Posted on Sep 21, 2025
FULLER PILCH was born in Horningtoft, Norfolk on 17 March 1803. He had two elder brothers who were professional cricketers. He started his own cricketing career at Lords in 1820 playing for Norfolk against Marylebone. By the late 1820s he had become recognised as the best batsman England had produced, and that continued until the appearance of WG Grace in the 1860s. He developed a style of playing forward to the ball to rush the bowler. This shot became known as the “Pilch Poke”, and that term is still recognised today. In 1835 he transferred to the Town Malling team on a salary of £100 a year, and took over the Cricketers’ Inn which had a cricket field attached (Kent’s county ground at the time). The Cricketers’ Inn later became a private house and is recorded as the last building in Ryarsh Lane. In 1842 the county ground moved to Canterbury, and so did Pilch – to play for Kent’s county side, where he remained until he retired in 1855, having played for Kent through 19 seasons. He amassed a total of 10 centuries – which was quite an accomplishment when you consider how poor some of the pitches were. There is a plaque at the Old Cricket Ground, which is now accessed from Norman Road, which gives a brief history of cricket in West Malling and Pilch’s starring role in it. Pilch never married, and died on 1st May 1870 of dropsy, aged 67. He is buried in St Gregory’s Church in Canterbury, where there is a large monument to him. More...
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Posted on Sep 21, 2025
WILLIAM PERFECT was probably born in Bicester in 1737. His father became vicar of East Malling in 1742. From 1756 the family was resident in West Malling High Street. William married three times and fathered ten children. In November 1749 William Perfect became apprenticed to William Everred, a surgeon in London. He also studied under Colin McKenzie who was a strong advocate against the practice of wearing swords and cloaks at births! By 1757 he was practising in West Malling referring to himself as Surgeon, Apothecary and Man-Midwife. His studies and subsequent books show he was at the forefront of the new medical interest in Mid-Wifery. Perfect was also a noteworthy poet of the period. His poetry was first published in Martin’s Magazine 1755. In 1765 Perfect became a Freemason despite the French Revolution creating public suspicion of the organisation. By Royal Patent of the Prince of Wales he was appointed in 1795 as Provincial Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Kent. His second child, Sarah, went on to marry Sylvester Harding, a well-known miniaturist painter at the time whose work is still famous today, and London’s National Portrait Gallery once staged a retrospective exhibition of his work. William Perfect died in 1809 was buried in the tomb he constructed in East Malling Churchyard. His triple oak and lead coffin was brought at midnight from West Malling by torchlight in a cortege drawn by black horses. Medical Perfect wrote articles on autopsies such as the examination of the body of a woman who died after eating a large quantity of cucumbers! His first medical book Methods of Cure in Some Particular Cases of Insanity was published 1778 and Cases in Mid-Wifery, two volumes, 1781 and 1783. These books are of great interest to social historians as they show the social care systems in place and details of local conditions in 18th century West Malling. He wrote against the practice of flinging corpses of hanged men into a common pit and tried to relieve the conditions for prisoners. Inoculation against Smallpox was introduced into England in 1721 with great suspicion. In 1761 Perfect was advertising inoculation and with Dr Porter inoculated much of Kent, and orchestrated inoculation over a large part of England. He inoculated thousands from his home. By 1770 he was well known for his advanced care of the mentally ill, and in 1774 was licensed to care for up to ten patients in his own home with his family of ten children. He wrote on humane care systems. Later he bought two other High Street houses. In 1783 he became an MD, then a member of The London Medical Society in 1795 with a consultancy in the Strand. With his son he was probably a founder of The Benevolent Society for The Relief of Widows and Orphans of Medical Men in Kent. Literary Perfect’s poetry was first...
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Posted on Sep 21, 2025
GEORGE ORWELL was the pen name used by Eric Arthur Blair. He was born 25th June 1903 in Motihari in British India. His ancestral home there has been declared a National Monument. When he was one, his mother sent him to England with his older sister. They settled first at Henley on Thames. He was an English essayist, journalist, critic and novelist. Famous novels include 1984 and Animal Farm. Acclaimed non- fiction works include Road to Wigan Pier and Homage to Catalonia characterised by well researched social realism. His work concerning totalitarianism created words and phrases such as Big Brother, Thought Crime, Cold War, Thought Police and Room 101 – which have become part of our language. Eric Arthur Blair stayed at West Malling Spike (workhouse) in 1931 and describes the characters and places with blunt realism. In the Hop Picking Diaries he describes trying to obtain work at Kronk’s Farm (Cronk’s Farm, Newbarns, West Malling) and working at Blest’s Farm (Best’s Farm). He travelled by train with other pickers. The realism of these experiences is reflected in his novel Down and Out in Paris and London (1933) and used extensively in his novel The Clergyman’s Daughter (1935). West Accrington Station referred to in The Clergyman’s Daughter is thought to be West Malling. He died 21st January 1950 in London. The Times considered him second on a list of the 50 greatest British authors since 1945. More information More information More...
