The History of 46 Sussex Square

1 Thomas Almond Garth 1797 - 1889

2 Anthony Dale 1912 - 1993

3 Documents

4. Balustrade and plasterwork

5 Bas Relief

1 Thomas Almond Garth 1797-1889

More memories of Earlier Kemp Town published in the Brighton Herald 26 March 1892 by William Baines

His next door neighbour ( to Thomas Warner 47 Sussex Square) for over 30 years was the late Thomas Almond Garth, a retired lawyer, who in his days of practice had won a law case. He used to be truly delighted to have an opportunity of talking about it. I believe he would have given any man a sovereign

to listen to his account of this case to the bitter end – but that man was not to be found.

To read more Memories of Brighton find the Article by Andrew Doig on the Estate page.

Thomas Arnold Garth, 1797-1882, a retired bankruptcy solicitor, listed in street directories at 46 Susses Square 1856-1885. Elected to the gardens committee in 1861, serving until his death in 1882, including as committee chair from 1877-1880.

Andrew Doig

2 Antony Dale 1912-1993

The term ‘local historian’ barely does justice to the immense amount of work that Antony Dale did to record the history of Brighton and perhaps even more importantly to conserve much of its architecture

Brighton planners made some serious misjudgements during the second half of the 20th century, none more so than in 1945 when they considered a wrong-headed scheme to demolish the Brunswick and Adelaide developments and much else of the seafront, replacing them with robustly modernist buildings, such as Embassy Court. This proposal, which also involved a car park in the midst of Brunswick Square, led to a massive public outcry. Anthony Dale responded by establishing the Regency Society, whose purpose was, and continues to be, to work with the council and often other societies to protect all that is best in the architecture of Brighton and Hove – of any era – and promote excellence in new developments.

46 Sussex Square was Antony Dale’s home for 48 years (as the blue plaque tells us) and that of his family before that. His grandfather Joseph Liddell lived there from 1904 until his mother Dorothy Dale took it over in 1921. Both generations had direct responsibility for running of the gardens, Joseph as chairman of the enclosures committee from 1915-17 and Dorothy as a committee member and holder of various offices from 1921-1963. Thus 46 Sussex Square, one of the very few houses on the estate never to have been divided into flats, was something of a headquarters for all gardening operations, most notably when Dorothy saw off an attempt by the war office to requisition all of the gardens for defence purposes. She secured a reprieve for the north garden, the section of the south garden above the ‘horseshoe’ and the potting shed, whilst the army made use of the southern section for a rent of £15 pa and a contribution to the gardener’s wages

Antony Dale was educated at Brighton College as a dayboy and at Oriel College, Oxford, where he read law. For most of his life he was involved with buildings in one way or another. He worked for 30 years in the historic buildings section of the Department of the Environment and from 1969 to 76 was chief investigator for Historic Buildings in England and Wales. His role was to produce a list of buildings of special architectural and historic interest for the guidance of planning authorities.

He published 6 books about Brighton. Fashionable Brighton 1820-1860 marks the culmination of the work he did on the history of the town and in particular the work of Thomas Kemp. He also published in the 70s and 80s The History and Architecture of Brighton, Brighton Old and New, with James Grey, About Brighton, Brighton Town and Brighton People, The Theatre Royal Brighton,The Wagners of Brighton, Brighton Churches, and a booklet A History of the Kemp Town Enclosures (1964, revised with a postscript by Anthony Orchard in 1994)

Simon Smith.

3.Documents

This collection of Conveyances, Covenants and others documents most of the history of the house, unfortunately the very earliest are missing in particular the one conveying the site from Thomas Kemp to Thomas Cubitt.

However they are a rich archive, at present in the possession of the owner of the house.

1. Deed of Covenant Mr Thos Cubitt to Thos Read Kemp esq. relating to 46 and 47 Sussex Square !7th December 1844 (copy)

2 Copies Deed of Covenant Mr Thos Cubitt to Thos Read Kemp Esq 1844

Relating to a Committee to run the Pleasure Gardens, the upkeep of the plants and railings. Also the dimensions of the house, balcony etc.

Covenant for the production of title deeds

8 October 1855

Thomas Warner to Thomas A Garth

Conveyance of Messuage and Premises No 46 in Sussex Square - Kemp Town. Brighton

1 October 1855

Thomas Warner Esq to Thomas Almond Garth Esq

Death Certificate

9 August 1895

George Lawford. Stockbroker

Death Certificate

28 December 1891

Edward Harrison Solly. Land owner of independent means Dorset

Death Certificate

9 August 1895

George Lawford. Stockbroker

Conveyance

6 June 1901

T J Crowder Esq to Winefred Marquisa de Castelhomond

+

Mortgage

23 May 1902

The Marquisa de Castelthomond to R H Douglass Esq and Count Charles Seilern

£1200 and interest

Abstract of Title

1 July 1902

Marquisa de Castelthomond

Conveyance

31 July 1902

Marquisa de Castelthomond to Joseph Liddell

Joseph Liddell was Anthony Dale’s grandfather

Reconveyance of Mortgage

30 July 1902

R.H Douglass Esq and Count Charles Seilern to The Marquisa de Castelthomond

Certificate of Official Search of Land Registry

28 July 1902

No entries of Writs and Orders and Lis Pendens for 5 years

28 July 1902

J Liddell Esq

Mortgage

1 August 1902

J Liddell Esq to Mrs M Addison

Reconveyance endorsed

Requisitions on Title

7 July 1902

J Liddell Esq and Marquisa de Castelthomond

Abstract of title

31 July 1902

Anthony Dale

Conveyance

11 April 1921

A G Morrish Esq to Mrs Dorothy Dale

Deed of Gift

7 October 1951

Mrs Dorothy Dale to Anthony Dale

Dorothy Dale was Joseph Liddell’s daughter and mother of Anthony Dale

Conveyance

28 August 1962

A Dale to Mrs H Arnold

Searches

4 June 1902

Conveyance

25 November 1966

Helen Arnold to William Metherell

Land Registry plan

Abstract of Title Draft

31 July 1902

Mrs Helen Arnold

Application for an official Search

22nd November 1966. PHOTO

Application for search

15 August 1962

Planning permission

22 August 1962

Searches

20 October 1966

Plan

7June 1995

Searches request

17 Jan 1996

Searches result

18 January 1996

Registry of Title

17 September 1998

Philip James Ryan and Kim Ryan

4. Balustrade and plasterwork

5 Bas Relief

The house has one bas relief.

The book, Hidden Treasures on the Kemp Town Estate by Vanessa Minns, published by KTS, illustrates and documents the provenance of all the 40 bas reliefs on the Estate and indicates where they can be found in other Houses in this country (Chatsworth, Osborne House) It can be purchased on Amazon from 1 May 2023