On 6 April 1841, Miss Selina Shirley of Eatington Hall, Warwickshire, recorded in her diary that she ‘walked in the Garden with Sir William [Heathcote] & promised to become his Wife’.  They were married on 18 May.  This was a second union for Heathcote, whose first wife, Caroline, had died in 1835, after bearing him…

Norman Hill was born in London.  Trained as a solicitor, he became a senior partner in the Liverpool firm Hill, Dickinson & Co, specializing in shipping.  In 1899 he married Ellen Mary Stratford – they had one son (Norman Gray Hill) and three daughters, one of whom was Rosalind Hill.

Grundy was an Oxford don and historian, with a strong militaristic background. His specialism was the military history of Ancient Greece and Rome, but he also turned his attention to Saxon charters, field names and old highways and produced influential lists and articles for a number of English counties, including Hampshire.

Lord Carnarvon is best remembered for his sponsorship of the Egyptian excavations led by Howard Carter, which culminated in the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. This high point was achieved, however, only after several years as an enthusiastic amateur Egyptologist and collector of antiquities.

C F C (Christopher) Hawkes spent his early years in London and Northumberland before attending Winchester College and New College, Oxford.

His only publication, much-quoted, was Notes on the topography of Portsmouth, together with historical and statistical information, published in 1913. He was prompted to put his considerable knowledge of the city – acquired as a ‘conveyancing solicitor’ – into print after being asked by the journalist and historian W.G. Gates for help in compiling his…

William Hope was born in Derby, the son of Rev William Hope and his wife Hester (neé Williams) and educated at Derby Grammar School before going up to Peterhouse, Cambridge.  He graduated with a BA in 1881, received his MA in 1884 and the following year became Assistant Secretary at the Society of Antiquaries. 

Samuel Gordon Hooper, born in Greenwich, was educated at Sherborne School, Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and Wells Theological College. He married Dorothy Masters in 1924. From 1931 to 1949, he served as Vicar of All Saints’ Church, Milford-on-Sea, where he became deeply involved in the local community, contributing to Milford Hospital, the Boys’ Club, Toc H,…

Reginald Hooley was a wine merchant from Winchester with a passion for fossil collecting.  He was born in Southampton and began his paleontological career by searching out specimens on the Isle of Wight, eventually discovering a new species of dinosaur.  

Born in Buckinghamshire, Alec Holland was raised on the Exbury Estate, on the Solent shore, where his father was groom to the de Rothschilds.  His mother died when he was eleven and he was brought up by his father, elder brother and sister-in-law.  Financial help from the Rothschilds enabled him to attend grammar school in…