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Blue Plaques in Worthing
- Shelley - Situated at 23 Warwick Street - Poet & Radical Thinker Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 - 1822. Two of his earliest works were printed here.
- King Edward VII - Situated at Beach House, Brighton Road - 1841 - 1910. Stayed in Beach House 1907-1908-1909 & 1910
- Oscar Wilde - Situated at Esplanade Court, The Esplanade - In a house on this site Oscar Wilde 1854 - 1900 wrote 'The Importance of Being Earnest' in 1894.
Other Plaques
- W H Hudson 1841 - 1922 - Situated at Huntington House, 8 Bedford Row - The well known writer on countryside matters stayed here and at No 14 on various occasions from June 1918. He started to write 'Nature in Downland' in 1899 in the house at Goring-by-Sea where Richard Jefferies, another naturalist with West Sussex connections, had died. Both are buried in Broadwater Cemetery.
- Richard Jefferies 1848-1887 - Situated at Jefferies House, Jefferies Lane, Goring. The son of a Wiltshire farmer, he spent much of his childhood in Sydenham with his aunt. At 17 he became a provincial journalist and developed an interest in the economics of agricultural labour and poaching and from there began to publish successful essays about nature, from an overview rather than the specific.
His finest and most stimulating work was written during his last five years in Worthing. He died at only 38 from tuberculosis at 'Sea View', Jefferies Lane in Goring (now 'Jefferies House'). As he disliked Goring Churchyard, he was buried in Broadwater Cemetery. In May 1939 the novelist Sheila Kaye-Smith unveiled a plaque in his memory at the house. - A plaque to honour six members of the 49 squadron who died in 1944 after crash landing on Worthing Beach was unveiled in December 2002. The plaque is situated on the 9th column of the pier facing west. The names of the crew killed were: Sgt H Varey, Sgt L B Bourne, Sgt F B Rees, Sgt J W Moore, F/O J A Thomson and Sgt G F Callon.
Some Notable Inhabitants of Worthing
- Edward William Lane, the Arabic Scholar who translated the 'Thousand and one nights' lived in 4 Union Place from 1849 until his death in 1876.
- Frederick Dixon, the geologist and author of the 'Geology and Fossils of the Tertiary and Cretaceous Formations of Sussex', lived at 3 Union Place. He died in 1849 before he published his book. The first edition was issued in 1850 by his widow after several friends rallied round to help. The book was re-published by Professor Jones in 1878.
- James Bateman 1811 - 1897 the famous horticulturist and authority on orchids lived and died at 'Springbank', Victoria Road.
- Albert Hartshome, archaeologist, died in 1910 at 7 Heene Terrace.
Some Notable Visitors to Worthing
- On 31st July 1798 Princess Amelia the fifteenth and last child of George III arrived in Worthing at the age of 15 years. Her presence brought fashionable visitors flocking to Worthing.
- In 1806 Byron visited Worthing.
- In August of 1798 the Prince of Wales visited Worthing to see his sister (Princess Amelia). On the 7th December Amelia went home to Windsor.
- Princess Charlotte visited in the summer of 1807 and stayed at Warwick House (now demolished).
Memorials
- War Memorial by Joseph Whitehead near Worthing Town Hall in Chapel Road. Bronze figure in military dress on a stone pedestal.
- Memorial to honour pigeons killed in the Second World War. It consists of two boulders on a mound in Beach House Park. One inscription reads 'In memory of the warrior birds who gave their lives on active service 1939-45 and for the use and pleasure of living birds'. Another quotes The Book of Ecclesiastes: 'A bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which hath wings shall tell the matter'.
Sculptures
Bronze sculpture, Desert Quartet (1990) by Dame Elisabeth Frink (1931-1993) on top of the rear colonnade of the Montague Shopping Centre, Liverpool Gardens. Four large sculpted heads.
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