Preserving film on the Cine-scanner

Michal Delost joined WFSA on a student placement in Spring 2022, and talks about his experience at the archive. 

Using the film scanner to view and copy footage sent in by depositors – members of the public who share films with the archive for preservation –  takes a BIG machine and a LOT of patience.  

Each roll of film has something unique and personal and the scanner’s job is to unload that for easy viewing on a screen, but also to create an authentic copy of the original for archiving. The image on each frame is photographed crisply so as to not lose detail, while the take-up reel rotates at a designated speed to keep it at a steady frame rate. 

Going into the placement at Wessex Film and Sound Archive, I had hardly a clue on how turning analogue media into a digital image would work, but I was always curious. Watching films on actual film is not so common anymore but revisiting that technology never felt like a step back. The first thing Katie, another student who came to volunteer, and I did at WFSA was learn how the Flashscan Nova machine works.  

Meet the Cine-Scanner 

A huge cuboid that stands on a table in the WFSA darkroom; along its front face there are a series of small rollers that guide the film from its original reel to the take-up reel. Somehow, the film strip meanders around all this path. At the mid-point of the film’s path there is a powerful camera lens zooming into a glass slide – like a microscope – behind which a light flashes constantly and quickly. None of it made sense at first but over the course of the next few weeks I would become quickly accustomed to how it all fit together. 

First, the operator turns on the desktop computer connected to the scanner. On this computer, there is a programme called Flashscan. This programme provides an interface that enables the user to work with the film and the machine. The programme opens with a screen showing you exactly how the film should be oriented on the rollers. A line is traced from the upper large reel, around the smaller rollers and down through the glass slide, until it ends up on the take-up reel. I carefully put on the reel at the starter roll and secure it, then I follow closely the directions on screen with Zoe on hand to assist. 

When it’s all loaded up, you can finally click play on the built-in touch screen on the scanner but the job doesn’t end there. The camera must be adjusted to keep the image in focus and framed properly, while in the programme the vertical and horizontal orientation can be changed, since some reels might have been loaded up backwards. There are also settings for grading the image post-scan: colouring, cropping and more but these are not important for the purpose of archiving where we create a ‘flat scan’ to authentically capture the film content.  

It’s all quite delicate. 

Sometimes, you need to add leader to the film because there is not enough footage to properly load up everything in front of the lens. This involves getting a little trimmer contraption (a splicer) and aligning the actual film with some white, blank leader roll. To create a new splice you may need to trim a little excess film (only if absolutely necessary), especially if it’s dirty or broken and hard to stick together, it can be surreal to trim off what is essentially an artefact. 

As the film spins its way through the scanner, Katie and I would communicate what was going on in the image. She was usually responsible for logging the details of the film so that we could accurately describe it for anyone interested in viewing the film. I would keep my eyes on the image and try my best to describe it succinctly, while she had to quickly type it up. We would repeat this with each roll of film, some long, others just a few seconds in length, until we got through all of the deposited film. Below is a video showing some of the process in action! 

Michal Delost, Graduate of University of Southampton student (Film) 

Michal and Katie undertook a 3-month placement with WFSA during which they had the opportunity view and catalogue original film material, help out at events and create content for social media. The film collection Michal and Katie catalogued was 9.5mm, which celebrates its 100^th anniversary this year. WFSA offers two cohort of placement each year (Spring & Autumn). 

‘Back to Nature’: cataloguing Hampshire’s County Farms records

In an earlier blog we reported on a new project entitled ‘Back to Nature’ which aims to open up some previously uncatalogued collections relating to Hampshire’s rich natural heritage.

One of the collections which has just been completed is the Hampshire County Farms estate archive, which tells the story of smallholdings owned by Hampshire County Council around the county from the late 19th to the late 20th century.

County Farms date back to the agricultural depression of the late Victorian period, when the need for land reform led Liberal MP Joseph Chamberlain to stand for election on the promise of ‘three acres and a cow’ for landless tenant farmers. He proposed a solution whereby local authorities would purchase land and lease it to small tenant farmers at reduced rents. A series of Acts were passed in 1892, 1908 and 1925, creating County Farms (also known as County Smallholdings, or Council Farms).

Photo of Brownwich Farm, Titchfield, from sale particulars, 1962 (H/ES6/6/1)

The area of land bought up by local authorities for County Farms increased rapidly in the first half of the 20th century, and after the Second World War they played a vital role in providing work for returning servicemen. County Farms provided opportunities for new farmers, especially but not exclusively young people who might not otherwise have had the financial backing to get into farming at all, but from the late 1970s thousands of acres of council-owned smallholdings were sold off in an attempt to raise income as local authority budgets grew increasingly tight.

Hampshire’s County Farms estate dates back to the 1890s, and includes lands in every part of the county. The records include property registers and schedules of lands, c1896-1975, with the first register in the series (H/ES6/1/1) listing over 130 individual farms and smallholdings in its index.

One of a series of reference photos taken to show dilapidations at ‘Dunkeld’ farmhouse, Titchfield, 1947, prior to repairs (H/ES6/5/2)

Twelve inventories and valuations carried out at change of tenancy include schedules for repairs and improvements required, c1926-75, and show that a great deal of work was needed to modernise crumbling farmhouses and outbuildings in the post-war period, such as the addition of hot and cold running water, electrical wiring, glazing repairs, and the replastering and papering of internal walls. Amongst the records is a fascinating series of Orders served by the War Agricultural Executive Committee, relating to the requisition of lands for cultivation during the Second World War. The files give a full picture of the kinds of cultivation carried out, even naming individual fields. The emphasis seems to be on efficiency and good husbandry throughout, and the Orders also specify which fertilisers and dressings are to be used. As expected in time of war, cultivation is given over to basics such as potatoes and root vegetables, wheat and oats, and pasture for grazing.