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Posted on Sep 21, 2025
SILAS NORTON and his business partner Thomas Selby were solicitors and both from ancient Kentish families. Selby was part of a very ancient Kentish family of worldwide influence who had owned property in West Malling since at least the 15th century. The Bodleian Library holds documents relating to him. Norton was born and died in West Malling. He held his law licence almost until his death at the age of 90. He married Sarah Ann Bookham and they had six children. Cricket had been played in West Malling since at least 1705. Norton and Selby linked with William George 2nd Lord Harris (1782-1845) and formed Town Malling Cricket Club. From a woodcut in 1891 The “New Ground” (or St Georges Field) was established, and the first match played in 1827. The well-known cricketer Fuller Pilch was retained on a salary of £100 per year. His duties included being Landlord of the Cricketer’s Arms in Ryarsh Lane and cutting the grass! First Class cricket was first played in 1836 and attracted a “gate” of 8,000. The Lords Harris have since been enormously influential in the development of cricket in England and India. Long thought to be the inspiration and setting for Charles Dickens’s famous “Muggleton” match in the Pickwick Papers (1836-1837), Charles Dicken’s son wrote “Muggleton is perhaps only a fancy sketch of a small country town but if anywhere Town Malling sat for it being a great place for cricket in Mr Pickwick’s time.” Another woodcut of the High Street in West Malling was included in the edition of Pickwick Papers which celebrated the jubilee of Queen...
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Posted on Sep 21, 2025
The Rev WILLIAM NEVILL 4th Earl of Abergavenny (1792-1868) bought Lantern House and Estate (now called Malling House) in 1866 from the Heirs of Valentine Phillips, one of whom was Phillips of the famous Bond Street Auction House. William succeeded to the title of 18th Lord of Abergavenny in 1845. Chaplain to King William IV, he was Vicar of Frant and Rector of Birling. With General Luck of the Hermitage he let property in the High Street and Swan Street to finance four local schools. He married CAROLINE LEEKE and they had seven children. Five were living in 1866, Henrietta-Augusta, Ralph Pelham, William (later the 5th Earl and 1st Marquis of Abergavenny) Isabel and Caroline. The daughter, The Lady Caroline Emily Nevill 1829-1887, was an exhibitor at The Royal Photographic Society and a founder member of The Photographic Exchange Club, producing a series of Architectural views of Kent 1855-1858. She was a pioneer of early waxed paper negative and luminous lint photography. Together with her two sisters (called “The Trio”) she produced embroidered artworks. She spent her time fundraising and helping the poor of West Malling, living most of her life here. She died in London, her body being transported from West Malling Station at walking pace to Birling by Mr Viner, Funeral Director. All work and business stopped throughout the district for the duration of the funeral out of respect. RALPH PELHAM NEVILL (1832-1914) High Sheriff of Kent (married Louisa Maclean (1833-1919) and had seven children. They lived in Lantern (Malling) House until 1873. Ralph was a keen, able sportsman, huntsman, dog and cattle breeder. For eight years he commanded a troop in the West Kent Yeomanry. The family gave the small Green, on which stands the Town Sign and the statue “Hope”, to the Parish. PERCY LLEWELYN NEVILL enlarged the Lantern estate by buying property in Town Hill c.1900. During World War 1 the house was used as a Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital and the estate was eventually divided and partly built on. Malling House (Lantern House) is an ancient and commanding site. A 1986 survey showed it incorporated an early timber framed building with a gable end to the road with 17th, 18th and 19th century additions. In the 18th century it was a mansion owned by the Burt family. Mrs Burt wrote to Trollop’s, the wallpaper company in London, for advice on wallpaper. Valentine Phillips owned it before Earl Abergavenny but there are gaps in the record. More...
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