Born in Lancashire, Canon Bussby was a scholar at St John’s College, Durham and then an exhibitioner at Wadham College, Oxford. He was a curate in an industrial parish in Lancashire and then vice-principal of Clifton Theological College. He joined the Army in 1936 and was a Chaplain in France, Greece, Crete and North Africa,…

A Yorkshireman and graduate of Cambridge University, William Bingley was ordained in 1799, becoming a curate at Christchurch (Hants.) from 1802 to 1817, before moving on to Fitzroy Chapel in London. He published several books on botany and zoology, which were popular and went through multiple editions.

Marjorie Chandler was a significant member of the Milford-on-Sea Historical Record Society. She was born in Leamington Spa, the oldest of six children of Frederick Augustus, a jeweller, and Alice Sarah (née Roberts). She studied at Leamington High School and Cambridge University, ‘graduating’ in 1919 with first class honours in Natural Sciences. (Cambridge did not…

Capes was a particularly brilliant example of a clergyman scholar at the University of Oxford, where in 1870 he became Reader in Ancient History. He wrote several general works on ancient Rome and other Classical subjects and between about 1905 and his death transcribed and edited six volumes on the charters and records of Hereford…

Born at Newport on the Isle of Wight, Brannon initially followed his father’s profession of printing and engraving. Moving to Southampton, in about 1845 he set up his own business. Subsequently, his interests widened to include architecture and engineering. Relocating to Shanklin in 1863, by the mid 1870s he was settled in London. Like many…

Captain Charles Cave FRAS, FSA was a man of many parts – an officer during WWI, a notable meteorologist, astronomer and a church historian. Much of his work stemmed from his interest in and technical skills with early telephotography. His term in the Meteorological Section of the Royal Engineers led him to take many photographs…

The ‘first historian’ of Alresford, Robert Boyes, was a native of the town, born to John Boyes and his wife Mary (nee Russell).  Educated at the Free Grammar School, he was elected its master at the age of 21. Taking up residence in the schoolmaster’s house at 60 West Street, he was joined by Ann…

Born in the Southampton Parish of Holy Rood, Bullar lived his whole life in the town. A schoolmaster for nearly four decades, he taught many of those who were to become the town’s civic leaders. As it was put in an obituary published in the Southampton Times “The life of Mr Bullar is in fact…

Born at Burgh Next Aylsham in Norfolk, Butterfield was initially employed as a gardener. In 1896, however, he was accepted for the CMS Preparatory Institution and the Church Missionary College in 1897. Three years later, he passed his 2nd Class Preliminary Theological Examination and was accepted as a missionary.

Mary Aylwin Marshall was born on the Isle of Man to Robert Marshall, a Doctor of Medicine and his wife Anna.  She was one of the first students to train at the London School of Medicine for Women, qualifying as a doctor.  In 1928 however, having met and married Thomas Cotton, a Canadian cardiologist, she…