Kent & Sussex Courier, Friday 21 March 1975.
Nothing to prove landlord exists.
Although there is no documentary evidence to prove that he exists,
landlord Arthur Hazelhurst is retiring next week.
He and his wife Margaret will be leaving the "Kentish Horse" at
Markbeech, near Edenbridge, not because they want to retire but because
a cataract is causing Mrs. Hazelhurst's site to deteriorate.
He took the licence of the "Kentish Horse" nearly 6 years ago. "We are
very sorry to have to go," said Mr. Hazelhurst. "Our customers are
charming people."
"We have bought a new house at Langton Green, so we shall not be too far
away."
"There are no records in Somerset House nor anywhere else in the world
recording my birth so far as I know," said Mr. Hazelhurst.
He was born on October 25th, 1907 in the the Nilgiri Hills, in Southern
India, where his father was working as a civil engineer.
Ship sunk.
"I was brought into the world by, I believe, a Dr Ollenbeck. He kept his
own records. My father was traveling the world and we went to New
Zealand and South America with him before I was 5 years old.
"My family decided to come home and we arrived here at Christmas 1915.
But our possessions including all our records, were on the P & O ship
Egypt, which was torpedoed and sank in the Mediterranean.
"My father tried for years and years to get a document recording my
birth but without success. He tried to contact the doctor in India again
but was never able to trace him.
When he was a few months old Mr. Hazelhurst was baptized in the Church
of England church in Wellington, New Zealand, and his parents were
presented with a parchment certificate. The only other mention of his
entrance into the world was in the family bible.
"Having no birth certificate has sometimes been a bit of a problem, as
you can imagine," he said. "But I have been accepted for a retirement
pension and shall start receiving it when I leave the "Kentish Horse."
Mr. Hazelhurst spent 40 years of his life as a pilot after joining the
Royal Navy Air Service in 1926 and finished his career as chief engineer
with the Sperry Gyroscope Company at London Airport.
|