A brief history of Hurst House
by Nick Robinson  

The area between Newbold Road and Sheffield Road was developed in earliest Victorian times for prosperous families, the tone being set by the presence of the new (1837) Holy Trinity Church. Solid, stone houses line Abercrombie Street. The best preserved example of a purpose-built residential road of the 1840's in the entire district. It contains more Grade II Listed buildings (including Hurst house) then any other residential road in Chesterfield.

The thoroughfare was named after the Right Honourable James Abercrombie, Agent to the sixth Duke of Devonshire. Speaker of the house of Commons 1835-9, and later elevated to Lord Dunfermline. For seven years during the 1830's he tenanted Stubbing Court in Wingerworth. Apart from the distant whistles of passing trains on the new Midland line in the valley to the east and the rumble of horse drawn traffic along nearby roads life in this part of town was peaceful.

Click here for relevant census returns 1851-1891

Click here for some old photos of the building.

Like much of North-east Derbyshire, the site of Hurst House was for centuries part of the estates of the Duke of Devonshire. The earliest record of the plot of land where the house stands is a conveyance by release from the Duke of Devonshire to Francis Hurst, of a plot of land of 1,973 square feet, dated December 3, 1845. The property was bordered on the south by land belonging to Christopher Hodkin and to the north by Jacob Ashton.

Francis Hurst, a High Street draper, was the son of his father by his first wife. He had three sisters, a brother, "and others" according to his pedigree. The children of the second marriage of George Hurst, to Mary Townsend, both died soon after birth. Francis was married on June 19, 1829 to Clara. He seems to have been very successful because by 1846 he was described as "a gentleman of Abercrombie Street'. Hurst became Chairman of the Board of Guardians supervising the running of the nearby Workhouse (later Scarsdale Hospital) and a Vice President of the Chesterfield and Brampton Mechanics' Institute.

He built the house, through an agreement dated May 5, 1847, between Francis and Christopher Hodkin. The former accepted responsibility for the southern boundary wall of the property. Built in a mock Italian style, it was clearly for a wealthy middle-class man who expected to employ servants. In 1845 the north side of Chesterfield was the fashionable part of the town and Hurst's House by overlooking the whole valley of the Rother, was in an enviable position.

The small rooms in the third story at the south end of the house, and the staircase leading to them were for the servants. The state rooms at the front overlooked the garden and the whole of the river's valley. The drawing room at the south end has a magnificent fireplace. The door, pelmets and ceiling were ornate and the ceiling is at a height which typifies Victorian pomp. The window opposite the door is new so that the outlook of the room, (no trees impeded the view), would embrace the whole broad sweep of the valley. The reception room and dining room which flank the front door, also have large fire places and full windows and face the elegantly terraced garden. The rooms at the rear are self sufficient, smaller and seem to be for the servants. Upstairs there were three state bedrooms, two overlooking the front garden and one on the half-landing overlooking the side of the house too. There were stables at the back and a greenhouse was added later.

Hurst died in January 1855, and is buried in Soresby Street Independent Chapel. He had no children, and in his will of July 17 1844, left the house and its effects to his wife or, in the event of her death, to his sisters. In turn, Clara left all her goods, including the house, to Susannah Darwin, the daughter of Sarah Catton, a sister of Francis Hurst. In his will dated November 15 1871, Henry Darwin gave Susannah half his furniture. Another document dated November 21 1862 states that Sarah Catton gave the house back to Clara and by a conveyance signed on the same day the house was sold to S. B. Busby, a solicitor. It appears that for legal purposes the house belonged to Clara until her death which post dated the sale.

Busby died on July 15, 1900, and his property passed to his son, C. G. Busby, who sold the house in April 1902 to Dr. Sidney Worthington. Worthington was apparently a medical practitioner from Warwickshire. The purchase price was £2,124, Incidentally, it appears that Christopher Hodkin's property now belonged to a John Lancaster Eastwood.

At the time of purchase, Worthington raised a mortgage on the property of £1,450, at 4% interest. The mortgagees were Henry Archibald Sanders and Frank Springett. On December 24 1908, Worthington repaid £750 of the principal debt, the interest having been paid to that date. In the same month Worthington (apparently now back in Warwickshire) obtained more money - £500, at 4.5 per cent interest. On September 29 1909 he leased Hurst House and its land to a Mrs. E. A. Whitworth, for three years at a rent of £80 a year. She was the wife of Frank Hoyland Whitworth. However, in a document dated June 8 1910, Mrs. Whitworth sub-let the property to a G. A. Rooth, the Clerk to the Commissioner of Taxes. The Whitworth lease expired, and in a document of September 28, 1912, Dr. Worthington leased the property direct to Rooth.

On March 25, 1915, Dr. Sidney Worthington sold Hurst House to Dr. Albert Green, for £1,300; £1,200 for the mortgage and £100 to Worthington. On December 31 1928, Green sold the property to the Governors of the Grammar School for £2,000, and on April 5 1929, after a search at the Land Registry Office in December 1928, the property was vested in the official trustees.

Hurst House was used for a time as the Headmaster's house, and Mr. A. C. Bescoby moved from the building adjoining the school across the road. When Mr. C. E. Kemp became headmaster in 1934, Hurst House was used to house the Junior School. Copious alterations were planned at this time - the cost was carefully estimated to be £740/10/8d. It was intended to build another classroom to the south and also a block of toilets; major internal alterations were also planned. Except for the building of the additional classroom, the plans were carried out, and Hurst House became the Junior School of the Chesterfield Grammar School. It was not until after the second World War, that it became the building for the school's sixth form. In 1964, Sheffield University set up an Adult Education Centre in the building, while the school's arts and modern sixth forms continued to use it, awaiting the completion of the new buildings at Brookside.

Sources: J. C. V. Kendall from Cestrefeldian 1966 & various archives from Chesterfield Library. Additions & amendments always welcomed!