The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 50 No.3 | Dec 2023

Hampshire Family Historian The

Volume 50 No.3 December 2023

Journal of the Hampshire Genealogical Society

Inside this Issue

The Hampshire Specials • A Long Way From Burghclere • Henry Norris?

PLUS: Around the groups • Members’ Surname Interest • Research Room

Hampshire Genealogical Society

HGS OFFICE , Hampshire Genealogical Society, Hampshire Record Office, Sussex Street, Winchester. SO23 8TH Open Tues and Thurs 10am-4pm This address should be used for all post to the society and officers Registered Charity 284744

Telephone: 07769 405195 Email: society@hgs-online.org.uk Website: http://www.hgs-familyhistory.com

PRESIDENT Dr Nick Barratt

OFFICE MANAGER Sue Stannard Email: office@hgs-online.org.uk

CHAIRMAN Tony Sinclair Email: chairman@hgs-online.org.uk

BOOKSTALL Fiona Ranger Email: bookstall@hgs-online.org.uk

VICE CHAIR Kay Lovell Email: vicechairman @hgs-online.org.uk

MEMBERS’ INTERESTS Keith Turner Email: membersinterests@hgs-online.org.uk RESEARCH CENTRE MANAGER Lorraine Whale Email: researchmanager@hgs-online.org.uk EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND TRUSTEES: John Bowman Margaret Bowman Phil Brown Terry Gilmour Kay Lovell Jane Painter Fiona Ranger Ann-Marie Shearer Tony Sinclair Sue Stannard Keith Turner Angela Winteridge

SECRETARY Jane Painter Email: secretary@hgs-online.org.uk

TREASURER Ann-Marie Shearer Email: treasurer@hgs-online.org.uk

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Margaret Bowman Email: membership@hgs-online.org.uk

GROUP ORGANISERS – See Group Reports Pages

SUBSCRIPTION RATES: ALL MEMBERS £15

EDITOR Stephen Pomeroy Email: editor@hgs-online.org.uk

This journal is designed and laid out by Grey Cell Studios Southampton Telephone 023 8023 5780 Email: info@greycellstudios.co.uk

Hampshire Family Historian The

Contents

Editorial

114

by Stephen Pomeroy Chairman’s Report

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December 2023

by Tony Sinclair HGS News

Vol 50 No.3 • ISSN 0306-6843

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Farewell 118 News from the Hampshire Archives 121 Feedback 126 Book Reviews 126 The Hampshire Specials 128 by Tim Cook Searchers 131 A Long Way From Burghclere by Christopher Farrand 132

Page 122

Deadline Material for possible inclusion in the March 2024 Family Historian should be received strictly by 24th February 2024 . All contributions are, however, appreciated as early as possible. The deadline applies to regular features only. Disclaimer The Hampshire Family Historian is the official publication of the Hampshire Genealogical Society. Material is copyright of the Society and may not be reproduced without written permission. The Hampshire Genealogical Society does not accept responsibility for personal views expressed in this publication, or in any articles. Submission of material The editor welcomes articles, feedback, letters or searchers requests for the journal. Text should be typed in black, with illustrations if appropriate. Send to the HGS Office at the address on the inside front cover marked for the attention of the editor. Please enclose a SAE for return of any photos or other items. Items can also be sent by e-mail to editor@hgs-online.org.uk as Word documents. In this case please send any photos or illustrations as separate image files rather than embedded in the document. You can have them in the document to indicate where they should appear or use placeholders. Images degrade when they are imported and resized when embedded. HGS reserves the right to reproduce submissions in publicity materials and on the society website. Please ALWAYS include a telephone contact — and if a member your membership number. To comply with data protection requirements please state what contact details you want printed in the journal or website, e.g telephone number and/or e-mail and/or address.

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Surnames Featured in this Issue Members’ Surname Interests Is this Henry Norris, 1782-1866?

135 136 140

by Robert Bennett Local Group Programmes

144 IBC

Membership

HGS 50th Anniversary

BC

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Editorial

Message from the editor Welcome to the December issue of the Historian. As is normal with us collecting up articles and reports in October ready for the December issue; many groups are

A long way from

Burghclere - Smith Family. Christopher Farrand one of our

still sorting out speakers for 2024 so those with internet access will need to look at the society website for updates of speakers If anyone is able to help restart any of the groups which have ceased to meet, please email the chairman and hopefully we can cover more of the county with local meetings. Otherwise keep a look out for other group meetings on Zoom that you can join. Even if your group is still meeting you may find other Zoom talks interesting. Articles in this issue: Hampshire Specials. Tim Cook, starting from earlier research done by his parents, has researched some of the specials in the Romsey area covering their main occupations and families. He is also after any other information that readers may be able to add.

overseas members from Ohio,

USA, tackled the challenge of his Smith ancestors in England. Using both USA and UK records along with passenger lists he has been able to make some progress but the Smith side still illusive. Is this Henry Norris? - Some of you may have attended group meetings about dating photographs. Robert Bennett has researched an old family photo with not only dating the photograph but then deciding which family member it might actually be. Stephen Pomeroy Editor

For all the latest news visit… www.hgs-familyhistory.com

Membership Renewal If your subscription is due for renewal please see the inside of the back cover

