 Nelson Stenning |
Nelson
Stenning
(Born 1850)
Nelson Stenning |
Nelson Stenning was born 27 October
1850 at Twineham, Sussex. He is shown on the 1851 Census at the age of 5 months living
with his parents and siblings at Gearing's Cottage, Twineham.
On 1 October 1873, he married Elizabeth Lucy Alderton at All Saints, Lewes, Sussex. Lewes
is a village slightly east of Rottingdean, where Nelson had apparently moved after
completing his apprenticeship as a Baker. Elizabeth was born on 31 July, 1850 at Lewes, to
John Alderton and Emily?
They settled in High Street, Rottingdean above the baker's shop and here their nine
children were born. Details of these children appear elsewhere in the Stenning Family
History.
Some stories of Nelson appear in a book by Bob Copper, called "Early to Rise" and also
"Remarkable Rottingdean" by Derek Heater. Mrs. Joan Stenning to whom I am
indebted for most of the information I have on these ancestors tells how at a meeting of
the Sussex Family History Group, she
and her husband Frank met Bob Copper and he told the following story of Nelson.
When Bob Copper was a schoolboy on his way home from school, he often passed Nelson in the
High Street. Nelson was always propped up by his two walking sticks. This particular
day as Bob went past, Nelson called "Here boy" and when Bob went over to him,
Nelson lifted his foot and there underneath was a shining half crown (25 cents AUS in
today's money or 25 new pence if you live in the UK) "You don't often see one of
those knocking about", said Nelson, "Pick it up for me". He obviously could
not bend down to pick it up himself. When Bob obliged, Nelson took it from him, spat on it
for luck, and put it in his pocket!
The other story comes from the book by Derek Heater. He tells of a trip to Paris made by
Nelson and some of his friends (I remember Dad telling me his father went to Paris to some
cooking expo). Many men at that time descended stairs backwards as though they were coming
down a ladder. They did it at work where there was often a ladder rather than stairs, and
also at home in the little two-up two-down cottages where many workers were housed where
there was little room for a staircase as we know it today and the steps up to the upper
floor were almost perpendicular, rather more like a ladder than a stairway. Also men
descending stairs would most probably be carrying a load, perhaps a sack of wheat, and it
was thought much safer to come down backwards, so coming down backwards was really the
norm. The story goes that Nelson on this trip to Paris descended from the Metro in his
usual fashion, but the guards on the train platform pushed him back inside again, thinking
he was entering the train. It is said he circled the system 5 times before he finally
alighted at his destination.
We do not know why Nelson became a baker, but shoemaking, his father's trade, was on the
wane. Boots could be made much cheaper in the factories by machinery. They could be made
quicker, hundreds being turned out in the time it had previously taken to make one pair. I
do not know why Nelson and his uncle (Joan's husband's line) Thomas chose bakery, but they
did and of course there may have been others. Again why did he move to Rottingdean.
Perhaps there was no baker there and he saw an opening.
I also remember Dad telling us that one really cold day, snowing, he and Charlie were too
slow moving so he pushed up the window and tossed their clothes out, and down they
had to go in their nightshirts to recover them. Don't blame them for moving slowly as he
insisted on them washing in cold water!
Just a little note on the cottages in Rottingdean. Much of the High Street still remains
although many of the shops are hidden by more modern facades. The pond is still there,
complete with ducks and many of the old cottages built with cobbles from the seashore. It
is amazing how evenly they were laid in rows and it must have taken a skilled craftsman
some time to grade those stones so that they were laid on such straight lines. There is
little thatch, most of the houses are roofed in tiles or slates although these may well
have replaced earlier roofs of thatch. It is unusual to see the cobbles laid each one
whole, as many of the Sussex cottages had their flints cut with a straight edge to them
(it was called knapping} so that exteriors were much smoother, and not knobbly as the
cobbles at Rottingdean were. They were uniformly of black or dark grey. Nevertheless many
of the cottages remain very attractive and are still lived in.