Elevation showing severely damaged fabric of ‘Dunkeld’ farmhouse, prior to repairs, 1947 (H/ES6/5/2)

Today, the relevance and value of the County Farms project is being felt more than ever as farmers struggle to sustain viable businesses in the face of steeply rising costs and the insecurities of modern food production. In 2021 Hampshire reaffirmed its commitment to the County Farms project, aiming to support and sustain new entrants into farming as well as deliver high standards in land management, farming methods, animal welfare, and environmental stewardship.

Hampshire County Farms estate now comprises 1,900 hectares of land.

Adrienne Allen, Archivist

‘Back to Nature’: cataloguing the Bowman diaries at Hampshire Archives

A new project entitled ‘Back to Nature’ aims to open up some previously uncatalogued collections relating to Hampshire’s rich natural heritage.

The records had been deposited in several separate accessions, but due to their bulk and limited staff resources, had not been made fully accessible before now.

Collections are very varied in nature and subject matter, ranging from official documentation submitted to a Public Inquiry, to diaries and personal papers which have yet to be seen in the public domain. Among the records catalogued as part of the project are the nature diaries, 1948-99, and correspondence, 1984-99, of the late Paul Bowman (132M99).

Pencil sketch and description of a Bean Goose, sighted on the River Test at Moorcourt Farm, near Nursling, on 22 Feb 1979, by Paul Bowman (132M99/A22)

Joint author of The Flora of Hampshire with Anne Brewis and Francis Rose (1995), Bowman has been described as a ‘real polymath of a naturalist being a wildflower expert as well as a keen birdwatcher’ (Southampton Natural History Society). The collection provides a detailed insight into the surprising variety of flora and fauna encountered in the local area by Bowman for over 50 years. It also gives us a glimpse into the workings of the naturalist’s mind, and his meticulous and scientific approach as he recorded everything for the benefit of other researchers.

The diaries comprise 34 manuscript bundles, and include some very adept sketches drawn on the hoof in ballpen or pencil, usually as an aide memoire for future reference, when the identity of the species was not obvious. There are also very occasional samples of seeds taped to the pages for the same reason. The diaries are accompanied by a series of 12 indexes, arranged by locality, bird species, and plant species to help navigate the diaries. Cataloguing the records was a joy, as the diaries were completely legible and instantly comprehensible even to the non-expert, with straightforward abbreviations, page-numbering, and colour-coding throughout.

A typical entry for 16 Jun 1964, at Nursling; entries are colour-coded to help with indexing later on, as follows: birds (bracketed in blue), butterflies/insects (red), plants (green), animals (brown), and fungi (yellow). Note that Bowman is his own harshest critic! (132M99/A12)

I was led to wonder how Bowman would have taken to spreadsheets and databases, had they been in use at the time he compiled his diaries. I’m not sure he could have done a better job with their help, but he would certainly have found his task much quicker to complete! I don’t doubt he would have made great use of a smart phone or digital camera to aid his observations, but somehow I think he would still have got a great deal of satisfaction from making his own hand-drawn sketches to go alongside them, as a good way to fix specific details of a plant or bird in his mind for future reference.

List of birds spotted at Calshot, 11 Sep 1974 (jotted down on the back of scrap paper torn from an OS map: Bowman worked for the OS in Southampton in his day job) (132M99/A18)

Twenty-eight bundles of correspondence complete the collection, and even here we see Bowman’s painstaking approach, with everything re-arranged alphabetically by correspondents’ names rather than by date, alongside photocopies of his own letters sent in reply. His correspondents are many and varied, including museum keepers, botanists, conservationists and ecologists, who often request his expert assistance with certain projects.

One typical set of papers relates to a request for data by environmental scientists working on a new energy-from-waste plant (later the Marchwood Energy Recovery Facility) in the late 1990s. In his role as South Hants Recorder for the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, Bowman provided a meticulously prepared list of plant species, all arranged by location and occurring within a 5km radius. Another bundle concerns a request by the National Trust for plant data on the Mottisfont Abbey estate, and there are letters in a further bundle which show him using his knowledge and expertise to lobby in support of a local action group trying to head off a proposed extension to a gravel extraction site in Fawley, 1992-4.

Many correspondents are simple enthusiasts needing advice or reassurance about an identification. One keen youngster seems to have written to Bowman over a period of years, contributing to the older man’s plant data recording work. In an early letter the young man apologises for sending his mentor on a ‘red herring hunt’ by wrongly confusing Bladderwort ‘88 with Reseda Phytuema ’87, and in another he writes that he is ‘letting off steam’ by informing him of the destruction of a much-loved wildlife habitat near his house.

Pencil sketch and description of a Bobolink sighted on holiday at Green Porth, Tresco, Isles of Scilly, 28 Sep 1976 (132M99/A20)

Paul Bowman was profoundly deaf, which perhaps explains why he came to be so immersed in and enriched by the physical world around him. He retained his capacity to inspire, organise, communicate, and keep learning, right up to his death in 1999.

Adrienne Allen, Archivist

Ballpen sketch of a Grey Phalarope, sighted on Southampton Common, 10 Oct 1960 (132M99/A10)

Black History Month

The life of Caesario Rodorigo

Register of baptisms and burials for West Meon (1801) [67M81/PR6]

Earlier this month we shared details of our ongoing work to collate a list of historic sources that evidence Black lives in Hampshire’s extensive collections. The list of almost 300 documents, films and audio recordings evidences the lives of communities and individuals whose life journeys brought them to Hampshire.