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HGS News

Chairman’s Report As I write this, my second Chairman’s Report for HGS, the country is still suffering the effects of “Storm Babet” and I do sincerely hope that our members around the country – especially in the north – were not too badly affected by the storms, the associated flooding and any damage caused by high winds. I certainly hope that no HGS member is among those who were hurt or even knows someone who had been hurt. Stormy weather is normal for this time of the year but it is almost impossible to believe it was already late October when I wrote this report and the shops were already full of Christmas food, chocolate, toys and decorations; Christmas really does seem to come earlier each year! It also means I am already six months into my formal Chairmanship of HGS. One of my first tasks as Chairman was to oversee the completion of an HGS Organisation Chart, which sets out all the roles and responsibilities that need to be covered by our Organisation. The finished Chart clearly allocates one post-holder for one role / responsibility, which should mitigate against any one person taking too much onto their shoulders in the future, bearing in mind we are all volunteers. The next task we had to complete was to ensure that all our document recording processes and IT systems are fit for purpose. When we moved from Portsmouth to

Winchester in 2021, it was realised that an enormous number of our records had been stored on paper in various box

files and ring binders but, during the past two years, we have been gradually digitising everything so that finding those records and documents will be a lot easier in the future. However, because individual volunteers carried out the digitising on their own laptops, it meant that some documents and files were saved on those laptops or associated Memory Sticks / Flash Drives. (I should emphasise at this point that no personal data held on individual persons was ever involved in this digitisation process. HGS Members’ details and HGS Customers’ personal details are held on different, HGS dedicated, laptops and cannot get into the public domain.) To ensure that all HGS records, files and documents will be available in one place in the future we are making use of Microsoft 365 / One Drive which is, in effect, one huge ‘virtual’ filing cabinet stored in the ubiquitous “I cloud”. Our Post Holders have each been

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allocated a specific Microsoft Licence and we can now share folders / files / documents amongst ourselves, or, we can send files to volunteers for updating or adding to and then, when they press ‘save’, the folder / file / document goes straight back into the HGS ‘virtual’ filing cabinet. The training of the ten postholders / Licence Holders was completed in late October / early November. We then moved on to address the need to review our business practices and to update them where it was felt necessary. I felt this was necessary because, back in the early Spring, when I became the de-facto Chairman pending my formal election at the June AGM, I attended a seminar run by our Auditors, Morris Crocker. Talking finance can be a rather dry affair but, during that afternoon, it was pointed out that HGS is, in fact, a business which has Charitable Status. Thinking it through, I realised that we are indeed a business being run for the benefit of our members – nearly 2,000 of us! Yes, HGS has a website and produces a quarterly Journal for our members and, yes, we are a regular presence on Facebook and Twitter / X and, yes, we have organised ourselves into local Groups around the County, plus the National and International Groups. This is all for the benefit of our members in Hampshire, for those around the rest of the UK and, yes, for those (hundreds of!) members

living elsewhere around the World. Until I became a Trustee and then Chairman of HGS, I thought that was all we did! However, we also make things and we sell things; HGS volunteers have designed and printed 115 different Hampshire Village Booklets that we sell; we have CDs and PDFs of Baptisms / Marriages / Burials and Monumental Inscriptions. We sell the “Godfrey Edition” of old Ordnance Survey Maps of the Cities and Towns in our County; we sell WEA books about various locales within the City of Portsmouth and we sell Eve McLoughlin books on various interesting aspects of Family History. We have a local customer base within Hampshire itself: our customer base extends to those who live beyond Hampshire’s borders and then beyond even our national borders to our members and others from around the world, so, it is clear that we are a business run for the mutual benefit of us all. A business run solely by volunteers also needs to be fit for purpose in the 21st Century. To this end, we are reviewing our business practices including, for example, whether we should provide our records in another format beside CDs, which new desktop PCs and Laptops are not equipped to run. Should we, for example, provide the Baptisms / Marriages / Burials and Monumental Inscription in PDF format and / or via a Memory Stick / Thumb Drive instead of CDs? This is just one aspect of our business that is

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being reviewed. You will read or hear more from me on these subjects as time goes on, including another important area we have just started to look at – Governance, e.g., Safeguarding and Customer Care policies. Moving away from business matters, there is some information of a more social and, hopefully, enjoyable nature, that I’d like you all know about. Firstly, on Wednesday December 13th in the Hampshire Record Office (HRO), HGS will be hosting a Christmas Open Day for our Volunteers. a I, together with the other Officers and Trustees would like to thank those local members who volunteer their services freely so that, for example, we can staff the HGS Help Desk situated just inside the door to the HRO Search Room while others carry out particular tasks for our Research Manager, Lorraine Whale, for our Operations Manager, John Bowman, and for our Sales Manager, Sue Stannard. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the many other Volunteers, some of whom live overseas, who have been of enormous help in digitising all our records, such as the huge ‘Britons Dying Overseas’ project, as well as those members who organise the local Groups into their monthly meetings throughout the year and who, unfortunately, will not be able to get to Winchester. Another date for your diaries is the weekend

of July 6th / 7th. 2024 marks the 50th Anniversary of The Hampshire Genealogical Society and, as part of the year’s celebratory events, we are planning to hold a two-day Conference over that July weekend, including Exhibition Stands from around the UK, plus Workshops, five Speakers and “Ask the Expert” sessions. More on that exciting weekend nearer the time. Look out for updates on our website, on Facebook and Twitter / X. In the meantime, I am still making my way around the County to meet our members in the local Groups, as well as speaking to those members attending Zoom Meetings of the National and International Groups. I am doing this in order to introduce myself in person as your new Chairman so that I can explain in more detail what actually happened earlier in the year which put the Society in such turmoil, to explain what we did to resolve it, what we have done since my chairmanship started and what we are planning to do in the coming months and years for the benefit of you, the members of Hampshire Genealogical Society. I look forward to hearing the views of our members as I make my way round the County. I shall write to you all again in March 2024. Until then I do hope you all enjoy a peaceful and Happy Christmas and that you are looking forward to a safe and better New Year. Tony Sinclair Chairman

