On 11th 1878 September Engels second wife Lizzie Burns died. He took himself and others off to the South Coast for a period of reflection.
Engels favourite seaside town was Eastbourne- his ashes were buried off Beachy Head. However he also frequented Brighton, and on occasion ‘the wilds’ of Worthing where to his concern he could find no Pilsner Lager.
However in September 1878 he went to Littlehampton. The Collected Works contain several letters he wrote from the Sussex town.
He noted
Here it has been incessantly raining since yesterday evening. This little place consists of two parts- the village and harbour on the River Arne and the beach 500 paces to the south-east, some 150 houses on a dune, where one might well imagine oneself in Holland. Sands as lovely and firm as at Ostend (Selborne Cottage, Littlehampton 18th September 1878)
On 24th September he wrote ‘we’re just off to spend a couple of hours in Brighton’ (where he knew Lager Beer was available..)
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