Sunday, March 16, 2003

The Sussex Spaniel

Many sources credit Augustus Elliot Fuller, MP (1777 - 1857) a keen huntsman and sportsman, with originating the Sussex Spaniel breed. They say he kept the breed for 50 years. Other sources say a," Mr Fuller of Rose hill" started the breed in 1795. This is confusing because A. E. Fuller inherited Rosehill, Brightling upon the death of John "Mad Jack" Fuller in 1834. Perhaps A. E. Fuller kept Sussex Spaniels before he inherited Rosehill. I have no evidence that Jack Fuller kept Sussex Spaniels.

A. E. Fuller was the son of John Trayton Fuller (c. 1743 - 1811) and Anne Elliot (1754 - 1835) of Ashdown House, Forest Row (now a school). John Trayton Fuller's father Thomas Fuller (1715 - 1780) and John "Mad Jack" Fuller's father Henry Fuller (1713 - 1761) were brothers.

Saturday, March 15, 2003

Windmills in Sussex

The Round House at Lewes

This smock mill, built in 1801, is thought to be the only one in Sussex to have been funded by public subscription. The name "John Fuller MP" appears on the list of some 65 subscribers as contributing £10.

Rodmell Post Mill

Guy Blythman of the Sussex Industrial Archaeological Society writes this about the Rodmell Post Mill on the The Lost Windmills of Sussex page:

On 16th June 1810, the owner John Fuller, sold the mill for £700 to John Glazebrook. During a violent storm late in 1825, the crowntree was struck by lightning, which then passed down the main post to the ground, but the mill was not seriously damaged. A year later, in December 1826, John Glazebrook died and was succeeded by his son William who remained at the mill for some 50 years.

Inquiries as to whether this John Fuller is Mad Jack Fuller have, as yet, remained unanswered.

Sunday, March 02, 2003

The Gutenberg Bible Mystery

We are currently trying to unravel a mystery that surrounds Jack Fuller's bequest of a copy of the Gutenberg Bible to his old school, Eton College. This two-volume Bible is described as a "perfect paper copy... with contemporary pigskin over wooden boards. Blind-stamped by Johann Fogel of Erfurt...the only copy in a binding by Fogel which bears his name stamped in blind on the covers. John Fuller of Rosehill, Sussex presented this copy to Eton in 1841."
John Fuller died on 11 Apr 1834. It seems odd that this gift, bequeathed by Fuller in his will took 7 years to makes its way to Eton College's Library. I contacted Eton College and received this reply from Penny Hatfield:

As far as we are aware the College's copy of the Bible was a bequest from the Fuller who dies(sic) in 1834 and came to the College in that year. Records of gifts at that period are almost non-existent so I suppose it is possible that it did not actually arrive in the Library until some time later, but certainly we have always viewed it as acquired in 1834.

Douglas Clausen of Clausen Books of Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, editor of the Gutenberg Bible Census page, writes:

I have double-checked my sources, and all indicate that 1841 was the date that the copy was donated to Eton...by John Fuller of Rose Hill, Sussex.

It is entirely possible that an early researcher got his facts wrong and the error was perpetuated by all the other scholars, or perhaps Mad Jack's family didn't hand over the bible until 1841.

We may never resolve this discrepancy. Can anyone shed any light on the subject?