W F Rankine was a Scot who spent much of his time in Surrey.  He was at school in Dorking, and taught for many years at Badshot Lea, near Farnham. His interests were wide, covering birds, wild plants, fossils and archaeological remains, and he had ‘the rare gift of instructing and enthusing others’ in these…

Prideaux-Brune was Rector of Rowner (Gosport) from 1884 to 1919. Both branches of his family had a long pedigree, the Prideauxs in Cornwall, where he was born, and the Brunes in Hampshire.  The first Brunes appear in the 1270s, and the estate and advowson of Rowner continued in their hands through the following centuries.

J F S ‘Marcus’ Stone worked at the Chemical Warfare Defence Experimental Station (Porton Down) from 1925 to 1957. His nickname derived from a well-known artist who illustrated many Dickens novels.

He was one of the many clergymen who transcribed and published parish records in a movement promoted nationally by the genealogical editor and publisher, William P.W. Phillimore (1853-1913). The imprint has been owned, and mothballed, for more than 10 years by The History Press, but ‘with consent’ local history is still published by an independent…

Thomas Stopher was an architect and surveyor (for Winchester College, St John’s Hospital and others), a prominent municipal leader (Mayor of Winchester 1876, 1883, and 1893, Freeman of Winchester, 1910) and antiquarian. He published little, but indirectly did much to foster heritage and local history. Also, as one who often saw old buildings being developed…

Born in Biel, Switzerland, Studer’s  higher education was undertaken at the Universities of Neuchâtel, Berlin and London. Between 1908 and 1913 he was Professor of French at Hartley College (later the University if Southampton). From 1913 until his death in 1927 he was the second holder of the chair of Romance Philology at the University…

Heywood Sumner was born at Old Alresford where his father was Rector. He came from a prominent ecclesiastical family.  A great uncle was Archbishop of Canterbury, his grandfather Bishop of Winchester and his father became Bishop of Guildford. His mother, Mary Heywood, became famous as the founder of the Mothers’ Union.

The Very Reverend Norman Sykes was an academic historian and an Anglican priest  He held a succession of distinguished academic posts concluding with being the Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Cambridge from 1944 to 1958. His most important contribution was to bring an academic objectivity to the history of the Hanoverian…

According to the 1911 Census return, Laurence’s father, Alfred Edward, was a ‘match, starch and grocery buyer’. At the time the family were living in Forest Gate, Essex, where Laurence had been born seven years earlier.

Born in 1865, eldest son of Rev John Poulett Sykes, Perpetual Curate of Rathmell, near Settle, West Riding. William attended Giggleswick School, was an Exhibitioner at Christ’s College, Cambridge, graduating in 1886, and followed his father into the church, being ordained in 1889. William’s early appointments were in Yorkshire. In 1895 he was appointed curate…