Monthly Archives: May 2023

Questers visit to Hampshire Record Office

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Questers visit to Hampshire Record Office

05 April 2023

The current Hampshire Record Office (HRO) is housed in a purpose-built building which was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in November 1993 and is based in Sussex St, Winchester. (https://www.hants.gov.uk/librariesandarchives/archives/about-us) .  Our trip was planned and co-ordinated with Sarah from the HRO over a number of months and was hosted on the evening by Heather and Jane. As it was a self-drive we all met in the foyer at the HRO and we were given an overview of the work and the purpose of the service, which is to provide specialist storage and restoration for historic documents of all types relating to Hampshire.

The archives come from a wide variety of sources, ranging over local government; religious organisations; families and individuals; businesses; schools; charities, societies and sports clubs; military organisations; hospitals; magistrates; coroners. Significant collections include those of Winchester Bishopric; Winchester Cathedral; prominent landowners and Hampshire families – including the Jervoise of Herriard archive and the Malmesbury archive; businesses, including Portals, papermakers; Church of England parishes and the Diocese of Winchester; The Royal Green Jackets regiment; Winchester City; local and regional TV and radio. The archives are complemented by the county Local Studies collection, a wealth of printed sources including directories, newspapers, pictures, and books on Hampshire localities, people and topics.

Some of the items we saw included the following:

  • The earliest charter for the City of Winchester from Henry II 1155- 58 witnessed by Thomas a’ Becket
  • A number of documents relation to the rental of Mottisfont Abbey 1340
  • A large collection of photographs of the 1897 Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Andover during which hundreds of soldiers in full dress uniforms paraded in the High Street followed by a street party which looked as though the whole town sat down at tables in the High Street to celebrate.
  • A large number of everyday documents for example school reports, land sale documents, train posters which collectively trace the history of the county, in all over a million items that are all digitised and can be accessed online.
  • A number of maps of the Andover area over the last 150 years.

We were shown the conservation department where documents that have been damaged by water, mould and vermin are preserved. A number of documents in different stages of decline were on show to illustrate the craft of the conservators and some of  the different techniques for both wet and dry objects were explained. The conservation area was a large room containing specialist equipment and tables with lighting built in to enable detailed work to be done on objects. There are facilities for 3 conservationists to work alongside each other but due to reduction in spending in this area this has been reduced and funding is only adequate for one part time conservator at the moment.

There is also a photographic department where items are digitised for online access replacing the use of microfiche.

The Record office is always looking for new material to conserve for future generations and while we were there one of our members discussed the possibility of handing over the archive of the Andover Rotary to be made available, they may also be interested in other charity and community group memorabilia, just ask them. They are also interested in films and photos of significant local events taken by members of the public though do not guarantee to archive them all.

One of the highlights of a very interesting trip was visiting the cinema housed within the building where we saw a digitised film of a 1953 coronation celebration in Andover.  We could all see some local landmarks and there were several comments from the audience about changes to Andover since then. I also heard one of the members identify their teachers from when they were at school about that time.  The HRO also houses the Wessex Film and sound Archive (https://www.hants.gov.uk/librariesandarchives/archives/popular-records/wessex-film-sound-archive) which covers an area wider than Hampshire alone.

A very interesting tour which gave rise to questions, reminiscences and conversations – well worth a visit and they encourage people to contact them for assistance in accessing the records for their own research.

Kevin Barter

                     

The camera for digitizing documents                   The Conservation area

           

The cinema                                                                  The Reading and Viewing room

Reading Group 1 Book Review – April 23 – The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

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The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the RipperPolly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, lived on country estates, they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-traffickers. What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888.

The person responsible was never identified, but the character created by the press to fill that gap has become far more famous than any of these five women.
For more than a century, newspapers have been keen to tell us that ‘the Ripper’ preyed on prostitutes. Not only is this untrue, as historian Hallie Rubenhold has discovered, it has prevented the real stories of these fascinating women from being told. Now, in this devastating narrative of five lives, Rubenhold finally sets the record straight, revealing a world not just of Dickens and Queen Victoria, but of poverty, homelessness and rampant misogyny. They died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time – but their greatest misfortune was to be born a woman.

Group Reviews:

This book led to more discussion than usual at our meeting.  Everyone enjoyed it.

1.  Surprisingly, I really enjoyed this book and wouldn’t have chosen to read it normally. It was a very clear  insight into the  lives of the five victims killed by Jack the Ripper.   With the author describing  their early years,  how the life path they chose led them  becoming alcoholics, sleeping rough,  perhaps going into prostitution and what they had in common which led to their murders.  It was definitely a different take on all the books about Jack the Ripper.  Although,  very sad at the way these women’s lives were and ended it was written in a very informative and respectful manner.  Well done Hallie Rubenhold.

2.  There were some common themes running through the stories of the five women who were alleged to have been victims of Jack The Ripper – namely their lives were all filled with unfortunate circumstances, there was a reliance on alcohol at various points of their lives, they came from under privileged backgrounds. Misfortune had taken them to a dangerous area of London. It was assumed that they were all prostitutes but the stories showed that only one, Mary Jane Kelly, considered herself a prostitute.

3.  The stories of the women were that of the social history of the time. Each came from a different part of the country with one originating in Sweden.  I felt that the detail of conditions these women lived in was fairly generic and perhaps not altogether relevant for each one. Although the social history for the era was interesting the detail was too much and at times repeated. Women who had received a rudiment of education could still not escape their circumstances. There were also gaps in the knowledge of circumstances of each woman and how they arrived in this notorious part of London so it seemed that without real evidence it was made to fit the overall story.

4.  I enjoyed the book and thought it was well written, an easy read, whilst giving information and being thought provoking.  Although the women prostituted themselves I do not think that was their original aim, it was forced on them by  the times; they had to have a man ‘behind’ them and if they lost the support of one quickly had to find another.  At least today’s women have a choice.  Poverty and alcohol were the major factors in the downfall of the women although lack of family support contributed to their problems.  Nowadays the media can be intrusive but it helps to publish information about available help.  It was interesting to read about the lives of the women rather than speculation as to whom the Ripper could have been.