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HGS News/Farewell

News from the HGS Office

Following Chris Pavey’s resignation as Research Centre Manager it was decided to split this role in two. So, we now have Lorraine Whale as Research Manager and me, as Office Manager. Luckily I had already spent much of the previous two years assisting Chris in the office so felt that I had a reasonable grasp of what the role entailed. Nevertheless, the first few weeks were a steep learning curve. Besides managing office supplies and organisation, I also have overall responsibility for HGS sales and stock control. I am writing this at the end of October and after 4 months I finally feel like I understand my role. Recently we have recruited 5 new volunteers but have lost one regular volunteer who has moved out of the area. Having these few extra volunteers will enable us to run the help desk in the research room on Wednesdays as well as our usual Tuesdays and Thursdays starting from 8th November. We try to ensure that the HGS help desk has two volunteers available each day, but due to holidays and illness this is not always possible. Alongside this all volunteers assist with various administrative

activities such as those mentioned below. The HGS sales team meet on Tuesdays and have been working hard to restock the bookstall and find the best way to manage online sales. Village Booklets remain our most popular sales item. Although sales of CDs at Bookstall events are minimal, there is a steady turnover of CD sales via the HGS website. Many of these are sent overseas. Updated listings for the HGS Reference Library were posted on the website at the end of September. We hope to have updated listings of Unwanted Certificates posted by December. Our aim is that all data processed, stored, and shared by volunteers will be carried out using Microsoft 365/One Drive. Therefore, during 2024 we will be reviewing miscellaneous existing data, cataloguing, and uploading it to Microsoft 365. We all owe a big thank you to each of our volunteers without whom none of this would be possible Sue Stannard HGS Office Manager

FAREWELL John Cryan of Gosport Mr Robin Gain of Sarratt, Herts

With the deepest regret we wish to inform readers of the death of the following HGS members:-

Member#15895 Member #6331

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HGS News

Itchen Abbas MI Correction

One of our purchasers of the PDF for the memorials in Itchen Abbas has noticed an inscription error for the details on the stone remembering Thomas DROVER which recorded him as dying on 23 March 1815 aged 58. The day when he actually died was 25 March 1845 which is confirmed by the details on his birth certificate. Seeing a photo of the stone in Find a Grave the weathering is such that it is understandable how the date could easily have been mis-interpreted. To check further, his age of 58 in 1845 put his birth as being in 1787 which is where a Thomas Drover was born on 2 July 1787 to parents Thomas and Ruth, and who was baptized on 29 July, all in Itchen Abbas. However, when looking for his marriage and any children there was nothing until the 1841 census when he was recorded with Mrs. Drover back in Itchen Abbas but

without any children. In the churchyard the next stone to Thomas was one to his wife Martha who died in1863 aged 70. Therefore, when looking for a Thomas with a wife named Martha further afield, I found his marriage in Farnham SRY where he married Martha HICKS on 29 April 1813 and where they had three children between 1816 and 1820. Roy Montgomery HGS Researcher Member #3759

Sources: Ancestry

Findmypast Find a Grave

Note if any other member finds any corrections needed to our publications, please let us know and we can let other members know just in case they are working on the same family and update the publication if applicable.

Safeguarding – New Policy

Since our AGM on 17th June inst., HGS trustees have begun a programme to assess our Governance system. Part of this is to review/update our various policies, or create new ones. The first to have been completed and approved is our Safeguarding Policy which you

will find on our website, in the ‘Legal’ section at the bottom of the Home page, at https://www.hgs-familyhistory.com/ If you wish to receive a printed copy, please write to us at our office address which you will find at the top of the page on the inside of the front cover.

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HGS News

From our Facebook Page

Here is a recent post on our Facebook page and a couple of comments it generated… The importance of locating originals: • Whereas many records are available online these days, do bear in mind that transcriptions can often be incorrect. • Always try to find the originals or, at least, images of the originals to verify your findings. • Original documents may also include extra snippets of information that has not been transcribed. • Sometimes, a ‘proverbial’ brick wall can be knocked down by browsing • Read old documents carefully – you never know what you may find!

KS – I have ancestors from Bream according to Ancestry. Lots of people have recorded the same family as being from Bream. It's Brecon (roll of the eyes) MT – So true! I've just had an entry on the 1921 census corrected as the transcription was creative in the extreme. The lady's surname was actually Lawrence but on FMP website it appeared as "Zaviringer". I was actually impressed at how I had a reply to my report within 3 days and the entry had been corrected too; one brick wall now demolished!

https://www.facebook.com/HGSfamilyhistory

The HGS Bookstall will be at The Family History Show at Three Counties Showground, Malvern, Worcestershire on Saturday 16th March 2024,10:00-16:00 HGS Bookstall

Errata

The article about volunteering for BDO should have been credited to Sandi Davis, member #11629 On page 71 the name of the father was omitted. My story in the last journal about my birth father who was in the navy then in 1960/61 worked in the dockyard he lived in Pains Road Southsea. His name David McIntyre and he used to drink in the pub the Mystery. Anyone with any information I would be grateful to hear from.

