Born at the family mansion Englefield House, situated near Reading, Sir Henry was the eldest son of the Sixth Baronet, Sir Henry Englefield and his second wife Catherine (nee Buck). In 1778, aged 26, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in the following year a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Born at Halstead in Essex, Gilbert moved to Southampton with his parents during the 1850s. He married Mary Emma Stanesby in 1867 and they continued to reside in the town for much of the remainder of the 19th century, although for a short period the couple lived in Wandsworth. While in Southampton Gilbert established a…

The Rev George Engleheart achieved national prominence as one of the greatest ever breeders of daffodils, but as a ‘highly cultured man, well read and appreciative of everything that is beautiful’ he also found time to indulge in the classical archaeology of his local Hampshire parishes.

William Gilpin was a Church of England cleric, schoolmaster, artist and author. He is perhaps best known as a travel writer, and one who originated the idea of the ‘picturesque’.

Her father, William Escombe, was a shipping and insurance agent with the family firm Escombe, McGrath & Company Ltd in Manchester, which provided the family with a comfortable living. They moved to Bishopstoke in 1874, where Dorothy was born two years later.

George Godwin was born in Winchester to Edwin Godwin, a draper, who later became a farmer at Melksham, and his wife Mary (nee Tugwell).  By the age of 22 he had passed through the London College of Divinity at Highbury, being ordained deacon in 1869. The following year he entered the priesthood, the same year…

Born in Clerkenwell, London, he came to Portsmouth to work at the brewery of Pike, Spicer & Co (later taken over by Brickwood’s), where he eventually became a director. He had a strong interest in genealogy and local history and after his death left a large collection of notes that were purchased by the Borough…

Eyre was born in Padbury, near Buckingham, and began his working life in the merchant navy.  By his early 20s, however, he had taken holy orders and served as curate at a number of English parishes before – in 1875 – becoming rector of Swarraton and vicar of Northington, where he spent the rest of…

Usually known as the Venerable William Fearon DD, he was one the many ‘priest headmasters’ of Winchester College. He is included because he clearly had an interest in local history and is credited with ‘earnestly’ promoting its study in the county (see Hants & Berks Gazette on 31 March 1906, cited in the profile of…

The author of what has been described as the most important travel journal of the 17th century, Celia Fiennes, was born at Newton Toney in Wiltshire, to Nathaniel Fiennes, a Parliamentarian colonel in the English Civil War, and his second wife, Frances.