Celebrating Hampshire Historians

Heygate, Arthur Connolly Gage

18 August 1862 - 30 September 1935

Heygate was born at Ballarena, Londonderry, the third son of Sir Frederick Heygate Bart MP, and heir presumptive to the baronetcy on his death. He was a King's Scholar at Eton from 1876 to 1882 before going up to Christ Church and then St John’s, Oxford, where he took a First in Classics in 1886 (MA in 1891). Joining the staff of Eton in 1887 on a temporary basis, he remained for 31 years. A housemaster from 1899, he took a close interest in the sporting activity of his charges. He was also a member of Eton Urban Council.

In 1891, he married Frances Evelyn Rowley Harvey from Bournemouth, a descendant of the diarist John Evelyn, at St George’s Church, Hanover Square. After her death, he gave a window in All Saints’ Church, Milford in her memory.

In 1900, Heygate bought ‘Saltgrass’ in Keyhaven (in Milford parish) and was a founder member of Milford-on-Sea Historical Record Society, later serving as Secretary and President.

On retirement in 1918, he served briefly until 1920 as a member of the Treasury Selection Board, and in 1921-22 was an occasional inspector under the Board of Education. He was also a member of Milford Parish Council. He was instrumental with Dr V D Harris in re-founding the Cottage Hospital, and was President for many years of Milford Conservative Association.

Sources

Milford-on-Sea Historical Record Society Archives

Hampshire Advertiser and Salisbury Guardian 14 March 1835

Windsor and Eton Express - Saturday 8 June 1912

Evening News (London) - Wednesday 2 October 1935

New Milton Advertiser - Saturday 5 October 1935

England, Oxford Men and Their Colleges, 1880-1892: Oxford Men and Their Colleges, 1880-1892, 2 Volumes [on-line]

Lloyd, A T, The salterns of the Lymington Area, Hampshire Studies 24 (1967) 86-102

Christopher Hobby and Joanna Close-Brooks, A Brief History of the Milford-on-Sea Historical Record Society, Milford-on-Sea Historical Record Society Occasional Magazine NS3, (2009) 1-11.

Anne Braid, Bob Braid & Barry Jolly, Juliana Symonds and the Legend of Ivy Bank, Milford-on-Sea Historical Record Society Occasional Magazine NS 8 2022

Portrait

Heygate in 1924 (Milford-on-Sea Record Historical Record Society Archives)

Contribution to county’s history

Heygate contributed no fewer than eight articles to the Milford-on-Sea Historical Record Society Occasional Magazine. His most valuable contribution to the history of Milford is considered to be his ‘interesting and erudite survey of the old houses of Milford and the neighbourhood’. His article on Keyhaven was cited in A. T. Lloyd’s article on the Lymington Salterns in 1967, noted above. But see also ‘Critical comments’ below.

Relevant published works

• All published in Milford-on-Sea Historical Record Society Occasional Magazine, volumes 2 to 5.

  Keyhaven, 2, 2 (January 1916) 5-34

  Hurst Castle, 2, 4 (August 1920) 35-62

  Notes on the Older Houses of Milford and its Neighbourhood, 3, 2 (1924) 3-44

  Milford since 1900, 4, 4 (June 1929) 35-51

  Urn found at Lymore in 1927, 4, 5 (May 1930) 27

  Longford Castle, and its connection with Hurst,4, 5 (May 1930) 28-32

  A Dispute between Mr Benjamin Pepper of Milford Mill and Mrs Whitby in 1833-35, 4, 5 (May 1930) 33-35

  Keyhaven, 5, 3 (September 1938) 5-34

Critical Comments

Heygate’s work is not always reliable.

1. His account in ‘Hurst Castle’ of Charles I’s journey from Hurst to London in 1648 describes a route at variance with contemporary accounts, and confuses some of the villages and hamlets along the way, even including Bransgore which did not exist for another half century and more.
2. The title of the article, ‘A Dispute between Mr Benjamin Pepper of Milford Mill and Mrs Whitby in 1833-35’, misleads as the complainant was actually James Noakes.
3. In ‘Notes on the Older Houses of Milford and its Neighbourhood’, he repeated the now discredited myth that Justice Tindal lived at Ivy Bank in Milford from 1842 to 1846.

Other Comments

An example in the early years of local history of a newcomer retiring to a district and keen to discover its history and play an active role in the community.

Contributor

4 March 2025, Barry Jolly

Key Words

Milford-on-Sea, Church, Hurst, Lymore, Whitby

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