident in the house was Philip Lacock Storey, the brother-in-law of Thomas Reed Kemp through his marriage to Lydia Baring, sister of Kemp’s first wife. Both sisters were members of the Baring banking family.

Reverend Storey was ordained deacon in 1806 and priest in 1808. After serving parishes in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire he resigned in 1818 and was living in Brighton by 1826, when street directories list him living at 25 Sussex Square until his death in 1843.

The building was a Ladies School by the 1860s. Miss Emelie J Smith was the Schoolmistress at the time the postcard (featured above) was written in 1900, during the Boer War. After the Great War the house became part of the Brighton Poor Law Institution, replacing the Elm Grove workhouse while this was being used as a military hospital (see 6 and 7 Sussex Square).