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Hannah Bra(c)kenbury 1795-1873


*Please Note*, Although Hannah was baptised with the surname Brackenbury, she appears to have dropped the "c" from her surname while living in Portslade, She sanctioned the new spelling of "Brakenbury" which is displayed in St Nicolas Church and on the wall of the old St Nicolas School (now Portslade County Infants School) which she opened in 1872.
         


The north window of the Brakenbury Chapel, depicting the Family's Coat of Arms

  


The Brakenbury Chapel in the north west corner of
St Nicolas Church, Portslade


The west window depicts : -left window -St James,
centre window - the raising of the daughter of Jairus,
right window - St Luke

The Brackenbury Family's
Coat of Arms
at Balliol College University of Oxford


Brakenbury Chapel as viewed from the inside St Nicolas Church




Sellaby House, the former Portslade home of Hannah Brakenbury
 
The following, is an abbreviation of an article which appeared in both the
Brighton Gazette and the Manchester Guardian, March 13, 1873
 
                                                                     THE LATE MISS BRACKENBURY
Early in the 1800’s Mr James B. Brackenbury moved to Manchester to practise as a solicitor, he was the legal advisor of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company at its formation, and he made a large fortune in the early days of the railways.
Miss Brackenbury resided with her brother in Manchester until October 1844, when, in consequence of his illness, they moved to Brighton, where he died in the same month. His only daughter having also died, Miss Brackenbury succeeded to his great wealth. She continued to reside in Brighton (Portslade), devoting her life and fortune to the promotion of charitable institutions, and generally in the most unostentatious manner. Some of her benefactions were, however, of such a character, that they could not remain unknown. The fabric of Balliol College, Oxford, was falling into decay, she donated £20,000 for the full rebuilding costs of the south side of the quadrangle, facing Broad Street, over the entrance gate is a tower, which is called Brackenbury’s Tower.
In Brighton Miss Brackenbury also distributed her gifts bountifully and often anonymously. In the spring of last year she erected a large free school at the picturesque village of Portslade, near Brighton, for the accommodation of 250 children, and she took part in the celebration of its opening. Altogether, during the last ten years Miss Brackenbury gave to charities upwards of £100,000.
The remains of her two brothers and niece lie in a vault in Portslade churchyard, over which Miss Brackenbury erected a mortuary chapel. There her own remains will be interred on Friday morning.

                                                                      The Funeral at Portslade Church.
The funeral procession, which consisted of five mourning coaches, each drawn by four horses and the private carriage of the deceased, left Adelaide Crescent,Hove at 11 o’clock, arriving at Portslade shortly after 12. Among the mourners were the Very Rev. Dr Robert Scott, the Dean of Rochester and the Rev. Professor Jowett, Master of Balliol College, Oxford. The church was filled by the villagers and those from adjacent parishes; and the burial service was impressively read by the Rev. F.G. Holbrooke, Vicar of Portslade; the psalms included in the service being chanted by the boys of the choir, Mr Machonochie presiding at the organ
The chapel is situated to the north of the ivy clad tower, and by its appearance showed that no expense was spared to make it as complete as possible in every particular. It is separated from the church proper by a small parapet, iron railings, and is lighted on two sides by stained glass windows. Running round the chapel walls is the following inscription: - “within these walls are deposited the remains of the last in lineal descent of the ancient family of Brackenbury, of Denton and Sellaby, in the county of Durham, and immediately under one of the memorial windows is the text, “They also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”
Hannah Brakenbury,
 Born November 17th 1795, Died at Hove
February 28th 1873
possessed of great wealth, she devoted much during her life,
and after by bequest to objects of beneficence.
She thus prayed,
"Lord remember me when thou comest to thy Kingdom",
                                                       St Luke 23.42.


Hannah Brakenbury donated the land and financed the building of the Brakenbury School
(St Nicolas C of E Junior School).
The wall inscription reads: -
These Schools were erected by Hannah Brakenbury
for the benefit of the Poor of the united parishes of
Portslade and Hangleton
A.D. 1872

(The school building is now an annexe of Portslade Infants School)

  

                                 The Will of Miss Brackenbury
Miss Brackenbury having no relatives left the whole of her fortune of £100,000 (excepting only a few small legacies to personal friends) to public institutions. The £100,000 was divided between, Durham University, where she founded and endowed 3 professorships in mathematics, medicine and science. Scholarships to Oxford University, and the following in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Surrey and London: - 12 hospitals, 7 Asylums, 4 schools, 3 orphanages, various benevolent societies, SPCK, Church Missionary Society, London Missionary Society and British & Foreign Bible Society. Locally in the Brighton area she left £1000 to Sussex County Hospital; £500 to Brighton & Hove Dispensary; £500 to Lying-in Institution; £500 to Asylum for Female Orphans; £300 to Asylum for the Blind; £200 to Deaf and Dumb Institution; £50 to St Mary’s Hospital, Queens Square; £50 to the Mission House of Hope;
The value of the £200,000 (£100,000 in donations plus £100,000 in bequests) that Miss Brackenbury donated to charities in today’s “money” equals over £11 million (£1 in 1873 has the spending power of £58 today, "1873 value of the pound" from a House of Commons Research Paper 99/20). The number of lives she affected for “the good” must run into hundreds of thousands in her lifetime and even today her legacy continues through the present day Universities, Schools, and Hospitals she originally funded.
At Balliol College (Oxford University) Hannah is remembered as a major benefactor of the College. Hannah Brackenbury’s coats of arms appear in several places on the buildings she paid for.
Balliol College was established in the first place by philanthropy, and has been sustained by Benefactors ever since. “The Bidding Prayer” recites, in the chronological order of their deaths, the names of the major Benefactors since the earliest days, Hannah Brackenbury is listed in this prayer. The Prayer is traditionally read out by the Master in Chapel on special occasions, especially at the service before the annual Gaudy, and on the feast of St Catherine of Alexandria, the College’s Patron Saint.
In the College life at Balliol, Hannah is also remembered in the form of the Brackenbury Society. This debating & dining society met regularly from 1890 to 1955, when it combined with (Matthew) Arnold Society, and today it is known as The Arnold and Brackenbury Society.

In September 2005, Durham University built two new residences for post-graduate students, one of which was named Brackenbury House, in memory of one of the University’s earliest philanthropists.
Hannah Brackenbury endowed a series of professorships at the University in Mathematics, Medicine and Science.
 

<THE LOST WALL PAINTINGS OF ST NICOLAS CHURCH                  ST ANDREW CHURCH HISTORY>