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News from the Hampshire Archives

Hampshire Record Office News

The public service continues its opening hours of Tuesdays to Thursdays, 9.30am to 4.00pm and document ordering available from 9.30am to 12 and 1pm to 3pm each day (5 documents at a time). You can also order up to 10 documents 24 hours in advance of a visit. For Christmas/New Year arrangements and Saturdays when we will be open in 2024, check our website at www.hants.gov.uk/librariesandarchives/archiv es/visit-us . Ancestry update: our parish record datasets, comprising parish baptisms, marriages, and burials up to 1921, have recently been updated online to include registers that were digitised in a secondary batch, including registers for Christchurch and Wonston. Bishops’ transcripts and Methodist registers will become available in 2024. For the latest information and also how to get free access in libraries and HRO, see https://www.hants.gov.uk/librariesandarchives /archives/services/online-sources . Accessions Some recent additions to the archives – Hampshire Archives and Local Studies Personal, family and estate records Jeffreys family of Lyndhurst and Verner family of Hartley Wintney (Verner-Jeffreys family): photographs of patrol submarine HMS Traveller and crew, after entering the Port of Alexandria, Egypt, 7 Nov 1942 (lost on active service a month later, with all crew including Lt Robert David Verner-Jeffreys); two photo albums of Robert D Verner-Jeffreys, showing family shots taken at Manor House, North Huish, Devon, and leisure trips, pets,

sports, etc., 1924; notes and correspondence with the late Dr David Chandler of Yateley (military historian and former head of war studies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst), c1996-2004; further notes, extracts, articles, publications and correspondence on Verner and Jeffreys family history. (32A16 awaiting cataloguing) Durrant, High Sheriff's papers: newspaper cuttings, articles and photographs relating to Peggy Durrant (Assistant to Hampshire's High Sheriff), including award of an MBE in 1988, and retirement in 1989; papers and ephemera about High Sheriffs of Hampshire (73A23) Chenevix Trench family: executor's accounts for Frederick Trench of Woodlawn, Ireland, 1797-1803 (father of Richard Trench; 1774 1860); household accounts of Richard Trench of Bursledon (1774-1860), 1808-10; manuscript by Revd Francis Chenevix Trench (18051886, rector of Islip, son of Richard and Melesina Trench) (76A23) Sparks of Colebrook Street, Winchester: family papers including: baptism certificates of Ernest and Emily Sparks, 1892; family photographs, early-mid 20th century; school group photograph, 1912; album/scrapbook of photographs and papers relating to First World War army service of Ernest Sparks in the Hampshire Regiment at Basra and in India, 1916-18; rolled group photograph of repatriation records staff, Winchester, 1919; papers concerning installation of electricity at 21 Colebrook Street, 1919-39; papers relating to role of Mrs Jean Sparks as a midwife and registration of 21 Colebrook Street as a maternity home, 1927-37; papers concerning telephone installation at 21 Colebrook Street, 1927-56; County Architect's Department

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dinner menu, 1934; photograph of War Memorial Cloister, Winchester Cathedral, early-mid 20th century; photograph of view in Colebrook Street, 1937; photographs of back garden of Colebrook Street, 1930s-40s; papers relating to employment of Ernest Sparks by Hampshire County Council and Winchester Cathedral, 1941-54; airgraph letter from Lt John Ward in India, 1942; letter of condolence on death of Mrs Sparks, 1943; St Maurice and St Lawrence parish magazine listing her death, 1943; photographs of events at Winchester Cathedral including Royal visit and enthronement of Bishop A T P Williams, 1946-52; ROC certificate of Ernest Sparks, 1946; music manuscript for Vesper hymn, mid 20th century; newspaper reports of visit of Winchester Cathedral Choir to Guernsey and Jersey, 1949; photograph of an open-air service, mid 20th century; two photographs of people outside premises of Strong and Co, mid 20th century (81A23, awaiting cataloguing) Hampshire Sale Particulars: sale particulars for the following properties: Audleys Wood Estate, Cliddesden, 1930; Jermyns, Romsey Extra, 1933; Majors Farm, Whitsbury, 1964; The Manor Farm, Rockbourne, 1964; The West End Green Estate, 1976 (93A23) Ashmansworth Farms day books: Day book for Church Farm, Ashmansworth, 1895-1897; Day books for Steels and Smiths Farms, Ashmansworth, 1898-1912 (97A23) Crowley family of Alton, photographs: photograph album of portrait photographs of Abraham Crowley (1796-1864) and his descendants and related family members, 1860s-1920s; Crowley family photograph album, c1880s-1900s; loose portrait

photographs of Crowley family members, 1860s-1880s (99A23) Clubs and Societies Andover Homemakers' Club: rules, 1930 2012; minute books containing minutes of members' meetings and committee meetings, 1971-93, minutes of members' meetings, 1994-21, and committee minutes, 1993-2020; annual reports, 2013-19; programme cards, 1931-7 and 1959-2020; attendance register, 2006-20; attendance statistics, 2007-19; account books, 1984-2008 and 2017-22; accounts summary book, 1990-2022; record of receipts, 2010-22; balance sheets, 1993 2022; other records including correspondence with Buckingham Palace, 2000-2020; papers concerning purchase of monogrammed tableware, 2002; papers concerning donations to charities, 2007-09; 80th anniversary photograph album, 2010; papers concerning use of St Ann's Hall, Suffolk Road, Andover (including minutes of user group), 2011; files of original and copy newscuttings , 1930 2022; papers concerning closure, 2020-2; list of members, 2021 (77A23) Four Marks Care: minutes, 1991-2020, scrapbooks of captioned photographs, cuttings and inserts featuring events organised by the group, c1975-2000 ; published items including newsletters (clients and volunteers), and information leaflets, c2016-19; Constitution as at May 2013. (79A23) Romsey Twinning Association: chronological files of minutes, newsletters, reports, programmes, correspondence, cuttings, accounts, and related papers chronicling the activities of Romsey Twinning, c1958-2019 (early years incomplete);

