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England Hampshire  Portsmouth

England Portsmouth

Guide to Portsmouth history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



History
Portsmouth is a port city and unitary authority in the ceremonial English county of Hampshire and is located 70 miles (110 km) south-west of London and 19 miles (31 km) south-east of Southampton. Portsmouth is mainly built upon on Portsea Island and is the United Kingdom's only island city.

The Romans built Portus Adurni, a fort, at nearby Portchester in the late third century. The city's Old English name "Portesmuða" is derived from port, meaning a haven, and muða, the mouth of a large river or estuary. It was mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for the year 501.

The south coast was vulnerable to Danish Viking invasions during the 8th and 9th centuries. In 787, it was assaulted and conquered by Danish pirates, and then during the reign of Æthelwulf, King of Wessex in 838, a Danish fleet landed between Portsmouth and Southampton and the surrounding area was plundered. In response, Æthelwulf sent Wulfherd and the governor of Dorsetshire to confront the Danes at Portsmouth, where most of their ships were docked. They were successful although Wulfherd was killed. In 1001, the Danes returned and pillaged Portsmouth and surrounding locations, threatening the English with extinction. The Danes were massacred by the survivors the following year and rebuilding began, although the town suffered further attacks until 1066.

When Richard the Lion Heart returned from captivity in Austria in May 1194, he summoned a fleet of 100 ships and an army to the port. He granted the town a Royal charter, giving permission for an annual fifteen-day free market fair, weekly markets, and a local court to deal with minor matters, and exempted its inhabitants from paying an annual tax of £18.

Henry V built the first permanent fortifications of Portsmouth. In 1416, a number of French ships blockaded Portsmouth, which housed ships that were set to invade Normandy. Instead, Henry gathered a fleet at Southampton and invaded the Norman coast in August of that year. Recognizing the town's growing importance, he ordered a wooden Round Tower to be built at the mouth of the harbour, which was completed in 1426.

n 1539, Henry VIII built Southsea Castle, financed by the Dissolution of the Monasteries, in anticipation of a French invasion.[39][40] He also invested large sums of money into the town's dockyard, and expanded its boundaries to 8 acres (3.2 ha). Around this time a Tudor defensive boom stretched from the Round Tower to Fort Blockhouse in Gosport, as a protection to Portsmouth Harbor.

Over the years, Portsmouth's fortifications were rebuilt and improved by successive monarchs. In 1563, Portsmouth suffered from an outbreak of a plague, resulting in about 300 deaths out of the town's population of 2000.

In 1805, Admiral Nelson left Portsmouth to command the fleet that defeated the Franco-Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar. Before departing, Nelson told the crew of the HMS Victory and workers in the dockyard that "England expects every man will do his duty". The Royal Navy's reliance on Portsmouth led to it becoming the most fortified city in the world.

At the turn of the 20th century, Portsmouth was considered "the world's greatest naval port" when the British Empire was at its height of power, covering a quarter of Earth's total land area and 458 million people. In 1900, Portsmouth Dockyard employed 8000 men – a figure which more than doubled to 23,000 people during the First World War.

During the Second World War, the city, particularly the port, was bombed extensively by the Luftwaffe in the Portsmouth Blitz. Between July 1940 and May 1944, the city was hit by 67 air raids which destroyed 6625 houses and severely damaged 6549 of them. The air raids caused 930 deaths and wounded almost 3000 people, many of them in the dockyard and military establishments.

Portsmouth was affected by the British Empire's decline in the latter half of the 20th century. Shipbuilding jobs fell from 46% of workforce in 1951 to 14% in 1966, drastically reducing the manpower in the dockyard. In the early 1980s, then Defense Secretary John Nott concluded that of the four home dockyards, both Portsmouth and Chatham would be closed. However, Portsmouth City Council won a concession, and rather than face closure, the dockyard was downgraded to a naval base. Shipping has always been, and will continue to be, a major part of the history and economy of Portsmouth.

Cemeteries (Civil)
Portsmouth has 3 active cemeteries.

Kingston Cemetery:


 * Douglas Road
 * Portsmouth PO1 5RR

Milton Cemetery:


 * Milton Road
 * Milton PO4 8RS

Highland Cemetery


 * Highland Road
 * Southsea PO$ 9AH

Parishes
The Diocese of Portsmouth covers many Anglican Churches in South East Hampshire. It's website follows:


 * Portsmouth Anglican Diocese

Some representative churches within the city boundaries follow:

St Michael's and All Angels Church


 * Hemsted Road
 * Portsmouth PO6 4AS

Portsmouth Cathedral


 * High Street
 * Portsmouth PO1 2HH,br>

St Mark's


 * 10 - 12 Derby Road
 * Portsmouth PO2 8HR

Saint Nicholas


 * Battenburg Ave
 * Portsmouth PO2 0SW

St Albans


 * 104 Copnor Road
 * Portsmouth PO3 5AL,br>

Non Conformists
Portsmouth also boasts a large Roman Catholic community and has a Catholic Cathedral.

Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist


 * Bishop Crispian Way
 * Portsmouth PO1 3HQ

Other Christian Groups represented in Belfast follow:


 * Baptist
 * Church of Christ
 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
 * City Life Church
 * Methodist
 * Portsmouth Vinyard
 * Russian Orthodox
 * Seventh Day Adventist

Non Christian Groups include:


 * Muslim
 * Hare Krishna
 * Hindu
 * Sikh

Civil Registration
Civil registration is the recording of births, marriages, and deaths, in England, and began in 1837. Civil registration records were recorded at the local registration office and the National registration offices.
 * Portsmouth City Registrar Office


 * Hampshire County BMD records


 * UKBMD: Hampshire

Local Histories

 * Local Histories: Portsmouth


 * The Portsmouth Guide: History


 * The Spirit of Portsmouth by J Webb


 * Portsmouth through time by John Sadden

Maps and Gazetteers

 * Visit Portsmouth Maps


 * viamichelin map of Portsmouth


 * oldmapsonline: Portsmouth


 * vsionofbritain Portsmouth Gazetteer


 * genuki National Gazetteer Portsmouth 1868

Newspapers

 * The News


 * The Daily Echo


 * The Hampshire Chronicle

Occupations
A tenth of the city's workforce is employed at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard, which is directly linked to the city's biggest industry, defense, with the headquarters of BAE Systems Surface Ships located in the city. Including companies directly involved with the defense industry, almost 30% of the cities occupations are military related. Portsmouth will help build, and be the home port of, two new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers: HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, the largest ships ever built by the Royal Navy. The super-carriers were first ordered by then Defence Secretary Des Browne on 25 July 2007.

There is also a major ferry port that handles both passengers and cargo,primarily to French and Spanish ports, and the city has a dedicated fishing fleet consisting of 20 to 30 boats that operate out of the camber docks in Camber Quay, Old Portsmouth. They land fresh fish and shellfish daily, most of which is sold at the quayside fish market.

The city is also the UK headquarters of IBM, and there are a large number of IT support companies in the area.

Finally City and County Government provides many occupational opportunities for local residents.

Societies

 * Portsmouth Group, Hampshire Family History Society


 * forebears Portsmouth


 * Ancestry: Portsmouth

Archives

 * The National Archives; Portsmouth History Center


 * Portsmouth City Council Archives


 * Hampshire County Archives


 * Portsmouth Historical Society Archives

Web Sites

 * wikipedia: Belfast


 * Belfast City Council


 * Northern Ireland Executive