HIAS
Past Meetings, 2015-2019
Below
are brief summaries of previous HIAS meetings from
January 2015.
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2015
January 5th, Haslar's half-mile of history
For the
start of the New Year, we were pleased to welcome back David Henshaw to talk to
us on "Haslar's half-mile of history". With its shallow draught, Haslar Creek adjacent to Portsmouth Dockyard
was chosen in the 19th Century to maintain a fleet of wooden
gunboats to protect Britain's ever expanding industrial interests. From
1886 Haslar was also the site of the Admiralty's covered testing tank
originally designed by William Froude in 1868. The latest proposal for the site is to create a centre for the preservation of Haslar's historic naval heritage making Haslar a "Heritage
hotspot" in the area. Although dwarfed by Portsmouth in publicity and money spent, Haslar also had an important part to play in our naval history.
February 2nd, What's in the Pantry?
Jenny Carter brought two baskets containing items which could be found "in the
pantry". Apparently the pantry was where dry products were stored and a
larder was for hanging meat. She began her talk by saying that, in the
"old days", people grew their own food but those living near ports
could buy a better range of imported products. When the industrial revolution
came along and tins were manufactured from 1810, many more food items could be
stored. Jenny explained the background to many famous products like Heinz '57'
varieties, HP sauce, Bird's Custard (1837), Oxo cubes, Horlicks and Huntley
& Palmer biscuits. One revelation was that tea bags began by accident in
New York when a sample of tea was sent in a muslin bag. It was a fascinating
talk which explained where many of our packaged foodstuffs originated.
March 2nd, Industrial Archaeology in Polar Regions
For our March talk we were pleased
to have two of our own HIAS members, Angela & Nigel Smith talking to us on
"Industrial Archaeology in Polar Regions". Angela began with the North Pole and Nigel
followed with the South Pole. Both
regions are rich in historic industrial archaeology with the most northerly
post office being situated in Ny-Ålesund, as well as Roald Amundsen's Memorial.
Nigel's talk was primarily about the once thriving whaling industry and
associated buildings and equipment in the Falklands, as
well as other I.A relics, and a picture of Ernest Shackleton's grave. Aptly, Angela started with a picture of a
polar bear and Nigel finished with a picture of a Chinstrap penguin.
April 13th, Miscellaneous
Unfortunately, Tony Yoward was
unable to give April's talk, so our
President, Bill White, kindly stepped in and entertained us with an evening of
"Miscellaneous". We looked at various
old photos of Southampton dating from the 1860s, a film made by Southern
Railway during WW2 showing troops travelling from Waterloo to Southampton
Terminus Station, which also included film of some of the small ships coming back from Dunkirk carrying
BEF troops. Bill ended his miscellany
with an American film showing the restoration works being carried out of an
old locomotive.
May 11th, Forgotten Wrecks of WW1
For May's talk we welcomed back Stephen Fisher who, if you remember,
talked to us back in February 2013 on Providing access to Hampshire's Heritage
[PATHH]. This time Stephen's talk was on
"Forgotten Wrecks of WW1". Stephen is the Forgotten Wrecks project's
Research Officer with a long standing interest in military history. Stephen began with a brief history of how
early on in the conflict, Germany began by attacking our trade routes with
constant battles between the German Navy and the British. It was also early on in the war in 1914 that
the German Navy inflicted the first defeat for 100 years on the Royal
Navy. Stephen said that this project is
very important as often the only surviving examples of a particular type of
ship are those lying on the seabed. It
was a fascinating and informative talk, as I am sure most of us were totally
unaware of the amount of sea battles which took place during this time, as the
focus is usually on the major battles fought on the Western Front.
June 1st, Village Life in the 40s & 50s
Our June speaker was John Pitman on "Village Life in the 40s &
50s". John based his talk on his own
recollections and experiences growing up in Headbourne Worthy which, at the
time, was just a small village on the outskirts of Winchester. John's memories were rich and varied
reflecting the way most village people lived including growing their own
vegetables, an outside toilet, a bathing
in front of the fire, the water having been heated via a copper boiler,
his mother cooking on a blackened range, and of course, the war and
rationing. The radio was quite
important and John was quite nostalgic about the programmes he used to listen
to. John's talk was slightly unsettling in that
most of us present could remember many of these things as well!
July 6th, Impromptu Evening
Unfortunately, our July
speaker was unable to come and talk to us, but, fortunately, our Chairman,
Howard Sprenger, and HIAS members Ray Riley, Andy & Rob Fish provided the
evening's entertainment. Howard began
with "Manchester & Salford - a tale of 2 Cites", Ray Riley spoke on social
change since the 1950s and Andy & Rob Fish provided nine short DVDs on a
variety of industrial archaeology topics. We hope to have the Purbeck Clay Mining Industry talk next year, but
were very grateful to have been well entertained by our "in house" substitutes,
especially at such short notice.
August 3rd, Alexandra Palace
We had a very good turnout for our August
meeting and were pleased to see some new faces as well as old. Our speaker was Peter Keat, whom we were
pleased to welcome back to talk to us about "Alexandra Palace" situated in
North London and referred to as "The People's Palace". Peter's talk was in the form of a DVD
presentation titled "A Palace for the People" a local history video tracing the
story of the Palace & Park from 1873, and then rebuilt in 1875 following a
destructive fire, to its second fire in 1980. Supposedly nicknamed "Ally Pally" by Gracie
Fields, it has had a chequered history having been used for a variety of uses,
from entertainment to housing prisoners and internees during the two world wars. The BBC broadcast from there for many years,
with its familiar mast still in use.
The Palace became a Listed Building in 1996.
September 7th, Members' Evening
Our
September meeting was our traditional "Members' Evening" which included Nigel
Smith talking to us about the restoration of the Bugsworth Canal Basin in North
Derbyshire, Keith Andrews with a selection of pictures taken around Scotland
based on Gillian Nelson's book "Highland Bridges", Ivan Downer reminiscing on
"Wrecks I have Sailed" about his time spent at sea, and finally Martin Gregory
on a brief update on the progress that has been made this year on the Babcock
& Wilcox boilers at Twyford Waterworks.
