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.

Born in Gloucestershire in 1839, William was youngest son of Charles Stephens, a banker. He was educated privately before proceeding to Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1862 with a first class in Literae humaniores. Ordained during the 1860s, in 1869 he married Charlotte Jane Hook.

The son of a farmer from Stanmore, Berkshire, on leaving school he lacked the means to study medicine. He trained as a pharmacist and worked as a dispenser until 1841. A legacy then enabled him to enter Middlesex Hospital Medical School. Winning several prizes he qualified MRCS, LRCP and in 1845 was appointed Medical Officer…

Geoffrey Stilwell, generally known as Holt, was one of seven children born to John Pakenham Stilwell and Georgina Stevens of Yateley, and the oldest of their three sons. The Stilwells were an old banking family, owners of the recognised Royal Navy bank (Stilwell & Sons of Great George Street, Westminster and later, 42 Pall Mall)…

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…