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scrapbooks and photo albums, 1959-2007 ; newscuttings about the activities of other Hampshire twinning organisations, c1993 2004 (82A23) Blackmoor and Whitehill Women's Institute: Committee minutes, Mar 1988-Jan 2020 ; Record books of monthly meetings, Jul 1992-Nov 2019 (83A23) Liphook Group of Women's Institutes: minute books of Liphook Group of Women's Institutes, 1935-84 (84A23) Symondians' Association [formerly Old Symondians' Society/Old Symondians' Association: records deposited on the winding-up of the Association, as follows: volumes entitled 'TSA Archive', comprising a chronological account of school activities including photos, cuttings, programmes, orders of service, minutes and correspondence, annotated throughout with additional information on the content, (1899)- 2023 ; issues of 'The Symondian' magazine, 1938-2023 (incomplete series); folder entitled 'the Stapleton archive' comprising photos collected by the late Ann Stapleton (nee St John; parents were wardens at the school; later wife of Henry Stapleton, d2019, maths teacher), dated 1930s; published handbooks and registers of members, 1983-2016 (incomplete series); album of photos and signatures gathered at 'OSS London Dinners', 1999-2014; papers about the centenary of Peter Symonds School/College, 1997; series of formal school group photos, 1922-61 (102M95W awaiting cataloguing) Hampshire County Cricket Club : Hampshire County Cricket Club handbooks, 1959- 2016, 2018-19 (86A13, PER483)

Havant Choral Society: committee minutes, 1964-81; account book, 1948-83, and 1994-5; members' subscription book, 1948-62; concert programmes, 1920s and 1950s-70s; Petersfield Musical Festival Programmes, 1920s; Havant Choral Society files of correspondence and concert programmes, 1971-6, 1977-80, 1971-80 (includes photocopy of programme from 1887); concert posters, 1950s; newspaper cuttings, 1960s 70s; two photographs of the choir, c1970s (90A23) Stokes Bay Women’s Institute: Minutes of meetings, Oct 2014-Dec 2019; Committee meeting minutes, Nov 2014-Dec 2019; financial statements, 2015-2016; files of newsletters, photographs of events, newscuttings and publicity, Dec 2014-Dec 2021 (95A23) Hampshire County Federation of Women's Institutes: scrapbooks from Lee-On-Solent Women's Institute, c1932-2023; programme cards, c1948-2017 (96M96) National Farmers Union: Hampshire: minute book of Hampshire Branch of NFU, 1909-17 ; records of Hants NFU sub-branches as follows: Alton: minutes, 1910-92), Horticultural Section minutes, 1944-63), Hop Growers' minutes, 1967-88), and attendance registers, 1963-92 ; Andover: minutes, 1909 92 , and attendance register, 1986-92; Basingstoke: minutes, 1919-88, and attendance register, 1971-84; Botley and Bishops Waltham: minutes, 1931-54; Havant: minutes, 1942-54; Petersfield: minutes, 1949 81, and attendance registers, 1963-92; Romsey: minutes, 1910-32; Hampshire Young Farmers' Club Advisory Committee minutes, 1944-52, and correspondence, 1944-8;

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publications comprising 'The Hampshire Farmer', 1946-91, and year books, 1961-7 and 1992 (1 bundle). (98A23, awaiting cataloguing) Photographs and postcards Hampshire church photographs : album containing captioned colour prints showing the exteriors of Hampshire and Isle of Wight churches, with hand-drawn location maps, arranged by district, taken by an unknown photographer, c1970s-80s (87A23) Parish records Winchester St Matthew with St Paul parish: bound copies of Weeke Parish Magazines, 1900-6 and 1907-14; parish magazines, Jan 2019-Jan 2023; photograph book of pre- and post-build photographs of the substantial changes made at St Paul's church, 2019-2020 (62M81W) Lyndhurst parish: items of parish ephemera, as follows: notice that a dispute between Minstead and Lyndhurst parishes over the settlement of Thomas Hunt and his wife Joyce has been settled (the Order to remove them from Minstead to Lyndhurst has been quashed), 9 Jan 1749; Removal Order of Mary Waterman from New Sarum to Lyndhurst, 10 Dec 1773; Notice of First Assessment under Property and Income Tax Act, parish of Lyndhurst, 1 Mar 1843; notice of a meeting of Lyndhurst Vestry to take place on May 1851; Report of the Royal New and Waltham Forest Commission, 1850 (annotated by Lyndhurst

