The end of an illustrious life

Florence Nightingale spent much of her early life in Hampshire, at Embley Park in the parish of East Wellow. Her life's work took her many miles away from the place of her early childhood but when she died at her London home in 1910 she was buried alongside her parents in East Wellow churchyard and so returned permanently to Hampshire.

The illustrated document - Hampshire Record Office 14M75/PR4 - shows the entry for Florence Nightingale's burial at Wellow on 20 August 1910.

Our Last Thursday Lecture on 26 August at 1.15pm in the Record Office cinema highlights documentary sources for Florence Nightingale's life in Hampshire Record Office.

Early maps

Before the Ordnance Survey began their systematic mapping of the country in 1792, large-scale maps were usually made for landowners who desired a visual record of their estates. As these hand-drawn maps were expensive to make, the existence of an early map is often dependent on whether there was an big landowner in the area. Landowners were, of course, only interested in their own property but as the pattern of land ownership before enclosure reflected the remnants of the medieval field strip system, such maps could include details of property held by smaller landowners.

The illustrated document - Hampshire Record Office reference 36M66/93 - is part of a map of the manor of Compton, showing part of the village centre. The map was drawn by William Burgess in 1735 for Sir William Heathcote. Sir William's property is marked in red; other property is shown in black, including the names of owners.

A particular sale

If you are researching the history of a property, one of the most useful documents you can uncover is a sale particular. Sale particulars of the early 19th century offer only basic details of a property, but later ones often provide very detailed information about the property and sometimes include plans and photographs.

The illustrated document - Hampshire Record Office 46M84/F87/3 - is from part of a sale particular dated 1885 for the Grosvenor Hotel, Stockbridge showing a plan of the ground floor. The hotel retains many of its original Georgian features, so it would be interesting to compare this arrangement of rooms with the use of the rooms today.

We hold over 8000 sale particulars in our collections. They range from whole estates, to commercial properties, grand houses, and country cottages.

A dangerous occupation

Dad's Army portrayed a Home Guard platoon which rarely came face to face with the direct effects of war. In reality, some members of the Home Guard were severely injured or even killed in the line of duty.

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The illustrated document - Hampshire Record Office reference 141M82/1 - shows a page from Hampshire's Home Guard casualty register. The first three entries relate to some of those injured or killed as a result of enemy action. Other casualties included many injuries sustained from accidents with rifles or grenades.

There is a free lunchtime lecture, The Home Guard in Hampshire, on Thursday 27 May, 1.15pm-1.45pm in the Record Office cinema marking the 70th anniversary of the formation of the Local Defence Volunteers, forerunners of the Home Guard.

A century of girlguiding

Agnes Baden-Powell, sister of Robert, founder of the Boy Scout movement, formed the Girl Guides in 1910 in response to the demand for 'something for the girls.' Companies sprang up fast; Alresford and Lymington being the two earliest in Hampshire. In 1914, their younger sisters were catered for with the formation of the Rosebuds, quickly renamed the Brownies.

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The illustrated document - Hampshire Record Office reference 22M97/1 - is a page from a combined log book and scrapbook relating to the Hook 1st Brownie Pack describing news and activities on 18 July 1925.

July 18th: the last meeting before the summer holidays. We played a knot & a new balloon game. A new Brownie - Beryl Savage - joined the Pack. Mrs Harvey has very kindly given us a large toy house which we erected for the first time. It will be very useful for entertainment we hope. The Pack had to say goodbye to Nellie Crockford, Imp Sixer, as she leaves Hook next month.

A free exhibition, 'Girlguiding: the Hampshire Story' is on show in the Record Office reception area until 30 April

Line of defence

Hampshire's home defence forces included the militia, the volunteers and the yeomanry. The militia comprised men who from 1757 were balloted to serve and, if selected, were forced to do so unless they could find a substitute. The other forces were volunteers, the yeomanry being volunteers with horses! In 1831 the militia ballot could not be enforced and henceforth militiamen were also volunteers.

The illustrated document - Hampshire Record Office reference Q30/4/1/21 - shows part of the quarterly muster roll for the North Hampshire militia which includes the names of non-commissioned officiers, drummers and privates enrolled as at 30 September 1834.

The Lord Lieutenants were heads of the county's defence forces. Their papers, which include many muster rolls, have recently been catalogued in more detail and can be found on the online catalogue using the Finding Number Q30

A Forest Ride

The New Forest has been the home of leisure activities for over a thousand years. Traditionally famous as royal hunting grounds, it is now well-known for more scenery pursuits such as riding, rambling and camping.

The illustrated document - Hampshire Record Office reference 105M93/1/81 - is an advertisement dating from around 1903 offering 3 shilling forest drives in a horse-drawn charabanc, meeting the train at Lyndhurst road station.

Come along to a free film presentation, 'Celebrating the New Forest in Film' in the Record Office cinema, 1.15-1.45pm on 25 February.

