As detailed in Hidden Histories no 8, properties 2-10 were demolished 1963
No.8. James JEFFERIES was a private, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Fusiliers. 29th Division when he was killed in action on 15.7.17. In 1911, he was living with his wife Sarah at no. 52 (old number, became 8, then demolished 1963) Westgate and employed as a Hopman at the Brewery. He is buried in the Bard Cottage Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium but memorialised on his wife Sarah’s gravestone, plot 15 in the churchyard of St James’ Church in Birdham. His name is on St Bartholomew’s war memorial.
No.10. Fred Basford was the son of John & Ellen Mary Basford of 51 Westgate (old number, became 10, then demolished 1963). He had been born in Chichester in the second quarter 1897. In the 1911 Census, aged 14, he was an apprentice carpenter. His father was a Bricklayer’s Labourer. He was the eldest child with two sisters and a brother. His great aunt and two boarders, a father and son from Surrey, were also in the house. He was killed in in 1916 in the battle of the Somme. His name is Included on St. Bartholomew’s Church War Memorial.
Old no 50 (demolished prob. 1940, therefore no 1950s number)
50 Westgate was a large house on the corner of Orchard Street, which had been demolished by 1940.
From the censuses we can discover that the house had a number of interesting residents:
1851 – Abel Moore who was a sexton.
1871 – Ebenezer Prior who ran the last wool stapling business in Chapel Street.
1901 – John Simpson, a corn merchant.
1911 – Henry Fitzsimmons a Supervisor of Customs and Excise, whose 2 sons were killed in the 1924-18 war and are recorded on the War Memorial at St Bartholomew’s Church. (John p.80. Terence p.81.)
1921 – Elizabeth Fitzsimmons aged 59 presumably Henry’s widow.
After the Fitzsimons family the house was occupied until 1937 by the Right Reverend Rev. Bishop Cecil Hook M.A., D.D. He was, from 1905 to 1915, the first Church of England Bishop of Kingston. Hook was born on 1 December 1844 into a clerical family. He was educated at Radley School and Christ Church, Oxford. He was ordained in 1868. He was a curate at St John’s Redland, Bristol and then appointed Rector of All Saints’ Chichester. He was Rural Dean of Oswestry in 1891 and then Leamington in 1896. He was appointed suffragan bishop in 1904 to assist the Bishop of Southwark. He died in 1938. (Wikipedia)
Richard Brownfield 2025