Author: Jane Painter

April 23, 2024

In honour of Anzac Day, all 130 million historical records from Australia and New Zealand on MyHeritage will be free to access from April 23–28, 2024. Over the past year, MyHeritage have expanded their collection to include a vast array of historical newspapers. This new collection comprises over 24 million pages from 1,705 newspaper titles, […] – read more…

April 1, 2024

We are delighted to announce an event to mark a major milestone for the Hampshire Genealogical Society, as this year we celebrate our 50th Anniversary! This two-day event is open to both HGS members and non-members, so please do feel free to let your friends know. The venue is Victoria Halls, West Green Road, Hartley […] – read more…

February 11, 2024

On 1st February, Fiona Ranger, responsible for HGS Publicity & Outreach, was a guest on the Chris Pearce show where she discussed how to research your family history and the benefits of joining HGS. If you missed this live interview, you can now listen to the podcast on Express FM using this link: Fiona Ranger […] – read more…

January 28, 2024

Fiona Ranger, responsible for Publicity & Outreach, will be on Express FM on Thursday 1st February 2024 where she will be a guest on the Chris Pearce show between 7-9pm She will be in conversation with Chris discussing how to research your family history and the benefits of joining HGS. Fiona will also talk about […] – read more…

April 24, 2023

Under a rather grey sky on a cool spring Saturday morning in April, six stalwart HGS Volunteers made their various ways to St George’s Church Hall in Poole for the Dorset Family History Society’s Family History Day. The HGS Exhibitor’s stall takes some putting together using two long tables on which we lay our various […] – read more…

March 23, 2023

On Saturday February 25th, the HGS Bookstall paraphernalia was dusted off, loaded into the car and taken to the Old Town Hall in Havant where The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre is situated. This was our first ‘live’ show this year and, in fact, our first ‘live’ show since September 2022. That February Saturday was […] – read more…

January 16, 2023

This ‘pop-up’ exhibition, located in the foyer, marks the start of the 50th year since the foundation of Hampshire Genealogical Society (HGS) in 1974. The purpose is to provide awareness of what HGS is, what it does, and what it has to offer to anyone interested in Hampshire-based family history. The exhibition highlights the work […] – read more…

December 15, 2021

Following on from this year’s success of the International Group we wanted to establish a similar group for our members who do not live in Hampshire.   We felt this was particularly important as many of our Area Groups are returning to face-to-face meetings and it would mean that many of our members who do […] – read more…

January 14, 2021

We are very excited to share some good news. Having turned to Zoom to hold Group meetings and our AGM last year, we have reached not just our out-of-county members but also members from as far afield as Australasia and North America who have managed to attend regardless of the time differences!   We are […] – read more…

August 12, 2020

The Findmypast collection of Hampshire records is growing with the addition of over 50,000 records for various parishes in the north east of the county. These records have been released in conjunction with Surrey County Council. Parish records pre-date the introduction of civil registration in 1837 and are a vital source of information. Details of […] – read more…

May 7, 2020

On Tuesday 10 March, Fair Oak Group were joined by the HGS Secretary, Gwen Newland, and Bookstall Manager, Elaine Boyes, who have been visiting all the Society’s groups to demonstrate the revamped website. The only date available was the slot scheduled for a members’ evening … and the only problem was that this is Elaine’s […] – read more…

January 17, 2020

At their January meeting, Andover Group devoted part of the evening to celebrating! First, by thanking Brenda for her many years as Speaker Secretary ensuring they have top-notch talks. Then, by marking the 90th Birthday of long-term member, Connie, who is Andover area born and bred and continues to contribute actively to our group. Two […] – read more…

May 29, 2019

We are delighted to announce that we have a new set of data in our members area.  The Muster Roll of the 2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment dated 1889,  by kind permission of two of our members, Kay and Dave Lovell, – read more…

April 3, 2019

Some of the streets of Portsmouth and Portsea mentioned in the old registers and census returns have had their names changed over the years. In the following table are a few of them which were originally shown in our Journal the Hampshire Family Historian of November 1985. Vol  XII No. 3 pages 192-193. – read more…

March 1, 2019

Did anyone in your family serve in the Home Guard during WWII?   They may be included in the number of members in the Hampshire Home Guard who have been mentioned in the HRO catalogue and either appear in documents and photographs. Check out the table below. – read more…

January 2, 2019

Knowle Hospital was open in 1852 as the Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum. The asylum was renamed Knowle Mental Hospital in c.1923 and following the 1948 introduction of the National Health Service Act, became Knowle Hospital. At the beginning of the 20th century, Knowle Hospital was home to over 1000 patients and staff and was a self […] – read more…

December 21, 2018

For some time HGS has had the intention of making some of its large collection of Family History data available to members in the Members’ Area of our website. With the development of our website we have now been able to begin this process and the first set to be introduced is of various ‘small churchyards’ […] – read more…

March 6, 2018

So why would you want to get up out of your armchair and drag yourself away from your computer to attend a HGS meeting …? There are 10 HGS groups which currently meet monthly at venues around the county: Alton / Andover / Basingstoke / Fair Oak / Fareham / Fleet & Farnborough / Gosport […] – read more…

November 11, 2017

Whilst sorting through some old books from my parent’s house, a newspaper cutting fell out.  The cutting was undated but by using the British Newspaper Archive I have determined that it dates from the First World War when my grandfather William Guy CLARK had lost his brother Frederick Charles CLARK, serving in the Hampshire regiment, […] – read more…

June 6, 2017

Beverley Babes The Royal Naval and Royal Marine Maternity Home As Britain prepared for the possibility of going to war with Germany, the Southsea based Royal Naval and Royal Marine Maternity Home, known as Bowland, made plans to evacuate their premises, with patients and staff to be taken to Beverley House, Wickham. On the 1st […] – read more…

November 29, 2016

HGS are delighted to announce a new partnership with well-known Genealogy company ‘The Genealogist’ (S& N). All the remaining data from our parish register transcripts for Hampshire, will now be online with The Genealogist (S & N) and FHS-online.   FHS-online has been developed together with S & N to offer Family History Societies the […] – read more…

August 26, 2013

What happened to these pauper children who were sent from Alverstoke workhouse as Manchester cotton mill apprentices ? – read more…