Scuttling of the Implacable

In December 1949, the man of war, the Implacable, then the oldest ship in the world still afloat, was scuttled in deep water in the Solent. There had been moves to save her both in England and France, with a question regarding the matter being raised in the House of Commons but her condition was found to be too decayed.

She had been launched in 1801, fought and escaped at the Battle of Trafalgar, before being captured by the British in 1805. She was a feature of Portsmouth Harbour for many years. Before she was sunk, certain parts of her were donated to the National Maritime Museum. As she was towed out of the Harbour, HMS Victory’s company and staff stood to attention as she passed.

Presents for a Princess

The future Queen, Princess Elizabeth, chose four items of furniture as a wedding present from the Citizens of Portsmouth in 1947 – a satin-wood cupboard, a mirror, a glass chandelier and a sofa.

She wrote a thank you letter:

‘We are both delighted with the wedding present which the citizens of Portsmouth have given us… they will be a most valuable contribution to furnishing our house.

We send our warm thanks to all those who so generously subscribed to give us this magnificent present, and we should like them to know what a real pleasure it has been to us to receive it from a town which has the closest connections both in history and our own times with the Royal Navy.’

Military Governors and Mayors

As Portsmouth was a garrison town it had its own military governor. This officer was first appointed in 1369 and was given power to rule and punish not only soldiers but also the men of the town. As these powers were confirmed to the governors in later charters this caused trouble between the military and civil authorities. The worst trouble arose when Sir Adrian Poynings was governor between 1559 and 1571. By using force he completely ignored any legitimate authority of the mayor, so much so that the mayor went in fear of his life. Eventually the mayor complained to Queen Elizabeth I and judgement was given in the mayor’s favour. More than a hundred years later when Col John Gibson was governor there was trouble again and the mayor found the Landport Gate shut in his face when he wished to leave town. This was in 1694 and the Borough Sessions Papers show what little hope of redress the locals had when assaulted, sometimes in the a most repulsive manner, by military officers. 

Taken from The History Centre Collection, I191.

Portsmouth in 1981

Click on the link for a promotional film of Portsmouth voiced by Telly Sevalas in 1981.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EmrGSqteGo

Margaret of Anjou

Margaret of Anjou landed in Portsmouth in 1445 on her way to marry Henry VI. She was fifteen years old, and described as beautiful and "already a woman: passionate and proud and strong-willed’.

Freezing weather

Portsmouth suffered freezing weather conditions in February 1947. Emergency power cuts were imposed with police patrolling the main roads warning shop keepers about the mistaken use of lights, radios and other electrical appliances during prohibited hours. Street lights were not lit, except at important junctions, and on the 21^st roads on Portsdown Hill became so icy that people had to dismount from the buses and walk the eight miles home to Horndean.

The curfew gun

For centuries, a curfew gun was fired every evening from the Saluting Platform in Portsmouth and was frequently heard as far away as Selbourne in north Hampshire.

A disaster in the castle

In 1759 disaster struck at Southsea Castle when sparks from a fire fell through floorboards and ignited gunpowder which was stored in the room below. Seventeen men, women and children were killed in the explosion.

Return of Hermes after the Falklands conflict

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h24wFe_zWUQ&feature=related

The return of HMS Hermes to Portsmouth Harbour after taking part in the Falklands conflict. A welcome that has been happening through the ages and one only Portsmouth can give!

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys was a burgess in Portsmouth for the years 1662-1703. He had the management of the Admiralty department and Portsmouth features regularly in his diaries.

Pirates in the Solent

The cutter Childers was captured by a privateer under Dutch colours off the Needles last week. The Childers managed to escape later but the same privateer took four brigs and a sloop within the following two days, at the same spot. The Channel is now full of French and Dutch privateers, which come upon our coasts, and take merchantmen from the mouths of our ports’

Taken from the Hampshire Chronicle 29 April 1792

Tin canoes

'We like England very much. It is very beautiful.We have seen Salisbury Cathedral which is very fine and the ship where Nelson died which is all gold with wooden guns, and Westminster Abbey where they crown the kings of England and the Tower, where they cut thier heads off. But the best things in England are the tin canoes at Southsea.'

Andre Maurois, the French author, visiting Portsmouth in the 1920s

Salt

In the later 17th century, the salt production on Portsea Island was ranked second in the country. Although salt has always been an important local industry, with many pre Roman sites being known, and eleven salt works being mentioned in the Domesday Book, it was given a boost by the founding of the Great Salterns works in 1666. A local entreprenuer, Richard Alchorne, dug salt pans in approximately 100 acres of land that had been reclaimed at Gatcombe Haven.
Great Salterns and another large salt pan at Copnor supplied the Navy, providing refined salt that was more reliable at preserving meat by brining rather than dry-salting.

The Festival of Britain

To celebrate the Festival of Britain in 1951, the following events in Portsmouth were held: a Searchlight Tattoo at Fratton Park; a carnival procession; a pageant of physical training and sport at Alexandra Park; an aquatic gala at Hilsea Lido; a trade’s fair on Castle Field, an international youth camp and a children’s week on Castle Field.

Merton Road

 '... it was in a notoriously bad condition, full of holes in some places and in others a perfect pond. Those who drove through the road in carriages were put to great inconvenience and annoyance, for their wheels were no sooner out of one hole than they were into another. The road was highly dangerous.'

A description of Merton Road, Portsmouth, 1877

David Niven’s view of the Common

David Niven described Southsea Common in 1930 as, ‘flat, greasy, wet and windswept, with a dejected flock of dirty sheep morosely munching on its balding surface.’


Taken from D Niven, A Moon’s a Balloon, 1972.

A present from Durham

The Overseers’ and Churchwardens’ account book for Escomb parish in County Durham has the following entry for 4 September 1684: ‘Collected within ye Chappelry of Escombe ye sume of one shilling seven pence halfe peny towards ye rebuilding of ye great church at Portsmouth.'

This was for the rebuilding of St Thomas Church, now Portsmouth Cathedral, following damage inflicted during bombardment in the Civil War.

A turkish bath in Kings Terrace

There were popular Turkish baths in unlikely venue of Kings Terrace, Portsmouth between the years 1875 and 1936 when the premises were demolished.

Visit of the Emperor of Ethopia

On 14 October 1954, the HMS Gambia arrived in Portsmouth wearing the Imperial Standard of the Emperor of Ethiopia and carrying both the Emperor Haile Selassie and his son, His Imperial Highness, Prince Makonnen.

He was officially greeted by the Duke of Gloucester who was representing the Queen, with the welcome address being made by the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth. Part of this address read: ‘Your Imperial Majesty is no stranger to our City and we remember with joy the sojourn which your Majesty spent in Portsmouth during the war and shared with our citizens the dangers and trials of those days.’

The Emperor replied: ‘… It is also a moving moment for me to set foot on British soil in the City of Portsmouth where with you I shared the vicissitudes of war.’

Wartime books

In February 1943 a successful appeal was launched, by the Lord Mayor, to collect a quarter of a million books in 14 days. Of the 261,175 collected, 225,000 were good only for salvage, 24,000 were sent to the troops serving the World War II and 2,700 were allocated to local libraries which had lost their stock in the Blitz. All those sent to the troops had a slip inside them bearing the good wishes of the people of Portsmouth.