Printed and Published at the Dover Express Works. 1916.

TO BE FORMATTED

ANNALS OF DOVER.
SECTION TWO.
THE PORT OF DOVER
XII. SIR HENRY OXENDEN'S DAY.

Sir Henry Oxenden, who was one of the Commissioners
for fifty-four years, was once the youngest Commissioner,
having been apptjinted at the age of 28 years. That was
in 17<S-|, when Mr. Nickalls was wearying the Commissioners
with his (lehiys and his unrehahle estimates. About two
years afler Mr. .N'ickalls resigned, in 1791, Mr. Oxenden (for
he had not th(>n come into the l)aronetcy) undertook the
direction of the Harliour works, as a (•ommissioner, without
payment. He was of an ingenious turn of mind, having
previously invented a saihng carriage, formed nkc a boat, on
wheels, which, litted with sails, was one of the wonders of
the Eighteenth Century as it careered over Barham Downs.
When he took charge of the Harbour works in 1791 the
\orth Pier was in a dangerous state, and he rebuilt between
sixty and seventy feet of it in a masterly manner. Anyone
who now walks the .\orth Pier head may see the splendid
piling that he jilaced there more than 120 years ago. The
gates in the Crosswall, put in by Mr. Nickalls, left the
opening without a bridge for the townspeople to pas.s over.
Mr. Oxenden designed a bridge, which English and Dutch
engineers pronounced impracticable, but that opposition
stimulated Oxenden to confound his critics. He had it l>uilt
in his own carpenter's shop at Broome Park, and it having
been brought to Dover in his own waggons, it was hung
at the first attem[)t, and continued to swing without failure
for fifty years. For this proof of his ingeruiity he was
elected a ]<"ellow of the Royal Society of Engineers. Dover
Harbour works were his pet hobby during the time of five
Lord Wardens — the l^arl of Holderness, tlie Earl of
Guilford, Mr. Pitt, the Earl of Liverpool, and the Duke
of Wellington ; but after about ten years of active control,
County affairs and the business of his estate demanded a
good deal of his time. Meanwhile, Mr. Mcon, who had
been Harbour Master, undertook the direction of the
works, and other resident engineers followed, but while
they were in office Sir Henry Oxenden was in power. His
word was law, and the men employed worshipped him. For



Tl8 ANNALS OF DOVER

one reason, because he was very kind — too kind to keep the
wages l)ill down, for wherever he was men were tumbUng
over each other to wait upon him and execute his orders.

His greatest period of activity and enthu:>iasm was in
1S36, when he was eighty years of age. The last and most
successful scheme of sluices to drive away the Harbour bar
was then brought to completion. It is said that " Xo man
is a hero to his own valet," but it is quite '^ertain that Sir
Henry Oxenden's steward regarded him as a groat engineer;
and to see him as his steward saw him in r<.'gard to the
Dover Harbour \Vorks, it will be interesting to introduce
some reminiscences which the steward wrote of his master.
" To see," wrote the steward, " the time that he devoted
" as well as the energy and activity that he then displayed
" in the jirosecution of those works was truly astonishing
" to everyone, particularly when his advanced age was
" taken into con.sideration. I well recollect that on many
'' occasions, to suit the tide, he has left Rroome at four
" o'clock in the morning; and, after examining the progress
" of the works, would drive back to attend to stime necessary
"business at home; and then, having refreshed himself,
"would take a fresh horse and go down to Dover again;
" and, after looking keenly over the works, would drive
" round to Walmer Castle and dine with the Duke of
" Wellington, or with the Earl of Guilford at Waldershare,
" or Mr. Rice at Dane Court. On those occasions, to
" avoid the night air, his faithful Cheeseman (the coachman)
" would come home with the gig and take back the close
" carriage to fet(^h him home. On the following morning
" he would be as ready and active as if he had done nothing
"the day before; and, let the weather be what it might,
" off again to attend to his duties at Dover. This under-
" taking, in laying the sluices, lasted the greater part of
" two years, and on no occasion during that time do I ever
" remember that he flinched from his duty. At the com-
" pletion of these works, so sanguine did Sir Henry and
" others feel of their success, that the first time of the
" running of the sluices was almost a day of rest for all
" labourers on the estate. Sir Henry's own men were allowed
"to go to Dover to see the wonderful sight."

Although this foregoing extract was penned by an admir-
ing servant, it does not need to be much discounted. Indepen-
dent testimony fully corrolwrates all that he has written as to



THE PORT OF DOVER II9

Sir Henry Oxenden's zeal on behalf of Dover Harbour. It
so happened that the extension of the Admiralty Pier into
the true tideway a few years later rendered the ingenious
sluicing arrangements unnecessary, but, as long as it was
required, this last work of Sir Henry Oxenden for Dover
Harbour was the most effective of all the contrivances for
dispersing the shingle from the Harbour mouth. At the
same time, truth requires it to be stated that at that date,
Sir Henry being eighty years of age, could do little more
than take a kindly interest in the work and encourage the
workers. He was recognised as the Managing Commissioner
up to the last, but his management was expensive, because
he treated the men on the Harbour as he clid the labourers
on his own estates — never dismissed a man because he was
old or infirm. The allowance that his fellow Commissioners
made for Sir Henry's infirmities was such that, although
they saw the deterioration arising from natural decay, they
would not allow his authority to be superseded ; and when
he died, two years after the sluices were first used, and
only two days after his last vi.sit to Dover to inspect the
Harbour enlargement then in progress, the Commissioners
met, and, on the motion of the Duke of Wellington, the
following minute was recorded: — "That at this, the first
meeting of the Commissioners after the death of Sir Henry
Oxenden, Bart., the Lord Warden and Assistant Commis-
sioners are anxious to pay a tribute of warm and grateful
regard to their deceased friend, and to record the lively
sense they entertain of the zealous and active attention paid
by him during his connection of fiftv-four vears with Dover
Harbour to the advancement of its interests." After the
meeting the Duke of Wellington, with his fellow Commis-
sioners and a crowd of Dover people, walked to the pier-
heads to witness the operation of Sir Henry Oxenden's
six-culvert sluice on the bar, the effect of which demonstrated
the utility of Sir Henry's last great work at Dover Harbour.
This Oxenden incident, with its mellowing influence of
human interest, throws a kindly light over the management
of Dover Harbour by a Iwdv that, owing to its method of
selection, had little connection with or interest in the Town
and Port.

It will be necessary now to look back to the year 1802,
when the Commissioners called in Mr. John Rtnnie and his
partner, Mr. Ralph Walker, to report generally on improve-



I20 ANNALS OF DOVER

ments that might be made in the Harl)our. Tliey presented
a well digested scheme. The main thing required was
the rebuilding of the pier-heads, which had long been
contemplated, more especially the South Pier. They
thought that in doing so they should endeavour to so
build it as to get rid of the shingle which periodically lodged
there, and they thought that might be effected by making
the South Pier-head the most prominent point of the coast.
There were three ways of doing that: — (i) By removing
Cheesman's Plead; (2) by shortening Cheesman's Head a
little and lengthening the South Pier a Httle ; or (3) by
extending the South Pier into the tideway and leaving
Cheesman's Head as it was. Their estimate for rebuilding
the South Pier with stone without altering its position was
^25,000; for rebuilding and extending 130 feet, ;^39,ooo;
or for rebuilding and extending 270 feet, ;^64,ooo. They
also suggested the dee])ening of the basin. Their proposals
were rejected by the Commissioners mainly because they did
not believe tlie extension of the Pier wou'd kecj) the shingle
out.



THE PORT OF DOVER 121