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ALGERNON Sidney Bicknell of Barcombe Place was an extraordinary man … antiquarian, connoisseur, traveller and finally autobiographer.
Sidney, as he was known, embarked on his travels at the age of eight and over the years visited ‘all countries of importance’ except the Transvaal and Oceania.
In 1848 when a student at Bonn University he tramped across the land, narrowly escaping a charge of German cavalry.
Later, not caring for army life, he became a linguist, lover of art, antiquary and astronomer.
Reverting to adventuring, he was present with Garibaldi on the triumphal march into Naples in 1860, and during the Franco-Prussian War was an eye-witness of many desperate conflicts.
He experimented with aeronautics and as an Alpine mountaineer was one of the early climbers of Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. He crossed the Andes four times and ascended Vesuvius 10 times! And he also found time to issue a pamphlet on the alimentary value of fungi.
In his later years, slowing down somewhat, he purchased Barcombe Place and became a manager of Barcombe School. He also settled down to write his autobiography … and what a work that is! Leather-bound in two volumes in his own hand-writing and unpublished, it was recently purchased by the County Record Office, along with photographs and ‘a candid appreciation’ by his son Lieut Col Maldion Bicknell, for £600.
It sounds like a bargain to Rouser. The Record Office is always looking for kind people to help sponsor purchases of historic value to the county. Donations towards this purchase should be sent to the Friends of East Sussex Record Office, The Maltings, Castle Precincts, Lewes BN7 1YT.
Bicknell senior spent 12 years at Barcombe Place. He died in 1911, aged 79.
The picture above accompanied the leather-bound autobiography. Can anybody identify these people?

ROUSER in 1973 went to a dentist in Papua-New Guinea – a very nice man except that he talked too much.
Rouser, while being drilled, distinctly remembered the dentist saying that his senior partner once treated Errol Flynn’s teeth and that the star-to-be never paid his bill.
Flynn went on to join the New Guinea gold rush and later fetched up in England, where he acted in some low-budget films.
He then moved to Hollywood, duly became a legend, made enough money to have easily paid his dental bills, but instead drank himself to death.
Rouser went on to greater things.
Which brings him to the subject of Errol Flynn’s mother.
She was run over and killed by a bubble car in Woodingdean.
It was an Isetta (above right), a car made in the old Brighton railway yard in the 50s.
Errol’s parents were Professor Theodore and Marelle Flynn who lived in McWilliam Road. Earlier, it is believed, they lived in Seaford.
Mrs Flynn was killed by the Isetta while crossing Falmer Road.
It was a teardrop-shaped (and now very rare) vehicle from the ISO company of Milan which began production in the old railway engine shed of Brighton Locomotive Works.
It cost £399 and had a 250cc motorcycle engine.
BMW took out the franchise and former BOAC pilot R.J.Ashley oversaw the Brighton production line.
Each Sunday a trainload of parts, enough to make 250 Isettas, arrived from BMW in Germany. Other parts came from the Midlands.
Freight trains took completed cars to London for forwarding to agents.
The first Isettas were four-wheelers, but a number of three-wheelers were made to take advantage of the UK’s cheaper motorcycle licence.
Production moved to Victoria Road, Portslade, in 1961 where the vehicles were made until 1964. That’s all! Does anyone have an Isetta?
l By the way, a little bird told me that Charlie Chaplin’s mother once lived in Ringmer. It was probably after Charlie’s birth and it is thought she was in service. Can anyone help?

SEASONED researchers Peter Longstaff-Tyrrell and Patricia Berry are collaborating on a commemorative booklet called The Maple Leaf Army in Sussex, charting the roles of Canadian servicemen who came to this county during the war years. It is reckoned that between 7,000 and 8,000 Canadian former armed services people settled in Sussex, or returned to live there after the wars.
The county has an abundance of associations with them and Peter and Pat are seeking written recollections (up to 100 words) of those times. Experiences, knowledge of camps and troop movements (ideally plus the brief loan of photographs) are welcomed via PO Box 169 Polegate, East Sussex BN26 6YZ. View older pages
 
 

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