October 5th, Looking at Lime Kilns
We were pleased to welcome along
one of our regular contributors to our October meeting, Dr Peter Stanier. Peter's talk concentrated mainly on lime kilns in Dorset, where he has been studying and
photographing them since the 1970s.
After a brief history of the limekiln industry and a short chemistry
lesson, we looked at numerous photographs taken by Peter not just of Dorset
limekilns, but some in other parts of the country. We also saw some paintings of limekilns by J
M W Turner, who also thought them interesting and attractive enough to capture
on canvas. The extensive use of lime
and the development of kilns has been attributed to the Romans, as there is no
evidence of limekilns before the Roman period.
As usual, Peter's talk was very interesting and illuminating and said
that not enough fuss is being made about preserving them, but it is well worth
recording what is left today, as could be gone by tomorrow.
November 2nd, AGM and Romsey Signal Box
Our November meeting was the AGM, and although attendance numbers are
usually down, we had about 36 members turn up.
After the AGM and the tea/coffee break, our Chairman, Howard Sprenger,
kindly gave us a talk and up-date on the renovation and re-opening of the
Romsey Signal Box. Dating from about 1895 it represents a very
early London & South Western Railway Signal Box situated on the Eastleigh
to Salisbury Line, although no longer connected to the mainline. It was moved, when decommissioned 33 years
ago, to the grounds of the Romsey Infant School [no longer there] but now
stands close to a new housing estate.
It was subsequently purchased by the Romsey & District Buildings Preservation
Trust for a nominal £10.
After extensive renovation work, it was re-opened on the 6th September this year, and is open to the public the first Sunday in each month
except January.
For further information please go to
http://www.romseysignalbox.org.uk/
December 7th, Technology in the home 1800s - 1920s
For our December meeting we were pleased to have one of our own members, Dr
Martin Gregory, speaking to us on "Technology in the home 1800s - 1920s". Martin said that this talk expanded on from
his last talk to us on apple peelers, to technology in the home. We
looked at various early kitchen appliances including ranges, washing machines,
dryers and irons, as well as smaller items including a knife polisher, coffee
grinder and a marmalade cutter. Lighting and heating included
both early examples of gas and electricity, including a 1908 petrol gas
appliance - petrol was available from the 1900s, and carbon filament electric
lamps for battery operation from the 1890s. As it was the last meeting of
the year, mince pies were available alongside the usual tea & coffee.
2016
January 4th, The Rise of the
Railway
The first talk of 2016 was on the
4th January and saw a good turnout of members looking forward to
hearing Chris Humby talk to us on the "Rise of the
Railway Part 2" which turned out to be a history of
the Eastleigh Railway Works and its impact on the
town of Eastleigh. Chris is a member of the Bishopstoke History
Society, a small group of enthusiasts, and has close
connections with the town, with various relatives
having worked on the Railway.
February
1, Ambulance Trains & Hospital Ships
February's speaker was Andy Skinner,
SeaCity Museum's Learning Officer.
Andy's talk was titled
"Uncle Albert's WW1 Diary - Ambulance, Trains
& Hospital Ships" and was based on the diaries of his Great Great Uncle
Albert Parker Dartnell, which were discovered after his death. Albert was only 17 when he enlisted having
lied about his age, 18 being the minimum.
Being short sighted he was sent as an RAMC
orderly to No 15 Ambulance Train, which had nine
carriages and on board surgical wards with essential
medical supplies. By 1916, after completing
167 train journeys out of Southampton, Uncle Albert
was sent to sea, and joined the hospital ship HMS St
George with 60 beds. He was now going
into more dangerous waters, especially as the
Germans started to target hospital ships saying they
were fair game, believing them to be carrying
weapons as well as the wounded. By
the end of the war, a total of 12 hospital ships had
been sunk. Uncle Albert was sent to Egypt at the end
of 1917, and then to France where he was gassed and wounded, but lived until
1987. It was a great story and we were
very grateful for Andy for coming along and sharing his Great Great Uncle's
first world war experiences with us.
April
4, Gordon-Keeble, Hampshire's only supercar
After
March's mix-up, we were pleased
to welcome along Mike Webster to tell us all about "Gordon-Kemble, Hampshire's
very own Supercar". Remarkably, only 99
of these iconic cars were made between 1964-1967 with Mike owning chassis
number 96. All 99 were of the same
design and each one known by their chassis number. John Gordon & Jim Keeble were veterans of
the Second World War, Jim Keeble having flown Spitfires. Born in Suffolk,
and well educated, his mother was from Southampton. John Gordon was MD of
"Peerless Cars". They got
together in 1959 and produced the "Gordon GT". In 1964 a hanger at Eastleigh Airport, now
known as Southampton Airport was used to start work on the first Gordon-Keeble
Car, which they hoped would rival the best GTs in Europe. The cost of a GK car was around
£3,600 but
unfortunately by 1965, the Company was declared bankrupt. Production did continue under new
management, but the last GK Car was built in 1967. However, there is now a thriving GK
Owners'
Club who celebrated 50 years of production in 2014 with the largest number of
surviving Gordon-Keeble Cars ever assembled in one place.
May
9, Forton Lake & its Boat Shipyards
The HIAS talk on May 9th was on "Forton Lake & its Boat Shipyards"
and was given by Commander Martin Marks, OBE, Royal Navy. After a brief history of Forton Lake and its
connections to both Gosport & Portsmouth, Martin's illustrated talk was on
some of the shipyards that were situated there from the 18th Century. As ships got bigger, the
shipyards were used less and less and the Maritime Workshop is now used for
restoration purposes for heritage ships such as Warrior and the Cutty Sark etc.
The Lake is now littered with wrecks
which is of interest to the marine archaeologists who have been awarded a
grant to carry out research and to record Forton Lake's heritage together
with hearing from local people to learn as much as they can on the shipyard
sites and their history.
