Planning application:
20 King Henrys Road, Lewes for Richard Weston, 12 Market Street, Lewes by Samuel Denman, 26 Queens Road, Brighton, architect
DL/A/25/85 · 6 Jul 1892 · East Sussex Record Office
"Sunnycroft": sadly, demolished in the 1980s to make way for six town houses, with a forecourt and 14 garages behind the dwellings. The Victorian house closely resembled no. 24 "Ailsa Craig" in design.
First occupied: 1895
Owners & Occupiers:
Richard Weston bought the plot of land that was to become 20 King Henry's Road from Anne Baxter, widow of W E Baxter, in 1892.
1891 Census: Richard Weston house decorator (38) & wife Mary F Weston (34) were living in Market Street, Maldon, Essex.
Richard married Mary Florence Terson in Dover in 1881. It looks as though they had no children. By 1895 they had moved back to Lewes, where Richard was born, but in 1897 his wife Mary died in Lewes.
Electoral Register & Kelly's Directory
1895: R[ichard] Weston
1901 Census: Richard Weston (48) widower, House Decorator & Painter (Employer); two servants: Emily Chapman (52) housekeeper, from Rye, and Harriett Stepney (19) general servant, from Laughton.
Will: Richard Weston of Lewes d.04.04.1920 [aged 67] at the ESC Asylum Hellingly. [letters of] Administration (with Will) to Susannah Patching (wife of John Patching). Effects £1,728 11s 2d.
Richard Weston was born in 1853. Susannah was born in 1850. it is not unreasonable to assume that they were brother & sister. Susannah Weston married John Patching in Lewes in 1879.
1911 Census: John Patching (63) builder's clerk; his wife Susannah Patching (62); one general servant: Isabella Kate Lee (34) from Brighton.
John & Susannah had been married for 32 years, and they had one child. John died in 1934 in Lewes aged 86 [no will found]; Susannah then moved to St Swithun's Terrace, but she died just a year later aged 86.
Will: Susannah Patching of 18 St Swithun's Terrace, Lewes, widow, d.02.09.1935 at Wickham, King Henry's Road, Lewes. Probate to Susannah Mary Weston Glandfield widow. Effects £2,250 15s 5d
Electoral Roll & Kelly's Directory:
1915: J Patching
1918: M[ary] E[lizabeth] Wallis:
1921 Census: Mary Elizabeth Wallis (63) widow; her two daughters Lucy Kate Wallis (35) and Marie Louisa Wallis (34) [both born at Southerham]; one servant, Mabel Frances Huggett (34) from Ringmer.
Mrs Wallis died 1924 aged 67 [b.1857]; as Mary Elizabeth Woodroffe she married William Thomas Wallis in 1884. [She may possibly be the sister of Henry Woodroffe, who lived at no.18 King Henry's Road, otherwise "Highfield House" situated on the opposite side of De Warenne Road.] She will have moved to King Henry's Road from Southerham Farm sometime after the death of her husband in 1916.
Will: William Thomas Wallis of Southerham near Lewes d.30.07.1916 [aged 60]. Probate to Mary Elizabeth Wallis widow, Sydney Wallis engineer & Henry John Redman auctioneer. Effects £29,248 8s 2d.
Will: Mary Elizabeth Wallis of Sunnycroft, King Henry's Road, Lewes, d.16.11.1924. Probate to [her son] Sydney Wallis engineer. Effects £4,987 19s
1920: The Misses Wallis: see 1939 Register below - almost certainly the daughters of William & Mary Wallis of Southerham (m.1884), along with a brother, Sydney. Lucy b.1885, Marie b.1886 & Sydney b.1889 all three births registered in Lewes [FreeBMD]
1939 Register: Lucy K[ate] Wallis (54), Marie L[ouisa] Wallis (53) (two unmarried sisters) & Catherine R Richards (75) widowed; one record officially closed [possibly a servant] and Mabel F Hussalt (55) housemaid.
Lucy Kate Wallis died in Lewes in 1961 aged 75; Marie Louisa Wallis died in Hove in 1967 aged 80; Catherine R Richards died in Lewes in 1956 aged 91.
Wills: Lucy Kate Wallis of "Sunnycroft" King Henry's Road, Lewes, spinster, died 01.03.1961 [b.1885]. Probate to [her sister] Marie Louisa Wallis spinster. Effects £34,608 3s 3d.
Marie Louisa Wallis of 20 King Henry's Road, Lewes, died 29 January 1967 at 13 New Church Road, [Hove] b.1886. Probate to Lionel Clement Brown solicitor & Frederick Stanley Wills chartered accountant. Effects £66,424.
Catherine Ruth Richards of 5 Abinger Place, Lewes, d.22.11.1956. Probate to Mabel Dorothy Richards spinster. Effects £313 91s 8d
The Korner family - Professor Asher, Shirley and their four children - lived here from the late 1960's until December 1973. Professor Korner died in 1971 (aged 42).
Sunnycroft was then bought by Peter Willey who sought permission to demolish the existing house and redevelop the site. See below.
In 1974 outline application was made for demolition of the very fine existing Victorian dwelling and the erection of 12 flats. The decision was approved, but not put into action.
In 1976 outline application was made for demolition of the existing Victorian dwelling and the erection of a 4-story block of 14 two-bedroom flats and 14 garages & 5 parking spaces. This decision was approved, but not put into action.
In 1980 a planning application was made & approved for the erection of 6 three-storey town houses, each with two single garages. These houses are now numbered 20, & 20A - 20E King Henry's Road. An irony exists, in that the 12 designated garages somehow became 14, as in a previous application. It is impossible to garage any but the smallest motor-car in these garages, which are (of course) mainly used for storage by their owners.