Did You Know? EAST SUSSEX A Miscellany

Compiled by Julia Skinner, page 44 

"The area around Brightling, east of Heathfield, is famous for a number of follies built in the early 19th century by John ‘Mad Jack’ Fuller (1757-1834), an eccentric local squire and ironmaster who lived a the Rose Hill estate, now Brightling Park. These include the Obelisk (or Brightling Needle) on Brightling Down, built to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, and the cone-shaped Sugar Loaf (or Fuller’s Point) that stands in a field north of the B2056 just east of Woods Corner, south-west of Brightling, which Fuller is said to have built to win a bet. The story goes that he made a wager with a friend in London that he could see the spire of St Giles Church at Dallington from his house, but when he got home he found the view of the spire was blocked by a hill. Nothing daunted, in order to win the bet he had the Sugar Loaf folly built as a spire look-alike on high ground between his home and Dallington, which accurately resembled a distant view of the church’s distinctive spire when seen from his house. He was delighted with his ploy, and claimed that ‘no one can tell one from t’other’."

The authors do not provide any references so it is not known where either their assertion that the Obelisk was built in 1815 to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo or the quote attributed to Fuller originate.

Rose Fuller Timeline

1 Feb 1706	Rose Fuller’s elder brother John Fuller born at Brightling, Sussex
12 Apr 1708	Rose Fuller (RF) born at Brightling, Sussex. Baptized on 27 Apr 1708 at Brightling
28 Oct 1709	RF’s sister Elizabeth Fuller born at Brightling, Sussex
15 Jan 1713	RF’s brother Henry Fuller born at Brightling, Sussex
2 Nov 1715	RF’s brother Thomas born at Brightling, Sussex
27 Nov 1716	RF’s brother Stephen christened at Waldron, Sussex
1721	Ithamar Mill born at St Catherine, Jamaica
1724	Richard Mill, father-in-law of RF, called to the Council of Jamaica
1725	Richard Mill, father-in-law of RF, appointed Receiver General of Jamaica
1728	RF trained as Medical Doctor at Cambridge; Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge
26 Apr 1729	RF studied medicine at Leiden, Holland (sometimes Leyden)
20 Apr 1732	RF made Fellow of the Royal Society
11 Dec 1732	RF sails for Jamaica when management of estates by attorneys resulted in loss of profits
1733	RF arrived in Spanish Town, Jamaica
17 May 1733	Molasses Act passed by British Parliament to regulate trade by imposing a sixpence per gallon tax on molasses imported by the American Colonies from non-British sugar producing countries.  It was unsuccessful, however, as smuggling and bribing customs officials nullified the law.
1735	RF elected member for St Catherine to the Jamaica Assembly
28 Jan 1735	William Fuller born in Spanish Town, Jamaica(son of Mary Johnston Rose and possibly Rose Fuller)
18 Apr 1735	William Fuller baptized
26 Apr 1737	RF married Ithamar Mill, daughter of Richard Mill
1737	RF called to council and made supreme court judge in Jamaica
22 Apr 1738	Ithamar Mill, RF’s wife died in childbirth. The baby did not survive.
16 June 1739	Death of Richard Mill. Grange Penn and a house in Spanish Town left to his son-in-law RF “And lastly in regard to the Tenderness and affection with which my Son in Law Doctor Rose Fuller used his late wife my dearly beloved Daughter I do hereby give devise and bequeath All the rest residue and remainder of my Reall (sic) and Personal Estate whatsoever to the said Doctor Rose Fuller his Heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns forever”: Source - http://aparcelofribbons.co.uk/apr/archive/files/d66a7ac8401bea479e2b5b9e8b19963f.pdf
23 Aug 1739	Richard Mill’s will proved at London
1740	Disputes with Governor William Trelawny led to removal  of RF from the council
1742	RF’s brother Thomas Fuller starts work as a sugar merchant in London
1745	Mary Johnston Rose, a free mulatto, applied for herself and her mulatto sons, Thomas Wynter (son of Dr William Wynter?)and William Fuller (son of Rose Fuller?), “as if white” status.
