Swimming Club

Portsmouth Swimming Club was established in 1875 and in its heyday had over 1,500 members who swam from bathing stages, segregated for men and women, by Clarence Pier.

Portsmouth Brickworks

Portsea Island is covered in brickearth and the majority of local houses were built from this clay, being usually dug, clamped and fired on or near the construction site. By the interwar years a large operation, Portsmouth Brickworks, had been established on the present site of the Burrfields Road industrial estate.

Peculiar Constitutions

The inhabitants of Portsmouth ‘… are badly supplied with water, having none but what partakes of a saline quality; and even this is so scarce that were it not for showers of rain, which is most industriously catched by everyone, people could not possibly subsist. As it is, if their constitutions were not of a very peculiar make, they would long before now have attempted a remedy for so great an evil; …’ Taken from The Borough being a faithfull tho’ humerous account of one of the strongest garrisons and seaport towns in GB published in 1748.

A Civil War Governor

‘… on account of his private vices of drunkenness, cruelty and rapacity, and of his political timidity and treachery, scarcely anyone was more unworthy to be trusted with any important matters for counsel or execution’. Edward Hyde, later the Earl of Clarendon, describing Col George Goring, Governor of Portsmouth during the Civil War.

The King’s Rooms

There is now no trace of an extraordinary building that stood on the site now occupied by Clarence Pier. Built largely in 1824/5, and named after a visit by the Duke of Clarence who later became William IV, this building had aspirations to have an aura of a London Club. It included an assembly room complete with chandeliers, reading and card rooms and a long colonnade that overlooked the sea. Its enterprising owner, Mr Hollingsworth, installed solid marble warm vapour baths, one for each sex, which were equipped with steam pumps capable of raising 40 gallons of water per minute from the sea. Balls were held here which ‘attracted the greatest assemblages of rank and fashion ever known in the neighbourhood’. It was at the King's Rooms in 1845 that a Capt Seaton quarrelled with Lieut Hawley leading to the reputedly last duel to be fought in this country.

Domus Dei

The first hospital in Portsmouth, Domus Dei or the Hospital of St Nicholas, was founded in 1212 by Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester (who also founded St Thomas' Hospital in London). It continued to give sanctuary to both pilgrims and the poor until 1540 when it was closed by Henry VIII's reformation of the monasteries. It covered much of Governor's Green with the Garrison Church now being the only visible reminder. A forthcoming Time Team programme is based on this interesting piece of Portsmouth's history.

Two Police Forces

Since modern policing began, there have always been two forces in Portsmouth. The formation of the Dockyard police began in the 1770s; a standing force was formed in 1834 and in 1860 the Admiralty asked the Metropolitan Police to take over guarding the Yard. This force mainly existed to deter unwanted people from entering and attempt to stop the widespread, endemic pilfering. This was always separate from the City of Portsmouth police force who patrolled the streets of the town.

The Lady with the Lamp

In 1856, 2500 soldiers, sailors and Marines who had fought in the Crimean War were given a sumptuous banquet in a specially erected and beautifully decorated pavilion on Governor's Green in Portsmouth. The highlight was masses of red, white and blue flowers sent by Florence Nightingale.

No selling of the silver

For 1838 the following is recorded in the City of Portsmouth Corporation records: ‘The Town Council made a wise decision for which future generations will bless them. They decided, unlike many other of the new Corporations, not to sell the Civic Plate which had been presented during the three preceding centuries, and so the City Corporation today possesses a very fine collection of historic plate.’ This far sighted decision, at a time of great hardship in Portsmouth, enabled the wonderful collection of civic plate to be placed in the safe keeping of the current for the future generation of Portsmouth residents. The Municipal Reform Act of 1835, which replaced the old system of civic government by new corporations with greater powers and responsibilities, had a profound effect on the way local life was governed.

A visit by Dickens

In 1838 when Charles Dickens was undertaking research for Nicholas Nickleby, he visited Portsmouth. Of this visit, it was said: ‘He succeeded in finding suitable lodging for Vincent Crummles at Balph the pilots, in St Thomas’s Street for Miss Snevellicci at a tailor’s in Lombard Street; while Nickleby and his companion were quartered at a tobacconist’s on the Common Hard, which he describes as a ‘dirty street leading down to the dockyard’. Dickens was born in Portsmouth in 1812 and was a returning visitor throughout his life.

