Background for teachers

• Introduction
• Industry and population
• Population figures
• The economy
• Transport
• Government
• Health
• Law and order

Introduction

The Victorian period witnessed substantial change throughout Great Britain involving agriculture, building and urban expansion, the economy, health, local government and public services, population, society, trade and industry and transport. 

West Sussex was touched by many of these themes but not as fundamentally as most other counties, due in part to its lack of raw materials such as coal and iron, and in part to the power and influence of a few great landowners.

For further reading on this subject, take a look at one of the following publications:

• J. R. Armstrong, History of Sussex
• John Lowerson, Short History of Sussex
• Victoria History of the County of Sussex

Industry and population

During the 1830s West Sussex was a predominantly rural county, based primarily on agriculture, with around 61% of people living in the countryside, 23% in coastal towns and 16% in other towns. Around 80% of the rural working class were receiving benefits and living on the breadline during this early period. Later, as technological changes were introduced by farmers, and towns became more attractive as places to find employment opportunities, many agricultural labourers moved to more urban areas. By the 1890s the percentage of workers employed in agriculture had declined, but was still well above the national average. Many agricultural workers had moved to the growing seaside resorts and other major towns and were now employed in construction or service industries.

The owners of great estates at Petworth, Cowdray, Arundel, and Goodwood, still owned massive areas of land. Generally, agricultural production had increased in efficiency and benefitted from the introduction of more scientific methods, a trend which had begun with the 3rd Earl of Egremont’s innovations on the Petworth estate in the early 19th century.

The total population of West Sussex doubled from 300,108 in 1841 to 605,202 in 1901, but this was a much smaller increase than in many other more industrialised counties in the Midlands and North. At the beginning and end of the period a few small market towns such as Arundel, Chichester, Midhurst and Steyning continued to serve their agricultural hinterland with a small but not dramatic increase in population. Notable exceptions were East Grinstead and Horsham, whose early links by rail to London in 1848 and 1855 led to more rapid growth.

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Population figures

Population figures for market towns

Economically the big change was the rise in importance of tourism and specifically the increase in visitor numbers to the larger seaside towns such as Bognor, Littlehampton and Worthing. This led to a significant change in working patterns with a shift towards service industries, which developed to support these burgeoning seaside resorts. The consequent growth in terms of shops, facilities, infrastructure, and housing for service workers led to a significant population increase.
 
Population figures for seaside towns

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The economy

As the railway network spread across the county and the resorts developed, along with other market and commuter towns such as Horsham, Burgess Hill, East Grinstead and Haywards Heath, industries grew up which supported this housing and infrastructure growth: brick and tile making, cement works, limekilns and mineral extraction. As ports, resorts and towns grew so too did the range of shops and associated local trades.

In other areas of the economy there was some development of industries which served the agricultural sector, as the general population, and therefore demand, grew. More and larger breweries, dairies, food-processors and so on, appeared in towns and larger villages. Traditional crafts declined due to competition from cheaper products made by larger scale enterprises in the Midlands and North, and transported more easily by canal in the 1830s and 1840s and later by rail. These declining crafts included basket-making, charcoal-burning, hurdle-making, thatching and the manufacture of various wooden products. Also fishing, which had been a significant employer of men at Bognor, Littlehampton, Selsey, Shoreham, Southwick and Worthing, declined in terms of percentage of the working population, due to factors such as competition from other areas, improved transport links, changes in eating habits, availability of other foods and lack of a harbour at Bognor and Worthing.

However several industries did flourish in West Sussex by the end of the Victorian period. Brick and tile making, cement and lime manufacture, chalk, gravel and other mineral extraction grew to support the extensive house-building programme. Market gardening flourished in the milder climate of the South Coast, particularly in the 1870s and 1880s when new techniques in construction and ventilation led to ever larger glasshouses being used. The ports of Littlehampton and Shoreham  grew as imports and exports increased, the latter’s population more than doubling from 3,225 in 1841 to 8,027 by 1901.

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Transport

Significant changes occurred in transport. In 1837 West Sussex had no railways, several canals were enjoying their most prosperous period and most people travelled by road, either on horseback, in horse-drawn vehicles or on foot. The waterways offering commercial navigation then were the rivers Adur, Arun and Rother and the following canals: Baybridge, Chichester Ship, Petworth, Portsmouth and Arundel, Southwick Ship and Wey and Arun Junction. In 1839 more than 20 coaches a day departed from Brighton and 10 a day from Worthing (15 in the summer season), and 9 or 10 a day from Chichester and Horsham.

The first railway line in West Sussex was the Brighton to Shoreham section opened in 1840 and by 1897 another 24 lines had been opened. By the later 1840s most coach services had stopped running, and by 1901 commercial traffic had ceased on all but the Adur, Arun, Chichester and Southwick waterways. The arrival of the railway effectively killed off both coaching and commercial waterways.

By the 1890s, horse-bus services were operating in larger towns, and trams in Shoreham and Southwick. The first motor-cars appeared on the roads in the 1890s but remained a novelty form of transport for the rich.

Government

In 1837, West Sussex returned 9 Members of Parliament. There were as yet no County Council nor borough, district, town nor parish councils, no police, fire service, or public utilities such as electricity, gas and water companies.

Following the changes introduced by the 1867 Reform Bill and 1884 Representation of the People Act, West Sussex returned 2 Members of Parliament in the 1900 election. By the end of the Victorian period there were also elected county councils for East and West Sussex (Local Government Act 1888), and a system of boroughs, urban and rural districts, and parish councils (Local Government Act 1894).

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Health

In the early 19th century, many towns had grown overcrowded and unhealthy. There was a shortage of public wells, and those that did exist were sometimes infected by seepage from cesspools. Main drainage was almost non-existent and rivers were used as open sewers. Refuse was left in the streets for weeks on end, and the problem was exacerbated in towns such as Chichester with a weekly cattle market held in the town centre. Such overcrowding and lack of sanitation led to frequent outbreaks of cholera and typhoid.

In 1848, the first Public Health Act was passed, which led to the creation of a General Board of Health with the power to set up Local Boards of Health in any area where the death-rate was 23 per 1,000 or higher. Local Boards were established in towns such as Worthing (1852), Bognor (1866) and Horsham (1875), and improvements in water supply and sewage disposal soon followed. By the end of Victoria's reign, most West Sussex towns had mains water and sewerage systems, although the latter did not come to Chichester until the 1890s. Ironically, it was the drilling in 1893 for a new water supply that disturbed old sewers in Worthing, contaminating the town's water and resulting in a typhoid epidemic which claimed 188 lives.

Advances in medicine also contributed to improved public health, and encouraged the establishment of hospitals, often financed by public contributions. Many such hospitals were built in the 1880s (Worthing) and 1890s (Chichester Graylingwell, Horsham Cottage Hospital).

Law and order

At the beginning of the century there were only unpaid parish constables, or gamekeepers for the rural rich, to keep order.

In 1829 the Metropolitan Police Act set up a police force for the London area, but it was not until 1835 that the Municipal Corporations Act required boroughs to set up a watch committee to appoint their own paid constables.

The County Police Act of 1839 enabled Justices to set up a paid county police force, but it was not until 1856 that the County and Borough Police Act required forces to be set up. In the same year, the West Sussex Constabulary was formed.

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