Friends of Hastings Cemetery

the town if he carried on in this way, he is quoted in the paper of July 8th 1876 as saying "That is the very thing I intend to do, and the sooner the better"   "If I do not get my own way and they do not go further afield for water I am determined to ruin the town".  By July 22nd the Observer is reporting that the Rev Hatchard is taking them [?] to court for libel and was in such fear for his safety that "he dared not enter the borough for the purposes of obtaining a warrant against the parties by whom he had been threatened".

At the same time Hatchard  was one of the plaintiffs in a court case involving James Bland Hawkes, a stockbroker who was given 6 months hard labour for  having taken money from clients for investment which he never returned.  Hatchard lost £403 15s.

He strongly opposed the building of of St Luke’s Presbyterian Church at Silverhill in 1853.

He gave £50 to the 1875 storm relief fund.  He & wife gave two loving cups to Hastings Corporation, to mark 1887 Jubilee.

When Hatchard  died he left £46,364 4s. 9d.  Hatchard wrote to Brundretts in 1860 with instructions to change his will, intending to leave his estate to his stepson Harry Holford only, to the exclusion of Harry's sister Mrs Pearson.  Nothing further survives until 1891, when a new will was executed during a serious illness; detailed letters of instruction survive .

 Hatchard died on 18 February and the will was proved by his widow Harriet Sophia on 11 April 1895; on her death on 23 April 1896 the administration was taken on by her son-in-law Major Pearson (who had been acting for her during her lifetime) and son Harry Holford, at whose suggestion the business was moved from Brundretts to his solicitors, Walfords, in May 1896.  The correspondence (AMS6417/6/58 - letter of 18 March 1895) includes a statement by the valuer John Bray that he had been connected with the estate for 30 years, since before he was in business, and had seen all the houses built except 58 MarinaProbate was granted to Henry Price Holford and John Richard Pearson.  

Mrs Hatchard enjoyed a considerable personal fortune under her marriage settlement and her husband's will, and was of a very independent mind, frequently acting in direct opposition to her husband's advice.  Their daughter Cecilia's husband seems to have been disapproved of, at least by Mrs Hatchard's solicitor Ravenscroft who, according to Hatchard, had always acted to prevent him getting hold of his wife's share of her mother's estate.

[Obit: Hastings and St Leonards Observer 22.2.1895/Times Archive 18.8.1875/HSLO  1875-6/National Archives]

Rev. John & Harriet Hatchard continued