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.

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…

Edward King was born in Lymington, the son of Richard and Elizabeth King. He was educated at Amsterdam House, Christchurch, before joining the family business in the town, which was an offshoot of his grandfather’s printing business in Yeovil. One member of the family, Charles, had moved to Lymington in 1805, and his nephew, Richard…

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.