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118 Tonbridge Road
Hildenborough
01732 833975
https://whatpub.com/flying-dutchman
Above postcard, date unknown. |
Above photo, date unknown. |
Above photo circa 1970, showing licensee Stan Wager second from left.
Kindly sent by Robert Mallett. |
Above photo 2013 by Marathon
Creative Commons Licence. |
 
Above sign left, July 1986, sign right, date unknown.
With thanks from Brian Curtis
www.innsignsociety.com. |
The above 12" by 8" sign was found being advertised as a reproduction of
the original by Libby's Emporium in March 2016. |
Above matchbox, date unknown. |
Above matchbox, date unknown, kindly sent by Debi Birkin. |
The pub can be traced back to 1732 when it was called the "Flying
Cow" but by 1841 it was called the "Flying
Horse." when the house was substantially remodelled in the and there is
a cluster of villas and cottages around it which date from the late 18th and
early 19th centuries. By 1873 it was known as the "Flying Dutchman,"
so it may have changed name
before this date.
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This refers to the case that followed on from one
regarding the "Dorset
Arms" titled "A
Lamentable Case." So I believe this would have been in that same area of
Sevenoaks, somewhere along what was the Sevenoaks Road in 1860. The only pub
with this name in the area is this one addressed as Hildenborough.
South Eastern Gazette, 4 September, 1860.
A Stabbing Case.
The magistrates were also occupied on the same occasion in
investigating the charge against John Crouch, a labourer, for
unlawfully stabbing William Eaton, a labourer, at Leigh, on the
previous Saturday night week. Mr Rogers appeared for this prisoner
also.
From the complainant’s evidence it appeared that he, the
prisoner, and several others were at the "Flying Dutchman"
public-house, on the Sevenoaks-road, and that they left at closing
time, complainant and prisoner being quite sober. When they had got
a short distance from the house he spoke to the prisoner about
having scandalized him, and wished to know why he had done so.
Prisoner denied it, but a person named Pankhurst, complainant’s
mate, told the prisoner that he had done so, and on the prisoner
again denying it, complainant knocked him down with his fist.
Prisoner returned the blow with a similar result. The dispute, was,
however, made up, and the parties separated, having bade each other
"good night." When the prosecutor got within, about forty rods of
his own house, opposite to what was called Green-lane gate, prisoner
jumped out of the hedge, collared him, got him by the throat, and
threw him down, and said now that he had got him by himself he
intended to give it to him. Complainant requested to be allowed to
get up, but the prisoner refused, and "jobbed" him on the shoulder
and cut him; he inflicted three wounds on him altogether. As the
prisoner was going away he told prosecutor that if he would meet him
on the following morning he would fight him.
Mr. C. P. Gregory, jun., surgeon, of Leigh, to whom the
complainant went for assistance, described the nature of the wound
inflicted, and which must have been done by a sharp instrument.
Other evidence was then taken, and it appeared that the prisoner
attended at the magistrates’ clerk’s office on the 24th August, and
surrendered himself.
The magistrates committed the prisoner for trial, but accepted
bail.
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South Eastern Gazette, Tuesday 27 September 1864.
Serious Assault by a Tradesman.
On Tuesday (before R. Roger, Esq. and Major Scoones), Philip Richmond,
pipe manufacturer, of this town, was charged with assaulting and
unlawfully wounding George Hoath with a quart jug, at Hildenborough on
the previous day. The complainant when was unable to leave his bed,
owing to his suffering from the effects of the severe cuts on his head,
and a medical certificate to that effect was produced. It appeared that
the complainant, with several others, was sitting at the bar at the
"Flying Dutchman," when Richmond entered from an adjoining room, and
without any provocation, Mr. Howth having only asked him to have a glass
of ale, he took up a quart jug, which was almost full of water, and
threw it with great force at the complainants, inflicting very serious
injuries about the head. He was remanded on bail till Tuesday (to-day).
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From the Kent and Sussex Courier, 19 September, 1873.
HILDENBOROUGH: AN APPLICATION REFUSED.
Mr. Spratley, landlord of the "Flying Dutchman," Hildenboro’, applied
for an extra hour to be granted for keeping open his house, on the
occasion of the annual gentlemen’s servants cricket match, and supper,
and an occasional license to sell on the ground. The Bench refused to
grant the additional hour, but sanctioned the occasional license.
It was pointed out to their worships that on the previous week an extra
hour was allowed for the cricket match at the "Bull Hotel," Tonbridge,
but they persisted in their refusal.
