The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists and Robert Tressell

It's now just over 100 years since  'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists', written by Hastings resident, Robert Tressell was published.

Tressell, whose father's name was Croker and whose mother's surname was Noonan, was from Dublin. He was illegitimate, and his Protestant father, who was sixty years older than his young Catholic mother, and who already had a family, provided for him. But when Robert Croker was 16, he changed his surname to Noonan and left his family because he refused to live on money gained by charging starving Irish Catholic tenants rents they couldn't afford after their families had been driven out of their homes.

He moved to Cape Town, where he worked as a decorator and married. But after the birth of his beloved daughter, Kathleen, Robert Noonan's wife had many affairs. So Robert divorced her and  after the Boer War, he travelled with Kathleen to England and ended up in Hastings.

He was shoced at the low wages and poor working conditions in Hastings. He had to do several jobs in order to survive. The suffering of the decorators he worked with led him to write The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

The book (originally called The Ragged Arsed Philanthropists) was rejected by three publishers, so Tressell, feeling depressed, wanted to burn it, but Kathleen put the manuscript under a bed. After his death, a publisher paid Kathleen £25 for it. He died of tuberculosis when he was only 40 years old.

The University of Hastings has recently been given the Tressell family papers and is the first dedicated Robert Tressell research centre in the world.

Here's a list from Wikipedia of Hastings places and events connected with Robert Tressell:

• The Robert Tressell Workshop — a publishing concern based in Hastings.
• Robert Tressell Close — a small residential street in Hastings named after the writer.
• Tressell Ward — a political ward in Hastings.
• The Robert Tressell Lectures — a series of annual lectures concerning not only The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, but also other aspects of left-wing politics and sociology.
• Tressell Publications — a small politically based publishing house.
• Robert Tressell Halls of Residence — accommodation for students studying at University of Brighton, Hastings Campus.
• Noonan's Steps - name of a stepped passageway running alongside the author's former home at 115 Milward Road.
• Tressell Ward - a Medical ward in the Conquest Hospital, St. Leonard's-on-Sea