Category: Stories from the Archives

As tuneful a thing as I ever heard Thomas Hardy’s words could be about a Hampshire group that has honoured village musicians for 45 years.

An international business sparked by a Hampshire shepherd A company that started in Hampshire and spread around the world has stepped up to lend its

The Wallop family, earls of Portsmouth, has been associated with Hampshire since at least Domesday. There are no less than four places in the county

Physician Dr John Latham (1740-1837) retired to Romsey in 1795 to be near his son, a brewer with a chain of inns. For 20 years

Today the story reads like colonial bullying. The campaign medal shows pith-helmeted men bludgeoning native Africans. But in a vote of thanks in parliament a

Romsey and its waters enthral local researchers Romsey has one of the most active and best organised local history societies in the county. Twice a

  At a time when the world is being ravaged by the Covid-19 coronavirus, it is interesting to look back at previous diseases that have

To discover that history is an inspiration for drama is hardly surprising.  Just think of Shakespeare (who, incidentally, faced outbreaks of plague by taking his

In 2024, the Flowerdown military base, Winchester, at present home to the Army Training Regiment, is scheduled to close after 110 years of military occupation.

A tiny scrap of paper in a filing cabinet in a church hall has solved a mystery that has long puzzled local people. Behind the

A Lucky Strike in the Poor Law Records For a long time I have been researching my family history, doing my own Who Do You Think

In Herefordshire, close to the Welsh border, an aeroplane is being restored that was first built and flown above the Hampshire countryside 90 years ago.

Sources, which are the bedrock of history, predominantly consist of documents, though film, sound recordings and increasingly digital files are also important. There are, however,

Building works often awake interest in the history of the place in question. The congregation of the St Andrew’s United Reformed Church in The Avenue,

Stern expressions, dark clothes, rectories the size of small palaces – these are all clues to what life was like for the middle class in

Bishops Waltham’s Debt to a Victorian Reformer and Social Entrepreneur In the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and the Metropolitan Museum, Fifth Avenue New York,

Letters sent by Royal Mail have always been paid for, but not by the privileged few. From 1652, Members of Parliament could send official letters

Recent experience by a Hampshire group funded by HAT has highlighted the importance of preserving the humble postcard. In attics, cupboards, garages and other places

The influence of faith and religious movements on social and political events is a fertile subject for archival research. Education is one area where the

With the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII in 2020 on the horizon the Buriton Village Association has stepped up its work to try to

The world is awash with private archives. They are in solicitors’ offices, company HQs, in people’s houses and attics, and in village halls. Essentially, they

The Itchen Stoke shooting of July 1940 illustrates the measures taken to increase food production during the last war. It also depicts the state of

Steff Palmer of Hampshire Record Office explains her love of a small, late 18th century book,entitled “The Polite Academy” (HRO Ref, 83M93/65). Subtitled `School of

Together with the city archives at Southampton and Portsmouth, the Hampshire Record Office (HRO) forms the core of archives in the county. Hampshire Record Office

Dr Brian M Collins Winchester College Archives contains tens of thousands of documents, many relating to the College founder, William of Wykeham, bishop of Winchester. Recently

The naval ordnance depot in Portsmouth was transferred to Priddy`s Hard, Gosport between 1768 and 1771. The move was following an explosion at the previous

The Caravan and Motorhome Club Collection, located in Beaulieu, received its largest single donation to date, a remarkable collection containing twelve photograph albums, over six