The list is a work in progress, but it will be possible to obtain it on request for research purposes later this year. This month we are sharing two documents from it, the first is here.

Caesario Rodorigo

Historic documents can often raise more questions than answers and tracing the lives of Black Britons often requires interpreting gaps where documentation is scarce or unhelpful. There are occasions where more information is available, and we can seek to highlight these stories to gain a fuller understanding of Black lives in the region – the case of John Elton is a good example.

The West Meon burial register for 1801 provides a lengthy entry for John Elton, a Black man and native of Madagascar who was ‘rescued’ from slavery in 1761 by Captain William Brereton.

The entry is as follows:

“John Elton – a Black [man] (Caesario Rodorigo a native of Madagasca[r], was taken prisoner with his master a French officer at the Island of Diego Rois in the Indian seas by Captain William Brereton 1761, who rescued him from slavery & brought him to England under whose protection he has lived near forty years. He was christened at his own request by Jonathan Ras[h]leigh Rector of Wykeham [Wickham] Hants, by the name of John Elton & at the age of about 56 years he died in Captn Brereton’s service on Good Friday 3rd April 1801 in the Parish of Westmeon & was buried on the Monday following at 8 o’clock in the morning)”

Burial of John Elton, 6th April 1801

Over time place names often change, and this is particularly true of locations that have been subject to colonisation by European nations. The East Indies have a complex colonial history, and Caesario Rodorigo’s life story is bound up with this complicated tangle of power struggles which makes tracing his life’s journey more challenging.

Rodorigo is described as a native of Madagascar, and we know that at some time before 1761 he was brought to the island of Diego Rois, as an enslaved person under a French master. The name of the island appears to have changed over time – there is no current record of a place of this name – but mentions of it can be found in a number of seventeenth century publications:

‘The Trade of the Coast of Africa […] 5. Fort Dauphin, and many other Fortresses in the Island of Madagascar, call’d by them the Dauphin Island. The Islands of St Mari, Bourbon and Diego Rois[…].

Morden, Robert (1688) Geography rectified; or, a description of the world in all its kingdoms, provinces, countries, … their … names, … customs, etc. Illustrated, enlarged, etc (London) p. 257

This quote indicates the proximity of Diego Rois to Madagascar:

‘The Islands of Diego Rois, and according to the Portuguese, Diego Rodrigue, or Rodrigo, lieth in the Altitude of twenty Degrees, two and twenty Miles from Madagascar in the East, and not inhabited.’

Ogilby, John (1670) Africa: Being an accurate description of Africa. (London, Tho. Johnson) p.716

The French had established Fort-Dauphin on nearby Madagascar in 1642 with their influence further spreading to the surrounding islands in the century that followed. It is noted that the French colonized the Mascarene islands in the eighteenth century, during the course of which they enslaved many indigenous people. In writing this blog post we haven’t been able to identify the current name of the island Diego Rois (we’d welcome any further knowledge on this – it is possible it is modern day Rodrigues as this bears a resemblance to the Portuguese nomenclature though further away), but it is clear that it was very close to Madagascar.

We have plotted some of the key locations in Rodorigo’s life on an interactive Google map

Rodorigo most likely came into contact with Brereton during an engagement between the French and the British as part of the Seven Years War and likely around August 1761 when Brereton made the journey from Pondicherry (India) to Rodrigues, Mauritius (a 3949km journey). The burial register uses the term ‘rescued’ to infer that Brereton’s removal of Rodorigo from the French master was welcome and that he was somehow ‘saved’ by the Englishman. In fact, Rodorigo was removed a further 9,000km from his Madagascan home to Winchester, England.

The burial register further tells us that Rodorigo lived under the ‘protection’ of Brereton for almost forty years and was later ‘christened at his own request’ taking an anglicized name.  We know that Rodorigo was in the service of Brereton for the remainder of his life, but we have no way of knowing on what terms this occurred or how much free will he was able to exercise in making this epic journey across the globe.

If we subscribe to the ‘rescue’ narrative memorialized in the West Meon burial register entry, we could position Brereton as Rodorigo’s saviour – liberating him from a wicked French master. However, it is an unfortunate truth that many Black individuals are noted in such records as ‘servants’ when in many cases they are likely to have been forcibly enslaved. Unpacking records such as this burial register gives the opportunity to explore some of the potential events in the life of Caesario Rodorigo. However, we can never know how he would tell his story, in his own words, nor how far the records made by white men reflect the British colonial narrative at the expense of the men, women and children whose lives were turned upside down by slavery.

Sources

Seven Years’ War | Definition, Summary, Timeline, Causes, Effects, Maps, Significance, & Facts | Britannica

William Brereton – more than Nelson

Madagascar – History | Britannica

Black History Month

The gifts of John Rippon of Bramdean, 1799

Over the past 24 months Hampshire Archives and Local Studies have been adding to a steadily growing list of historic sources that evidence Black lives in Hampshire’s extensive collections. The list of almost 300 documents, films and audio recordings evidence the lives of communities and individuals whose life journeys brought them to Hampshire.

The list is a work in progress, but it will be possible to obtain it on request for research purposes later this year. This month we are sharing two documents from the list.

John Rippon of Bramdean, 1799

John Rippon was a resident of Bramdean, who lived in the closing years of the eighteenth century and worked as a servant to the Earls of Powis. As was customary for the time (1799) he wrote his last will and testament to ensure his estate was correctly distributed after his death.

