William Hallett, Alderman and Mayor of Brighton and J.P.

for Sussex, son of Thomas Hallett, farmer and Martha Hallett [Maskell]
William Hallett was born on 10th April 1793 at Rotherfield and christened at St Denys Church on 4th August 1793, the eldest child of Thomas and Martha [nee Maskell] Hallett. At the age of 17 he moved to Brighton as a carpenter and workman on the Pavilion but returned to Rotherfield with his first wife Mary Ann Miles whom he had married on 23rd November 1819 at Lewes. They had four daughters at Rotherfield before the family settled in Brighton and then two sons - William Henry Hallett (1828-1892) and Frederic Francis Hallett (18311901) both of whom were to have highly successful careers. After the death of his wife, Mary Ann, he was to marry Harriet Rebecca Ashmead in 1855 with whom he had three more sons. William Hallett was one of the major builders of Brighton during the middle of the 19th century - including St John the Baptist church which was consecrated on 7th July 1835, The Bristol Hotel (named after the Marquess of Bristol his patron), The Victoria Wing on the County Hospital in 1837, The Kemp Town Brewery in Seymour Street in the 1840s and much of the eastern end of Brighton. William Hallett was prominent in public life from 1829 until his death in 1862 - as Director and Guardian of the Poor; High Constable; Alderman and from 1855-56 as Mayor of Brighton. He also played a significant role in local charities. On 3rd April 1862 at 142 Marine Parade, Brighton, William Hallett died, aged 68. He was buried at St Denys Churchyard in Rotherfield where, in 1900, his eldest son from the second marriage John Hallett (1856-1904) erected a memorial and glass window to William Hallett and his wife Harriet Rebecca. Obituary in The Gentlemans Magazine, 1862: At Brighton, aged 68, William Hallett, esq., an alderman of that town, and J.P. for Sussex. Mr. Halletts career was identical with the growth of Brighton. Born on the 10th of April, 1794, at Rotherfield, in Sussex, he was bred a carpenter, and with his basket of tools on his back first set foot in Brighton at the age of seventeen. He was employed as a workman on the Pavilion, where he afterwards, as Mayor, presided as the temporary lord of these princely halls. After gaining further experience by working in the metropolis, he returned and settled at Brighton, where he speedily became an employer, bought land, entered into large building speculations, established and successfully carried on a steam brewery, (still continued by his eldest son

Mr.W.W.Hallett, and his partner, Mr. Abbey) turned his attention to farming, (at the Manor Farm, now held by his second son, Mr. F.F.Hallett,) and success attended his every effort. About 1825 he became a public man as one of the fourteen commissioners for the government of Brighton, and he took an active part in the promotion of local improvements. He was elected a Director and Guardian of the Poor in 1829, and served for some years after; Churchwarden in 1831, and High Constable in 1834. He was one of the first members of the Corporation elected by the burgesses, and was at once made an alderman, which position he held till his death, serving the office of Mayor in 1855-6. Mr. Hallett was a steady friend to the local charities, particularly the County Hospital; and by his influence with the late Marquess of Bristol, with whom he was much concerned in building at the eastern end of Brighton, he procured the handsome gift of twenty acres of land for the parochial cemetery. His body was interred at his native village of Rotherfield.

Source: www.theweald.org