Amongst the interesting events of Brighton history, we must not omit to record the escape of Charles II from Cromwell's troopers. Accompanied by Lord Wilmot, he had crossed the country from his hiding-place at Trent, in Somerset, to Brighton, where they met the captain of the vessel which had been engaged for them, and which lay at Shoreham.

 

They rode over to it early in the morning, and after waiting for the tide, at last lost sight of the English shore, October 15, 1651. The same day on which the Earl of Derby, who had fled from Worcester with Charles, lost his head on the scaffold at Bolton, the king was safely landed at Fecamps. Captain Nicholas Tattersall, the owner of the small boat which carried Charles II away from Cromwell, had in him the Sussex heart and blood, and was not a man to be easily crushed.

 

I will give my reasons for this estimate of his character. After the restoration the King's memory was very treacherous, and he did not attempt to reward Tattersall, the 'valiant sowie who stept betweene him and death, and the worthy mariner was somewhat bitter over his omission. So one morning he sailed from Shoreham, and reaching the River Thames, moored opposite Whitehall in order to renew the memory of the happy service his boat performed. Charles ordered it to be entered in the Royal Navy as the Royal Escape, settled upon the gallant mariner and his heirs an annuity of £100, and presented him with a ring, which in 1885 was in the possession of a descendant—Sir Henry Shiffner. The annuity was paid down to 1710.

 

It is said that Charles II spent the night before escaping to France at the King's Head Inn, in West Street (at the time known as the 'George'). However, this is a debated question. I venture to draw on Erredge for the following note:

 

'The name of the Inn, in West Street, was, after the return of Charles from exile, changed from the "George" to the "King's Head", and as a memorial of the royal visit the portrait of his Majesty became the sign of the house. It remained some years fixed on the outside of the premises; but about forty years since, when it was rapidly going to decay, it was taken down by the then landlord, Mr. Eales, and, having received a coat of varnish, was placed in an oak frame and hung up indoors.

 

That, however, like every other memento of the flight of Charles, has some years been a thing of the past, the bedstead, with its appurtenances whereon the royal personage slept, the chair whereon he sat, the cooking apparatus of the occasion, and every article connected with the event having long since been purchased at long prices by those persons who set store upon historical relics. On Royal Oak Day, the anniversary of the 29th of May, 1660, commonly called Restoration Day, it is customary for a large bough of oak to adorn the front of the King's Head.'

 

Mr. William H. Blaber, in a very able letter to the Brighton and Hove Herald (May 3, 1924); says:

'The only grounds for supposing that the George Inn at which Charles slept was the house of that name in Middle Street arises from the fact that the late Mr. Frederick E. Sawyer, of Brighton, a well-known and prolific writer upon subjects of local and antiquarian interest, in a valuable paper showing much painstaking research, and which in 1882 appeared in volume 32 of the Sussex Archaeological Collections, discussed at considerable length the identity of the George Inn, and was able to show, as a result of his examination of the Court Rolls of the Manor of Brightelmstone-Michelham, that there was in 1656 an inn called "The George" in Middle Street, and that apparently there was no mention of "The George" in West Street until 1754.'

 

Does it necessarily follow, however, that because the Court Rolls make no mention of such an inn in 1651, a hostelry of that name did not exist in West Street? I think not.

 

One day I was fortunate enough to discover in Brighton, and to purchase, two old water-colour drawings which came from a large collection of Brighton prints and drawings which had many years before belonged to the late Mr. George Smith, who resided at Paddock-hurst, Turner's Hill, subsequently the residence of Sir Weetman Pearson (now Lord Cowdray).

 

One of them shows the old inn with the sign already referred to hanging over the door, and, more interesting still, there appear under the drawing the following words:

 

'Ye Kings Head Ynn, yn ye West Street, at Brighthelmstone: yn which Kyng Charles passed ye night before his happy escape ynto Fraunce.'

(From a scarce print in the possession of Bulkeley C. Ricketts, Esq.) Date on the print 1662.

 

 

This print, which I had never heard of, was, in my opinion, probably published after the Restoration in 1660 to commemorate the local event of importance connected with the King's escape in 1651, and would seem to furnish strong evidence in support of the contention of those in favour of the West Street site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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