”Local history Victorian style: “copy it all in a good fat ledger”

UNTIL George I created the Regius Professorships of Modern History at Oxford and Cambridge in the 1720s the subject was scarcely regarded seriously (the ‘Modern’ was not dropped until the early 2000s). And for most holders the jobs were sinecures: author of The Water Babies and Hampshire resident Charles Kingsley was one of them, at Cambridge in the 1860s.

Before Victoria came to the throne Classics dominated history, so most questions about the county and its past concerned its prehistory – it was a field day (literally) for antiquarians and archaeologists and there were very few local historians.

 In the 1880s, however, there started a growth in interest, especially amongst clergymen, who often served a church full of monuments and were, of course, in charge of the parish registers. They included Robert Clutterbuck, “a mine of information” on the parishes on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border and William Eyre, who studied the history of Northington and Swarraton.

Arthur Finch wrote on Kingsclere church, especially how it had been saved from collapse, whilst Edward Prideaux-Brune explored his “seigneurial” estate at Rowner, Gosport, and Quarr Abbey’s mainland base at Titchfield.

Little by little, the stories of more places were told. Charles Stooks, who wrote about his parish of Crondall and Yateley, suggested that “every Parish Priest should have a hobby” and gave advice on local history. First the registers should all be copied into “a good fat ledger…[which was] not an intolerable labour”. Difficult entries were especially entertaining: “the harder they are to read the more satisfaction there is in solving the puzzle”.

Historians no doubt became more confident in everyday publishing as the “mystery” of print dispersed, especially after the lapse of the monopoly of the Stationers’ Company of London, and the Universities followed the English Licensing Act of 1695.

Even so, the spread of print to the provinces was slow – it came to Gosport in the 1730s and Winchester in the 1750s. When it reached Southampton in the 1770s it spawned the Chronicle, the first newspaper in the county.

Other sources allowed anyone who could read to discover a great deal about the history of many places in the county. William White’s History, Gazetteer and Directory of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, first published in Sheffield (yes!) in 1859, was one of many county directories published by his firm.

 It remains something of a mystery how such a publisher based in Yorkshire was able to gather such a huge amount of detailed information, covering 664 pages, and still a “first look” source.

Many guides for proto-tourists were published by the Victorians, often with details of local historical sites - for Southampton, Winchester, Netley Abbey and other places. Many also covered the Isle of Wight, then part of the county, and provided opportunities for artist and engravers such as Philip Brannon.

William Thorn Warren (founder of Warrens of Winchester) published a range of guides in many editions, such as Illustrated Guide to Winchester, and St Cross Near Winchester. Although these sources need to be treated with caution, local history was treated with considerable care, and contributions were sought from scholars of the day, such as the antiquarian and artist Francis Baigent.

Newspapers including the Chronicle ran many articles by local historians, including the prime founder of the Hampshire Field Club (HFC), Thomas Shore, Winchester’s first museum curator Henry Moody and journalist, local historian and mayor William Henry Jacob. These were not only popular with readers, but paved the way for more scholarly works.

At least one clergyman took to print in a big way. As well as editing the Winchester Diocesan Calendar for 26 years, Thomas Hervey, set up a press in his parish, where in 1880 he published A History of the United Parishes of Colmer and Priors Dean. This was no amateur production: any publisher would be proud of it.

In general, however, at the time such works on a single place, especially as small as this, were rare. Exceptions were A Parochial History of St Mary Bourne by the extraordinary country doctor and antiquarian Dr Joseph Stevens (John Isherwood has written a splendid Hampshire Paper on him, available from 01962 867490) and A History of the Ancient Town and Manor of Basingstoke by the local vicar James Elwen Millard, co-authored with Baigent.

The single most important event in local history, however, came about in 1885 when the HFC was founded by a small group in Southampton. A superb article on the first 100 years by Beth Taylor in volume 41 of the Proceedings can be accessed online, like all other volumes, at: www.hantsfieldclub.org.uk.

A key figure in the creation of the HFC and the first secretary, jointly with Ernest Westlake from Fordingbridge, was the above-mentioned Thomas Shore, Principal of Hartley College (predecessor of the University of Southampton). They were both geologists, but the from the very beginning were concerned both with history and the natural world. After five years, to reflect the burgeoning interest in prehistory, HFC added “Archaeological Society” to its name.

Another key officer was William Dale, who ran a piano business in Southampton, and served as HFC secretary for 37 years. Sole editor of the society’s journal for the first 16 years was George Minns, Vicar of Weston, who was followed by Fossey Hearnshaw, Professor of History at Southampton University College. He was the first academic historian to be based in the county and published prolifically on the history of Southampton. Subsequently he followed a successful career elsewhere and went on to become President of the Historical Association, 1936-38..

The most popular events run by the emerging HFC – as is probably still the case –-  were field visits in the company of local experts. Within five years its membership had rocketed to 250.

In the late 1880s those with a Classical education, led by academic and clergyman George Kitchin, took a renewed interest in ancient documents. At the age of 28 he had become headmaster of the prep school Twyford School, which he is said to have transformed. He then spent 20 years as an Oxford don, championing Modern History and languages.

 In 1883 Gladstone appointed him Dean of Winchester. He initiated the publication of edited transcriptions of sources on the cathedral and the registers of bishops, including William of Wykeham. In 1889 he founded the Hampshire Record Society (HRS), which over the next decade published a dozen volumes.

These concerned the Winchester Cathedral Chapter in the mid-1500s and a variety of charters of religious bodies, including St Swithun’s Priory, Nunnaminster, the New Minster and Hyde Abbey. Also featured were key documents on Crondall, Manydown (Wootton St Lawrence) and Selborne Priory.

Kitchen himself edited four of the volumes, one with cathedral librarian Canon Francis Madge, who also co-edited a volume on cathedral documents of the 17th century with Kitchen’s successor, Dean William Stephens. Two volumes were edited by Baigent. Unfortunately, the Latin texts of the originals were not translated, which today make them accessible only to the few. 

However, it was a considerable achievement which, alongside the HFC, put the pursuit of history in the county on a firm footing. Some indication of Kitchin’s influence is that the editors of the volumes included the scholars of national repute, Walter De Gray Birch, from the British Museum, and William Macray, from the Bodleian Library.

The HRS did not survive Kitchin’s move to the more lucrative deanery of Durham in 1894, where he continued to make his mark, becoming the first Chancellor of the university and championing the admission of female students.

To learn more, visit Showcasing Hampshire History, the free-entry HODs event being held this Saturday in Winchester in the HCC headquarters on Sussex Street, or access:

The Celebrating Hampshire Historians site: www.hantsfieldclub.org.uk/ihr100/index.html.