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1912:
A Mrs L. V. Scape lived at the Flying Dutchman. Mrs. Scape had been
recently widowed at the age of 22 and had accepted a post on the R.M.S.
Titanic to try to forget the tragedy that befell her husband Captain
Scape in Hong Kong. Sadly, she was one of over 1,500 people to lose
their lives in the disaster. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Leppard of Cataract Cottage and the family were well known in
Hildenborough.
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Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser, Friday 8 May 1931.
The "Gate Hotel" dart team entertained the "Flying Dutchman" on Tuesday
and won by two to one.
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Kent & Sussex Courier, Friday 4 November 1949.
T.V. sets stolen in raid.
Thieves who entered the "Flying Dutchman" public house,
Hildenborough on Tuesday night, took a television set worth £30 as
well as cash, tobacco, cigarettes and spirits.
Entry was by a window and the robbery was discovered by Mr. Lawrence
Coomber, the licensee, on Wednesday morning. Total value of the
stolen property is about £140.
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Kent & Sussex Courier, Friday 1 November 1957.
‘BLACK SPOT' SIGN WOULD NOT HELP, SAYS COMMITTEE.
A "BLACK SPOT" sign near the "Flying Dutchman" on the bend on Road,
Hildenborough, would be no use, Tonbridge Rural Road
Safety Committee decided on Monday.
The committee was considering a request by Hildenborough Parish Council
for an extension of the speed limit to cover that section
of road and also for a "black spot" warning.
Inspector Ward, Kent County Police traffic division, said the accident
record at the spot was not bad. There were about nine
accidents there yearly.
"If you have a 'bleak spot' sig, it must be at a black spot, I have
little faith in the signs, anyway," he said.
The committee will write to Mr. Richard Hornby, M.P. requesting him to
ask a question in the House about the speed limit
extension.
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Kent & Sussex Courier, Friday 15 October 1965.
Mr. Clarke—licensee and sportsman, is leaving.
ONE of the best-known licensees in Hildenborough and Tonbridge, Mr.
Walter "Nobby" Clarke, leaves the "Flying Dutchman,"
Hildenborough, next Tuesday after 15 years there.
He will go to work as Administrative Secretary of the Licensed Trade's
first convalescent home at Westbrook, Margate—a home he,
himself helped to found.
Fitter and stronger than most men half his age, Mr. Clarke is an almost
unbelievable 73 and still thinks nothing of heaving barrels
in the cellars of the Dutchman.
His varied career started off training as a teacher. Then he worked in a
bank until 1914 when he joined the army.
At 23 he was a company commander on active service in France when the
war ended he joined the Metropolitan Police.
Dempsey link.
There he became something of a legend in connection with boxing,
presenting many of the police boxing matches and
championships during that time.
Outside the force he was equally active in boxing circles and treasures
the memory that he introduced Jack Dempsey to the British
boxing public.
Sport has always been a favourite pastime of Mr. Clarke and he was still
keeping wicket for Rye at 58. At one time in his youth he
could have made a living at football or cricket—"or both" he mused.
He took a public house at Rye in 1938. There too he served on the
borough council and became involved in the work of the
licensed trade defence movement through a variety of organisations,
including the Licensed Victuallers' Association.
During the Second World War he was a Major in the Home Guard based al
Romney Marsh.
Mr. Clarke came to Tonbridge in 1951. He is a past chairman of Tonbridge
Licensed Victuallers' Association and has held office with
other similar organisations.
He is an ex-president of the South-Eastern District L.V.A. and is still
an Executive Officer of the Licensed Victuallers' Defence
League of England and Wales.
On Tuesday he was presented with a silver salver by the brewery. Courage
and Barclay and Simmons, with whom he has been
associated so long. |
LICENSEE LIST
CRISP Henry 1861+ (age 42 in 1861 )
JEFFREY J 1886+
THORN Charles 1886-1892
BETTS William 1891+ (manager of public house age 42 in 1891)
HOBBS J 1892-1893
BARNARD H 1894
MACEY Edward 1894-1910
OLIVER Harold John & Eleanor May 1910-1912
LITTLE William 1913-1923
LITTLE Anne Mrs 1924
COOMBER Lawrence 1928-1953
CLARK Walter 1951-Oct/1965
WAGER Joyce & Stan Oct/1965-85 (Courage tied)
FELL Barry & Sylvia ????
JOHNSTONE Tarrith 2007+
https://pubwiki.co.uk/FlyingDutchman.shtml
From the Kelly's Directory 1903
Census
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