XI. THE MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS.
Reference has been made in earlier chapters to the Guildhall of the burgesses, which served the purposes of the Corporation a thousand years ago ; also to the old Guildhall, part of St. Martin's building near King Street, and to the Court Hall, sometimes called the Guildhall, which was built in the Market Place in the reign of James I. These only call for passing notice, having been, one after another, abandoned, the last move of the Corporation having been to the present Municipal Buildings at the Maison Dieu.
The historical associations of the Maison Dieu have been mentioned, it having been one of the famous religious houses of Dover; and it has been stated that, after its dissolution, it became the Dover headquarters of the Royal Victualling Department. When the Victualling Department closed, soon after the Peace of 181 5, it was for a few years used by the Ordnance Department, and the red-brick mansion on the adjoining site was the residence of the Head Official of the Victualling Department, and subsequently, of the Chief of the Ordnance Department. In 1834 the whole establishment was offered for sale at a London Auction Mart, and was " knocked down " at j£7,6So; but the Ordnance Department, hearing that the Corporation of Dover wanted the Maison Dieu Hall for public purposes, they separated the lots, selling the mansion privately, and the Maison Dieu itself, with the land down to the river, was then purchased by the Dover Corporation, who immediately proceeded to transform the building into a Sessions Hall and Prison. It was first used in 1836 as a Council Chamber, a Court for Quarter and Petty Sessions and a Prison. The new Town Council having then recently come into existence, and the members being in an economical mood, they left the grand old Maison Dieu Hall in dilapidation with its series of ancient south windows bricked up, and so it remained for fifteen years.
Soon after the Corporation bought the Maison Dieu Hall they passed resolutions to restore it, and Mr. Ambrose Poynter, a well-known architect, drew designs for the work, including those six south windows, and the large one on the west, corresponding with the style in which the hall was originally built. Those plans were laid aside until 1851, when the Town Council began to push forward the work. The windows having been put in according to Mr. Ambrose Poynter's drawings, were filled with plain glass, but a few years later the architect's son, Edward, who was born in Paris in 1836 (now Sir Edward Poynter, R.A., D.C.L., President of the Royal Academy), drew a set of cartoons, remarkably appropriate for filling each of the windows with stained glass. Those cartoons were also laid aside with the hope that from, time to time, the townspeople would provide funds for their insertion as memorials. That expectation was realised, the series being completed in 1873. The windows are described in " Dover: A Perambulation," as follows : —
" The first window inserted was the large one with five lights, over the south-west entrance, given by Mrs. Bell, of Maison Dieu House, in memory of her cousin, Mr. William Kingsford, who died in 1856. In the central light is the figure of Hubert de Burgh, the founder of the Maison Dieu ; in the two divisions on the right are effigies of Henry HI. and Richard II., and, on the other side, Henry VI. and Richard III. The artistic treatment, both as to design and colour, is superb. The six windows on the south-east side, which had the pictorial cartoons inserted at various times, are as follows, commencing at the top of the Hall: — (i) "Relief of Dover Castle, by Sir John de Pencester, A.D. 1216," inserted, by public subscription, in memory of our soldiers who fell in the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny, 1854-7; (2) "Henry Til. confirming the Charter of the Maison Dieu, A.D. 1227," inserted by merchants and citizens of London as " a memorial to the commercial honour and uprightness of Richard Dickeson, 1872 " ; (3) '' Embarkation of Edward HI. for France at Dover, A.D. 1359-" inserted as a memorial to Robert Taylor, Commander of the Roval Navy, who died at Dover, 1873; (4) "Landing of the Emperor Sigismund opposed at Dover, A.D. 1414," presented by Mr. H. P. Mackenzie, the builder employed in the restoration of the Hall, 1862; (5) " Embarkation of Henry VIII. at Dover for the Field of Cloth of Gold, 1520," inserted by Mr. Thomas Baker Bass, Town Clerk, in memory of his relative, William Allen, a native of Dover, who died in South Australia, 1856; (6) "Landing of Charles II. at Dover, on his Restoration, 25th May, 1660," erected in memory of Mr. George T. Thompson, Lieutenant of the Dover Company of the Artillery Volunteers, who was killed by the bursting of a gun during practice at ArchclifFe Fort, 9th August, i860. Alike for their artistic merits, the subjects depicted, and the occasions of their erection, these winrlows form a series scarcely equalled in any public building in the kingdom."
