The History of 50 Sussex Square

The house has several bas reliefs

There are three of these bas reliefs, one on each side of the entrance lobby and one in the hall.
There are three of these bas reliefs, one on each side of the entrance lobby and one in the hall.

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The Wedding of Bacchus and Ariadne
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Bas relief over the door at the top of the stairs on the first floor
he book, Hidden Treasures: The Bas-Reliefs on the Kemp Town Estate by Vanessa Minns, published by KTS in 2023, 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.

A Military Family

In the 1860s the house was home to John Constable (not to be confused with the artist), his wife Margaret Saunders and their children including their son Marmaduke Constable who was born at Downs House, Eling in Hampshire on 6 October 1833. Downs House was the home of his grandfather, John Saunders. Marmaduke was baptised at St Mary’s, Eling on 31 October. The full details of his education are unknown, but it is known that he was at Small Houses, Harrow in 1848.

Marmaduke was commissioned as a Lieutenant of the 4th Royal South Middlesex Regiment of Militia on 24 April 1855 and promoted to Captain on 25 Sep 1857. The marriage of Marmaduke Constable (Captain in the Middlesex Militia) & Ethel Ann Paley was conducted on 14 November 1861, at Paddington Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, Middlesex. Marmaduke and Ethel Ann had two daughter and 8 sons. With one exception, all the sons ended up in the military or para-military services. Five of them spent time in South Africa. At least two of them participated in the (in)famous Jameson Raid of 1895 and were captured by the Boers. Marmaduke cannot be found in the 1881 census, almost certainly because he was travelling in (or to) South Africa at the time. His 10th child, Douglas La Coste Constable, was born at Newlands in Cape Town in February 1881. Marmaduke Constable died at the age of 82 on 8 May 1916 at 123 Lauderdale Mansions, Maida Vale, Middlesex. It is not known where he is buried.