June 6, The Swash Channel Wreck
Our speaker for our
June meeting was retired Archaeologist Gordon Le Pard who
kindly came along to tell us all about "The Swash
Channel Wreck" an early 17th Century,
possibly Dutch, armed merchantman, first located in
March 1990 when dredging was being carried out at
the entrance to Poole Harbour, when a cannon and
some substantial timbers were brought to the
surface. The cannon, amongst more than 1,000 artefacts
have so far been recovered from the wreck by a team
from Bournemouth University, and are now in Poole
Museum. Archaeological evidence now suggests the
ship, of which there is still a lot of mystery
surrounding its origins and purpose, dates from
about 1628 was a substantial armed merchant ship
bound for the tropics.
July 6, Airfields of the New
Forest
July's meeting was on the "Airfields of the New
Forest" given by John Levesley, who informed us that
he has been giving these talks for over 40 years
now. John begun his talk in 1910 with a brief
history of early aviation in the New Forest and the
Isle of Wight including such personalities as Tommy
Sopwith and his test pilot and designer, the
Australian, Harry Hawker. By the 1930s there was
a network of New Forest Airfields, but it was during
the height of the Second World War that these
airfields were expanded and added to numbering no
less than 12 plus a few Advanced landing Grounds.
Little remains today of the extraordinary events
which went on in the New Forest during that time, so
we were grateful to John for coming along and giving
us a detailed account of the huge contribution
played by the New Forest Airfields to the war
effort.
August 1,
Two Tall Ships - Lord
Nelson & Tenacious
August's talk was from two members of the Jubilee Sailing
Trust, Glenn & Maureen Middleton. The Jubilee Trust was started in 1978
"around
the time of the Independent Living Movement" whose
aim is to "challenge & change perceptions of
disability and ability in everyone". Glenn mostly concentrated his talk on the
construction of the two ships, Tenacious & the Lord
Nelson, but mainly on Tenacious, which along with
Lord Nelson, was commissioned by the Trust
specifically for disabled people. Taking us through the construction process
starting with the search for a naval architect who
was able to design a square rig sailing ship to
September 2000, when Tenacious sailed to Sark, St
Helier & Weymouth on her maiden voyage. A very interesting talk, especially as most
of us had never heard of the Jubilee Sailing Trust,
and anyone who would like to learn more about it, or
is interested in being a volunteer, please go to
www.jst.org.uk for further information.
September 5,
Social impact of the railways
September's meeting was on the "Social Impact of
Railways", and was given by one of our members,
Professor Ray Riley, who ran through a number of
areas in life that had been influenced by the
development of railways. He started with language,
where idioms such as "off the rails" found their way
into everyday use. Next, he moved onto time, and
described how "London Time" became "Railway Time"
and thence "National Time". Plymouth, for example,
was 20 minutes behind London, and until railway time
was adopted, the train guard had to adjust his
timepiece as the train went along. Times such as
"twenty to twelve" were not written as "11.40" until
Bradshaw issued the first edition of his famous
timetables. Other topics covered were: Diet,
Retailing, Holidays, Housing and commuting,
Excursions, Social displacement, Hotels,
Architecture, Railway Works, Newspapers,
Bookstalls, Post and Moral decline.
October 3, Wessex
Brewing & Malting
As always, we were delighted to welcome back Dr
Peter Stanier to our October's meeting to tell us
all about malting & brewing in Wessex. Before
proceeding with his talk, Peter attempted to brew
some beer by putting crushed malt, hops and some
yeast in a glass and adding warm water. This he
put to one side stirring occasionally throughout his
talk, which was most interesting and informative.
When Peter's talk finished, it was time to check
on the beer, which I must say looked pretty good
from the back of the room having a good head on it,
and looking like a glass of beer, although I am not
sure that anyone actually had the nerve to sample
it! It was a good end to yet another entertaining
talk from one of our favourite speakers.
November 7, AGM and films
We have our AGM in November together with our
photographic competition. As usual, the
standard was very high, and we had some good
entries. First prize was won by Ruth
Andrews for her photo of Millstones at Stanage
Edge in Derbyshire. Second prize went to
was Tony Yoward for the Wuppertal Schwebebahn in
Germany and third prize to Keith Andrews for the
Peat Railway [in County Offaly]. Rob Fish then
entertained us with a profile of Francis Frith, the
famous Victorian photographer, and we were then
shown three films written and devised by Edwin
Course, who sadly died earlier this year aged 93.
To end off the evening, Bill White told us about
Andre, a French onion seller, who has been coming to
Hythe for many years, and by Bill's reckoning, has
probably spent half his life selling his bunches of
onions to the good folk of Hythe.
December 5, Toys
Our December meeting was aptly titled "Toys",
and the speaker was our President, Bill White.
Bill brought in a selection of his toys, some of
which he has had since 1935, and still in very good
condition. These included a Hornby Train set, a Sindy doll, as well as some Tri-ang toys. Further
afield, we looked at the sort of toys that were
being made in Germany just after the war including a
working model of a brewery and toy trains. Bill
ended his talk by showing us some slides of early,
now very famous Steiff Teddy Bears, accompanied by a
short biography of Margarete Steiff who started the
Company. It was a good topic for this time of
year, and a nice trip down memory lane, remembering
the sort of toys we played with as kids.
2017
January 9,
Victorian-style
Music Entertainment
Our first meeting of 2017 was on January 9th.
We were pleased to welcome along Peter Trodd to tell
us all about "Victorian-style Music
Entertainment", which concentrated on the various
mechanical music devices built in Victorian times.
