Félicité Hardcastle was born in Oxford. Her great grandfather was Sir William Herschel and her father, Joseph Alfred Hardcastle, was also a noted astronomer.  When he died, in 1916, she and her mother moved to the New Forest village of Burley.

John Hooper Harvey trained as an architect under his father and under Sir Herbert Baker. He worked before WW2 for the Ministry of Public Works, then as a lecturer in the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College, London from 1950-1959. He was Consultant Architect to Winchester College from 1947 to 1986, and Keeper of…

Francis Haverfield was born at Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire to Rev William Haverfield and Emily his wife (née Mackarness).  His mother died when he was two and his father fell into a ‘hopeless and prolonged decline’.  Deprived of a normal home life, Francis developed an abruptness of manner which was apparently with him for the rest of…

James Joyce (B.A., F.S.A., B.D.) graduated at Oxford in 1846 and in the same year was admitted to holy orders. He held positions at Wing, Buckinghamshire, and Burford, Oxfordshire, before becoming in 1855, by the gift of the Duke of Wellington, rector of Stratfield Saye in Hampshire.

Rosalind Hill was born in the Wirral to Norman Hill, a prominent shipping lawyer, and his wife Mary.  After reading history at St Hilda’s, Oxford, she went on to gain a B Litt, researching ecclesiastical letter books of the 13th century.  She taught briefly at University College, Leicester before moving, in 1937, to Westfield College…

Although born in Winchester, the son of a naval surgeon, Kentish spent the second half of his life in Australia. He was baptised at St Laurence church on 7 May 1798. On 7 February 1826 he married Anna Maria Judd. Kentish had a somewhat ‘chequered’ career, including pamphleteering and political agitation, and was frequently beset…

Norman Gray Hill was one of four offspring born to Sir Norman and Lady Hill, and their only son. A younger sister, Rosalind, 14 years his junior, became a professor of medieval history at the University of London.

Although her birth was registered in Medway, Kent, Katherine came from an old Shropshire family of lawyers and military personnel. Census records indicate that in 1891 the family were living in Gillingham and in 1901 in Devonport. It is not known precisely when but shortly thereafter, her father Major-General Edward Ranulph Kenyon C.B., C.M.G, the…

Dom Hockey belonged to Quarr Abbey, a Catholic Benedictine monastery between Binstead and Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight. It is close to a quarry that in the middle ages supplied ‘Binstead stone’ for the Tower of London, Winchester Cathedral, Romsey Abbey and other churches.  It was almost depleted by the end of the middle…

The Honourable Sir Henry Keppel GCB OM was a career naval officer who served in most corners of the world and rose to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet.  His autobiography, published in 1899, paints a vivid picture of a remarkable life.