Littleton post

Richard Henry Hooper Osmond of Sydney House, Littleton paid £400 when he purchased Littleton post office and the land next to it from Samuel Bostock in 1919. He would have employed a sub postmaster to run the office. By 1923, according to Kelly's Directory, the sub postmaster was James William Corbett. At that time Littleton post office did not include a telegraph office; the nearest one was at Crawley, 2.5 miles away.

The illustrated document - Hampshire Record Office reference 17M95/15 - shows a plan of Littleton post office and the adjoining land, part of the 1919 conveyance.

Charity at Christmas

Christmas has always been a time for giving. Samuel Speed, the vicar of Martyr Worthy, who in the year 1773 had been vicar for 25 years, had grown disillusioned with his parishoners as they had come to expect his charity and were no longer grateful for it.

The illustrated document - Hampshire Record Office reference 78M82/PO3 - notes a change of plan.

Worthy Poor at Christmas 1773

Barnard, Mershman, Sherlock, Hart, Pink of Worthy, Stevens - a leg of mutton, 8 pound; a gallon loaf, 1s 1d - the 4 first old, the 2 last 6 children

Mitchel, Miles, Willis, Stubbington - 5 pound of Beef; a gallon loaf - all single persons

I added Hedger with 4 children, upon a representation that it went hard with them - beef

I used to give every Body young, & old, or invite them to dine rich, or poor: this was not charity and a 20 years custom had made it a matter of expectation, & to be received unthankfully. I have therefore altered my plan. I invite every Sunday some body to dine in my kitchen, & give only to the poor & old at Christmas - having had an instance in my parish that you may use hospitality & liberality till it is demanded as matter of right

Is it a fox, or is it a hare?

When a scribe in the household of the Bishop of Winchester began writing up a fair copy of the bishop's annual estate accounts in 1336 - Hampshire Record Office reference 11M59/B1/89 - he clearly had a little time on his hands. He used this to decorate the initial letter C (for Compotus meaning Account) with a delightful pen and ink drawing of a creature playing the harp. Is it a fox, or is it a hare? Who knows? It may be a composite of both as the Bishop's accounts host a scattering of dragons and other mythical beasts.

The fair copy account rolls, commonly known as the Winchester pipe rolls, accounted in detail for the income and expenditure of the bishops' manors. The earliest surviving roll begins at Michaelmas 1208, continuing in a broken series of 191 rolls and 137 volumes until 1710/11.

To commemorate the 800th anniversary of the earliest surviving pipe roll there is an exhibition, 'On the Bishop's manors 800 years ago' running from 9 November to 30 January 2010 in Record Office reception and a lecture, 'Medieval People and Places in the Winchester Pipe Rolls' on Thursday 26 November at 1.45pm in the cinema.

A mayor and a martyr

Nowadays, anyone can research their family history and compile a family tree and it is usually done for the enjoyment of finding our about our ancestors. In noble families, the family history research tradition stretches far back into history and was a very serious business indeed as their family trees, known as pedigrees, highlighted their illustrious forbears and were a confirmation of the longevity of their high status in society.

The illustrated document - Hampshire Record Office 93M86W/1 - shows a small section of the pedigree of the Philipot/Philpot family, compiled about 1620 by John Philipot who was Rouge Dragon herald at the College of Arms. It includes Sir John Philipot (d1384), Member of Parliament and also Mayor of London 1378-1379 and John Philpot, Archdeacon of Winchester, a martyr who was burnt at the stake for his Protestant faith in 1555.

Hampshire's Family History Festival runs from 5 October to 28 November, beginning with an open afternoon, 3pm to 5pm on 5 October at Hampshire Record Office.

What's in a colour?

In these days of chemical dyes we are familiar with a vast array of colours and often have a wide choice when we buy our clothes. But how much choice did our ancestors have?

The illustrated document - Hampshire Record Office reference 1580AD/28 - is one section of a 4-page inventory made in 1580 on the death of William Jackson of Southampton. William Jackson had a shop and the inventory describes every bolt of cloth in the shop, including its colour. The illustrated part - see below - mentions sky (blue), orange, grey and 'popinjay green'. Other interesting colours were bridgewater red, sad russet, buckshorn green, seawater green, French tawney and, most attractive of all, rats colour!

Item v yardes and a half of Skye Couller kerse att ii s, iiii d the yarde …………………… xii s, x d
Item iii ?parts of oringe couller kerse ……………………ii s
Item one yarde of poppingey grene ……………………xviii d
Item xii yardes of northern cheker att att xxii the yarde ……………………xxii s
Item ii yardes of greye Russett att xvi d the yarde ……………………ii s, viii d
Item one kerse skye coller of xix yardes att ii s, iii d the yarde ……………………xliiii s iiii d
Item xi yardes and a half of Russett kerseye att ii s the yarde ……………………xxiii s
Item v yardes of blewe kersey att iii s the yarde ……………………xv s

Some this farre amounteth to ……………………xv li, xvii s, x d

This document is part of an exhibition, Threads of History, looking at textiles through the ages, which runs from 3 August to 30 September in the Record Office reception.