The Siege of Lucknow

Heroes of the famous seige of Lucknow, part of the Indian Mutiny of 1857-8, are commemorated in Portsmouth. The three fields on which Havelock Park stands, located to the east of Victoria Road North, were brought in 1857 the same year as the seige, for £4,520, and the foundation stone laid a year later. The estate was named after Sir Henry Havelock who led the first relief column into Lucknow, while Sir Henry Lawrence, John Inglis, Sir James Outram and Sir Colin Campbell all gave their names to local roads.

The House of Desolation

This was the description given, many years later, to Lorne Lodge in Southsea by Rudyard Kipling. It was here that Kipling was to spend six years of his childhood, 1871-1877, in the care of paid guardians, Captain and Mrs Holloway. Lorne Lodge was situated in Campbell Road and the young Rudyard attended a small private school, Hope House. He had spent his previous childhood in India where he had revelled in the ‘strong light and darkness’ whilst being cared for by doting parents. In contrast, he remembered his time in Portsmouth, during which he suffered both cruelty and neglect, with great bitterness in later life.