The language used in historical documents often does not lend itself to making people identifiable but can often tell us a lot about the way individuals thought about themselves and also how others viewed them. Pictured is the second page of John Rippon’s will, wherein it states:

‘I Give and Bequeath unto Mr Jeffery Bridge my Executor… now Steward to the… Earl [of] Powis One Gold mourning Ring of Two Guineas value, as also the sum of [£5 5s]… the… Remainder of my Personal Estate and Effects… to the Poor of the Parish of Bramdean […]’

On the image below you can see he includes the following bequests:

• to Mr John Way of Brompton, Middlesex, paperhanger: 21 guineas, all his clothes, books, three trunks and boxes
• to Joseph Saltridge, servant to the Earl of Powis: £6 6s
• to the Earl of Powis: ‘my Common Prayer Book with a Green Cover and the Gold watch now in my Possession… being his Lordship’s own property’

Elsewhere in his Will are the following gifts:

Mr Samuel Warburton, Mr Samuel Dakin, Mrs Dakin his wife, Mr James Kinsey, Mr Richard Proctor, Peggy Steadman housemaid and Mrs Patty Watkins the sum of £2 2s each; Mr John Heling, Mr John Robin, Betty kitchen-maid £1 1s each;

Mr John Martin the sum of £2 2s; (all in the service of the Earl of Powis) to Mrs Howell and her son Joel Howell, a poor blind and dumb boy supposed to be in or near Oxford Street in the City of London the sum of £1 1s each;

to Mr Jeffery Bridge my executor and now steward to the Earl of Powis one Gold mourning ring of two guineas value and the sum of £5 5s;

It is only when this document, Rippon’s will, is cross-referenced with another – the burial register for the parish of Bramdean in 1800 (HRO: 1M77/PR2) – that we learn more about John Rippon’s heritage.

Here he is described as being Black and as having been ‘more than fifty years in the service of the Earls of Powis’. It is an unfortunate truth that many Black individuals are noted in such records as ‘servants’ when in many cases they are likely to have been forcibly enslaved – though without further research at this stage we cannot know for sure the path that brought Rippon to Hampshire.

While we know little of Rippon’s life outside of these documents, we know that he described himself as a ‘gentleman’ and that he was able to leave a total of £7,114.46 to his friends and the poor of the parish, demonstrating an awareness of his social position but also a generous benevolence.

Making History: making movies – Collecting our region’s memories

Making History: making movies – Collecting our region’s memories 

In 2020 we launched our Making History: making movies project to collect the region’s memories on film. The original premise was to encourage individuals and communities to reflect on the time pressures faced by early amateur filmmakers – carefully selecting what to film with their precious film stock. As 2020 opened and we were faced with the threat of COVID-19, our project took a different turn – our everyday experiences now unavoidably tangled with our lives during a pandemic. 

Many people responded to our call for film and document accessions, including Molly who has shared her experiences with us for this blog post. 

Dear Wessex Film & Sound Archive… 

When I first started daily vlogging the events of the COVID-19 pandemic, I had no intention of editing them together for the public to see.  

When the pandemic became serious and schools closed, I realised how unprecedented the times we were living through really were, and (like everyone else) understood that I was living through history being made. That was when I made my first vlog.  

Lasting over 1 hour, recounting how the pandemic had started and what had happened up until the moment I’d picked up my phone and pressed record.

From then on, I filmed everything that happened, every day for

525 days.

This included the empty shelves in the supermarket, the huge queues, social distancing banners and stickers, wearing masks for the first time all the way through to going on our daily dog walk and spending time with my family as well as navigating getting my GCSEs and the move from secondary school to college all through a worldwide lockdown. 

 

 
 
 
  It provided therapy for me. During a period when the only people we could talk face to face with were those in our bubble, I was able to ramble on about goodness knows what to my phone, day in and day out and that truly helped me get through some of the tougher days. I knew that these videos would be helpful to provide an unbiased account of the pandemic, just a kid navigating the world during these extraordinary times, so I’d often put messages to my future family as one day when they learn about the pandemic in history class, they will have footage of their future mum living through it. Knowing that fact helped me to be incredibly open on camera, there was no thought of the world seeing it so I filmed panic attacks and depressive episodes and talked openly about how I felt.

  

 
Almost 2 years on from the start of COVID, I looked back at the wealth of videos I’d taken and realised the world was still very much in the midst of the pandemic. I recognised that editing together a snapshot of what I experienced could help evoke memories in others and help them appreciate how far we’ve come as a nation and being open about my mental health could help others who did or still do feel the same. I had hundreds of hours of footage that I eventually edited down into just 9 minutes of the highs and lows and everything in between.  

In January 2022, Dear 2020… was released to the world and while I was so happy to share it with the current world’s population, I discovered I wanted to share it with those beyond today. And that’s when I got in touch with Zoë at Wessex Film & Sound Archive, after hearing about the Making History: making movies project at an IntoFilm/WFSA workshop. 

   
We as a world lived through history that generations to come are bound to be learning about. I wanted to provide our future generations with a completely unbiased snapshot of what everyday life for an average teenager was like during the pandemic, with all the anxieties and some of the hidden joys, like spending quality time with family. The archives allow for Dear 2020… to act as a time capsule for future generations to discover which is what I’d hoped it would eventually become. But until then, I’d love for you to take a look at what the pandemic was like for me and see if it evokes any memories or emotions for you. 

Molly McGuinness, Filmmaker 

Molly’s film ‘Dear 2020…’ has now been added to the WFSA collection and is viewable online Dear 2020… | Molly McGuinness. Making History: making movies is now in its third year – and we are still looking for new accessions; could your film contribute to the archive of the future? 

Preserving film and sound for posterity: how YOUR film builds the archive of the future

In Autumn 2021 and into 2022 I was lucky enough to be able to join Zoë, Film Curator at Wessex Film and Sound Archive (WFSA) on a 3-month Student Placement. I am currently in my second year at Winchester University studying towards a degree in History. Although current Covid restrictions meant that the majority of the placement was done remotely, it was still a fascinating insight into the world of archives, and more specifically, the preservation of film and sound from the Wessex region. 

Before starting the placement, I was unaware of just how much history the archive held, and how varied the film footage can be – from footage of the discovery of the Mary Rose, to more personal footage documenting everyday family life within the area.

I was also unaware that the archive accepted deposits from members of the public of recent film footage, not just more ‘historic’ film, and the importance of continuing to build up the collection for future generations to be able to use.  

During my placement I was able to view amateur film footage held in the collection, specifically looking at film from the 1960s. It was important to understand the meaning this film had, both as a documentation of the lives of the filmmakers, and as a wider cultural record of the lives of people at the time. One example of this was the films that had been deposited by the Chopra family. Seeing the recordings of their time spent together as a family, including birthday parties and days out at the seaside, felt really privileged. I was lucky enough to be able to contact a family member and ask them questions about the filmmaker, Jiwan Prakash Chopra, and how important this film was to their family. With their permission, I was able to write my research up for a blog post for Hampshire Archives and Local Studies, which was shared alongside some clips of the film which have featured on social media and the WFSA YouTube channel.  The slideshow below, contains images taken from the Chopra collection.

Through this, not only does it show the public the kind of archives that the WFSA hold, it also shares the message that members of the public can deposit their own film, and add to this collection of varied cultural history.  

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I was lucky enough, as restrictions eased, to be able to spend a day with Zoë at the archives. This was my favourite part of my time on the placement, as it was an opportunity to see how Zoë works on a day-to-day basis, and get to know her better. I was able to ask her questions about her role, and the different things she does as part of her work at WFSA. We got to use the new cine scanner to view some footage of another filmmaker who I had been looking at, and to use the new equipment to take clips of it that we could share further on social media. It was great to be able to physically view the film and to be able to use some of the equipment myself. After spending time at the archives, I am definitely keen to look into further opportunities to do it again.  

I could not recommend applying for this placement enough. It was a great opportunity for anyone interested in history, film, heritage or archives, or for anybody who wants to understand more about how places like WFSA work, and how they engage with and share their archives with the public. It changed how I looked at history and historical sources, which has since influenced how I approach my degree. But more importantly, I am now much more aware of how important places like this are. Historians heavily rely on documents and paper archives for their research, but as we move into the future, there will be a shift to more reliance on audio and visual sources, such as the films held here. Therefore, it will become more and more important to keep a record of such things, and for the public to be aware of how important the film is that they record, often daily, and their ability to deposit such footage with places like this. And we need people like Zoë and WFSA to keep facilitating this.  

Hannah Bolt, Student, University of Winchester 

WFSA offers at least two cohorts of student placements each year, which are advertised through universities, colleges and through our own social media.

You can find out more about contributing to the archive in jubilee year here. 

Celebrating 70: Elizabeth II | Platinum Jubilee

_{Image credits: See individual credits in text below.}

With celebrations taking place across the UK in The Queen’s Platinum year, Hampshire Archives and Local Studies and Wessex Film and Sound Archive mark the occasion with a selection of Royal highlights from the collections.

This text is extracted from an exhibition which opens at Hampshire Record Office, Winchester SO23 8TH on Tuesday 17 May and runs until Thursday 16 June. The panels will tour a selection of Hampshire locations during 2022.

From Princess to Queen

During the years prior to her accession to the throne, Princess Elizabeth made several
visits to Hampshire, including official engagements and visits to family members and friends.
These included a visit to Reed’s School, Dogmersfield Park, in June 1946, and the opening of Avon Tyrrell as a holiday centre for the National Association of Girls’ Clubs and Mixed Clubs in July 1949, both involving the planting of trees. In the 1930s she and Princess Margaret Rose were taken to the daylight rehearsal of the Aldershot Tattoo in Rushmoor Arena on several occasions.

Princess Elizabeth at a christening

Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret visited Blackmoor Church in 1945 to attend the christening of the 3rd Earl of Selborne’s grandson Charles Strachey. His mother Lady Mary Palmer, a daughter of the 3rd Earl, was a close friend of Princess Elizabeth, and had become her first Lady-in-Waiting in 1944.

[Above: 284M87/19 ]

A Queen is Crowned

In all corners of the county, the approach of the Coronation spurred local people to make plans for celebrations – for many this came as a welcome opportunity to forget the problems of post-war austerity, at least for a few days.

In Winchester, Coronation celebrations included an ox-roasting on the corner of Middle Brook Street and St George’s Street (below). One of the highlights of the city’s celebrations was a procession of tableaux in the High Street.

[Below: W/C2/6/42c. Image courtesy of Winchester City Council.]

‘Have you a television and a spare chair?’

Those without access to a television were not forgotten: the Petersfield Coronation programme asked townspeople to think of inviting in neighbours to watch the occasion.

[Above: 108M70/PZ70]

Hampshire residents and organisations marked the occasions in myriad ways. The Wessex Film and Sound Archive collection captures just a fraction of the celebrations that took place in accession year and in 1953 to mark the coronation.

Ronald Parsons recorded the Air Review at Odiham on 15 July 1953 using 9.5mm film [AV48/1]

Winchester children in a glorious array of fancy dress receive their commemorative beakers in this film by Stanley Richardson [AV39/7].

Herbert & Dorothy Lindfield (nee Parsons) captured local street parties and celebrations in Portsmouth. The clip below is believed to show Rochester Road – the Lindfields also used 9.5mm film, this year celebrating its centenary! [AV1119/5].

From Charters to Cricket

HM The Queen has often visited Highclere Castle. In August 1958 she attended a cricket match in Highclere Park between the Duke of Edinburgh’s XI and a team fielded by Lord Porchester – later her racing manager and the 7th Earl of Carnarvon. She returned to the same location in June 1994 for South Africa’s first cricket match on British soil for 29 years.

[Below: 73A03/C4]

The Queen had a busy schedule in December 1974, when she visited the IBM plant at
Havant, went on a walkabout in Southampton, and opened the first major phase of
Southampton Teaching Hospital.

1977: A Silver Year

In many places local and external funding was used to provide a long-lasting commemoration of the Jubilee: schemes included tree-planting in Winchester and a stained glass window in Bentworth. In Eastleigh Borough the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Activities Centre for people with mental and physical disabilities was constructed at Cricket Camp, Bursledon. The Centre was opened by Princess Margaret in March 1978.

On 6 June a national network of beacons was lit, with Hampshire contributing sites in Queen Elizabeth Country Park at Butser Hill near Petersfield, and on Beacon Hill at Highclere. Princess Alexandra visited the Country Park to light the Butser Hill beacon at 10.06 pm.

Street parties were another popular feature of the celebrations with communities working together to bedeck their streets and rejoice.

[40M83W/PZ1] Jubilee street party at St Cross 1977

On the River Test

Among the local firms awarded the Queen’s Award for Export in her Silver Jubilee year was Portals Holdings Ltd. Fifteen years earlier the Queen had herself visited Portals’ banknote paper mills at Laverstoke and Overton to mark the firm’s 250th anniversary, and saw the processes and machinery for the production of banknote paper; she also continued the tradition of royal visitors feeding the fish at Laverstoke.

[Above: Feeding the fish at Laverstoke 132M98/K3/1]

Around the county

Between the 1970s and the 1990s, the Queen visited a range of civilian and Service
locations in Hampshire, ranging from ancient institutions to a modern shopping
development. Other engagements during these years included a visit to Portsmouth to welcome back Falklands veterans on HMS Invincible in 1982, and the openings of the Hampshire headquarters of the Hospital Savings Association in Andover in 1993 and the sports hall at The Clere School, Burghclere, in 1996.

Cathedral and Forest

The Queen had a full programme for her visit to Hampshire on Maundy Thursday in 1979: she began at Winchester Cathedral, where she distributed the customary Maundy gifts; later she toured the New Forest, visiting the District Council offices in Lyndhurst and other locations such as Knightwood Oak and Whitefield Moor. Both the Cathedral and the Forest were celebrating 900th anniversaries in 1979.

[Above: Photographs by E A Sollars, Winchester. H/CE2/2/68]

Jubilees and anniversaries

In the fifth and sixth decades of her reign, the Queen continued to visit Hampshire once or twice in most years, often to mark national or local anniversaries, such as the 50th anniversary of DDay and the 250th anniversary of The King’s Royal Rifle Corps. She also visited HMS Excellent, Whale Island, Portsmouth Harbour, for a Tri-Service Day marking her own Golden Jubilee in 2002.

Golden celebrations in 2002

The Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002 prompted more street parties, such as this one in Charden Road, Gosport (below).

[Above: Charden Road, Gosport 115A02: Southern Daily Echo]

Have you ever attended a royal event with The Queen or joined a Royal Jubilee party in Hampshire?

Have you ever attended a royal event with The Queen or joined a Royal Jubilee party in Hampshire?? Celebrate the Platinum Jubilee by preserving your memories of Her Majesty’s historic reign for future generations to enjoy.

Submit your memories to the archive and help to build your community’s memory bank.

Read more about how to submit material to the archive

Gales Brewery archive

Hampshire Record Office is pleased to report that the cataloguing of the extensive archive of Gales Brewery, Horndean has recently been completed by Record Office volunteer and former archivist Dr Anne Thick (ref: 74A09). 

The history of the Gales brewery can be traced back to 1847, when Richard Gale bought the Ship and Bell Public House in Horndean, together with its associated brewery. His fourth son, George Alexander Gale, took over the management of the Ship and Bell in 1853 and began to expand the business by purchasing local inns.  

George Alexander Gale (74A09/H20/1) 

A fire partly destroyed the brewery in 1869; rebuilding included a brick tower which was to become a local landmark. In 1888 George Gale was appointed Managing Director and Chairman to the newly incorporated George Gale & Co. George held this position for only a few years, due to the sale in 1896 of a majority shareholding to Herbert Frederick Bowyer, a miller from Guildford, Surrey, with the Gale family continuing in an executive capacity. The business continued a policy of takeover and acquisition of licensed premises over the next hundred years.  

Gales Brewery in the snow, 1963 (74A09/H18/1) 

By the end of the twentieth century its estate included over 120 public houses across the south and south-east of England. The brewery at Horndean produced a wide range of award-winning beers which were sold mainly through its tied and free trade. In 2005 Gales Brewery was bought by the London brewer Fuller, Smith & Turner. Production at Horndean ceased in 2006 and the site was sold for redevelopment. 

Chairmakers Arms, Denmead, a Gales Public House, 1968 (74A09/H14/1) 

The extensive archive reflects the various areas of business activity of Gales Brewery. Records begin mainly from the late nineteenth century with corporate and financial papers dating from 1888, although there are earlier deeds for some of its properties. Many of the Gales public houses are documented through tenancy agreements, inventories and valuations, property registers, plans and photographs. The archive is particularly strong in records relating to marketing and public relations. As a result, there are posters and leaflets, press cuttings and a large number of photographs promoting the brewery, its products and public houses and other activities. 

Conveyance of the Milkman’s Arms, Emsworth, 1884 (74A09/E1/3/1) 

The company celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1997. A history of the business by Barry Stapleton and James Thomas, ‘A Study in Brewing, Business and Family History’ (2000), gives a detailed account of the development of Gales Brewery from its nineteenth century origins to the end of the twentieth century, a copy of which is available in the Hampshire Record Office library and also through the Hampshire County Library Service 

Sale particulars of The Three Horseshoes, East Worldham, 1930 (74A09/E15/4) 

Plan of the Golden Lion, Fareham, 1933 (74A09/E17/27) 

Uncovering the Identity of 1929 Cinefilm’s Star Albert ‘Big Bert’ Childs

The Pheasant. From egg to Larder is part of a collection of cinefilms attributed to Colonel Arthur Sydney Bates. Dating from 1929, it showcases the work undertaken during pheasant rearing on the Manydown Estate located on the outskirts of Basingstoke.

Screen still from AV1153/4 The Pheasant. From Egg to Larder

The film forms part of the Wessex Film and Sound Archive contribution to the BFI’s Britain on Film project and as such can be readily shared across our social media channels. Social media can be a great way of connecting people with film from their local area – but it is also a fantastic means of reconnecting people with their own family’s past. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does -it can be magic!

“Here’s a film from 1929 starring my Great-Grandad Albert ‘Bert’ Childs, gamekeeper at Manydown for 60 odd years”

was the comment from Scott Childs that led to this incredible insight into the film’s heritage.

Albert Childs was born in 1885 and lived at The Lodge sited at the main entrance to the Manydown estate. There he lived together with his wife Lilian (née Moore) Childs. Through this new connection with Albert’s great grandson we learned that Albert, affectionately known as ‘Big Bert’ had a long career of service to the estate spanning an impressive 65 years.

A newspaper clipping shared with us by Bert’s family, marks the celebration of such dedicated service which earned him a medal of gratitude. Bert started work as a boy under the gamekeeper of Sir Edward Bates, one of the owners of Manydown Estate. Learning the skills of the trade he grew in experience and knowledge later taking on the role of head gamekeeper himself.

Above: Albert Childs receives a long service medal from Anne Bates. Anne Bates, daughter of wife of Arthur Sydney Bates presenting Big Bert with a County Landowner’s Association medal for long service. (Image courtesy of Scott Childs.)

Bert and his wife had a son together, who, on return to the estate as gamekeeper would be known as ‘Little Bert’. This was when Bert senior acquired his nickname ‘Big Bert’. Little Bert, however, was not the only one to continue the family legacy of this line of work:

 “Our family is still connected with the estate,” Scott writes, “my younger brothers both worked on the estate. Martyn as a tractor driver and Greg was the estate shepherd before it was leased to HCC/BDBC, and Greg still runs a flock of sheep grazing parts of the estate. I on the other hand took a different path, and part of my job now involves helping shoots and gamekeepers on several local estates”.

Above: Screen stills from AV1153/4 showing Albert ‘Big Bert’ Childs (1929)

The film itself has stayed close to the family’s heritage too. Scott and his family knew that the film existed before they saw the social media post earlier this year.

“I knew [the Bates Collection] contained cinefilm, but I had always been led to believe it was full of celebrational occasions most notably Anne Bates (Mrs John as we knew her) marriage to Colonel John Oliver-Bellasis. We were certainly not aware that any of the estate workers had been filmed”.

So when Scott saw The Pheasant. From egg to Larder upon one of his Google searches, he was quick to ask his family for confirmation that this was Big Bert.

“We have very few photographs of previous generations, mainly wedding ones where nobody knows who anybody in the picture is. So, coming across a movie of one of them doing the job he loved was just amazing. Thereafter we contacted the records office and obtained a copy”

A few years ago, Scott and his family gained a collection of medals from several ancestors who had served in the wars. They were a link to their past which they previously had not had. Once a copy of The Pheasant. From egg to Larder was in their hands, Scott placed it alongside the medals in their cases so that his daughter will have “a film to look at showing at least one of her ancestors story”. Alongside their own preservation of the film, information about Big Bert has been added to the archives of the Bates Collection, safekeeping the memory of this family’s heritage as well.

Thanks to Scott Childs’ chance comment on a social media post, new knowledge has been obtained about this silent film’s heritage as well as an insight into a personal connection with the film and estate.  Enhancing our understanding of films such as this provide an opportunity to learn more about the context in which the largely wealthy amateur filmmaking populace were working – telling us more about the working people seen on screen whose lives are so often undocumented.

With this experience, social media and today’s technology showcases an important new level of accessibility to records and history that previously did not exist, not to mention a new important means of collecting data. Without social media this chance interaction between the archive and the family might have never happened.

AV1153/4 The Pheasant. From egg to Larder can be viewed online on the BFI Player (Free)

With thanks to Scott and his family for sharing details about Albert and their shared family history.

Yvonne Classen, Wessex Film and Sound Archive Volunteer

Amateur Filmmaking Insights

Did you know that Wessex Film and Sound Archive, based at Hampshire Record Office alongside Hampshire Archives and Local Studies, holds thousands of films produced by amateur filmmakers from within the Wessex area?  

These amateur films offer an insight into the lives of those who lived in the area over the last hundred years, and can show us what they did, where they went, and how they chose to record this on film. Although produced by ‘amateur’ filmmakers, these visual stories of their lives and the events they filmed, are valuable pieces of history which should be preserved for future generations. Whilst the importance of documents and paper archives is long established, many of us do not see the same value in the everyday films that we record ourselves.  

However, preserving them for future generations is equally important. 

This month, we have been viewing the Chopra family films, a collection of clips from the 1960s and 1970s. These films offer us a nostalgic view of family life, whilst also highlighting the importance of family to the Chopra’s and how spending time together was central to that.  

The events the family recorded, such as a trip to the park and a birthday party, give us a unique insight into their lives, and allow us to share those experiences. It’s a real privilege to be able to share these films further.  

Filmmaker spotlight: Jiwan Prakash Chopra 

The Chopra family films (AV1003) were taken by amateur filmmaker Jiwan Prakash Chopra who recorded the footage on an 8mm cine camera. He had been a photographer by trade whilst living in New Delhi in India, and had migrated to Southampton in the early 1960s. 

Jiwan had a passion for filmmaking and enjoyed nothing more than spending his time recording film of his family. Included in these clips are his wife, mother and sister-in-law and their children. Birthdays, weddings and anniversaries were celebrated along with all Hindu religious festivals, some of which can be seen in the footage held by WFSA. He was also a founding member of the Hindu temple in Southampton and had the privilege of being a President of the temple for some years. 

Jiwan lived to the ripe old age of 87. The family have many more of his memories recorded on film, and thanks to their decision to share these with the archives, they are now available for members of the public to view too. Whilst the film clips show us the Chopra family’s specific experience of family life, they also allow us a nostalgic view of the past, and act as a reminder of how some things, such as the importance of family, never really change. 

You can watch Jiwan’s films on the WFSA YouTube channel

If you are interested in depositing amateur-made films to the Wessex Film and Sound Archive please contact enquires.wfsa@hants.gov.uk 

Hannah Bolt 

Hannah is a student of History at Winchester University and joined WFSA on placement in Autumn 2021. In compiling this filmmaker profile, Hannah made contact with and interviewed family members in order to enhance our knowledge of the films we hold and the people who made them. 

The Challenges of Uncovering Hidden Histories: Regional LGBTQ+ voices

Wessex Film and Sound Archive holds a collection of films attributed to Robert G Torrens (AV14). Torrens was an active foundational member of cine club culture in the Bournemouth area in the 1930s, he was a prolific filmmaker and was engaged in a range of film clubs and societies over the years.   WFSA holds both films and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about the society’s work, which are both intriguing and insightful (film stills below from AV14/9).  

One of the films from this collection is available to view (free of charge) on the BFI Player (British Fim Institute) ‘Screen Tests’ (Finding no. AV14/9).

The footage clip in this film at 1:10 shows two women kissing and is suggestive of lesbianism. But it is dangerous to read such things through today’s lens when they could be just theatrical -indeed, the catalogue entry records the sequence as ‘screen tests’. To make an informed judgement we need to know more about the two women concerned and there is, unfortunately, no known record of their identity – a feature common to many cine clubs whose memberships were often sizeable, yet so often un-documented (film stills below from AV14/9).

LGBT+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender +) history is sometimes referred to as a hidden history.  

This is because so much history went unrecorded or was erased at a time when being lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans (LGBT) was seen as sinful, shameful and even criminal. It is only in very recent times, largely since the 1960s, that some people have made great efforts to record what was previously missing from many history books and archives. 

Not only is the evidence often missing but also where there is any evidence it might be clouded in mystique and different terminology.

Such was the disgust felt about gay sex (illegal until 1967) that it was often referred to as an abominable or unnatural act. Homosexuals were often called inverts. A whole varied lexicon exists for terms of the past that cannot always be translated easily into today’s understanding of LGBT+ terminology. 

The meanings of many words have changed. The word ‘queer’ was a very abusive term until recently but has now been embraced by some LGBT+ people in the UK.  All this makes LGBT+ history particularly problematic and often open to speculation. We must be careful to understand the context of the past and how cultures differed from the complex plural diversities of the 21st  century. 

Hampshire Archives contain some material which tells part of this story.  One example is the register of marriages from Odiham showing Charles Hambleton (‘afterwards proved to be a woman’) married Mary Seamel in 1748. HRO 47M81/PR3. This is probably a lesbian couple but we cannot be sure and some would claim Hambleton was a trans man. This is a hotly debated issue in LGBT communities today (you can see this document on one of our previous blogs). 

Y-Services Voices for Heritage LGBT history project interviewed a number of older people identifying as LGB or T in 2017-8 and these interviews are now available to listen to at Hampshire Record Office (ref AV1637/S1). 

One of the interviewees, Patrick Gale is a well known novelist who went to school in Winchester. He describes in his interview how he was very lucky to have gay friends at Winchester College- ‘a gay gang’. Visiting London when he was a teenager he found Gay’s the Word bookshop and bought American gay novels. Gale also went to Magnums Club, Southampton (AV1637/1/S1/14). 

These interviews constitute one of the few distinctly LGBT contributions to the archives in Hampshire Record Office.  

Dr Clifford Williams 

February 2022 

Dr Williams has written ‘A Queer A-Z of Hampshire; aspect of LGBT history in the county of Hampshire’ , published in 2019, and available from October Books, Portswood. £2.50. 

If you have documents, photographs or film content that you would like to deposit with the archive – we are particularly keen to ensure that LGBTQ+ individuals and communities are represented in the collections. Please get in touch.