Looking north up Southampton High Street in the nineteenth century.

This postcard was sent by a soldier called Alfred Harvey from somewhere in France (note the ‘PASSED BY CENSOR’ stamp and the way the location on the front of the postcard has been scratched out) during the First World War on 11 May 1918. He sent it to his wife, Ada, back home in Southampton. 1/2

The third annual reunion dinner of the Hampshire Regiment at the Coliseum on Portland Terrace, January 1931. Anybody who had served in the regiment was welcome and around five hundred men attended this ‘inspiring and memorable function’. 1/2

Six-year-old Leslie Chesher stood outside his home, 36 Cambridge Road, on 14 September 1908.

Happy New Year!

On this day in 1949, Southampton said goodbye to its tram system. It started back in 1879 with a horse-drawn network, before the system went electric in 1900. By the end of WW2, the whole system needed upgrading and modernising, but the council decided that buses would be a better alternative. 1/8

Town Quay viewed from the enormous floating dry dock that was positioned here from 1924 until 1940.

Southampton High Street during the Blitz in 1940, compared to a similar 2025 view. Holyrood Church was gutted by fire and destroyed on 30 November 1940, its spire crashing down onto the road. The tower was like ‘a Roman candle’ with ‘masses of sparks coming from the top’ according to a witness. 1/2

George Andrew Hassell, originally from Sunderland, was a missioner at Holy Trinity Church in the Kingsland Place area of Southampton in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Hassell devoted much of his time to helping impoverished and elderly people in his parish. 1/3

Did you know that Eastgate Street multi-storey car park was built on the site of a burial ground? There has been a car park on the site since 1960; before that it was an open space where children played football. Nippers probably kicked footballs against the gravestones that lined the walls. 1/12

Merry Christmas!

I’ve written a post about Christmas which is way too long for Bluesky, so here are screenshots of the post from my Facebook page. 1/3

Oxford Avenue. My great x3 grandfather Henry Charles Burden died at 24 Oxford Avenue on 3 March 1934 at the age of eighty-three. 1/3

The chancel of Holyrood Church on Southampton High Street in its heyday, long before it was destroyed during the Blitz in November 1940. Compared to today, a bombed-out ruin and peaceful permanent memorial to the Merchant Navy.

Brunswick Place, then and now.

Really pleased to have added this postcard to my collection. Willie Mew of the Royal Army Medical Corps sent this card from France in August 1915 back home to his daughter, Edna, at Hillside Avenue, Bitterne Park. 1/6

Ludlow School, Itchen, circa 1931. The only name I have is John Haynes, second row from the back, third from left.

1967 British Rail document proudly showing off an artist’s impression (top) of what Southampton Central railway station would look like once the original 1895 building with the clock tower (below) was demolished and replaced with an office block.

The P&O liner Canberra in the King George V Graving Dock, once the largest dry dock in the world.

Looking north up London Road in the early 1900s. The church on the right was St Paul’s. Originally established in 1828, it was destroyed during the Blitz in 1940. There is now a Tesco Express and a kebab house occupying the site.

Ever been seasick? If so, you will probably sympathise with the poorly chap featured on this humorous postcard, which was sent from Southampton to Germany in 1910.

The corner of St Mary’s Road and Onslow Road, with Bellevue Terrace on the left.

Netley Abbey was founded in 1239 but took decades to be built. King Henry III became its patron in 1251 and his name, crown, and other carvings can still be seen on the bases of the pillars. It says ‘H. DI. GRA REX ANGL’ here, which I believe means ‘Henry by the Grace of God King of the English’.

Hamble High Street, then and now. The old image is an original postcard from my collection. It was sent in 1907. I took the comparison shot back in 2023.

Loading ships with equipment during a military exercise at Southampton Docks, 11 November 1942. From an original photograph in my collection.

On this day in 1944, Curt Hodges from Chicago, Illinois carved his name into a Southampton brick wall along with a number of his American comrades as they waited to be shipped to France. 1/5

One of the metal plaques given to the Southern Railway (who operated Southampton Docks during the Second World War) by the U.S. Army who transported over two million American troops through the docks between D-Day and the end of the war. 1/4

20 White’s Road, Bitterne. 1909 and 2025.

Postcard from Hamble. Sent to Hampstead in London in 1906. The Bugle (on the right) is still a popular pub today. The message on the back reads: ‘This is a little yachting village on Southampton Water. The children standing on the shore wish you good day.’

