Sussex in Bygone Days

First published 1906. Nathaniel Paine Blaker was born at Mays, in Selmeston in 1835, a farm was owned by his maternal grandfather, Joseph Fuller. His father was a farmer, a member of a family who, for 300 years, had been owners of land and agriculturists at Portslade, Kingston and Shoreham. During Nathaniel's first year, the family moved to Perching in Edburton. He was sent to a school run by Miss Lee in Lewes when he was eight, and a year later he went to Steyning Grammar School where he developed a love of shooting. Leaving school at 16, he began learning farming, but after a year he asked his father to place him as a pupil at the Sussex County Hospital. He was apprenticed for five years to the house surgeon, the last two to be spent at Guy's Hospital, London. In 1859, he was appointed assistant surgeon to the Convict Hospital in Lewes. In 1860, he became house surgeon at Brighton and Hove Dispensary, becoming house surgeon to the Sussex County Hospital in1864. In this collection of essays he writes of the last half of the 19th century. There are extensive pieces on Steyning, Lewes and farming. His thoughts on bringing up children would not be considered ‘PC‘ in today's terms - he remarks that the traditional Christening gift was a cane! Spare the rod…