Author: Roy Montgomery

February 10, 2020

Burghclere, (VB106) is a long, narrow parish just south of the Berkshire border and east of the A34 road between Newbury and Winchester with Newbury 5 miles to the north. Rather unique are the two churches in the parish, the old 12th Century church was dedicated to All Saints whilst the new replacement built in […] – read more…

November 23, 2019

As part of the preparations for a forthcoming village booklet on Burghclere I did a search through the HRO CALM Index for any relevant details. I found what appeared to be an interesting marriage license. – read more…

November 19, 2019

The Monumental Inscriptions for Milton Cemetery in Portsmouth has now been completed and is available for purchase and research. The file contains burials from 1912 to 2019 and includes a map and index as well as the usual memorial inscriptions.   Roy Montgomery HGS Research Centre, Cosham – read more…

October 23, 2019

    Hound, (VB105) was a large parish including two detached parts that was later reduced in size by the creation of Sholing and the enlargement of Bursledon parishes.  Located 4 miles from Southampton on the east side of Southampton Water the parish contains Netley Abbey, Netley Castle and was home to the Royal Victoria […] – read more…

September 14, 2019

Headley, (VB104) is a large parish reduced in size by the creation of Grayshott in 1901, the creation of Whitehill civil parish in 1929 and the creation of Bordon ecclesiastical parish in 2002.  Headley is 4 miles north of Liphook and 8 miles south of Farnham – read more…

August 22, 2019

There is an interesting insight into the use of separate burial grounds for dissenters written onto the first page of the burial register for the Christchurch Independent Church that is in reference RG4/399. – read more…

May 16, 2019

As with all data that gets indexed or transcribed there is always the possibility that information can be misread due to bad handwriting or general aging. Whilst preparing information for the forthcoming village booklet on Wield I have found a prime example of this. – read more…

April 4, 2019

A brief paragraph in the 15th of February 1873 issue of the Hampshire Telegraph announced the death of Ellen FOWLER in Alton, the wife of George who was a millwright’s apprentice.  On the face of it this was nothing unusual except that the report gave the ages of the couple; Ellen was only 15 – read more…

February 10, 2019

Interesting little snippets from some of the old newspapers include brief advertisements where husbands have declared that they will not be responsible for their wife’s debts. One item from James LINDSAY appeared in the Hampshire Chronicle printed on 4th September 1820. He said that he would not be answerable for any debts incurred by his […] – read more…

December 14, 2018

Herbert Frank FRENCH was born on 21st April 1884 at 11 Hyde Close in Winchester, the illegitimate son of Emily. On 18th January 1908 he married Sarah Ann (Annie) BIGNELL in Meonstoke and then settled in the village to raise their daughters Emily and Ivy. Herbert was initially in the Territorial Army then when WWI […] – read more…

November 23, 2018

 We have recently been passed a copy of a photograph with a request for more information, maybe the location or the purpose. A comment with the photo says that the men were in training but didn’t say what for.  – read more…

November 19, 2018

The Hampshire Chronicle printed on 5th June 1820 carried a brief article on page 4 referring to three prisoners who had been committed to the County Gaol.  One of the prisoners had been accused of bigamy but whereas most bigamists were men this was a woman. – read more…

October 29, 2018

William TALMAGE was born in 1884 in Ramsbury, Wiltshire, and married Ellen Maria KNIGHT in Medstead in 1910.  They had a butcher’s business in West Horsley, Surrey, but when the First World War started William was one of the many who volunteered and joined the Army. – read more…

August 18, 2018

Identical reports in the Hampshire Chronicle and Hampshire Telegraph, both published on 14th February 1820, describe a tragedy that happened off Hurst Castle on Friday 5th February.  – read more…

July 31, 2018

Wills can be a wonderful source of information for family historians. The WBI, centred on Hampshire, contains the names of people that have been extracted by volunteers from many of the wills that are held in the HRO. – read more…