To accompany his talk, Peter brought along a
selection of machines from his collection that he
began 20 years ago with the purchase of a disc
operated music box circa 1900, which he
painstakingly restored. Beginning with a brief
history of music making from 400 BC with early
examples of making sounds through pipes, we looked
at the c1392 Wells Cathedral's clock and Salisbury Cathedral's mechanical clock, which is claimed to be
the oldest working clock in the world. A short
history of cylinder music boxes followed,
interspersed with examples of music from Peter's own
musical boxes. The cylinders were normally made of
metal and powered by a spring. Towards the end of
the 19th century, models such as the Polyphon were
being mass produced and using interchangeable metal
discs instead of cylinders. Around this time
there was also a growth in mobile piano players,
often called barrel organs, which, unfortunately,
often added to the general din of city life. A brief
description and example of the cylinder phonograph
followed created by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas
Edison. By 1905, the industry was turning out about
110,000 cylinders a week. Peter ended his very
interesting talk on "Nipper" (1884-1895), the iconic
mascot pictured in front of a cylinder phonograph
and used on HMV recordings.
February 6,
Flying Boats in Southampton
Once again we were very glad that Colin van Geffen
was able to come along to February's meeting and
talk to us about "Flying Boats of Southampton -
Ships of the Sky". Colin took us through the golden
years of the commercial flying boat era, which
barely spanned sixty years. Colin also talked about
aviation innovators including R J Mitchell and
Thomas Sopwith and his Sopwith Flying Bat Boats
designed and built from 1912-1914. Looking at
Colin's numerous photographs of these flying
machines, we could not help being impressed by the
luxuriousness of these early passenger planes, plus
the distances they flew, as well as the time taken
to complete their journeys owing to frequent
refuelling stops. It was a good talk, and we
were pleased to see some new faces in the audience
who had come along specially for Colin's talk, and
we hope that they had such an enjoyable evening that
they may consider becoming HIAS members.
March 6,
Art Deco Buildings in Southampton
We were pleased to welcome Dr Andy Russel to our
March meeting to talk to us about "Art Deco"
buildings in Southampton. Andy has been
Southampton City Council's Archaeologist since 1986
looking after their ancient monuments, or anything
else that is "crumbling". The term "Art Deco" was
apparently not used until the 1960s to describe this
type of architecture, as when first introduced the
term "Modern" or "Moderne" was adopted, with ideas
taken from many cultures. Ocean Terminal and
Southampton Civic Centre are the two grandest "Art
Deco" buildings in the City, but we looked at many
more including residential housing, cinemas, retail
units, and the iconic shelter on Western Shore,
recently saved with the help from the National
Lottery. We were pleased to see some new faces
from other local historical groups, who came along
especially to hear Andy's illuminating talk on the
subject of "Art Deco" design.
April 3, Quaker
Businesses in Britain
For April's talk we were
pleased to welcome along John Avery to tell us all
about "Quaker Businesses in Britain". Founded by
George Fox in the 1650s the Quaker ethos of "Peace,
Equality, Simplicity & Truth" found its way into
many walks of life, and from the early 19th Century
the Quakers established an impressive amount of
well-known business including Barclays & Lloyds
Banks, Clarks Shoes [still owned by Clarks today]
and Bryant & May Matches. However, it was the
Quaker confectionery business which conquered the
British sweetshop with such names as Cadburys, Rowntrees, Frys & Terrys which are still famous
today. The biscuit bands such as Huntley &
Palmers and Carrs are also very familiar to us.
John also touched upon the Quaker connection with
the early Railways talking about the Stockton to
Darlington Line, which subsequently become known as
the "Quaker Line", as well as their interest in
science with the Darbys of Coalbrookdale who were
devout Quakers. John also mentioned the John
Lewis Partnership and in particular John Spedan
Lewis [1885-1963] who was influenced by the Quaker
business ethos, and put his employees at the heart
of everything he did including introducing a profit
sharing scheme
May 8, The Gunwharf Area
of Portsmouth
Our talk in May was "The Gunwharf Area of
Portsmouth" by Michael Underwood, who was project
architect for most of the historic buildings at
Gunwharf Quays when the area was redeveloped at the
end of the 20th century. The Gunwharf's history
began more than 300 years ago when land was
reclaimed from Portsmouth Harbour to provide the
country's principal wharf for naval and army guns.
It was the largest in Britain, and virtually doubled
in size when more land was reclaimed to the south.
Early in the last century, the site became the HMS
Vernon school for torpedoes and mines, and in 1996
it was transformed into Gunwharf Quays, the old
wharf being given over to retail and the new wharf
becoming a residential area. As part of the
Millennium celebrations, the development was crowned
by the building of the Spinnaker Tower. It was a
fascinating story told by someone with an intimate
knowledge of the buildings due to his leading role
in their recent development.
June 5, The Camden
Winding Vaults of the London & Birmingham Railway
We were very pleased to welcome back Bill Fawcett as
our speaker to our June meeting to tell us all about
"The Camden Winding Vaults of the London &
Birmingham Railway", where Bill has been involved in
preparing a Conservation Management Plan for Network
Rail. A Grade II* Listed Building, this is a very
good example of a complete winding engine house, and
forms part of a large vaulted underground structure
located under the main line railway just north of
Fitzroy Bridge where the railway crosses the
Regent's Canal. Designed by Robert
Stephenson, the winding engines and associated
equipment etc., operated from 1837 - 1844 drawing
trains up from Euston to Camden by means of an
endless rope to meet a waiting locomotive at the top
of the incline. The equipment is long
gone, having been sold in 1847. The
vaults themselves are generally in sound condition,
although partially flooded and silted up, having
been employed for many years as a reservoir to
supply steam locomotives based at Camden engine
shed. Although rope haulage enjoyed a long life on
some mineral railways, there is little surviving
evidence of its use on main-line passenger routes.
Thus the Camden vaults are of international
importance, given the almost complete survival of a
building carefully tailored to house boilers,
winding engines, haulage machinery and extensive
coal stores, tucked away under the tracks so as to
save space.
July 3, Dorset Then and
Now from the Air
July's talk was on "Dorset then & now from the air" given by
Gordon le Pard.
Although aerial photography had been around
for a long time, the first known aerial photograph
being taken in 1858 by a French balloonist
photographer [Gasper Felix Tournachon] it wasn't
until 1946-1947 that the decision was taken to
photograph the whole of the British Isles.
