The Miller Family
Present in the farmhouse as tenants and lessees for a significant portion of the 18th and into the 19th century, the Millers were a family born from political elites. Their ancestry includes Sir Thomas Miller (MP for Chichester 1688 and 1690) created a baronet in 1705, succeeded by his eldest son Sir John Miller, succeeded again in 1721 by the third baronet Sir Thomas Miller who continued the now multi-generational tradition of becoming MP for Chichester. In 1704, the lease of the Graylingwell lands was given to the, then, John Miller, esq. and though subsequent family members who lived there were not likely to be the immediate relations to the various baronets, the Miller connection in Graylingwell was strong.
John Barton Hack (and further: the Hack family in Chichester)
John Barton Hack (b.1805, d.1884) lived in Chichester in Graylingwell Farmhouse with his wife and six children until his health took a severe downturn in 1836 and he was advised to seek a warmer climate for the sake of recovery. In 1837, he, his family, and brother landed in Adelaide where he would assert himself as a founding colonist in early Australia.
The Hacks were a prominent Quaker family in Chichester who, over the course of the early 19th century, made significant movements in the anti-slave trade campaign. John Barton (whose father had been an original member of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade) was heavily involved in the effort, regularly meeting at the home of James Hack, and in January of 1826, after a final meeting at William Hack’s house, the community presented the Chichester petition. Signed by the dean and archdeacon, the case against slavery at the Assembly Rooms was heard by local MPs and the Duke of Richmond. Whilst their actions may not have amounted to immediate change, the Hack family were no less an influence on the 1833 Abolition Act.
Anna Sewell
Anna Sewell (b.1820, d.1878) and her family moved to Graylingwell Farmhouse in 1853, renting from one Thomas Smith, to gain some country air in a bid to improve her poor health. Her experience of Chichester, being in the rather delicate state she was, largely existed through journeying by pony carriages where she bore witness to maltreatment of, but also managed her own travels and had regular interactions with, these animals. In 1877, her novel Black Beauty was published, inspired by the events of her four years at Graylingwell.
Edward Miller Street
A direct descendent of Thomas Farrington, MP and Mayor of Chichester in 1629, Edward Miller Street was titled ‘esquire’ when mentioned by name in published newspapers, supporting the notion that he was of some status within the city. A case brought to the High Court of Justice in June of 1890, published in 1891 volume of the Justice of the Peace, named Street and William Smith as Justices of the Peace, deciding on a breaking of the Rabies Order of 1887. For this case – and Street – to be involved in the High Court of Justice suggests the incident and consequences were highly prominent to the area.
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Research and text by Lily Richards, Chichester University
