Bexhill’s remarkable Sackville family

Join David Dennis for an eye-opening presentation charting the Sackville family’s long and sometimes turbulent influence over Bexhill. Their connection to the town began in 1590, when Queen Elizabeth I granted the Manor of Bexhill to Sir Thomas Sackville, later 1st Earl of Dorset. From then on, the Dorset line — and later the Sackville-West Earls De La Warr — shaped the town for more than three centuries.

The family produced political operators and scandals in equal measure. Gilbert Sackville, 8th Earl De La Warr, was notorious for his extravagant spending and affairs with actresses, while his son, Herbrand Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr, took the estate in a dramatically different direction. A progressive public figure, he championed the creation of the De La Warr Pavilion in the 1930s — a landmark of modernist architecture that transformed Bexhill’s identity.

As both major landowners and local power-brokers, the Sackvilles influenced everything from development policy to the look of the seafront. Yet their impact was not solely self-serving: features such as parts of the sea wall and promenade were supported by the family as civic improvements.

Please reserve your place by calling 01424 222058. Payment can be made on the day. Tickets also available on the door: £6.00