In part, this was because at the beginning of
the war, the Germans were heavily involved in aerial
photography reconnaissance over the British Isles
for bombing purposes, as well as preparation for a
possible future invasion.
Since then, photographing the British Isles
from the air has become a regular exercise, which is
carried out about once every ten years.
Apparently one of many surprises that
emerged out of this exercise is that we now know
that we have more woodland than we did in 1946,
because if nothing is done to an area, woodland will
flourish.
August 7, The
Fire Service
Our speaker in August was Alan House who was
Deputy Chief Fire Officer for Hampshire's Fire &
Rescue Service before he retired, and is now the
Fire & Rescue Service's Historian & Archivist with
their own museum at Solent Sky. He concentrated
mainly on the Fire Service's WW2 experiences.
Shortly before, in 1938, the organisation was
changed out of all recognition from small municipal
fire brigades run by local councils or parishes and
numbering between 1400-1500, to the Auxiliary Fire
Service, shortly then superseded by the creation of
the National Fire Service. Post war, in 1948, the
responsibilities were transferred yet again, this
time to county councils and boroughs. He also
described the changes in equipment from crude
virtually non- existent fire-fighting equipment to
the sophisticated red fire engines we recognise
today. Alan's overview of this particular period was
very illuminating and we hope we can persuade him to
return and tell us some more about this fascinating
subject.
September 4, Steam
Engines and Commercial Vehicles: A Miscellany
We were pleased to welcome along Bob Smith, a
skilled engineer, and member of the Friends of King
Alfred Buses [FoKAB] who gave us a very interesting
talk on "Steam Engines & Commercial Vehicles"
concentrating on the classic lorries he has
restored. These included a 1961 AEC Mercury, a
1951 AEC Matador, and a 1949 Foden, now sold, but
all restored to a very high standard and exhibited
regularly. Meticulously catalogued bit by bit, we
were able to appreciate the amount of painstaking
work involved in restoring these classic
vehicles.
October 2, A Unique
china clay works at Small Hanger on Dartmoor
We welcomed Peter Stanier in what has become his
regular October slot, and his subject this time was
a china clay works at Smallhangar between Dartmoor
and Plymouth that was threatened by the rejuvenation
of Hemerdon Tungston Mine. The mine had been the
subject of Peter's talk a couple of years ago, but
the restarting of mining operations spelt the end of
what remained of the china clay works, and Peter was
given the opportunity to survey them before these
remains were obliterated.
November 6, AGM
November's meeting started with our annual
AGM, which was quite well attended and we were
through by the tea/coffee break, having re-elected
some of the serving officers, but failing to get a
volunteer to do the Lecture Programme. After the
tea/coffee break, the Chairman entertained us with a
few short DVDs including Twyford Waterworks back in
steam at its October's Members Day, Crofton Pumping
Station, the Paddle Steamer "Embassy", old pictures
of Southampton 1890-1930, Weymouth in the 1930s and
the Weymouth Boat Train. At the end of these short
films, the Chairman showed us a short film of his
own 4" 'Burrell' Showmans engine that he had fired
up in his garden. Although the meeting closed a bit
earlier than usual, it was, nonetheless, an
enjoyable evening.
December 4, A Million Dollars of
Entertainment
December's talk was given by our President, Bill
White and titled "A Million Dollars of
Entertainment". After the bombing of Pearl
Harbour, the USA were drawn into the war in Europe
and it was soon realised that as the Government were
going to send millions of troops abroad, they had to
keep morale up both at home and abroad, and to do
that the USO [United Service Organisation] was set
up in 1941 on the request from the then President,
Franklin D Roosevelt. Bill's talk covered all
aspects of what was involved in entertaining the
troops including listening to old recordings from
the likes of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, to
talking about the Film Industry and in particular
Hollywood, and their Stars, and the importance of
gramophone records and the radio. A truly
entertaining evening.
2018
January 8,
Hampshire's
First Pilot
Our first speaker of the New Year was Mike Gibson,
who came along on a chilly January night to tell us
all about "Hampshire's First Pilot". This turned
out to be an American called Samuel Franklin Cody,
or Colonel Cody as he was later known. Born in 1867
he came to the U.K with his wife Maud touring with
his Wild West Show called ForePaugh. He went onto
develop large kites [Cody's War-Kites] then aeroplanes after having been involved in Britain's
first airship. Unfortunately, he died quite young
[46] in a plane crash and was buried with full
military honours alongside his only son who was
killed in Belgium in 1917 serving with the Royal
Flying Corps. Mike also talked to us about the
men who were involved in early "Aviation Medical
Research", which was equally informative.
February 5, History
of Hydraulics
February's meeting started on a sad note with the
announcement of the death of our Vice-President,
John Silman, who died at the end of January after
being ill for some time. Our President, Bill White
said a few words, including an anecdote or two on
the very enjoyable trips he had taken along with
John, and other members of HIAS on Edwin Course's
numerous, and now legendary, I.A trips. The
Chairman then introduced our speaker for the
evening, Steve Skinner, one of our own members, to
tell us all about the "History of Hydraulics".
Although a huge subject, spanning over 200 years,
Steve said it would be "brief & superficial" but
nonetheless, his talk was extremely interesting and
entertaining. For a more in depth and
comprehensive look at the subject, Steve has written
a book on the subject titled "Hydraulic
Fluid Power, A Historical Timeline".
March 5, The
Southampton and Salisbury Canal Revisited
After all the bad weather, we had a good
turnout for March's HIAS meeting, when we were very
pleased to welcome back one of our old members, and
an ex-chairman, Jon Sims. Jon's talk was titled
"The Southampton to Salisbury Canal Revisited".