Bawdy Houses

One of the consequences of Portsmouth being a Naval and garrison town has been the preponderance of cases coming before the courts concerning unruliness. As early as 1655 the Justices received a petition from 23 local notables complaining about a Joan Wilkes running a bawdy house on the Point and who was ‘an uncivil and ungodly woman, who curses and swears and is great disturber to her neighbours’.

A statue for a Queen

In 1903, to reflect public sentiment, the Mayor of Portsmouth started a fund to place a statue of Queen Victoria within the town. He quickly raised £1,700, the statue was created by Alfred Drury ARA and was placed with pageantry in Town Hall Square. Rather unusual attendees at this event were sailors from an American Fleet which had arrived the previous day at Spithead. The statue remains today in Guildhall Square although in a slightly different location.

Horse drawn trams

Portsmouth had extensive network of horse drawn trams inaugurated in 1865. These ran until 1903 by which time the whole network had become electrified.

Migration to Canada

In 1868 sweeping cuts were made to the Dockyard workforce in Portsmouth. Great suffering was seen as a result with several hundred families giving up on the town and migrating to Canada. The 1867 Reform Act had empowered Dockyardmen with the vote. The subsequent election in 1868 was used to register the strong local discontent with the ruling Liberal Government who had inflicted such pain, which remain etched on the memory of a whole generation.

Marriage of a King

The eyes of the known world were upon Portsmouth in 1662 when Charles II married Catherine of Braganza. The parish church had been severely damaged in the Civil War, so the ceremony took place in the Governor’s House. The couple did not get off to an auspicious start. The King was detained elsewhere at the time of her arrival and when he eventually arrived, an affronted Catherine had fallen ill with a heavy cold. When comforted with English ale, she reported immediately sent for tea from her Royal Barge, possibly the first tea drunk in England. Samuel Pepys noted the occasion. ‘I followed the crowd of gallants though the Queen’s lodging to the Chapel, the room being all rarely furnished, and escaped hardly being set on the fire yesterday. The mayor, Mr Trimbrill, our anchorsmith, showed me the present they have for the Queen – a salt cellar of silver, the walls of chrystal (sic) with four eagles and for greyhounds standing up at the top to bear the dish.’ In additional to marrying his wife here, Charles also made his mistress, Louise de Queruoille, the Duchess of Portsmouth.

Marc Isambard Brunel

Father of Isambard Kingdom, this extraordinary engineer arrived in England in 1799 having been the Chief Engineer of New York at the age of 28. He brought with him knowledge of how to mechanise block making which the admiralty officials hoped to capitalise upon. It took him ten years to introduce his now famous block-making machines in a factory in Portsmouth Dockyard, but they were to revolutionise the work and remained in operation for over 100 years.

Civic Plate

Portsmouth’s civic plate is of national importance ranked only second to that of Norwich (which unlike Portsmouth had its own silver trade and assay office). The bulk of the collection was gathered during a relatively short period between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. It has had an extraordinary history. This includes surviving several threats of invasion, bombardment during the Civil War and the upheaval of the Restoration, the Glorious Revolution and the devastation of the Blitz. On the night of 10-11 January 1941 over 2,000 fires were seen in the City and the Guildhall was one of the hundreds of buildings completely gutted. In a miraculous occurrence the muniment room concealed in the basement of the Guildhall survived the onslaught. When it was opened following the building burning for several days, all the plate, including the mace, was found undamaged. Although the City Council had to move to a hastily requisitioned hotel elsewhere in the City, the mace was still able to be placed before them for the remainder of the war, a visible symbol of hope and continuity.

Birth of a dockyard

We order you, without delay, by the view of lawful men, to cause our Docks at Portsmouth to be enclosed with a Good and Strong Wall in such manner as our beloved and faithful William, Archdeacon of Taunton will tell you, for the preservation of our Ships and Galleys and likewise to cause penthouses to be made to the same Walls as the same Archdeacon will also tell you, in which all our Ships tackle may be safely kept; and use as much dispatch as you can in order that the same may be completed this summer lest in the ensuing winter our Ships and Galleys and their Rigging should incur any damage by your default; and when we know the cost it shall be accounted to you. An order to enclose an area of Portsmouth Harbour founding the Dockyard by order of King John 20 May 1212.

Kassassin Street

Kassassin Street, Portsmouth is named after two battles that involved the Royal Marine Light Infantry and Royal Marine Artillery at Kassassin, Egypt in 1882.

Callaghan's birthplace

James Callaghan, Prime Minister from 1976-1979, was born in Copnor Portsmouth in 1912. He was made Freeman of the City in 1991 and in 1997 a road on Portsdown Hill was named Lord Callaghan Drive in his honour.