Celebrating Hampshire Historians

Winbolt, Samuel Edward

1868 – 16 February 1944

Samuel Winbolt was educated at Christ’s Hospital and read classics and history at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, obtaining a Masters in 1892.  He then returned to his alma mater and spent his entire working life (until 1926) teaching at the school.

His ruling passion was the study of the Roman Empire, which led him to survey and excavate numerous sites in Kent, Sussex and Surrey. Almost inevitably his interests spilt over into Hampshire and he recorded his investigations in the Field Club Proceedings. He spent his last days in the county, living at Sherborne St John.

Winbolt was a prolific author, and while his early works were related to his teaching (The Latin Hexameter: hints for sixth formers (1906) and The Virgil Pocket Book (1907) etc, in later life he produced a number of ‘Pocket Guide’ books, covering many of the southern counties, including Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.  He also penned more general works such as Britain BC and Britain under the Romans, published by Penguin in 1944 and 1945 respectively. He was also a regular contributor to the Hampshire Chronicle.

Winbolt excavated at four Roman villas, most notably at Folkstone, Kent, where a cliff-top investigation became something of a tourist attraction. He also examined a Roman temple site in Surrey and made a detailed survey of the Stane Street Roman road. In addition, he sampled a number of hillforts and was particularly interested in the remains of medieval glasshouses. 

In Hampshire, in the 1940s, his contributions to the annual journals speak for themselves, an exception being his 1930 assistance to A B Milner (see below) in excavating a round barrow at Hinton Ampner.  Otherwise, he brought his knowledge and surveying strategies to bear on a number of known or suspected sites.  The HFC Hon Editor of the day (Rev W J Ferrar) found him a ‘delightful companion’, during this swansong period when his health was failing, ‘still deeply interested in his Vergil and Horace…He gave me several of his charming renderings.  In “To feel the Sunny South and die” he shewed whither his thoughts were tending:’

When all is done, I only pray
That Tibur, built by Argives, may
Give rest to my declining age.
May it the end of wandering be
And journeys over land and sea

Sources

• Hampshire Field Club


• Wikipedia


• Obituary - Nature

Portrait

Wikimedia Commons

Contribution to county’s history

S E Winbolt was an energetic and enthusiastic amateur archaeologist and author.  His best work took place in Sussex, Surrey and Kent, but he was a member of the HFC and a regular correspondent of the Hampshire Chronicle, reporting new discoveries. His brief articles in the Proceedings, on the other hand, often took a close look at known sites, sometimes providing a fresh perspective.. 

Relevant published works

• Milner A B (1944) Some Earthworks in mid-Hampshire, Proc Hants Field Club & Archaeol Soc, 16 38-47

• Winbolt S E (1931) Two Bronze Age Discoveries in Hampshire, Proc Hants Field Club & Archaeol Soc, 10

• Winbolt S E (1943) A Cobbler’s Account of 1709 Proc Hants Field Club & Archaeol Soc, 15 42


• Winbolt S E (1943) Roman sites on the Harroway in the Basingstoke area, Proc Hants Field Club & Archaeol Soc, 15 245-47


• Winbolt S E (1944) Strip Fields at Sherborne St John 1816-17, Proc Hants Field Club & Archaeol Soc, 16 48-51


• Winbolt S E (1944) Brige? Proc Hants Field Club & Archaeol Soc, 16 52-53


• Winbolt S E (1944) Roman House at Twyford, Winchester Proc Hants Field Club & Archaeol Soc, 16 59


• Winbolt S E & Winbolt V E (1942) The Winchester - Silchester Roman Road, Proc Hants Field Club & Archaeol Soc, 15 159-64, 239-45

Critical Comments

Other Comments

Contributor

Dave Allen, March 2024

Key Words

Hampshire Field Club, Weyhill, Field Archaeology

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