Printed and Published at the Dover Express Works. 1916.

TO BE FORMATTED

ANNALS OF DOVER.
SECTION FIVE.
THE HISTORY OF THE CORPORATION.

XI. THE MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS.

Reference has been made in earlier chapters to the
Guildhall of the burgesses, which served the purposes of the
Corporation a thousand years ago ; also to the old Guildhall,
part of St. Martin's building near King Street, and to the
Court Hall, sometimes called the Guildhall, which was
built in the Market Place in the reign of James I. These
only call for passing notice, having been, one after another,
abandoned, the last move of the Corporation having been
to the present Municipal Buildings at the Maison Dieu.

The historical associations of the Maison Dieu have
been mentioned, it having been one of the famous religious
houses of Dover; and it has been stated that, after its
dissolution, it became the Dover headquarters of the Royal
Victualling Department. When the Victualling Department
closed, soon after the Peace of 181 5, it was for a few years
used by the Ordnance Department, and the red-brick
mansion on the adjoining site was the residence of the Head
Official of the Victualling Department, and subsequently,
of the Chief of the Ordnance Department. In 1834
the whole establishment was offered for sale at a
London Auction Mart, and was " knocked down " at
j£7,6So; but the Ordnance Department, hearing that
the Corporation of Dover wanted the Maison Dieu Hall
for public purposes, they separated the lots, selling the
mansion privately, and the Maison Dieu itself, with the land
down to the river, was then purchased by the Dover
Corporation, who immediately proceeded to transform the
building into a Sessions Hall and Prison. It was first used
in 1836 as a Council Chamber, a Court for Quarter and
Petty Sessions and a Prison. The new Town Council having
then recently come into existence, and the members being
in an economical mood, they left the grand old Maison Dieu
Hall in dilapidation with its series of ancient south windows
bricked up, and so it remained for fifteen years.

Soon after the Corporation bought the Maison Dieu
Hall they passed resolutions to restore it, and Mr. Ambrose
Poynter, a well-known architect, drew designs for the work,
including those six south windows, and the large one on the



268 ANNALS OF DOVER

west, corresponding with the style in which the hall was
originally built. Those plans were laid aside until 1851,
when the Town Council began to push forward the work.
The windows having been put in according to Mr. Ambrose
Poynter's drawings, were filled with plain glass, but a few
years later the architect's son, Edward, who was born in
Paris in 1836 (now Sir Edward Poynter, R.A., D.C.L.,
President of the Royal Academy), drew a set of cartoons,
remarkably appropriate for filling each of the windows with
stained glass. Those cartoons were also laid aside with the
hope that from, time to time, the townspeople would provide
funds for their insertion as memorials. That expectation
was realised, the series being completed in 1873. The
windows are described in " Dover: A Perambulation," as
follows : —

" The first window inserted was the large one with five lights,
over the south-west entrance, given by Mrs. Bell, of Maison Dieu
House, in memory of her cousin, Mr. William Kingsford, who died
in 1856. In the central light is the figure of Hubert de Burgh, the
founder of the Maison Dieu ; in the two divisions on the right are
effigies of Henry HI. and Richard II., and, on the other side,
Henry VI. and Richard III. The artistic treatment, both as to design
and colour, is superb. The six windows on the south-east side,
which had the pictorial cartoons inserted at various times, are as
follows, commencing at the top of the Hall: — (i) "Relief of Dover
Castle, by Sir John de Pencester, A.D. 1216," inserted, by public
subscription, in memory of our soldiers who fell in the Crimean
War and the Indian Mutiny, 1854-7; (2) "Henry Til. confirming the
Charter of the Maison Dieu, A.D. 1227," inserted by merchants and
citizens of London as " a memorial to the commercial honour and
uprightness of Richard Dickeson, 1872 " ; (3) '' Embarkation of
Edward HI. for France at Dover, A.D. 1359-" inserted as a
memorial to Robert Taylor, Commander of the Roval Navy, who
died at Dover, 1873; (4) "Landing of the Emperor Sigismund
opposed at Dover, A.D. 1414," presented by Mr. H. P. Mackenzie,
the builder employed in the restoration of the Hall, 1862; (5)
" Embarkation of Henry VIII. at Dover for the Field of Cloth of
Gold, 1520," inserted by Mr. Thomas Baker Bass, Town Clerk, in
memory of his relative, William Allen, a native of Dover, who died
in South Australia, 1856; (6) "Landing of Charles II. at Dover, on
his Restoration, 25th May, 1660," erected in memory of Mr. George
T. Thompson, Lieutenant of the Dover Company of the Artillery
Volunteers, who was killed by the bursting of a gun during practice
at ArchclifFe Fort, 9th August, i860. Alike for their artistic merits,
the subjects depicted, and the occasions of their erection, these
winrlows form a series scarcely equalled in any public building in the
kingdom."

