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Celebrating Hampshire Historians

Knowles, Bernard Dawson

1890- 16.11.1957

Knowles was born in Rotherham during the third quarter of 1890. The 1911 census records him as living with his parents and his occupation as ‘Clerk, Solicitor’s Office’. He was still based in Yorkshire when he got married in 1916. During the First World War he served in France and after being invalided out of the Army in 1917, he secured employment in the Admiralty, where he worked in the accountant-general’s department.

In 1920 he and his wife Dorothy moved to the south coast, when Bernard was appointed, against stiff competition, Secretary of Southampton Chamber of Commerce. Described as a ‘dynamic young man’, he ‘set himself the task of fashioning the chamber into a powerful force for good’ in the town. He wrote a wide range of reports on financial and economic matters, including the problem of unemployment.

In the immediate post-Second World War period he was involved with the Southampton War History Committee which sponsored his only historical publication, Southampton: The English Gateway. Knowles was residing in North Baddesley at the time of his death in November 1957.

Sources

Gordon Sewell, ‘Death of Mr Bernard Knowles’, Southern Gateway: The Journal of the Southampton Chamber of Commerce, December 1957, pp.283-4.

‘Mr Bernard Knowles dies suddenly’ Southern Daily Echo, 18.11.1957.

Portrait

Bernard Knowles

from the Southern Daily Echo, 18.11.1957.

Contribution to county’s history

As Knowles makes clear in the acknowledgements section of The English Gateway,   his major contribution to Hampshire’s history does not claim ‘to be either a work of history or contain any new historical facts’. Rather it is intended to be ‘a co-ordinated account of the role enacted by Southampton in the military history of England including the contribution of the town and port to the overthrow of Nazi Germany.’ That said, he laid firm foundations on which others could build.

Relevant published works

  • Knowles, B (1951) Southampton: The English Gateway. London: Hutchinson & Co

Critical Comments

In his foreword to The English Gateway, the eminent historian, Arthur Bryant, wrote: ‘Mr Knowles has retold the town’s history, adding much that is new or little known and making, as is fit, his main theme the story of its endurance, resilience, and splendid fortitude …’ It also received favourable reviews in the press. The Illustrated London News (09.06.1951), for example, commented that its sponsorship by the Duke of Wellington was ‘a guarantee of its quality’. Rather amusingly, but unsurprisingly, while describing it as ‘excellent among its kind’, the Liverpool Echo (16.04.1951), took issue with one part of its title claiming that Southampton was not ‘England’s Gateway’ but only its ‘Southern Gateway.’

Other Comments

Knowles had a very engaging personality. He was ‘a big, forthright man who smiled easily and laughed often … [but] beneath the cheerful raconteur there was a serious, widely-read student of affairs, particularly the political and economic policies of the country’ Southern Gateway, Feb 1958, p.385.

Contributor

Roger Ottewill (26.01.2022)

Key Words

Southampton, Southampton Chamber of Commerce

Any queries or further suggestions for this part of the list should be addressed to celebrating@hantsfieldclub.org.uk.

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