2007 (46M92) School records (note: 100 year closure on log books) Cranbourne Bilateral School, Basingstoke: booklet entitled 'Freedom of Choice: A Practical Approach to the Re-organisation of Secondary Education in Basingstoke', published by the newly-formed Parents' Committee of Cranbourne Bilateral School, Secondary Education in the area put forward by the Hampshire County Education Officer, and following the Labour Government's pledge to introduce Comprehensive Education nationally, in 1965. (74A23) Shakespeare Infant School, Eastleigh: log books of Mixed Junior and County Primary School, 1931-99 and Shakespeare Infant School, 1976-99; photographs of tea party for Jubilee, 1992 (89A23) St Peter's (CE) Controlled Junior School, Yateley: log books, 1971-6, and 1996-2001; photographs of a trip to Isle of Wight, 1999 (27A12) Queen Mary's Grammar School, Basingstoke, account of touring stage production: illustrated account of a touring production of Shakespeare's Henry V, entitled 'By Land and Sea to Scandinavia', undertaken by pupils of Queen Mary's School, Basingstoke, Easter 1955, written by former pupil and cast member Peter Perry in 1958 (96A23) Miscellaneous records Roberts of Cheriton, Hampshire architectural and buildings history: alphabetical files compiled by the late Edward Basingstoke (opened 1967) in light of proposals for the re-organisation of

parish officers). (22M84) Parish Council records

Amport Parish Council: minutes of Amport Parish Council, Jul 1993-Dec 2009; receipts and payments account book, Mar 1990-Mar

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Roberts during his research into Hampshire's historic buildings and architecture, comprising notes, archaeological reports and surveys, plans, drawings and photographs of tithe barns, farms and residential buildings, c1990s-2000s; oral history interviews with Hampshire residents carried out in 1970s and '80s; notebook and files comprising information about the Bishopric of Winchester Estates collection including the Pipe Rolls, used for buildings research, c1990s. (80A23 awaiting cataloguing) Bere Forest report: Bere Forest 'Working Plan', comprising a detailed plan for management of the Forest for the period 1962-71, looking at livestock and crops, roads and access, vehicles and machinery, nurseries, staff and labour, buildings, etc., compiled by the Forestry Commission, undated [c1960] (85A23) Southern Policy Centre, Winchester: series of reports, conference and seminar notes, and opinion pieces published by Southern Policy Centre, looking at aspects of public policy in the central southern region of England, c2015 22 (91A23 awaiting cataloguing) Basingstoke Carnival programmes: published programmes for Basingstoke Carnivals, c1951-94 (94A23, awaiting cataloguing) Wessex Film and Sound Archive Recent accessions include the following Berkshire Record Office: 8mm (5 reels) - films from Reading St Giles parish, 1952 1966; 8mm films (36) films from Bullbrook School, Bracknell, 1960s-1980s (AV768) Southampton Holiday Fellowship Group: VHS tape of Southampton Holiday Fellowship

trip to the Cotswolds, Nov 1998; cassette tape and CD of interview with Derek Richards on Radio Solent, 19 Jul 2005 (AV1680) Milford on Sea Historical Record Society: VHS tapes (10), including Son et Lumiere, 1971, 'Milford-On-Sea 1890-2000 and 'History of Milford and District' by Gerald Mogg, Life in Milford and Keyhaven during the Millennium', Spirit of the Spire, 2000 , the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations, Music Hall, 2002 and compilations of TV programmes of local interest; cassette tapes (24), mostly recordings of talks given to the Milford on Sea Historical Record Society, 1996-2003 (AV168) Events Our programme of events for the autumn and early winter is online at www.hants.gov.uk/librariesandarchives/ar chives/events , so if you are looking for something to do as the evenings draw in, book now for Behind the Scenes Tours, or, if you are planning to visit HRO, check which exhibition will be on display in the foyer. From now until 20th December, we have ‘Looking Back 50 Years: Petersfield Area Historical Society 1973 – 2023’. In 2024, we will be offering a mixture of tours, talks and classes, with topics ranging from palaeography to mental health records. We’re also hoping to introduce a speaker from Ancestry on making family history television, maybe with some DNA kits… Watch this space! For more news and snippets about our work, follow us on social media – links at the foot of our web pages Hampshire Archives and Local Studies | Hampshire County Council (hants.gov.uk).

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Feedback/Book reviews

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Hampshire Archives and Local Studies - Edith Howard of Andover photograph collection I was interested to read that my great aunt Edith’s Archive of plates survives. I remember her visits to my family when I was a child. She was formidable, although her sister-in-law my great aunt Grace Howard, widow of Percy, another Howard photographer, said she’d “mellowed in old age”! There were two other professional photographers in the family, her brother

Charlie who was set up in Chichester, and her sister Eva, based in Harrow. Charlie was my grandfather, and my father Charlie and his sister Grace took over his business in 1945, when they returned home from war service. Grace junior had worked in the RAF photography unit in Meddenham. My father never encouraged any of his sons to follow him, although I did operate as a wedding photographer for him 50 odd years

ago, using a glass plate camera. Andrew Howard Member #12568

Memories of Baffins WEA Publication. Price £3 available from HGS bookshop or online. ISBN 978 1 873911 42 6

Wearing my other editor’s hat, I can report that our latest publication is now available. Starting pre-covid there has been a long delay to shut downs etc. in preparing this booklet. It also meant re-walking the area as shops had closed or changed hands in that time. The contents are our normal street listings of shops from Kelly’s directories, based around 1960, along with memories of the area.

For all the latest news visit www.hgs-familyhistory.com

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Book reviews

Look Back at Andover – Journal of the Andover History and Archaeology Society

Vol 4 No 4, September 2023. Price £4.50 ISSN 0960-5739

The latest addition of the Society’s journal contains 6 articles.

The first is about local photographs from the 19th Century. It describes types of photos with many illustrations. The text includes research into the subject and photographer. The second article is about Andover Down Sunday School with a history of the school and area. The third article is about Andover Carnival in 1934. The fourth article is about the Perils of Thatch and firefighting. The fifth article is about Kathleen Innes of St Mary Bourne. The final article details publications of local interest reviewing some other publications and listing some articles in the Andover

Advertiser history column. An interesting read for those who want to know more about Andover and who have relatives there.