July 14, 2018

Another interesting entry appeared in the Poor Law Union Gazette on 25 April 1857 naming Lewis POSNER, formerly of Southampton, who the Southampton Union would like to get their hands on. – read more…

June 11, 2018

The registers for the Independent Chapel start in 1716 and many entries contain useful details. The spelling of the names written here are exactly as they were written into the register.  Different ministers conducting the baptisms decided to record different items of information in addition to the dates and names.  – read more…

April 19, 2018

Duplicate entries in parish registers Resulting from an enquiry recently received in the Research Center a very good example of duplicate entries in registers was found in Nutley and Preston Candover. – read more…

March 29, 2018

Newspapers are a very good source of information on some of our ancestors but they rarely give such detailed information on individuals as that found in the Poor Law Union Gazette. – read more…

February 19, 2018

In the 1840s there was a legal requirement for every county to have its own asylum, the result being that Hampshire purchased the land at Knowle Farm near Fareham in order to construct the Hampshire County Lunatic Asylum. – read more…

January 31, 2018

The tendency is to accept what appears in official documents as being correct. As usual there are always exceptions to the rules and in genealogy there can be quite a few. – read more…

January 2, 2018

Mixed Independent details in Portsmouth v.2   Orange Street Independent register Many interesting entries appear in the 1785 to 1837 Independent register for the Orange Street chapel. Some entries include the address where baptisms took place while others have additional details.  An example was Octavius Henry JACKSON who was born on 6 February 1829 and […] – read more…

September 1, 2017

If you have a few spare minutes then why not browse through some of the items added to the site over previous years.  Many of these cover Hampshire stories, people, places and items of interest.  Scroll down to Archives, select a year and then browse through all the items and maybe find something of interest.   […] – read more…

June 26, 2017

  HGS member David Hall has kindly pointed out an error in the original post I added to the website in October 2014. I had incorrectly stated that William Jeremiah ATRILL married Elizabeth GRIFFITHS on 2 July 1808.  These details are correct but the William in the court case was a labourer who married Elizabeth THOMPSON in Alverstoke […] – read more…

May 24, 2017

Two errors in the HGS Memorial Inscriptions for Longparish and Southampton Hill Lane Cemetery have recently been found. The one in Longparish is on a memorial inside the church, number 162 in our index, where it gives the dates for William Arthur DURNFORD as being 1653 – 1940.  William was obviously not nearly 300 years […] – read more…

May 19, 2017

Can an early will help with family trees John Biggnall The early registers for both Portsmouth parishes have disappeared. Later 17 Century registers are not always complete.  Trying to trace early families on Portsea Island can be difficult but early wills may help.  John BIGGNALL of Kingston wrote his will on 8 February 1684/5 and […] – read more…

February 26, 2017

Teacher at a private school in Odiham around 1900 Ellen Valentine James HGS member Peter GODWIN’s Great Aunt was Ellen Valentine JAMES. She was the youngest of three sisters and was born on St. Valentine’s Day 14 February 1869 in Notting Hill.  Her parents were Henry George JAMES who had married Ellen MOREY in the […] – read more…

January 27, 2017

Term used in a coroner’s verdict to explain an unexplained death Hampshire inquests The Hampshire coroner’s records were all destroyed which means that no official records exist. The best remaining source is from local newspaper reports though not every inquest and verdict was reported.  When reported the content varied from very brief to quite detailed.  Examples of […] – read more…

November 12, 2016

Born in Meonstoke in 1916 and shortly to celebrate her 100th birthday Edith Cavell SMITH Edith a twin was born on 17 November 1916 in Meonstoke and was baptized there in St Andrew’s church on 14 January 1917.  Her twin brother was Lloyd George.  They were named after the WWI nurse Edith CAVELL and Prime […] – read more…

October 23, 2016

Two unique educational establishments in East Tytherley Harmony Hall In 1839 Sir Francis GOLDSMID leased land at East Tytherley to socialist reformer Robert OWEN.  His aim was to create a pioneering project in community living.  The house he built could accommodate 700 but never reached this number. Harmony Hall was one of several similar places […] – read more…