1746	Disputes with Governor William Trelawny led to RF’s removal from the bench
28 Nov 1746	English parliament confirmed an Act of the Jamaican Assembly granting Mary Rose Johnson and her sons “as if white” status.
1749	RF back in England
1752	RF returned to Jamaica
19 Mar 1753	RF appointed Chief Justice of Jamaica and chief judge of the court of judicature sitting at St Jago de la Vega (Spanish Town) by governor Charles Knowles
31 Jan 1754	RF led a rally of several hundred people to protest the bid to move the capital of Jamaica from Spanish Town to Kingston near the building in which Governor Knowles was leading a session of the court of chancery. Fuller was charged with inciting a riot although no riot occurred.
7 Oct 1754	Knowles wrote to the Board of Trade ‘complaining of the “tyrannical proceedings of Dr. Fuller in his capacity of judge”. RF resigned as Chief Justice
5 Feb 1755	Death of elder brother, John Fuller. Rose Fuller who now became heir of the Fuller estate, including Rose Hill, Brightling.
15 Feb 1755	In a letter to RF, brother Stephen Fuller writes of his preparations for RF’s return to England, “I take it you will have no OBJECTION TO A Celler full of Strong Bere…and will take care to lay in a Proportionable Stock of wine.”(sic)
Aug 1755	RF arrives in England. There is no evidence that he ever returned to Jamaica.
1756-1763	Seven Years War aka French and Indian War
9 Oct 1756	Letter written to RF by his sister Elizabeth (Fuller) Slone thanking him for her long stay at Rosehill and saying of RF and brother Stephen Fuller, “'both run great risk of your healths with such riotous living'.
1756-1761	RF elected MP for New Romney.
20 Feb 1757	John “Mad Jack” Fuller born at North Stoneham, Hampshire.
23 Jul 1761	RF’s brother, the Rev Henry Fuller dies leaving his only son, John “Mad Jack” Fuller as sole heir.
1764	RF’s brother Stephen Fuller becomes Jamaica’s agent in London, a post he held until 1795.
5 Apr 1764	The Sugar Act passed by British Parliament.  It effectively halved the tax imposed by the Molasses Law and was meant to raise revenue as well as regulate the sugar trade.
6 Feb 1765	Although he had supported it earlier, RF spoke out and voted against the Stamp Act
15 Feb 1765	Presented a petition against the Stamp Act on behalf of merchants trading with Jamaica
1761-1768	RF was MP for Maidstone
16 Mar 1768-1777	RF was MP for Rye
8 Feb 1769	RF warned the House that putting pressure on America would have undesired consequences saying,”Where do gentlemen wish to end? Do they expect that before it is ended the Americans should in their assemblies declare the power of taxing them to be in this country?”
5 Mar 1770	RF advocated for the repeal of the tea duty
1773	In reaction to the Boston Tea Party, RF made a speech in the House of Commons offering his experience in trade with Jamaica and America to submit a plan to the house and stating that instead of going on European tours, young members might have better spent their time visiting America.
21 Mar 1774	RF said, “I am from the bottom of my heart convinced that if this bill passes as it now is it will ruin this country”, on the second reading of the Boston port bill.
1776-1783	American Revolutionary War
7 May 1777	Death of Rose Fuller; Buried 15 May 1777 at Waldron, Sussex. John “Mad Jack” Fuller is chief beneficiary of Rose Fuller’s estate.  Spanish Town house left the lifetime use of Mary Johnston, Rose.
15 May 1777	RF buried at Waldron, Sussex
20 Feb1783	Jamaica House of Assembly resolved to write to Stephen Fuller, RF’s brother and Jamaica agent in London, requesting he commission a sculptor to create a statue of Lord Rodney to commemorate Rodney’s victory over the French fleet on 12 Apr 1782.
19 Mar 1783	Mary Johnston Rose buried in St Catherine, Jamaica
1789	Thomas Wynter died.
1808	Slave trade abolished in British Empire
1833	Slave Emancipation Act
11 Apr 1834	Death of John “Mad Jack” Fuller at his London home, 36 Devonshire Place.
1838	Apprenticeships end; true emancipation
1846	William Rose Wynter, grandson of Mary Johnston Rose, died in Devon, England