Are you looking for that elusive family history book? Or one on local history? Perhaps we can help – contact Fiona at bookstall@hgs-online.org.uk

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Member’s article

The Hampshire Specials

As a newcomer to family history research, I have found you can quickly become fascinated in the detail of your ancestors’ lives. Despite being new to this “game”, I have a very good starting point with around 35 years of research that my parents had already undertaken, which at their request I am now trying to get into a form to put into suitable archives and as appropriate publish. With my parent’s research files there is also a sizeable archive of family memorabilia. A photo and a document from that archive forming the basis for this little story, and I had hoped, a potentially unexplored avenue for research for others to consider. Although as it turns out there are virtually no records of the individuals forming Hampshire Specials in the WWI period surviving. One of the photos handed down to my mother is shown below {Hyde & Stead Specials}. The exact date is unknown but it would have been taken some time between 1914 to 1919, with the probability of it being sometime towards the end of that period. It shows the Hampshire Constabulary Special Constables, presumably for Romsey, during WWI. The fascinating thing for our family is that it features two of my great-grandfathers. Seated on the far left is Harry STEAD and third from left in the back row is William Percy HYDE . Most of the men in the photo are clearly above regular military age and presumably wanted to “do their bit” for the war effort. William Percy HYDE’s certificate of service has also survived in the family archive and is also shown below {William Percy Hyde Specials colour}. I would assume that the two uniformed

gentlemen in the centre of the photo, one a Sergeant, are the regulars responsible for overseeing the Specials. The range of headwear and some impressive moustaches are clearly of the period! The archivist at The Hampshire Constabulary History Society (HCHS) had hoped to confirm that the photo was taken at Romsey by identifying the Sergeant – who is the most likely to have surviving records in the archives. However, no success to date! In the photo the Specials appear only to have a stripped armband to denote their status; the booklet referred to below shows a different type of plain armband stating “Special Constable” – this difference in armband style may eventually help to date the photo or indeed the town. We do not know the names of any of the other gentlemen in the photo, but if anyone can identify some (or all!) of the other gentlemen, both the family and the HCHS would be glad to know who they were and perhaps a little of their lives. During this period with many of the regular police away on military duty additional volunteer Specials were employed to maintain law and order at home. A Special Constables Act was put in place early in the war to allow police forces to appoint Special Constables without some of the restrictions under a previous Act. The story of the special constabulary in Hampshire was published in 2006 to mark the 175th Anniversary of the Special Constabulary in the county. Unfortunately, the booklet was published before the significance of the photo was known to the family; but a copy of the photo and certificate has since been provided to the Hampshire Police archives via the HCHS. At the time of the photo Harry STEAD (1862 –

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Member’s article

Hyde and Stead Specials

1955) was headmaster of Romsey C of E Boys School (in what is now the library in Romsey), having previously been master and then head teacher at Stratton, Gloucestershire. Harry was originally from Ramsgate, Kent where he had started his teaching career in the typical manner for the period as a pupil teacher, before progressing to teacher at the National School in Ramsgate. He then went to St Mark’s Training College, Chelsea in 1884 for 2 years for formal teacher training, before taking the appointment at Stratton. In 1886 he had married Ellen SYKES , daughter of George SYKES a confectioner and mineral water manufacturer of Ramsgate. After teaching for 20 years at Romsey, in 1923 Harry retired, returning to Ramsgate. Here he became involved in various local education committees, became an alderman, and eventually served as Mayor of Ramsgate for 1935 - 1937. This latter role led to him serving as one of the honorary ‘Barons of the Cinque Ports’ at the Coronation of King

George VI in 1937. He was also entitled to perform the same role at the present Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation in 1952 but was too ill to attend, deferring to the then current mayor. The story of Harry’s later life in Ramsgate, along with George SYKES ’ story of a Yorkshire born confectioner in Ramsgate, are perhaps something for future articles in the Kent Family History Society magazine. When the photo was taken William Percy HYDE (1868 - 1954) was a hay, straw and corn dealer at 26 The Hundred, Romsey (now part of a Coop Supermarket). William Percy had been born in Nether Compton, Dorset, the son of a farmer and Innkeeper – another William (1835 -1909). On retiring from running the Inn in Nether Compton, the elder William and family moved to Kings Somborne, Hampshire, where his wife Ellen, nee GRUNCELL (1836 – 1918), had been born. Sometime before 1891 William Percy had become a Cheesemonger’s assistant in

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Member’s article

Clapham, Surrey, presumably as some form of apprenticeship, and then later a provision merchant and grocer in Hampstead, London. In 1899 he married Annie GREEN (1866 – 1946), daughter of Henry GREEN , a grocer; moving sometime before 1911 to Romsey and his Corn Dealer’s business. William sold his business in February 1919 to Messrs Purchase and Son, moving to Kent. The family records have a copy of a two-sided flyer with details of William HYDE and Messrs PURCHASE businesses on either side with the date of the transfer – obviously an orderly handover. Whether Harry STEAD and William HYDE knew each other before serving together in the Specials is not known, but my grandparents, Margaret Ellen STEAD (1895 - 1986) and William Percy Harold HYDE (1900 – 1986) (known as Harold) obviously met at some point, probably in Romsey. They married in 1928 a few years after both families had moved to Kent. Harold was an apprentice mechanic at Messrs Wrynams Motor Engineering works in Romsey before joining the Royal Navy Air Service (RNAS) as a Boy Mechanic in February 1918. Transfer to the RAF as a Motor Mechanic occurred in April 1918 with the merger of the naval and army air corps into the new service. Rather than being demobbed in 1919, Harold was transferred to Ireland where he became a Motor Cyclist, acting as a post man / messenger, for 100 Squadron. We have a small poor-quality snapshot of him on his motorbike with some comrades in Oranmore, County Galway, presumably out stationed from the squadron’s then base at Baldonnell, County Dublin. It must have been an

