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Woodward, Bernard Bolingbroke

1816 – 1869

Born at Norwich, Woodward worked as a teacher and heraldic draftsman, before becoming a congregationalist, graduating BA, and being appointed congregational minister of Wortley Harleston (Norfolk) in 1843-8.

He then focused on literary study and in 1860 was appointed royal librarian at Windsor. He wrote a range of books in various subjects and was founding editor of the Fine Arts Quarterly. He commenced the first of three volumes of General History of Hampshire that treated Winchester at length, but it proved beyond his time and capacity. His work was continued, corrected, and co-ordinated by Theodore C. Wilks, vicar of Woking.  The General History is primarily a topographical survey, the Isle of Wight being treated by C. Lockhart. More of incomplete perambulation than a history, it is more valuable as a historical source for the time when written than the past.

Sources

  • M.A. Hicks, ‘Hampshire and the Isle of Wight’, English County Histories: A Guide, ed. C.R.J. Currie and C.P. Lewis (Stroud, 1994).

  • Crockford Clerical Directory (1860)

  • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 60 (2004), 234-5.

Portrait

Wikipedia (accessed 25 May 2022)

Contribution to county’s history

Useful as a fairly complete account of Hampshire topography in the 1860s. Refutes some long-established and groundless local legends, e.g.  Sir Bartlett Lucy of Netley and River Test alias Anton. He rejected Rudborne’s fictitious account of the establishment at Winchester of a monastery of Benedictine monks in 687. Other legends were repeated.

Relevant published works

  • B. B. Woodward, T.C. Wilks, and C. Lockhart, General History of Hampshire or the country of Southampton, including the Isle of  Wight, 3 vols. (Winchester, 1861-9).

Critical Comments

Not a well-researched history: ‘Could never aspired in the position of a county history in any case’, as the VCH somewhat unkindly put it.

Other Comments

Contributor

Michael Hicks 2022

Key Words

Hampshire, Winchester, Isle of Wight

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