"Revisited" because Jon had written an article in
1993 for our Journal No 2 on "The Lost Cutting, The
Southampton & Salisbury Canal at West Dean", which
can be found at
http://hias.org.uk/Journal%20scans/HIAS%20Journal%201993.pdf. There is not much left of the Canal today, but
with the aid of Jon's photographs and old O.S maps,
we were able to trace the route beginning in
Southampton with just the odd clue remaining like
place names, and stagnant ditches to show there had
been a canal there once. Unfortunately, the
Canal was not a success as too costly, the owners
having spent too much money at the beginning of the
project on the Southampton end and especially on an
expensive tunnel.
April 9, Lucy Houston,
the Lady who saved the Nation
We were pleased to have Colin van Geffen back as our
speaker for April's meeting. This time Colin's talk
was about "Lucy Houston, the Lady who saved the
Nation". A very wealthy and philanthropic lady,
she was immensely patriotic, was married three
times, the last one to Sir Robert Houston, a wealthy
shipping magnate and 1st Baronet and MP for West Toxteth. As Colin said, the main thing about her,
was that not many people had heard of her, which was
surprising, as after Colin's talk we realised what a
remarkable woman she had been. Amongst many of
her achievements, she was made a DBE for her work in
setting up a house for WW1 nurses for recuperation,
a prominent suffragist, and for financing the
Houston-Mount Everest expedition enabling the first
aircraft to fly over Mount Everest. Her main
claim to fame though was the £100,000 she gave to Supermarine in 1931 which allowed them to win the
Schneider Trophy which, in turn, enabled the
development of engine technology which was vital to
us in winning in WW2. She also offered the 1932
Government £200,000 to strengthen the Army & Navy,
but they refused.
May 14,
Swaythling Remount Depot - Supplying Horses for war
service
May's talk found us close to home in Swaythling, a
suburb of Southampton for a talk on the Swaythling
Remount Depot with John Fish, who came along to tell
us all about the part that this area of Southampton
played in WW1. Horses were brought to the
Swaythling Remount Depot to be made ready to be
shipped out to France to assist with the War
effort. It was estimated that about 160,000 horses
were needed for the task ahead, as each ammunition
cart was pulled by 5-6 horses. This part of
Southampton at the time was uninhabited, and covered
a large area, so ideal for the task ahead. At the
end of the War, about the same number, 160,000
horses, were repatriated and returned to their
owners, and the site was dismantled in 1920, but
took quite a few years to clear.
June 4,
The Withered Arm - A Personal Journey
Instead of June's scheduled talk, we were pleased
that our Vice-Chairman, Howard Sprenger was able to
stand in at the last moment, to talk to us about
"The Withered Arm - a Personal Journey". The
"Withered Arm" of the title refers to the
ex-Southern Railway Lines west of Exeter, and is a
term coined by T W E [Tom] Roche in his book of the
same name published in 1967. Howard said that it
was a personal journey for him, as training as a
teacher in the early 1970s at St Luke's College,
Exeter, he had visited and photographed the lines
many times over the last 45 years.
July 2, Women on the
Railway
Although it was a very warm evening after a very hot
day, we had a good turnout for our July meeting to
welcome along Dr Becky Peacock to talk to us about
"Women on the Railway", and in particular women's
role on the Railway during WW1 & WW2. Becky works
full time for the Watercress Line and is involved at
present in the Canadian Pacific 35005 Project
restoring this flagship locomotive which was built
in 1941 at the Eastleigh Railway Works.
August 6, The Queen Mary
before & after the war
Stephen Hoadley came along to speak to us on a hot
evening in August on "The Queen Mary before and
after the War". This turned out to be an extremely
interesting and illuminating presentation on one of
Britain's greatest sea going liners. Built by the
Cunard-White Line Company it came into service in
1936. It was named after George V's consort, Queen
Mary, by accident apparently and weighed 75,000
tons. Built on the Clyde by John Brown Shipyard it
had a magnificent mainly Art Deco interior.
During the war, it served as a troop ship, but
with the age of the jet aeroplane looming, it was
uneconomic and is now moored permanently in Long
Beach, California and converted into a hotel,
restaurants, and a museum.
September 3, I.A. Films
Unfortunately, the speaker for our September meeting
on "Aspects of Military Archaeology in the Ridgeway
Region" did not turn up. However, our
Chairman, Rob Fish, stepped in with some videos on
various I.A subjects. These included a 33 minute
video on I.A in East Anglia looking back a 100 years
ago which covered a wide range of I.A subjects
including mills, agricultural machinery, maltings,
sawmills, brickworks, lime kilns etc., including
some old footage of Adnam's Brewery in Southwold.
We ended up by looking at the restoration work that
has been carried out at Phillipsburg Pumping Station
in Surrey now in full working order. Unfortunately,
they cannot afford to open it to the public yet.
October 1,
Northampton not Southampton: Industrial Heritage
around a Midlands County
We were pleased to welcome along Peter Stanier, to
our October meeting. Peter has been coming along
in October for some time now and informs me that
this is his 12th lecture to HIAS. Talking on the
subject of I.A in Northamptonshire, where he had
been in August 2017 attending the 45th AIA
Conference at Moulton Agricultural College. This was
Peter's guide to the industrial heritage of that
county. It was a varied talk including all sorts
I.A topics and an interesting county although not
very big and landlocked. Best known for its shoe
making industry, although not what it was. They
still have Church's bespoke shoe makers, Doc
Martin's and the Tricker Shoe factory, but
unfortunately, Hawkins, famous for their walking
boots back in the 60s, are no longer there. Amongst
many other I.A interests, it does have the National
Lift Tower, standing 418 feet and now a Grade II
Listed Building. We are very sorry that Peter
won't be coming to talk to us again, as he now finds
driving up from Shaftesbury too onerous now.
November 5, AGM and
Film
We started November's meeting with the annual AGM,
and afterwards the Chairman showed a YouTube Channel
Shed-TV film of single and double decker buses and
coaches from all around the country during trips
made by the Southern Counties Touring Society, a bus
enthusiasts group, in the 1950s and early 1960s.
