He was a genealogist who in 1833 published a substantial volume on the pedigrees of prominent families in the county. It was one of a series of volumes on mainly southern counties that he published between 1830 and 1842, when he was forging a career as a genealogical writer, based on his experience as a…

Samuel Best was Rector of Abbotts Ann, near Andover, from 1831 to 1873, and instrumental in founding a (non-denominational) village school, long before such institutions were required by law.  He also created the Abbotts Ann Provident Society, believing that labouring families should not be denied the benefits of Victorian progress.

George Boon was one of the leading Roman archaeologists of his generation.  His excavations, principally at Silchester in the north of the county, as well as on sites in Wales, were complemented by his comprehensive knowledge of Roman artefacts and coins.

G.H. Blore was a student (1882-89) and schoolmaster (1902-1930) at Winchester College. Much of his historical research and writing came after his retirement from the College in 1930. He was an inaugural member of the Friends of Winchester Cathedral (FOWC) in 1931 and editor of the annual Winchester Cathedral Record from 1935 until he handed…

Ernest was born in Breslau in eastern Germany. His family, described as ‘professional and academic … with a liberal tradition’, came to England as refugees in 1935. He was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and the Leys School in Cambridge, where the family initially settled, and soon become proficient in English.

Educated at Charterhouse and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was the son of Dr Samuel Birch, Keeper of the Department of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum, where he too worked between 1864 and 1907 in the Department of Manuscripts.

A Yorkshireman and graduate of Cambridge University, William Bingley was ordained in 1799, becoming a curate at Christchurch (Hants.) from 1802 to 1817, before moving on to Fitzroy Chapel in London. He published several books on botany and zoology, which were popular and went through multiple editions.

He is being included in the CHH project not because, as far as we know, he made any contribution to the history of the county, but because he was and is an internationally recognized scholar whose work on ecclesiastical history, The Antiquities of the Christian Church, 1706-1722, is probably still unsurpassed. Its importance is emphasized…

Bigg-Wither came from a family that had been seated at Manydown Park, Wootton St Lawrence, since 1789, when his great-grandfather, Lovelace Bigg, had inherited the estate from William Wither on the condition that he take on the name of the Wither family, which had farmed lands on lease from the dean and chapter of Winchester…

A farmer, soldier, journalist and publisher, as well as economic commentator and politician, Cobbett led an event-laden life that took him to North America and France, and many corners of Britain, interspersed with spells in gaol. He therefore has links to many counties, though Hampshire has a particular claim since, between 1805 and 1817, he…