Stephen Dewar was born at Andover, the third child of Albemarle O’Beirne Willoughby Dewar and Florence Wilhelmina Rose, née Matthews.  Dewar was the great grandson of David Dewar, who is listed as an awardee in the 1830s, for compensation for manumitted property for the Dewar’s estate* on St Kitts, in the West Indies.

A good example of an amateur local historian who gained the respect of professional historians, John Drew achieved what he did as a result of poor health and private means. Not benefiting from an education at major schools or university, at the age of 17 he joined the family London-based firm Drew and Sons, which…

It would be easy to believe that the history of Eastleigh began in 1890, when the Carriage and Wagon Works was transferred by the London and South Western Railway from Nine Elms in London, thereby creating a rich tapestry of industry and town.

He was a rare example of someone born to wealth and position who wrote about his ancestors (rather than asking others to do so) with a frankness and objectivity that is rare in family histories of the great and good. For the last three years of his life he held the title 8th Baron Sherborne,…

He was the only son of a namesake father, who was prominent lawyer in the county, Clerk of the Peace to Winchester Court, Deputy Clerk to the Bishopric of Winchester, and Receiver General of Land Taxes in Hampshire. He owned New House Ropley, (still standing, renamed Ropley House) built by an earlier owner in the…

Herbert Druitt was born in Christchurch, then in Hampshire, to James and Matilda Druitt. He trained as a lawyer, but was essentially a man of leisure, putting his energies into brass rubbing and collecting an enormous range of archaeological and historical material which he hoarded in various family-owned properties around the town.

He was the only son of a namesake father, who was prominent lawyer in the county, Clerk of the Peace to Winchester Court, Deputy Clerk to the Bishopric of Winchester, and Receiver General of Land Taxes in Hampshire. He owned New House Ropley, (still standing, renamed Ropley House) built by an earlier owner in the…

Herbert Druitt was born in Christchurch, then in Hampshire, to James and Matilda Druitt. He trained as a lawyer, but was essentially a man of leisure, putting his energies into brass rubbing and collecting an enormous range of archaeological and historical material which he hoarded in various family-owned properties around the town.

It would be easy to believe that the history of Eastleigh began in 1890, when the Carriage and Wagon Works was transferred by the London and South Western Railway from Nine Elms in London, thereby creating a rich tapestry of industry and town.

Born in London, by occupation he was a ‘collector of inland revenue’ (1901 census). Often quoted is his enormous compilation of 828 pages of local records, Extracts from Records in the possession of the Municipal Corporation of the Borough of Portsmouth, published by the Corporation in 1891. There were appendices on a ‘serious dispute’ amongst…