This included film of Portsmouth, Southampton, and
Bournemouth Corporation buses as well as those of
local companies Provincial, King Alfred, and Silver
Star, with which a lot of our members are very
familiar. The views of vehicles dating from the
1930s to the 1960s, the clothes worn by the
enthusiasts (no anoraks -- all jackets and ties or
long coats and hats), and all the places visited
from the south coast to St Helens and Llandudno
provided a splendid nostalgic trip.
December 3 Victorian Humour
It was a festive evening for our December's talk,
the last one of the year, when we were pleased to
welcome along Alan Brindle and his "Magic Lantern"
to entertain us with "Victorian Humour". Attired in
a velvet frock coat, a colourful waistcoat, and a
top hat, Alan set the scene for his slide show.
Using an image projector [Magic Lantern] which was
used widely until the mid 20th Century, this was
truly pre-cinema entertainment. As the title said,
the slides were mainly humorous, but Alan did
include some with I.A content including a mill wheel
near Betws y Coed in Wales, the Panama and
Caledonian Canals, a Midland train and a train shed
in Penzance etc., A very entertaining evening.
2019
January
7th, The Royal Navy's Coastal Forces
Our first talk of the New Year was on Monday January
7th. We were very pleased to welcome back Stephen
Fisher who had given us a talk, about two year's
ago, on Wrecks in the Solent. This time Stephen's
talk was about the Royal Navy Coastal Force's in WW2
affectionately known as the Royal Navy's "Little
Ships" and "Spitfires of the Sea". Accompanied by
excellent photos and maps, Stephen's talk was both
informative and comprehensive, and is a great pity
that the story of this remarkable part of the war
effort is not more widely known.
February 4th, The
Burrell Build
Our Chairman, Rob Fish, spoke to us at
February's meeting on "The Burrell Build - final
instalment". Rob started this project 8 years ago,
and the last update to the group was in 2014. The
4" 1925 replica of a Burrell Scenic Traction Engine
was purchased in kit form from Steam Traction World
in Daventry, but they were originally manufactured
by Charles Burrell & Sons in Thetford, Norfolk.
Each photograph Rob showed us was accompanied by
a detailed explanation as to what we were looking at
and the progress made. It was virtually finished
last August in time for the Dorset Steam Rally,
where Rob spent the week, and he is now looking
forward to starting a new project - a 4" Burrell
steam roller.
Before Rob's talk, our President, Bill White, paid
tribute to two of our long standing members who have
sadly died since Christmas. They were Sylvia Bayley,
a SUIAG/HIAS member for many years, as well as a
staunch member of the Twyford Waterworks Trust, and
Tony Yoward, also a long standing member of
SUIAG/HIAS and a past Chairman. Tony was also
President of the Hampshire Mills Group, and their
archivist.
March 4,
The Great
Western Railway - a personal journey
Our speaker for March was our Vice Chairman, Howard
Sprenger, and his talk was titled "The
Great Western Railway - a personal journey".
This was really the second part of Howard's talk
last June on "The Withered Arm - a personal
journey". Howard took us on a journey beginning
in Tiverton, Devon and ending in Penzance,
Cornwall. This fascinating journey was
accompanied by photographs of not only the stations
etc., on the main route, but also of the branch
lines, some still there, but many now gone, but
fortunately some are now heritage railway lines run
by railway enthusiasts.
April 1, Trolleybus
Technology - the early days
Our April speaker was John Stainforth who came along
to talk to us about "Trolleybus Technology - the
early days". A trolleybus is powered by mains
electricity which is collected from special overhead
wiring by two poles on the roof of a trolleybus
[originally the name was trackless]. They have
rubber tyres and run on normal roads, and
consequently one of the most environmentally
friendly mode of transport to have been
invented. The Trolleybus Museum in Sandtoft,
North Lincolnshire boasts the largest collection of
historic trolleybuses in the world and are about to
celebrate their 50th anniversary. They have
commissioned the construction of a full size working
replica of a pre-WW1 trolleybus from the Czech
Republic, which they hope will be in situ
in June, so well worth a visit.
May 13, Along the
Portsmouth Direct Railway [Portsmouth & Petersfield]
May's meeting was later than usual owing to Easter
and the early May Bank Holiday. Nevertheless, we
had a good turn-out to listen to Peter Keat talking
to us about "Along the Portsmouth Direct Railway".
Peter's talk consisted of a miscellany of images and
dates from the late 1800s onwards mainly of
Portsmouth Harbour, Gosport, Hayling Island and
Havant train lines. Also included were images of
railway engines, ships and buildings, plus three
short films. He would have liked to talk more
about the line from Portsmouth to Petersfield as
advertised, but this would have taken too long for
the time available.
June 3, The Panama
Canal
Jon Sims came along to June's meeting to talk to us
about "The Panama Canal - sea to shining sea". Jon
said he felt a bit of a fraud as his photographs
were really his holiday snaps of when Bev and
himself went on a cruise from Southampton to San
Francisco via the Panama Canal on P&O's MV
Arcadia. Nevertheless, his photos were excellent
giving those of us who have never been through the
Panama Canal a good insight into how the three
flights of locks operate, and the sheer amount of
traffic which passes now through and means that they
are in constant use. Jon also gave us a brief
history of how the Canal came about. It was started
by the French and finished by the Americans and
since 1999 owned and managed by the Panama Canal
Society. We learned about the enormous mortality
rate suffered by the workers in the early days of
construction through yellow fever, malaria, and
other causes such as venomous snakes, insects and
spiders encountered when clearing the rain
forests. He also showed photographs of the bridges
spanning the Canal including the latest road bridge
called the Atlantic Bridge, and as the ship left the
Canal, a distant view of Panama City with its huge
skyscrapers.
July 1, The development
of the fastenings from their beginnings to becoming
an everyday technology
Anthony Poulton-Smith came along to our July meeting
to talk to us about "The development of the
fastenings from their beginnings to becoming an
everyday technology". A retired engineer who has
now turned his hand to writing, Anthony began his
talk telling us about the root of some of the words
for fastenings such as screws, nuts, bolts, rivets,
washers etc. Also many of these words used today
derive from French and Latin, the word "nail" seems
to have been around since the 1600s. We also looked
at the many manufacturers of fastenings mainly based
in the Midlands, as Anthony said, the "Midlands
were riddled with screw manufacturers". Fasteners
of one sort or another, are something we all cannot
live without, as they hold everything together like
phones, televisions, washing machines, clocks and
power stations etc.