After the restoration of 1851 had been completed, partly by public subscriptions and i)artly at the cost of the Town, the Maison Dieu continued to be used, the part re-constructed as a Borough Prison, on the Ladywell side, the large hall on the south side used for public meetings, and the ancient chapel at the north-east end re-constructed as a Sessions House and Council Chamber. In 1867-8 the Prison was rebuilt, with a square tower on the north corres ponding with the ancient tower on the south of the entrance. A new Council Chamber was built on the south-east. In 1882-3, the prison having been disused, was demolished, and a large hall was erected on its site, called the Connaught Hall, after the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, who came to open it in July, 1883. At the same time, a " Mayor's Parlour" was built at the upper end of this hall; and in 1894 a handsome building for the use of the School of Art and Technology was added, facing I.adywell. The entire cost of these Municipal Buildings (excluding ;^8oo public subscriptions and the original purchase money paid by the old Corporation) has been more than ^60,000.
The Maison Dieu House, a red-brick Elizabethan Mansion, originally built as the residence of the Chief Officer of the Dover Victualling Department. After the Ordnance Department in 1834 sold the Maison Dieu, this Mansion became private property, but in 1904 it was purchased by the Corporation for the use of the Officials of the Corporation.
In addition to " storied windows," before described, the most interesting feature of the interior of the Municipal Buildings are the historical pictures possessed by the Cor poration. Amongst the portraits of Sovereigns more or less associated with Dover are. Queen Elizabeth, purchased in 1598; Charles II. and WilHam III., presented by John Hollingbery, Mayor in 1703 ; Queen Anne, presented by Captain Ball, 1713; George I., presented by A. Wellard, Mayor, 1758; and an equestrian portrait of George IV. Portraits of Lord Wardens are Lionel Sackville, ist Duke of Dorset, presented by the Duke in 1761; the Duke of Wellington, painted by Lilley of Dover; Viscount Palmerston, painted by E. Butler Norris; Earl Granville, painted by H. J. Brooks; the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, painted by Prince Troubetzkoy ; and Earl Brassey, of Hythe. Portraits of Mayors: Charles Lamb, 1853; James Poulter, 1854 ; John Birmingham, i860; and Dr. Ferrand Astley, 1858. Portraits of Recorders: Philip Yorke, Lord Hardwick, 17 18-1764; Mr. Robinson, 1771-1807; Sir William Henry Bodkin, 1834 1874, (painted by R. W. Waters, Dover); and Sir Harry Bodkin Poland, Q.C, 1874-1901. Portraits of notable inhabitants: Peter Fector, banker, 17 14-1790; the Rev. John Maule, Minister of St. Mary's, Dover, 1817-1842. Portraits of Dover Members of Parliament: Sir John Rae Reid, 1 800-1 847; Edward Royds Rice (painted by R. W. Waters), 1835-1857; Right Hon. George Wyndham, 1889-1913; and there is in the Council Chamber a portrait of the late Sir Wollaston Knocker, Town Clerk. Up the side of the Maison Dieu Hall are shields exhibiting the arms of the principal Lord Wardens and Constables of the Castle, as well as other pictures, documents, plans, and charts of local interest. In addition to the memorial windows in the Maison Dieu Hall there is one in the Council Chamber inserted in recognition of the Municipal services of the late Mr. Steriker Finnis ; and in the Connaught Hall are stained glass windows, as follows : — Two in memory of the wife and children of Mr. W. P. Mummery; one in memory of Mr. C. K. Freshfield, M.P., 1865-85; another in memory of Major A. G. Dickson, M.P., 1865-1889; one put hi by Sir Richard Dickeson on the occasion of his being pre sented with the Freedom of Dover; and one erected in 1906 in memory of Mr. Edward Worsfold Mowll, Register of Dover Harbour.
.*. The window, above mentioned, put in on the occasion of Sir Richard Dickeson being presented with the Honorary Freedom of Dover, is in the Council Chamber.