According to the 1911 Census return, Laurence’s father, Alfred Edward, was a ‘match, starch and grocery buyer’. At the time the family were living in Forest Gate, Essex, where Laurence had been born seven years earlier.

1907 – 1987 Isabel Sanderson was born in 1907 to a Suffolk farming family. In 1914, the family with all the farm animals and gear were taken by train to Alresford station. Then a short journey took them to Abbotstone Farmhouse, part of the great Tudor mansion built by the Marquess of Winchester*. After Perin’s…

1907 – 1987 Isabel Sanderson was born in 1907 to a Suffolk farming family. In 1914, the family with all the farm animals and gear were taken by train to Alresford station. Then a short journey took them to Abbotstone Farmhouse, part of the great Tudor mansion built by the Marquess of Winchester*. After Perin’s…

02.01.1832 – 21.04.1913 He was a druggist and chemist with a shop at 113 High Street in Old Portsmouth. After retirement he became curator of the Borough Museum, then in the Town Hall, next to the Dolphin Hotel.  According to the journalist historian, William Gates, who acknowledged his influence, he was: ‘A man of genial…

Ken Sawyer was born in Enfield, the eldest child of Albert Frederick and Ada Elizabeth Sawyer; his father worked in banking in the city. Sawyer’s life before Milford-on-Sea is rather a closed book, other than the 1939 Register which recorded him in Merton working in the gas industry and in Civil Defence. His wife, Margaret,…

Ken Sawyer was born in Enfield, the eldest child of Albert Frederick and Ada Elizabeth Sawyer; his father worked in banking in the city. Sawyer’s life before Milford-on-Sea is rather a closed book, other than the 1939 Register which recorded him in Merton working in the gas industry and in Civil Defence. His wife, Margaret,…

Thomas Shore is no stranger to the Hampshire Field Club, which he founded with two others in 1885. He was the son of an architect, born in Wantage, and at some time acquired a Department of Science and Art Certificate, described as a ‘lowly qualification’. Clearly a late developer, after working as a schoolmaster in…

Thomas Shore is no stranger to the Hampshire Field Club, which he founded with two others in 1885. He was the son of an architect, born in Wantage, and at some time acquired a Department of Science and Art Certificate, described as a ‘lowly qualification’. Clearly a late developer, after working as a schoolmaster in…

John Trussell was a poet, historian and city officer, who pioneered the history of Winchester and of local history in general. His major work, ‘The Touchstone of Tradition’, is unpublished and was lost until 1974, when it was acquired by HRO. Another of his works, ‘The Benefactors of Winchester’, lists city documents, mayors etc, and…

Telford Varley was, from 1897 to 1926, the first headmaster of Peter Symonds School, Winchester.  During his tenure he wrote and contributed to two popular local histories – and was ordained as a priest (1908).