Horsham’s Women of History – a formidable councillor

It’s Women’s History month and the second local personality we are focusing on was the first woman to be a member of Horsham Urban Council who gave the town its Garden of Remembrance.

Nellie Vesta Laughton (nee Booker) died in January 1953, aged 86, in her home in Brighton Road.

Such was her contribution to the town that her passing made the lead story on that week’s West Sussex County Times front page!

When her husband, Charles Skidmore Laughton (a local builders’ merchant), died in the 1920s Nellie opened the Garden of Remembrance behind St Mary’s Church in the Causeway. It was dedicated to her husband and those who died in the Great War.

She spent £300 on it (half the price of a house in those days) and spent many hours working on it herself.

Later she provided a paddling pool within the garden for children, before the town had a swimming pool.

In 1951 she handed over the garden to the urban council.

In the mid 1920s Mrs Laughton heard about a serious accident in the town where the patient had to be taken to Brighton Hospital in a hearse as Horsham had no ambulance!

So she gave an ambulance to the Horsham Police Division in 1927. It was cream with the Horsham coat of arms on the side and was affectionately known as ‘the yellow peril’.

Among her many other activities, she was a Justice of the Peace for 19 years, and a county councillor from 1929-1946.

As a J.P. she caused some concern on occasion, paying the defendant’s fine if she didn’t agree with the decision of her colleagues!

She opened her house and garden for all manner of causes, helping, among many others, the N.S.P.C.C. and R.S.P.C.A. She was keenly interested in the W.I., was President of the Roffey Allotment Society and a member of Horsham Bowling Club.

Mrs Laughton was known for speaking her mind. An example was during a meeting at the Town Hall when she said: “I travel all over the county to different things and I have sat in many Town Halls, but I think Horsham Town Hall is the dirtiest of the lot. I have been told it is one of the most historic buildings in Sussex – prehistoric I call it – but personally I am ashamed of it.”

However, she had many friends and admirers in the town and on her death the urban council chairman said: “Ever generous, her benefactions spread far and wide and no one appealed to her in vain.

“Always an individualist, she was nevertheless loved and respected by all who came in contact with her. She will long be remembered for her unselfish devotion to the town and all who knew her will mourn her loss.”