After the restoration of 1851 had been completed,
partly by public subscriptions and i)artly at the cost of the



THE HISTORY OF THE CORPORATION 269

Town, the Maison Dieu continued to be used, the part
re-constructed as a Borough Prison, on the Ladywell side, the
large hall on the south side used for public meetings, and
the ancient chapel at the north-east end re-constructed as a
Sessions House and Council Chamber. In 1867-8 the
Prison was rebuilt, with a square tower on the north corres-
ponding with the ancient tower on the south of the entrance.
A new Council Chamber was built on the south-east. In
1882-3, the prison having been disused, was demolished,
and a large hall was erected on its site, called the Connaught
Hall, after the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, who came
to open it in July, 1883. At the same time, a " Mayor's
Parlour" was built at the upper end of this hall; and in
1894 a handsome building for the use of the School of Art
and Technology was added, facing I.adywell. The entire
cost of these Municipal Buildings (excluding ;^8oo public
subscriptions and the original purchase money paid by the
old Corporation) has been more than ^60,000.

The Maison Dieu House, a red-brick Elizabethan
Mansion, originally built as the residence of the Chief Officer
of the Dover Victualling Department. After the Ordnance
Department in 1834 sold the Maison Dieu, this Mansion
became private property, but in 1904 it was purchased by the
Corporation for the use of the Officials of the Corporation.

In addition to " storied windows," before described,
the most interesting feature of the interior of the Municipal
Buildings are the historical pictures possessed by the Cor-
poration. Amongst the portraits of Sovereigns more or
less associated with Dover are. Queen Elizabeth, purchased
in 1598; Charles II. and WilHam III., presented by John
Hollingbery, Mayor in 1703 ; Queen Anne, presented by
Captain Ball, 1713; George I., presented by A. Wellard,
Mayor, 1758; and an equestrian portrait of George IV.
Portraits of Lord Wardens are Lionel Sackville, ist Duke
of Dorset, presented by the Duke in 1761; the Duke of
Wellington, painted by Lilley of Dover; Viscount Palmerston,
painted by E. Butler Norris; Earl Granville, painted by H.
J. Brooks; the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, painted by
Prince Troubetzkoy ; and Earl Brassey, of Hythe. Portraits
of Mayors: Charles Lamb, 1853; James Poulter, 1854 ; John
Birmingham, i860; and Dr. Ferrand Astley, 1858. Portraits
of Recorders: Philip Yorke, Lord Hardwick, 17 18-1764;



270 ANNALS OF DOVER

Mr. Robinson, 1771-1807; Sir William Henry Bodkin, 1834-
1874, (painted by R. W. Waters, Dover); and Sir Harry
Bodkin Poland, Q.C, 1874-1901. Portraits of notable
inhabitants: Peter Fector, banker, 17 14-1790; the Rev. John
Maule, Minister of St. Mary's, Dover, 1817-1842. Portraits
of Dover Members of Parliament: Sir John Rae Reid,
1 800-1 847; Edward Royds Rice (painted by R. W. Waters),
1835-1857; Right Hon. George Wyndham, 1889-1913;
and there is in the Council Chamber a portrait of the late
Sir Wollaston Knocker, Town Clerk. Up the side of the
Maison Dieu Hall are shields exhibiting the arms of the
principal Lord Wardens and Constables of the Castle, as
well as other pictures, documents, plans, and charts of local
interest. In addition to the memorial windows in the
Maison Dieu Hall there is one in the Council Chamber
inserted in recognition of the Municipal services of the late
Mr. Steriker Finnis ; and in the Connaught Hall are stained
glass windows, as follows : — Two in memory of the wife
and children of Mr. W. P. Mummery; one in memory of
Mr. C. K. Freshfield, M.P., 1865-85; another in memory
of Major A. G. Dickson, M.P., 1865-1889; one put hi by
Sir Richard Dickeson on the occasion of his being pre-
sented with the Freedom of Dover; and one erected in 1906
in memory of Mr. Edward Worsfold Mowll, Register of Dover
Harbour.



.*. The window, above mentioned, put in on the occasion of
Sir Richard Dickeson being presented with the Honorary Freedom
of Dover, is in the Council Chamber.



THE HISTORY OF THE CORPORATION 27 1