02.01.1832 – 21.04.1913 He was a druggist and chemist with a shop at 113 High Street in Old Portsmouth. After retirement he became curator of the Borough Museum, then in the Town Hall, next to the Dolphin Hotel.  According to the journalist historian, William Gates, who acknowledged his influence, he was: ‘A man of genial…

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…

Ken Sawyer was born in Enfield, the eldest child of Albert Frederick and Ada Elizabeth Sawyer; his father worked in banking in the city. Sawyer’s life before Milford-on-Sea is rather a closed book, other than the 1939 Register which recorded him in Merton working in the gas industry and in Civil Defence. His wife, Margaret,…

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…

Thomas Shore is no stranger to the Hampshire Field Club, which he founded with two others in 1885. He was the son of an architect, born in Wantage, and at some time acquired a Department of Science and Art Certificate, described as a ‘lowly qualification’. Clearly a late developer, after working as a schoolmaster in…

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.

Henry: christening, 17 January 1796; 25 November 1860. Julian: christening, 6 January 1798; burial 2 January, 1886 Dr Henry Slight (from: https://historyinportsmouth.co.uk/people/early-historians.htm) These two brothers were both medical practitioners, Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of London, and were active in cultural life in Portsmouth. In 1818 they were amongst those who founded the…

This John Speed was the last of four generations of the Speed family that made their mark on Southampton in various ways. Like his father (1671-1741) and grandfather (1628-1711), both named John, Speed studied medicine at Oxford and practised as a doctor in Southampton.

Born in Bridport, Spranger’s higher education was undertaken at Oxford. He spent some of his early life in Hursley where he came under the influence of John Keble. Moving to Southampton in the 1880s, he lived initially at Windsor House, Cumberland Place, but later he inherited his father-in-law’s estate at Springhill Court in Hill Lane.…

Born in Paddington, Stanley attended Cheltenham Ladies’ College and subsequently studied at Regent Street Polytechnic and Byam Shaw School of Art.