Sandgate 2009
SHORNCLIFFE
A Typical English Garrison (1850’s)
One of the military stations in England to which troops from India go and come is Shorncliffe, a breezy upland on the coast of Kent. At its foot is the pretty little watering place of Sandgate . . .
The regular occupation of Shorncliffe Camp by the military changed the character
of Sandgate. . . Troops returning from the Crimean war, and leaving for the scenes
of the Indian Mutiny, were expected to indulge their animal, nay beastly, propensities
to the full. Sandgate at that time reeked with the trap-doors to hell. Low beerhouses
abounded on every hand.
Taken from Coast of Conflict by Martin & Michael George