Prospect Place, Brighton (now known as St Peter’s Place), is a Regency Terrace of 4-storey townhouses built in the early 1820s by surveyor, Thomas Budgen. Prospect Place had a great uninterrupted view to the south towards the sea, before the building of St Peter’s Church.
Number 2 Prospect Place, became the retirement home of celebrated tenor singer, Charles Benjamin Incledon and his wife Martha Jane. Singing for pleasure in the Regency period was a small scale, often private activity, rather different from the later choral societies and massed voices of the Victorian era. Incledon continued in retirement to indulge his passion for singing, and contributed to the social and musical life of the town, setting up the Brighton Catch and Glee club, which met at The Golden Cross.(afterwards called ‘The Marlborough’, and currently ‘The Actors’).
Glee singing in part-sung harmony was a popular activity in the Regency period, well-suited to being fuelled by alcohol and the bonhommie of the tavern. This is a recording of the Harvard Catch and Glee Club singing ‘Glorious Apollo’, a number popular in Incledon’s day, and still is in the USA. https://youtu.be/Y6iwZNsRNnc?si=nlQkILSADPeivny0
‘Glorious Apollo’ was sung at The Golden Cross, and was the cause of a rift between Incledon and the proprietor, John Munn, who insisted that Incledon confine himself to singing the tenor part of the glee, rather than all the parts, which Incledon insisted he was able to do.[i]New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal Vol10 p45 July 1825.
There are signs that Incledon’s tenor voice had by the time of his retirement lost its quality, and much to his disappointment, he was turned down by the Chain Pier Company when he offered to sing Rule Britannia at its opening. The Morning Herald was kinder to him: ‘Incledon as the founder of the Brighton Catch and Glee Club ‘celebrated with his friends at a public dinner the anniversary of the engagement between Lord Rodney and the French fleet in 1782, where Incledon, then a mere lad, served and was wounded. His vocal powers have faded, but there is still a bright gleam of what he has been’ [ii]Morning Herald 18th April 1825
Incledon had started singing from the age of eight when he was admitted to Exeter Cathedral choir school. At Exeter, he was talent-spotted by the Royal Navy, and spent 3 days in port, entertaining the crew of HMS Thunderer. He was so taken with life on board, he asked his mother to let him join the ship on it’s next voyage, but Mrs Incledon was not inclined to let her son enter such a perilous occupation at his young age and refused permission. (It was just as well, as HMS Thunderer was lost in the Caribbean with all hands on board). After an unsuccessful attempt to run away to sea, Incledon eventually signed up aged 15 to join HMS Formidable in 1778. At this time, Britain was fighting France in the Caribbean. Admiral Hervey ‘discovered’ Incledon’s voice on a voyage to St Lucia 1780. On his next ship, HMS Raisonnable, Admirals Hugh Pigot and Hughes themselves sang glees and catches with Incledon on board. Music was a vital part of naval life, being one of the ways both officers and men could amuse themselves on long and tedious voyages, and Incledon’s talent was greatly valued. The vernacular music of the navy became part of the British folk tradition of the land-based population, and was popular in theatres, music halls, taverns and drawing rooms, providing a medium for patriotic fervour, and surviving into the 21st century, for example, in Henry Wood’s ever popular Sea Songs at The Last Night of the Proms.
John Davy, a fellow chorister at Exeter, wrote ‘The Bay of Biscay-O’ for Incledon. This hearty recording by Owen Brannigan probably gives a flavour of Incledon’s performance: https://spoti.fi/3xIypgj
Shipwreck was often the subject of Incledon’s performances, having survived the experience when sailing to Ireland in 1803, when he was shipwrecked off Dublin. Incledon had climbed the mast to the round-top with his wife, Mary Ann on his back, and clung there until they were rescued by fishermen.
The eventual release of his wife’s inheritance enabled Incledon to buy the freehold of 2 Prospect Place Brighton, which he left to her in a codicil to his will.
When Incledon retired to Brighton, he was married to his 3rd wife, Martha Jane Hart, a London widow, who was in expectation of receiving an inheritance from her father, a wealthy butcher of Cripplegate. Martha Jane also stood to inherit from her 1st husband, William Howell Hart, who had died in 1811. Not only was Martha Jane to inherit capital, she also enjoyed an income from stocks left to her by Samuel Redfearn, horsedealer of Little Moorfields. Charles Incledon benefited very well financially from his marriage to Martha Jane, but it was reported that by 1817, ‘his present wife’s fortune has not come to fruition owing to the Law’s delays in Chancery, but he boasts of her many domestic virtues.’ [iii]Biographical memoir of Mr. Incledon in Theatrical Inquisitor and Monthly Mirror Aug 1817 Vol 11 p85.
Martha Jane continued to live at 2 Prospect Place until 1839, when the house was put up for sale. “The house possesses a capital range of domestic offices, well-lighted and ventilated, a catacombed wine cellar; is well-supplied with water.The entrance leads to a lobby room, a manservant’s sleeping chamber, two capital dining rooms communicating with folding doors, a boudoir decorated as a tent room, an elegant drawing room and six sleeping chambers. the whole of the fixtures and fittings are appropriate, and the house is in a capital state of ornamental and substantial repair. fit for immediate occupation.[iv]Brighton Gazette 17th October 1839
Martha Jane, as a woman of private means was able to meet the challenges of old age in reasonable comfort. When she had had enough of managing her own house, she moved in with her nephew, Samuel Green and her 2 nieces Mary and Ann Green, at 7 Wilton terrace, Dalston. She died in 1862 at the age of 86, leaving £1,300 in stocks to her nieces and nephew.
