The Stents of Worthing

The 1903 Findon Kite Competition

In June 1903 the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain held the Findon International Kite Competition on the downs north of Worthing. The aim of the competition was to stimulate interest in aeronautics, and progress towards flying machines. The competition challenge was to fly a kite capable of carrying a load to a height of 3000 feet for a duration of one hour. There were several entrants including S.F Cody who would go on to produce his own flying machine in 1908, and Major B. Baden-Powell the brother of the founder of the Boy Scouts movement.

The event was a big day out for the people of Worthing. Over two thousand spectators turned out, and there was a marquee in which refreshments were served.

None of the entrants managed to achieve the competition targets, the best height achieved was 1800 feet.

But what has this got to do with our family history? The answer is that one of our relatives, Rodolph Stent,  played a small but important part in it. 

By 1836 Charles had left the mill at Pulborough and appears in Worthing. And five years later in the census of 1841 he is still in Worthing, working as a fly master. A fly was a carriage for hire by the public, usually for short journeys. The proprietor would ply for trade in the streets very much in the way of taxis which came later. A fly master owned more than one fly and employed drivers to operate them.

We don't know how Charles came to be in this business but he must have been in it for some time prior to 1841 to have become a fly master by then. And this is the start of the Stent connection with transportation in Worthing which continued into the 1920s. The business was based in Ann Street, Worthing just behind the town hall. This map shows the location - the green circle encloses Stent's premises with the entrance and office on Ann Street and the stables set out in a square.

And in this postcard of the town hall we can see Stent's premises behind and to the right of the town hall.

In the period up to the 1830s towns and villages on the South Coast were growing in popularity as seaside places to visit. Brighton is a well known example, growing from the little fishing village of Brighthelmstone in 1780 to a big fashionable resort by 1841. And with the coming of the railway in 1841 came day trippers. 

Worthing followed a similar pattern. In 1880 it was a small mackerel fishing village with a population of about 2000. With the arrival of tourism by 1841 it had grown to become another fashionable resort with a population of 7000. And that figure doesn't include all the visitors who would be staying there on holiday.  The railway came to Worthing in 1845 and the era of day trippers began. Charles had a licence from the railway to provide a fly service from the station. It was a mile walk from the railway station to the beach. These two pictures show Worthing railway station with flys waiting.

Charles' son George worked with his father in the fly business and took over in 1854. By then the business had expanded to offer omnibus services and larger vehicles for hire for excursions. Omnibuses were a new form of coach service. Hitherto all coach passengers had to pre book and obtain a written ticket in advance. An omnibus allowed any passenger to just board the coach and pay on board.

George's son Rodolph Stent gradually took over the business from his father until by 1890 he was one of the biggest suppliers of transportation in Worthing. Here's a selection of pictures of his vehicles.

And a couple more postcards of the pier showing flys and a brake which looks like Favourite again.