I think that Arthurk (#28) was heading in the right direction. I haven’t been able to see the article in the London Evening Standard (21 Nov 1893) advertising the sale of The Swan in Pulborough ... but I did find an article about the purchase!
The Middlesex Courier, Friday March 9 1894, Page 6:
“Mr. E. T. Warner, late of the Welsh Harp, Hendon, has taken the Swan Hotel, Pulborough, from Miss Edith Nutt. He has now entered into the active duties of proprietorship, and his large experience at Hendon should serve him in good stead.”
Having now read lots about Warner, The Welch Harp, and Brent Reservoir, how about this for a scenario. Of course I have absolutely no facts to support the hypothesis.
Fact: Joseph Gale joined the 10th Surrey Rifle Volunteer corps in 1864.
Fact: In May 1886 Joseph Gale was promoted to the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surry Regiment).
Fact: in 1859 William Perkins Warner purchased the Welsh Harp Inn and fishing rights on the Kingsbury Reservoir.
Fact: One of the recreations provided by Warner was a shooting range.
Fact: Warner purchased The Swan in 1894
Hypothesis: Col. Gale had a penchant for shooting. Gale would shoot at the nearby (less than 10 miles from home) Harp Reservoir. Gale knew Warner. When Warner bought The Swan, Gale (with humour and knowing how Warner changed the name of everything he touched to ‘Welsh Harp’), had a harpist set-up and play a welsh harp outside the newly purchased hotel ... and photographed it. In time, Warner, as he had done to the Welsh Harp Inn, undertook extensive renovations to The Swan. Therefore I propose that 1. the photo which I named “The Harpist” was taken by Gale in mid-1894; and 2. the alterations which changed the roof etc. of The Swan were carried out in the very early 1900s.
I’m not sure which buildings I’m looking at in Frith’s ‘Pulborough, the village and bridge 1914’ if that’s the photo John915 is referring to. I might have to invest in a copy. It would be good if the Joyes’ photos could be dated. There is a Horsham District Council Meeting minutes of May 2013 pdf which has a circa 1910 photo showing the alterations, so it’s being narrowed down.
I’ll continue to look into the changes to that southwest part of Swan Corner ... maps, building approvals, zoning changes etc. Hopefully something will turn up.
For anyone interested I have up-loaded to Google Drive, a folder with my other Joseph Gale photographs.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=12jMS_h0902NiVHTSi2LGQSqnIxypQtL5 should open the folder. (If you get grief about your browser try pasting the link directly into the address bar). There are 3 self-explanatory files. There are also quite a few unidentified photos. Feel free to rummage through.
Peter