William Percy Hyde Specials

interesting experience riding a motorbike on Irish country lanes in that period, though I do not recall him ever talking about his experiences. Demob eventually occurred in June 1922 after 100 Squadron’s transfer to Spittlegate, near Grantham. Harold was then briefly a grocer’s clerk in Tilbury, before with his father searching for, and finding, a suitable house and land, for a market garden in Kent. Tim Cook (Member #15707) References: • Census returns for 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911 • Birth, marriage and death certificates • Teachers Registration Council records • RNAS and RAF Records • Family memorabilia – advertising flyers, photographs, letters • A Very Special Force – 175th Anniversary of Hampshire Special Constabulary – Compiled by Brian Dixon – 2006 - Published by and available from the Hampshire Constabulary History Society.

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Searchers

Searche If you would like your request to be included in this section, please submit a brief, but specific, email or letter of enquiry or send a 'Word' based article with relevant names (and particularly your own name and address) detailed in BLOCK CAPITALS to Editor, Hampshire Genealogical Society, Hampshire Record Office, Sussex Street, Winchester. SO23 8TH. Please advise what contact details you want printed in the journal along with your query – email, telephone number, postal address, or via HGS Office, research@hgs-online.org.uk Please be patient as acknowledgement or reply

will not be made except through this journal. Photographs and illustrations are gladly accepted: – 300 dpi resolution jpegs by email attachment or on CD are welcome or laser colour photocopies (never ordinary ones) or black and white original pictures. All can be returned if you request it and supply an SAE. If sending original photographs through the post, please use a protective board envelope. EMAIL: searchers@hgs-online.org.uk and please always quote a full postal address for those without computers. If this is not done, your request may well be disregarded.

Abbreviations used: b = born, bap = baptised, bd = buried, c. = circa, C = Century, d. = died, mrd = married. Members are reminded that these pages are compiled from letters etc. that may have been written months beforehand, so postal addresses should always be checked for up to date changes.

SOUTHERTON Jim McCourt, member #16045, would welcome any information about his ancestor – George Frederick SOUTHERTON and/or his family. George was baptised on 26th September 1819 at Portsea, married Sarah Emma Sincleair [sic] on 4th February 1839, and worked as a shoe maker and then as a “skilled labourer” at the

Royal Naval Dockyards from at least 1851. The census of 1881 states that he was “super annuated” at that time. The family spent many years at 3 Hamburgh Square in Portsea. Any details about the family, Hamburgh Square, or working conditions for a skilled dockyard labourer would be much appreciated.

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Member’s article

A Long Way From Burghclere My paternal grandmother’s mother, Susan Amelia SMITH, was born in Fayetteville, Onondaga County, New York in 1852. Her death certificate in 1917 gave her father’s name as Henry F. Smith and that he was born in England. No information beyond

record in England., but found nothing I could work with. There were just too many Joseph Smiths to wade through. I was also not able to find a record of his arrival in America. I then turned to the New York State census records for the year 1855, the closest after the date of birth of his daughter Susan. I was able to find him listed there in DeWitt, Onondaga County with his wife Roseanne (or Rose) and their five children Sarah E., Melissa, Mary E., Susan A. and George H. The census recorded him as being born in England. But I still didn’t know when he arrived in America. Did he come alone or did he come with other family? I began to look for his parents in America. Looking in the U.S. Census for 1850 for Ononodaga County, New York – the county my great-grandmother was born in – I found a Joseph P. Smith in DeWitt, age 50, born in England along with his wife Sarah, age 51, also born in England and nine children William (29), Henry (26 – hence born in 1824), Georgina (25), Thomas (22), Robert (21), Jonathan (19) and Sarah (18), George (17) and Alonzo (14). All the children but Alonzo were born in England. So I began looking for a Smith family in England with similar names. I focused on Georgina as being the most distinctive. I finally found a Georgina born in 1825 in Burghclere, Hampshire. The age fit and her parents were Joseph and Sarah. I then went down the list of children and found each one, born in Burghclere, and their ages matched the ones in the U.S. Census. The last one born in Burghclere, George, was born in 1833. Alonzo, who was born in 1836, was the only

that had been handed down. With the surname Smith to work with, looking for traces of her Smith family origins in England seemed a very daunting challenge. When I finally got around to seriously trying to research her origins, it took me along a long trail of breadcrumbs. Before even being able to track Henry’s birth in England, I had to track his life in America. From his daughter Susan’s marriage in 1874 at the seminary in Wisconsin where my great-grandfather John Hagerty Eichbaum was studying for the ministry, I was able through the census records to find her family living in a town nearby the seminary. I found the key to following Henry was to follow the list of children in the family. By following Henry and his wife Rose and their children, who except for Susan, fortunately stayed close by their parents, I was able to trace Henry to Minnesota, where he moved after Wisconsin and finally to Washington State on the Pacific, where he spent the last 25 years or so of his certificate told me that his father’s name was Joseph and his mother’s name was Sarah Ralph. Armed with his parents’ names and his birth year of 1824, I began to look for his birth life, dying in 1907 at Hawks Prairie in Thurston County at age 83. His death

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