August 5,
Metalliferous Mining in the Channel Islands
Unfortunately, our August speaker, Terri Robinson,
was unwell so unable to talk to us about "A look at
Canal History – including its people and their
art". This talk has now been re- scheduled for July
2020. We were therefore delighted when our Vice
Chairman, Howard Sprenger, was able to step in at
short notice and give us a talk on "Metalliferous
Mining in the Channel Islands". Howard explained
that this talk was the one he gave to the 2015
SERIAC Conference, but had been updated. The
Channel Islands are not noted for their industrial
past, but even the smallest had mills and quarries,
albeit usually for local use only. However, in the
middle of the 19th Century, deposits of copper, lead
and silver were discovered, and there was great
speculation in metalliferous mining on all of the
islands, except Alderney. None of the enterprises
were successful, and most closed within a few short
years. Piecing together the story of the mines is
difficult because of their brief lives, but over the
years much information has been gathered together by
local enthusiasts and others on the mainland. This
talk told the story of various ventures, illustrated
by maps, plans and photographs of the surviving
remains where they can be found. It was based on
several field visits to the islands and examination
of contemporary records.
September 2, The
Flying Scotsman
Our speaker for our September meeting was Stephen
Hoadley who came along to tell us all about the
history of the "Flying Scotsman" the train that ran
daily from London's King's Cross to Edinburgh's
Waverley Station. This is the iconic steam train
from 1920s and now restored and preserved it
is still pulling excursions around the country.
Stephen described its
chequered history from its luxurious
beginnings, when few people could afford to go on
it, to a must today for railway enthusiasts.
Fortunately, there were enough people out there with
money and enthusiasm to preserve what is undoubtedly
one of the U.K.'s "National Treasures".
October 7,
Underground Tunneling used by both sides in WW1
Peter Jones came along to October's meeting to talk
to us about "Underground Tunneling by both sides in
WW1". Peter's talk gave us an insight into the
tactics of underground warfare and the awful
conditions in which the war underground was
fought. The idea of digging underneath
fortifications is nothing new and goes back to at
least classical times, but the use of high
explosives in WW1 gave it a new dimension. Fighting
in WW1 was dominated by trench warfare, and these
trenches were dug by hand, and stretched right
across Northern France, being both German and
British trenches. The sites of the tunnels that are
being excavated today, are an example of the
complete evolution of trench warfare. The horror
of being blown up by an unseen mine was an everyday
fear of frontline troops, but because of these brave
men, and the work they carried out under such
appalling conditions, the British were able to take
the initiative against the Germans.
November 4, AGM
December 2,
Twyford Waterworks
For the last meeting of 2019, we were pleased to
have one of our own members along on Monday 2nd
December, Martin Gregory, to talk to us about
Twyford Waterworks, with a photographic progress
report on the "Return to Steam Project" that has
been going on at the Waterworks which ran from 2008
to 2017. It was in 1969 that the boilers were last
in steam, and this successful project could not
have been carried out without the help of Heritage
Lottery Fund money and the dedicated volunteers at
the Waterworks, which incidentally was given
Scheduled Ancient Monument Status in 1974, and the
Trust formed in 1985. For more information on
Twyford Waterworks go to
www.twyfordwaterworks.co.uk
2020
January
6, Celebrating Archives: The Work of Hampshire
Archive Trust
Our first talk of the New Year was on January 6th
when we were pleased to welcome along Barry Shurlock
who came along to talk to us about "Celebrating
Archives: The work of the Hampshire Archive Trust".
Founded in 1986, a spin off from the Hampshire
Records Office, the aim of HAT, Barry explained,
was to be a "one-stop window" on Hampshire archives,
a treasure house of stories about one of the
historically richest counties in England. He then
gave examples of their work.
February 3,
John Silman's slides
Our speaker at February's meeting was our Chairman,
Howard Sprenger, and after the usual notices, Howard
said his talk was titled "The Slides of John Silman"
and went onto explain to those who didn't know John
that John Silman [1934-2018] was a long standing
member of SUIAG, now HIAS, and our Vice President
until his death in 2018. After he died, John left
a large number of slides, numbering over 400, which
included Mills, Canals, general I.A and ones of
family holidays. Howard divided these into four
groups including Mills, Canals, general I.A and
postcards, and then proceeded to scan them all.
The canal ones [94] went to the Southampton Canal
Society, the mills ones [225] to the Mills Archive
Trust, and 70 miscellaneous ones went to Bursledon.
The scanned photographs of the post cards, mostly of
Hampshire topics, were deposited at the Hampshire
Records Office in Winchester. It was a good "trip
down memory lane" evening, and remembering one of
our most enthusiastic, hands on, and long standing
members who is sadly missed.
March
2, New Forest Aviation Group
We have two meetings in March owing to the dates
Easter falls this year, Our first meeting was on
March the 2nd and were pleased to welcome along
Stephen Robson, who talked to us about, which he
said was a "potpourri" of I.A in Hampshire, but
mostly focused upon the aviation industry in
Hampshire, which was remarkably successful on the
South Coast of England. Covering the early
innovators and manufacturers, Stephen also talked
about the emergence of the RAF, WW2, the Cold War,
and the New Forest Airfields as well as giants of
the aircraft industry such as Charles Rolls, Alan
Cobham, and Sir Frank Whittle. Also included was a
certain Lieutenant Norway, better known as the
author Neville Shute, who was an accomplished
aeronautical engineer. Stephen's interest stems
from his time in the RAF and his work for British
Aerospace, and although now retired, is Chairman of
the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust. We were very pleased
that he came along and shared his vast and long
experience in the aircraft industry with us.
|