Warren Farm School, Brighton

In 1858 the Brighton Guardians were beginning the process of building a new workhouse with an industrial school located about two miles away at Warren Farm in Rottingdean.  The aim of the school was to give pauper children a basic education and a grounding in industry so that they could go out and earn a living (reducing the likelihood they would be a burden on the system in the future).  The school opened in 1862, boys were taught trades such as gardening, tailoring and shoemaking whilst girls were taught domestic service.  There was a school band and many boys were taught to play an instrument, often leading to a career in an army band.

The school produced a variety of records including a log book which lists the children as they were placed in employment.  The log book is now at the East Sussex Record Office (reference R/S/37/1) and covers the period 1891 to 1935 which means along with the two further volumes there are records up to 1951 but as they are affected by the 100 year rule it is only possible to see the entries for 1891 to  November 1912 (as at December 2012).

I have transcribed the 778 entries currently outside the 100 year rule and they can now be found on my website.  They include the records of children such as Frederick Marsden who was found work with Dash Brothers, shoemakers in Portsmouth having "failed for Army Band owing to defective sight of the left eye", Emily Coglan who went to work for Mrs Markham in 1906 as a kitchen maid "she was slightly deaf" and Edith Shepherd who went to work in the laundry in Kemp Town "a willing girl but dull and heavy".

Daddy Long Legs

Daddy Long Legs, or as it was properly known Pioneer, was the oddest pier ever to have existed.  It was built as an extension to the electric railway which ran along the Brighton coast from the Aquarium to the Chain Pier; it was difficult to  continue the line along the coast so Magnus Volk, the designer, decided to run it though the sea.  So in November 1896 it became possible to board the Pioneer at Paston Place and travel along a railway line through the sea to a pier at Rottingdean.
Pioneer sat on 24ft pier-like legs, could carry a maximum of 150 people at a time but travelled at just 8 mph when the weather was good meaning it took an hour and a half to travel to Rottingdean and back.  It was a effectively a slow moving section of pier.

The line was plagued with problems - just a week after it opened Pioneer and the pier at Paston Place were badly damaged in the same storm which destroyed the Chain Pier, the service did not restart until July the following year.  The rebuilt Pioneer was now 26ft high but  breakdowns were frequent and it could not operate in bad weather.  Not only was it expensive to build and maintain it was also expensive to ride costing 6d each way so it was only our better off ancestors who could afford to take a ride on it.  Despite that the crowds came to try out this unique and unusual method of travel.
In 1900 the service was suspended whilst work was undertaken to prevent further erosion of the cliffs but the new groynes extended out beyond the route of the railway so the line was closed.  There were plans for a new route further out but the cost was prohibitive and instead the inshore railway was extended to Black Rock.

Volks railway is the oldest electric railway and it is still in operation during the summer months.  For more details see the website.
For more information on the railway line and Daddy Long Legs see the Volks Electric Railway Association website.