Portsmouth - Family Research and the Mary Rose

Tuesday 6 May

Room instructions say that although the hotel (actually just a pub with rooms above) does not serve breakfast there is a cafe close by which does. They omitted to mention which way to turn, or what time it opened. So I had a nice stroll in the wrong direction, then found it eventually about 7.50, still closed, and no sign to say what time they open. However it turned out to be right opposite St Thomas's Cathedral, so after a leisurely stroll around the outside I walked back and found that it had finally opened. Nice cooked breakfast, but slow, so I won't be making a habit of eating there. The corner shop on the way back had fresh food, so I may just grab something from there in future.

The map the hotel gave me is not a great one, but I found my way to the Dockyard, after about 15 minutes walk. At the ticket office I ended up getting a season pass to everything, as that worked out cheaper than separate tickets for the Mary Rose (MR) and the Naval Museum (NM). 

Did our gunner ancestor have all these virtues, I wonder

As the NM came first, I stopped there. Looked at their book section and found some general info on the ship Pelorus. Some background for you on this search - Francis ROSSEY, our Italian ancestor (whose daughter Eliza married James TITHERIDGE & came to NZ) was a gunner in the Royal Navy. In order to find his naval records, you need to know at least one of the ships he was on. These records not only tell you about him on his current ship, but say which ones he came from and went to, so it is possible to trace the entire career of a Navy man.The baptism of daughter Mary Jane in 1836 at Portsmouth shows him on the Pelorus at that time. However on a previous visit to England I checked the records for the Pelorus at Kew, and for the year covering the date I knew he was there, the records are missing. I checked a year either side, and went through every list, but found nothing. On the following trip to England I checked them again, just in case, but still came up with nothing. So it is one of my current 'brick walls' and I was hoping that the Naval Museum and attached Library might be able to help. A nice volunteer checked their database, without any success, and then gave me the email address for the researcher at the library, who is evidently extremely knowledgeable. The library is now only open part-time, thanks to budget restrictions, and today wasn't the day. They are also currently short-staffed due to the prevalence of flu going around. [I emailed her that night, and had a reply later in the week saying they had nothing there that might help, but making a couple of suggestions that I will follow up on after I get home.]

The Mary Rose Museum

With business out of the way, it was on to the pleasure. Seeing the MR is one of the very few 'tourist' things I have included in my schedule. I know I have been twice before, but two things have happened since my last visit - she is in a whole new, purpose-built museum, and the spraying with PEG (I can't spell or even say the whole scientific name for this - it is basically a liquid glue that impregnates the wood very slowly and will hold the timbers together) has finished - they have sprayed her for about 15 years now. The next phase is to very slowly dry the timbers out, so she now has long grey tubes blowing slightly warmed air over her. 

The new museum is shaped like the rounded stern of a ship. It sits behind and to the side of the Victory, and they share a forecourt.  Inside there are three floors, and you are given a map of a suggested route, This is the most logical way to see everything, and also keeps the traffic flow going smoothly.

Mary Rose Museum behind the Victory

Each floor equates to one or two levels of the MR. On the right are viewing windows to watch the ship, and on the left are the equivalent decks, laid out as they would have been with the original equipment all in place. It is a brilliant way to get a feel for what it would have looked like, and where everything went. At each end are exhibitions of different things - some of the skeletons they found have had facial reconstructions done, and are dressed as they would have been, surrounded by more of the artefacts they would have used. There are displays and videos of many of the different areas and jobs associated with the ship, as well as a great diorama of the battle when she sank - before actually engaging with the French, as far as we know. 

I came out partway through the tour and sat in the sun with my lunch to rest my feet before I carried on. I could easily spend several days going over everything. Finally ejected into the shop (naturally), I purchased the obligatory bookmark, and two new books that have come out since I was last here.

Outside the Victory I swapped cameras with an American man and we took pictures of each other, then I trekked back past my hotel to the Museum where the Tourist Info now is looking for a Portsmouth bookmark (which they didn't have!!) and a decent map - which they did.

Wednesday 7 May

After a twenty minute walk to the city centre I found the library, which looks very run-down. However the local history section on the second floor is quite extensive, and the staff are helpful. Most holdings are still only in their card catalogue, although some are slowly being computerised. Parish Register indexes for the three local deaneries have been indexed, but they are currently missing the baptisms of two deaneries (Havant & Alverstoke) while they are being typed up. 

I went through what was there for ROSSEY and WOODBURN (another ROSSEY line), and the children's married names, and found some family at St Mary & some at All Saints. Then looked at maps of the streets & found where they are now – some have changed names, some were lost in the WW2 bombing, as Portsmouth was hit very hard. Marked them on my map, and found pictures of how two of them looked at various earlier times.

There are very few burial registers indexed, but I was lucky to find Francis ROSSEY in 1849 at Mile End Cemetery – although this cemetery is no longer there, as it has been buried under a carpark! Then his wife Fanny, who died in 1863, is buried at Kingston, which is still there, and the lovely librarians copied a map of the cemetery for me and marked the right section. 

The Guildhall across the square was the main record repository when it was bombed in WW2, and of course much was lost … still, I now know both cemeteries for this pair of third great-grandparents.

Reading: Dekok & Variations on Murder by A Baantjer (a series translated from Dutch, reminds me of Maigret)
 Evening: A Lust for Windowsills by Harry Mount (this is an architectural book in case anyone wonders!)

Thursday 8 May

Portsmouth St Mary's

Caught a bus to St Mary’s church as it was a damp and drizzly day, and was very disappointed to find that an over-enthusiastic vicar had the old building demolished in the 1880’s and replaced with a late Victorian church that is now considered ‘an excellent example of its time’, Grade II listed, and thought by some to be of national importance. Personally I was upset to find that the one my ancestors were baptised and married at no longer exists. They do have display boards with some old photos, as well as a reasonable history of the previous buildings which I was able to buy. There has been a church on this site since about 1170, and it is still the main parish church for Portsea.

Portsmouth St Mary's - Font

Further along St Mary’s road is Kingston cemetery where Frances is buried, but was a bit wet to spend much time there, and the approximate position of her grave as far as I could see did not have a headstone.

The approximate area where Frances ROSSEY is buried at Kingston Cemetery

After lunch I caught a bus to the northern suburb of Cosham, where the Hampshire Genealogy Society Library is housed. The volunteers were helpful although they did seem surprised that someone was coming to use their collections. They have an excellent collection of indexes, and lots of books which I would have loved to borrow. Using their indexes for the Parish CMBs I got back several generation’s on some lines.

Reading: Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen

Friday 9 May

Packed early, then to Cosham for another couple of hours at the Hampshire Society rooms. Peter & Ruth were very welcoming & helpful, & Peter even gave me his email address in case I want anything done after I go home.

 

Back to High St, & had a look around St Thomas’s Cathedral while I ate a sandwich I got from the corner store. Wasn’t enthusiastic about it, but didn’t stop to analyse why. Possibly just too many other things on my mind. 

St Thomas Cathedral, from Wikipedia

 

Train to Winchester, only a one hour trip. I had not found a B&B in Winchester itself unfortunately, so took a cab from the station to Easton, about 3 miles out of town. It is a shame, as I would have enjoyed a wander around my old haunts after tea. I also stocked up on food at the railway café as I presume the Inn will be too expensive to eat at. (Breakfast would have been an extra $20 per night to start with!)