Genealogy Articles

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

October 7, 2016

Looking through old bits and pieces can prove rewarding Gordon Brine Many older HGS members will remember my husband Gordon BRINE who unfortunately died on 8 May 2007. As often happens at these times documents, photos and other memorabilia get put away.  These tend to become forgotten over the years.  Sorting through some of Gordon’s […] – read more…

September 30, 2016

Fordingbridge boy dies from rabies The Hampshire Telegraph published on 17 July 1826 reported the death of James HASKEL.  On 18 June he was attacked by a rabid dog.  The bites around the face were so severe that treatment was difficult.  At that time treatment for rabies was very limited. The surgeon Mr. BUDD from Fordingbridge […] – read more…

August 30, 2016

Have you an ancestor you cannot find before 1837? Have you thought that they may be non-conformists? Ancestry have scanned the non-conformist registers handed to the authorities in 1837. – read more…

November 17, 2015

Death notices in old Hampshire newspapers can reveal useful information about the deceased. Among the deaths listed in the Hampshire Advertiser of 22 December 1855 were several interesting announcements of deaths home and abroad. Combine the details with information from HGS parish indexes and a personal story emerges. – read more…

November 10, 2015

On 28 January 1830 Frances MARCH aged 32 drowned her infant child Amelia and then herself. The drowning occured in a tub of water usually used as a foot-bath. Her husband Lancelot Foquett March and mother-in-law Mary March were absent at the time. – read more…

June 15, 2015

Francis FREEMAN and Sarah Ann ROGERS from Odiham, Hampshire had legally married in 1854. The Hampshire Advertiser reports how they were then induced by their local curate in Greywell to a re-marriage in 1855. – read more…

March 1, 2015

The 1899 Hampshire murder of young Dorcas HOUGHTON resulted in nationwide publicity.
Eighteen year old Dorcas was killed in Swanwick by her jilted boyfriend Charles MAIDMENT aged 22. Despite a plea of insanity Charles was found guilty and hanged 3 months later. – read more…

February 22, 2015

An 1855 Portsea Hospital bed shortage raised concerns when a man who was turned away later died. – read more…

December 13, 2014

This account of an explosion in a Portsmouth dockyard police station in 1855 should serve as a cautionary tale of the dangers of mixing gas with a naked flame. – read more…

October 20, 2014

The phrase ‘sweet Fanny Adams’ is still used today, but where did it originate? The story of the brutal murder of 8 year old Fanny from Alton is told here by a descendant of one of Fanny’s cousins. – read more…

October 19, 2014

After the Napoleonic wars many suffered hardship that often resulted in lawbreaking and people being taken to court. William ATRELL and John CHAMBERLAIN were two such cases reported in the Hampshire Telegraph in 1817. – read more…

July 28, 2014

Family trees can benefit greatly from genealogical information contained in wills.

This Portsea Will of John BIGGNALL written on 8 February 1684 is a good example, with the large number of names and relationships of the beneficiaries he included. – read more…

April 14, 2014

An 1810 Hampshire newspaper carried an appeal for information by the wives of two Gosport men who drowned in a Solent tragedy. Who were these men? – read more…

February 23, 2014

Could your Italian ancestors be among the immigrant musicians and entertainers residing in C19th Portsmouth? Use National Archive records to trace them. – read more…

February 17, 2014

In 1900 the body of a Portsmouth man was taken to Woking by train to be cremated in the first crematorium in the country. – read more…

January 27, 2014

Childhood Memories of World War Two Southampton, Thornhill, Romsey, daytime dogfights and sleeping in a Morrison Shelter. – read more…

January 13, 2014

This destitute Portsmouth woman stole and sold a coat and was punished with seven years transportation. – read more…