On this day in 1120, the White Ship sank en route from Barfleur to Southampton. William Ætheling, King Henry I’s only legitimate son and heir to the throne, drowned whilst trying to save his half-sister, Matilda of Perche, who also perished. 1/4

On this day in 1940, the Luftwaffe inflicted upon Southampton the heaviest bombing raid of the town’s war so far with a sustained and brutal six-hour raid that began just after 6pm. The German bombers would return on 30 November and 1 December. 1/6

On this day in 1885 Southampton Football Club played their first game, beating local side Freemantle 5-1. The Hants Advertiser reported that St Mary's Young Men’s Association football team ‘showed that they have among their members the material with which to form a fairly strong club with practice.’

HMHS Britannic sank on this day in 1916. She had left Southampton on 12 November but hit a mine in the Aegean Sea nine days later. Thirty people died. Among the survivors were Violet Jessop, Arthur Priest, and Archie Jewell, who had all survived the sinking of Britannic’s sister, Titanic, in 1912.

12 Rockstone Place. This attractive Regency-style end of terrace house doesn’t look like it has changed much since it was built in the 1830s but it was actually damaged in the Blitz. Happily, unlike many other lost buildings in Southampton, it was restored rather than demolished.

Looking across Southampton towards Woolston in the 1970s.

HMS Woolston in 1919. The W-class destroyer was built by Thornycroft on the River Itchen at Woolston between 1917 and 1918. She served briefly with the Atlantic Fleet at the end of the First World War. 1/2

On this day in 1977, the Clash played at Southampton’s Top Rank. The legendary punk band would visit Southampton again in 1980.

On this day in 1907, the Liberal Party MP Augustine Birrell held a meeting in Southampton. As soon as he started talking, five or six Suffragettes immediately began to interrupt him. 1/2

Alwin Zeun and Max Bölkow, two German soldiers buried alongside each other far from home at Netley Military Cemetery near Southampton. They both died at the Royal Victoria Hospital on this day in 1918, the day the armistice was signed and the Western Front guns fell silent.

A short thread for Remembrance Sunday. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. During the First World War, over eight million troops from many different nations passed through Southampton, the country’s number one embarkation port during the conflict. 1/6

On this day in 1837, a violent fire ripped through a warehouse on Southampton High Street. Twenty-two men and boys were killed as they tried to extinguish the flames. Of those who lost their lives, the youngest was just sixteen. You can read about the fire here: historicsouthampton.co.uk/1837-fire/

The Southampton Cenotaph was unveiled on this day in 1920. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, his Whitehall Cenotaph was unveiled in London five days later, on 11 November 1920. An iconic symbol of remembrance, the names of 3,298 Southampton men and women are now remembered here.

On this day in 1940, thirty-five people were killed in a daylight air raid on Southampton. The Civic Centre’s art gallery received a direct hit. A class of fifteen children had taken shelter in the basement; only one child survived. There is a memorial inside the building.

Charlie Kimber ran the Pembroke Hotel in Pembroke Square, a small square on the eastern side of the Bargate, nestled up against the town’s medieval wall. The hotel became known as Kim’s Kosy Korner during Kimber’s management in the early 1900s. 1/3

This grand building was formerly the main post and telegraph office for Southampton Docks. Construction started in 1902 and it was completed in 1905. This is where mail would have been sorted before being loaded onto ships in the docks. The building is now apartments.

Bill Rawlings was born in Andover in 1896. In 1914 he was playing football for Andover but when the First World War broke out he joined the Wessex Field Ambulance. He would be serving king and country in France by the end of 1914. 1/4

Southampton’s West Bay, early 1900s. Southampton West (now Central) railway station can be seen on the left. The bay disappeared when the land was reclaimed here in the 1920s and 1930s in order to create the vast Western Docks. 1/2

Memorial in Southampton Old Cemetery to those who perished in the sinkings of RMS Rhone and RMS Wye, which were among eighty vessels wrecked during a hurricane in the Caribbean at the end of October 1867. 1/4

Y’day I posted about Sir Oswald Mosley’s pro-Nazi British Union of Fascists in the 1930s. Some comments on Facebook expressed support for Mosley and his ideology. I know you can’t really reason with people who will publicly support fascism but this is what Mosley’s ideology did to Southampton: 1/4

In 1937, the British Union of Fascists leader Sir Oswald Mosley tried to hold a rally on Southampton Common. It did not go well. “We don’t want Mosley!” was the cry from the anti-fascist protestors in the crowd. 📸: Daily Echo This post is way too long for Bluesky so I’ve posted screenshots below: