Portsmouth Area Railway Pasts looks at accidents to railway staff in south-east Hampshire before 1939. It’s part of a wider collaboration between the Railway Work, Life & Death project and the Havant Local History Group. We started in November 2024, and are funded by the University of Portsmouth’s Heritage Hub. We’ll also be working with the ‘Hills to Harbour’ Community Rail Partnership.
What are we doing?
Volunteers from the Havant Local History Group (HLHG) and project co-lead Mike Esbester (University of Portsmouth) will work together over the coming months. We’ll explore the accidents and wider lives of a few of the railway staff from Portsmouth, Havant and surrounding areas who feature in the Railway Work, Life & Death project database. We want to put those workers and their accidents in the context of their family and community lives. It’ll help build a more rounded picture of the individuals, the communities and areas in which they lived, and how the railway fitted into the area.
Courtesy Britain from Above.
Neil Spurgeon, of the HLHG, said: “Due to the famous “puffing Billy line” that took thousands of holiday makers to Hayling Island in the fifties and sixties, and the ‘Battle of Havant’ in 1858, when two rival railway companies clashed over the line between Havant and Portsmouth, the broad subject of “railways” has always been both a fascination and a subject of deep study for Havant Local History Group, who revel in the challenge of finding out more about the people who have lived, work and sometimes died in this quiet but interesting town in the past.”
Who might we look at?
We’ve included some of the people from the area who feature in the database on the map, below. We’ll probably look at a few of these people in our project, as well as others from the area who aren’t currently shown. As an example of the sorts of things that might be possible, this blog post about Frederick Potter is a helpful starting point. Hopefully we’ll be able to go further than this in our project, both for the individuals we look at and by virtue of the number of people we find out about, giving us a stronger impression of the railway in the local area.
How will the project work?
On the project we’ll work together, through group meetings and individual research. We’ll start by agreeing our aims and objectives, including identifying individuals to look into and the sorts of things we might produce to share the research publicly. We’re making this project as co-creative and collaborative as possible, recognising and drawing on the expertise of all involved. That’s really important, as what we’re doing is as much about the principles of working collaboratively as it is about the research that we’re actually doing.
We hope that a benefit of the project will be that the research skills of all involved will be improved, too! It’ll open up new questions and approaches for all of us, as well as allow us to share our expertise and sources to explore. That’ll bring long-term advantages for all of us.
What will the project produce?
Ultimately, more and better history! That’s the aim – along with a better understanding of how universities and groups outside higher education might work together to everyone’s advantage. Doing that, and the research, is important – but we also need to share it with as many people as possible.
Courtesy Havant Local History Group.
When we’ve got research findings to share, in 2025, we’ll be producing materials that allow people to find out more about the lives of railway staff in the wider Portsmouth area. Hopefully that’ll also inspire people to carry out their own research, too. At the moment we’re thinking we might put together a travelling exhibit, some leaflets, some web-based content and (hopefully!) some interpretation posters to go into local stations.
We’ll contribute to public history in our area – including the HLHG’s activities, like its Heritage Festival in September, and the University’s Heritage Week also in September. Our project is also well-timed, as next year is ‘Railway 200’, a nation-wide festival of rail. It’s going to see lots of public history, and we’re keen to make sure our area and our project contributes!
All of this will benefit the volunteers involved, our local communities, and the HLHG and University of Portsmouth. Indeed, so far as the University is concerned, this fits really nicely with its ‘Civic University’ aims, to do more with and for our local communities.
Who’s involved?
There are two major contributors to the project – the Havant Local History Group and the University of Portsmouth – supported by the Hills to Harbour Community Rail Partnership. The University is represented through Mike Esbester, Railway Work, Life & Death project co-lead; Lucy Lomax is representing Hills to Harbour.
In the words of the HLHG: ‘We formed in about 1980 to try to capture the story of the Hundred of Bosmere since 1857, especially as the area had undertaken extensive updating since World War Two adopting thousands of Portsmouth evacuees in newly built housing on the Leigh Park Estate to the north and east of the Town. We have published an extensive collection of historical booklets, studying various aspects of local history across the very large Borough of Havant. We meet on the morning of the first Saturday of most months at The Spring Arts and Heritage Centre in central Havant where a lively and free programme of talks, walks and visits continue to entertain and educate any who choose to attend. We also run a highly successful Heritage Festival associated with the national Heritage Open Days each September.’
What next?
At the moment we’re getting set up, and then starting on the research. That’ll take a little while, but things will start to happen publicly in early-mid 2025. For now – watch this space, as there’ll be more to come!