This picture is of No. 25 Gardener Street Brighton ( the blue painted shop in the centre of the frame). Now a clothing and jewellery boutique in the fashionable "Lanes" are of Brighton it was the home of William Hebden (b. 1818) and his first wife Caroline Bristow. They were married at St Nicholas Church Brighton on 9th July 1838.
	Brighton was transformed from a simple fishing village into a fashionable resort when drinking sea-water and sea-bathing became fashionable in the late 1700's. The Prince Regent visited Brighton in 1783 and liked it so much that he decided to build a home there. The Court and fashions of the Capital soon followed, and Brighton became an extension of the London way of of life. The Pavilion was originally a simple classical villa, but it was remodelled by John Nash into the  "Indian Style" Pavilion between 1817 - 1822. The building represents the flambouyant style of Brighton and is incorporated into the City's logo. This scene would certainly have been known to the Hebdens who lived in Brighton at the time.
	My branch of the family seems to have arrived in Brighton around 1815-16 via Colchester and Armagh. William and his wife Frances settled in the town with their family, and their descendants were still there in 1901. The family trade of boot-making  was taken up by Stephen Hebden and his son Henry, who had their shop at No. 16 Market Street, close to the Town Hall. The structure of the building (left centre with white front) is original, including the gabled roof and chimneys, but as you can see, two properties have been combined and the interior has been stripped out and remodelled as a pizza restaurant. The Hebden shop was the left-hand half of the white fronted building. The downspout (visible at first-floor level) marks the position of the original division wall between No.16 and No.17.
	Another view of Market Street Brighton taken in December 2002. The entrance on the left is a to an underground car park, part of the the modern redevelopment adjacent to the shop. Market Street still has a pleasant feel to it and the buildings  and the rooflines still retain the original character of the street.
	Stephen Hebden (born in Armagh) died young, and his wife Eliza married William Snelling, a local upholsterer. She and her two children, Grace Emily and Walter William, lived at No 28 Cuthbert Road. The house (about half-way down the hill on the right) and its views are substantially the same as they were in 1900. Most of the houses in the road have been extended in some way and re-roofed using modern tiles. The image was captured in December 2002.
	The other Hebden family members in Brighton were from the Halifax Line, and were the well-to-do daughters of a retired army officer. Mary Ann Hebden was living in a rather grand house in Landowne Place, in 1881 with her sister Julia V. Bennett, who is described as having a private income (bank shares) has disappeared from Lansdowne Place with her rich sister Julia Bennett, and Florence M. Hebden, Mary Anne's daughter.
	By 1891 The family have moved on.  Mary Anne would have been 77and Julia  69, so they may have died. Florence would have been 40 in 1891. She might have inherited the bank shares, sold the house (behind the black car) and moved elsewhere.