Archives & resources for Austen’s Hampshire
Hampshire Archives and Local Studies Sussex Street, Winchester SO23 8TH 01962 846154 hants.gov.uk/ archives In the search room you can use the catalogue and request selected archives – an overhead screen notifies users when documents are ready. There’s free online access including Ancestry, Findmypast and the British Newspaper Archive. The Local Studies Library is located in the search room. Regular research workshops are held here and there’s an 80-seat cinema for talks. The catalogue ( calm.
hants.gov.uk) includes wills and inventories of individuals from Hampshire and Isle of Wight from 1398 to 1941. Open 9am-5pm Monday to Friday, 9am- 4pm on the first and third Saturday of each month. Jane Austen’s House Museum jane-austens-house-museum. org.uk Located in the village of Chawton near Alton, occupying the 17th century house in which Jane spent the last years of her life. Hampshire Archives and Local Studies holds documents on behalf of the museum, including letters by Jane and her family. Other gems include ordination papers for Jane’s brother, Henry Thomas Austen. Wessex Film and Sound Archive www3.hants.gov.uk/wfsa.htm Wessex Film and Sound Archive, also located at Hampshire Record Office, has some 38,000 visual and audio recordings from late Victorian times to the present day. Hampshire Genealogical Society hgsfamilyhistory.com The society has 13 branches across the county, with teams transcribing and publishing all sorts of genealogical records. It runs a research centre in Cosham, and members receive the journal Hampshire Family Historian. The site details news and events, there’s a shop for ordering publications, plus the research centre drop- down menu leads to details of some of the useful records and indexes available here – including cross- county indexes to baptisms, marriages and burials. Isle of Wight Record Office 26 Hillside, Newport PO30 2EB 01983 823820 record.office@iow.gov.uk
iwight.com/ council/ OtherServices/ Record- Office/ Using-the-RecordOffice Holds parish, estate, family, business, school and local government records. Has several extensive indexes – the general names index records all entries in the parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials from 1539 to 1900. There’s also the Ecclesiastical Index, which records the names and dates of office holders such as churchwardens from parish chest records. Portsmouth History Centre Central Library, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth PO1 2DX 023 92688046 portsmouthhistorycentre@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
portsmouth.gov.uk/ ext/ libraries/ portsmouth-history- centre-andrecords- office.aspx Looks after the city’s council archive, Anglican and nonconformist registers, plus records of businesses, families and other organisations. There are BMD indexes, wills indexes, electoral registers, directories, census returns, newspapers, plus photos and maps. Southampton Archives Civic Centre, Civic Centre Road, Southampton SO14 7LY 023 80832251 city.archives@southampton.gov.uk
southampton.gov.uk/librariesmuseums/local-family-history/ southampton-archives/ default.aspx Holds the Central Index Register of Merchant Seamen, a collection of over a million and a quarter merchant navy service record cards with details of people serving on British registered ships (1918-1941). Also has crew lists for Southampton vessels (1863-1913), shipping records, electoral rolls, burial records and MIs, plus maps, photos, manuscripts and deeds. University of Southampton, Archives and Special Collections southampton.ac.uk/ archives Home to an important collection of Anglo-Jewry material, plus the Cope Collection of books, pamphlets, journals, photographs and postcards. Southampton Central Library Civic Centre, Southampton SO14 7LW 023 80832205 local.studies@southampton.gov.uk southampton.gov.uk/librariesmuseums/local-family-history/ maritime-library.aspx The Local Studies and Maritime Library holds indexes to local wills, electoral registers, street directories (c1840), census returns for the city, plus parish registers, newspapers and maps. Winchester’s Military Museums Peninsula Barracks in Romsey Road, Winchester SO23 8TS winchestermilitarymuseums.co.uk Six regimental museums are found within the Peninsula Barracks, including the Royal Green Jackets Museum ( rgjmuseum.co.uk), which is home to a collection of uniforms, medals and more. There’s also HorsePower, the Regimental Museum of the King’s Royal Hussars, the Royal Hampshire Regiment Museum, the Rifles Collection, the Gurkha Museum, the Guardroom Museum and the Museum of the Adjutant- General’s Corps. Hampshire Cultural Trust hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk Lists museums and other heritage bodies across the county. Portsmouth Historic Dockyard www.historicdockyard.co.uk