Mrs Matilda Jane Hurst
(1836-1926)
14 April 1862

Matilda Jane Hurst née Scott was born about 1833 at Brompton, Middlesex, the eldest daughter of James Scott, of The Nunnery, Rusper. She married the barrister and politician Robert Henry Hurst on 28 April 1859.

The 1861 census shows her and her husband living at North Street, Horsham, with their baby daughter, two unmarried sisters of Mr Hurst's, and six servants.

Mrs Hurst died at Horsham Park on 23 May 1926, aged 90. 'On the 14th May Mrs Hurst had a bad heart attack. From this she rallied and shewed considerable improvement, but succumbed to a second attack at 2.30 on Sunday afternoon. [...] Until quite recently she had enjoyed good health. For upwards of four centuries the Hurst family have been connected with Horsham' (West Sussex County Times, 29 May 1926).

Her obituary appeared in the Times on 1 June 1926: 'Mrs Hurst, of Horsham Park, who died last week, was the mother of distinguished sons and a member of a county family honourably connected with Horsham for three centuries. She was 90 years of age, and was the widow of Mr Robert Henry Hurst, D.L., who died in 1905 at the age of 87. He represented the old borough of Horsham in Parliament from 1855 to 1874, and again from 1875 to 1876. Both his grandfather and father had also represented the borough in Parliament. For 43 years he was Recorder for Hastings and Rye, and was chairman of the West Sussex Quarter Sessions. [...] It was from Rusper Nunnery, three or four miles from Horsham, that Mrs Hurst was married in 1859. She was Matilda Jane, daughter of Mr James Scott, who then lived at the Nunnery. Mrs Hurst started the Horsham District Nursing Association in 1875, and her many local activities included the presidency of the Brabazon Employment Scheme. Her elder surving son is Colonel Arthur Reginald Hurst, D.S.O., of Barrington Grove, Gloucestershire.'

[From an album compiled by Rose Isabella Susan Preston (born 1842), later the wife of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Ethelred Shuttleworth.]