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Albion Street

Photo:Albion Street, 1999

Albion Street, 1999

From a private collection

Residents of the mid-1800s
From an interview with Maurice Packham

Maurice Packham's great great grandfather lived in the house in the photo in 1851...

"Thomas Packham, my great great grandfather, was living at 7 Albion Street in 1839 when it was a drayman's store belonging to Tamplin's brewery. He had arrived some ten years earlier from Lewes with a sack on his back and eleven pence in his pocket, hoping to make a better living in Brighton. He was an ostler by trade; so 'being good with horses' he probably found work with the brewery while his wife Mary took in washing, the staple back street Brighton industry of that time.

By 1851 the family had moved to Number 4 Albion Street which still exists; and Thomas would doubtless have been astonished to learn that the house next door was up for sale recently for nearly £74,000 and described as 'a charming Victorian terraced two bedroom house with small patio'. Thomas would have known the patio as a backyard where his wife hung out the washing and laboured over the tub on sunny days. The rest of the washing would have been strung across the street."

From the QueenSpark Book Back Street Brighton
This page was added on 22/03/2006.

Comments:

Hello, Maurice! I had an Uncle Bill (William) Packham. He married a Brighton girl. They had two children; the boy was named Maurice, the girl Peggy. Their mother I believe was sadly killed while running for a bus, and Uncle Bill returned to Surrey, where his brother John and his wife brought up the children. Maurice lives in Canada. He is about 65-70. Uncle Bill worked at Simsons in the Strand. I wonder if we had family in Brighton and that's why he was down there and how he met his wife. Uncle Bill was born in 1899.
By Angela Marshall (22/02/2004)
Hi! My grandfather's uncle, George Packham, ran the Albion pub in Hove. His family all originate from Newhaven, Denton Island. Is this the same family??
By Joanne Packham (03/08/2004)

Hi Angela, I do hope this reaches you, the date of your post being 2004. You may have lost interest by now. Anyway, I live in Canada and worked with a Maurice Packham for many years. I think he still lives quite close to me. If this fact could be of any use to you, please contact me.

By Art Didlock (18/04/2008)

My great, great grandfather Joseph Boniface was born in Brighton and lived in Edward Street 1822 and St Johns Place 1841. He married Sarah Hindess, born in Shoreham, in 1845 and from the on lived at Albion Street in 1845, Essex Street in 1871 and also Apollo Terrace date unknown. Between 1871 and 1881 they then moved to Central London. I would love to contact others from this section of the Boniface family as other sites seem to concentrate on the family outside of Brighton. Any info and help would be gratefully appreciated.

By Derek A. Coles (14/06/2008)

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