Wateringbury has "prettiest maidens Kent can boast of"(1836)

Post date: Mar 27, 2012 9:26:20 AM

Extract from West Kent Guardian of 4th June 1836:

Wateringbury.—This delightful little village has been a scene of great gaiety and interest. The Amicable Benefit Society held their annual meeting, attended by a band of music, garlands, banners, etc. at Mr. J. Startup's, the Duke's Head Inn. They attended divine service, when an excellent sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Earle, to whose kindness the club is much indebted. Having paraded the village, and interested some of the prettiest maidens Kent can boast of, they returned to their inn, spent the day in the most rational, convivial, and agreeable manner, and awarded full justice to the fare which the worthy host had provided.

The Amicable Benefit Society is likely to have been a Friendly Society. Their heyday was during the Victorian era, with a gradual decline during the 20th century. The main purpose of the these groups was to act as a benefit club in times of sickness and death. An annual club feast with a procession of bands and banners to a location where a meal was held, the accounts read, followed by entertainments was a feature common to many of them.

The Rev Earle was not the vicar of Wateringbury but he ran a school in the village on Tonbridge Road. See Private Tuition (1823).

The Duke's Head was on Old Road, a mid-18th century building which is still there. Two years after this event, in May 1838, it was acquired by John Beal Jude, founder of the Kent Brewery on Bow Road. In 1939 the Duke's head was removed and a new pub, The Duke without a Head was opened nearby on the Tonbridge Road (now also closed).