Celebrating Hampshire Historians

White, William

03.01.1799 – 03.09.1868

William was born and bred in Sheffield. Aged 18, ‘he joined the late Mr Edward Baines of Leeds in the preparation of county histories and directories’. After about four years Baines retired and White took over the business. He moved it to Sheffield, with White’s Directories being formally established in 1822. The next step was to begin the process of producing directories for most of the counties of England, the first being Durham and Northumberland, which was published in 1827/8. In 1859, the first edition of the directory covering Hampshire and the Isle of Wight was published.

Following his death in 1868, White was succeeded by his son, also William White, who continued the business, but died just two years later. As recorded in his obituary, he ‘very ably and successfully carried on [the] business on his own account.’ He maintained the ‘high’ reputation of the directories in Yorkshire and adjoining counties. While having ‘the benefit of a careful training under his father’ he added his ‘great natural ability, untiring assiduity, and a very sound judgment ... [and] greatly improved the style of the directories’(Sheffield and Rotherham Independent24 January, 1870, p.3).

Sources

• Sheffield and Rotherham Independent, 4 September 1868, p.3. and 24 January, 1870, p.3.

• Wikipedia

Portrait

Cover of an early edition of 'White's Directory for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight'

Contribution to county’s history

William White senior can be credited with establishing a template for county directories. However, as it was put in his obituary: ‘his works went far beyond a mere catalogue of names. He made them histories and gazetteers and in terms of style and condensation he was unequalled.’ Indeed, for historians of the present day they serve as repositories of information which is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain from other sources. Their content was compiled from the many existing secondary sources: ‘Guidebooks and Local Histories’ of the largest towns and ‘other places and districts’; ‘personal visits’; and Parliamentary Reports of Public Charities, Population, Church Benefices, &c. In the Introduction to the 1859 Directory he and ‘his Co-adjuctors ... tender[ed] their grateful thanks to many of the [unnamed] Literary and Official Gentlemen of the County for valuable communications, and their prompt replies to their multifarious enquiries.’ 

Relevant published works

• History, gazetteer and directory of the county of Hampshire, including the Isle of Wight (Sheffield: W. White, 1859 and 1878)

Critical Comments

It is surprising that given the coverage of White’s Directories there is relatively little mention of them in the VCH volumes.

Other Comments

To illustrate the wealth of material contained in White’s Directories it is worth considering the wording of the lengthy sub-title of the one relating to Hampshire and the Isle of Wight: ‘... comprising General Historical Surveys of the County and Island and of the Diocese of Winchester; and separate Historical, Statistical and Topographical descriptions of the Town and County of the Town of Southampton, the City of Winchester, the Populous Port, Borough, & Suburbs of Portsmouth and of all the Towns, Ports, Bathing Places, Unions, Parishes, Tithings, Villages, Hamlets, Seats &c., in this Interesting County and its Beautiful Channel Isle, shewing their Extent and Population; their Trade, Commerce, Manufactures, Markets, Fairs, Fisheries, and Agricultural and Mineral Productions; their Churches, Chapels, Charities, and Public Institutions; their Eminent Men; the Patrons, Incumbents, and the value of the Benefices; the Tithe Commutations; the Lords of the Manor and the Principal Owners of the Soil; the Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions; the Addresses of the Principal Inhabitants; the Post Office Regulations; the Seats of the Nobility and Gentry; the Magistrates and Other Principal Officers; and a great variety of other Useful Information ...’ In other words, White sought to make the coverage as  comprehensive as possible making effective use of existing sources and the enquiries mentioned above.

Contributor

Roger Ottewill (14 March 2024).

Key Words

Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Hampshire Directory, Hampshire Gazetter

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