30 Brunswick Street West - Greengrocers

Charlotte Munger was born Charlotte Mumford in around 1803 to Martha Pearson and John Mumford, in Hertfordshire. Her future husband James Munger was born in Balcombe*, Sussex in 1808 to parents John Maunger and Lydia Thomas. Charlotte and James married at St. Nicholas Church in Brighton on 1st July 1832. They had six children: James II (born 1833), Charlotte II (born 1835), John (born 1837), William (born 1838), Ellen (born 1843) and Jesse (born 1844). Sadly, William died aged just 8 months, and Jesse aged one year nine months. Jesse was buried at Hanover Chapel General Burial Ground on 19th October 1845.

It seems that the parents were tempted to Brighton by the prospects of work in the expanding town.

The family lived at 9 Lansdowne Square and moved from there sometime between 1843 and 1845 to the greengrocer’s shop at 2 Brunswick Street West (BSW)**.

At the baptism of son, John, in February 1837, their address was given as Stanhope Place. When William Munger dies in 1839, the address is Lansdown Square and the 1841 census also shows them at Lansdowne Square.   This is curious as Stanhope Place (now the east side of Lansdowne Place) and Lansdowne Square are rather grand residencies and it’s unusual to find labourers rather than servants in them.

Charlotte and James remained at this address for the rest of their lives, with records showing that they both worked as greengrocers. Charlotte died in 1875, and James the following year. When James died in 1876 probate was granted to his two daughters, Charlotte and Ellen Munger, of 2 Brunswick Street West, but his effects were worth less than £300.

An impression of the two shops

Based on the 1949 plans for converting the shop at number 30 to a domestic residence and C.A. Busby’s 1830s designs for a shop in the area, above is an artist’s impression of the how the Bootmakers (on the left) and Greengrocers (on the right) would have looked.

The Mungers’ daughters Charlotte II and Ellen stayed at BSW throughout, and after, their parents’ lives, with Charlotte II taking over as greengrocer and head of the household. Charlotte II’s brothers John and James II predeceased their parents, having died in 1871 and 1873 respectively.

Before his death, James II had married Emma Hill and had six children, two of whom died in childhood. Emma was born in Brighton and died aged 39, in 1871, leaving James II with their four surviving children aged 2-12. The youngest, Ellen II, subsequently lived with her grandparents until their deaths (as above) when her aunts Charlotte II and Ellen continued to care for her at the greengrocer’s in BSW.

During Charlotte II’s time as head greengrocer, she employed a man named William Digweed as her assistant, alongside her sister Ellen. William was born in Chichester in 1854 and was the eldest of seven children. Born to parents Charles and Amelia Digweed.

By 1871 the family had moved to Brighton where, in 1876, William married Jemima Gardner (born in Hove 1853). They had seven children and by the time of the 1901 census, William had taken over the greengrocer’s shop and the family subsequently lived there.

After leaving BSW, Charlotte Munger II spent her remaining years living with her niece Ellen II and Ellen II’s husband and daughter in Kemp Street, Brighton. Charlotte died in 1904 and was buried at Hove Cemetery (South) alongside her sister Ellen who died in 1899.

William Digweed ran the shop until he died in 1918, when Jemima took over until her death in 1923. In 1921, the census finds Jemima and her daughter running the ‘general store’.  The enumerator describes the address as 2 Brunswick Street West, off Lansdowne Place – presumably to distinguish it from 2 Brunswick Street West at the top of the road where the Station Inn is located.  The numbering in this part of the street has always been a little haphazard. Directories after William’s death show the greengrocer’s became a general store.

Directories

1930 – Kate Digweed general store

1947 – no. 30 L. Jenkins, antique dealer

*Some records say Barcombe, but this looks like a transcription error

**Now number 30 BSW

Research by Laura Osborn, 2022

Return to Brunswick Street West page.