Although many thousands of British evacuees were evacuated by steam train during the Second World War, others travelled to their new homes by steam ship. George Osborn recalled the excitement of his journey from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight: The great engines, powered by steam from the coal-fired boiler, slowly turned the […]
The opening of the Jutland exhibition coincides with the one hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Jutland, which was fought from 31 May to 1 June 1916, and has been commemorated locally and at a wider level.[1] The focus of the exhibition is upon an intense moment of British naval history; 36 hours of warfare […]
On the 24 October 2015 I gave a brief lecture at the ‘Pop up University’, designed for 14-16 year olds at the Make and Craft Kitchen in Fratton. My paper was based upon my PhD research: women’s subjective experiences of the Second World War in Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. The event was designed […]
Last week I attended the annual Social History Society conference held at the University of Portsmouth. It was my first Social History Society conference, and I was particularly lucky to have the opportunity to present a paper on sailors and naval pageantry alongside my PTUC colleagues Daniel Swan and Chris Spackman on the first panel […]
Engaging with the Past is a heritage and public history reading group which aims to discuss, debate and share ideas concerning ‘heritage’ through contemporary cultural production and the representation of the past – through management, public engagement, and various methods of dissemination. It is hoped that this reading group can provide an opportunity for friendly […]
In May 1940, as Germany invaded France, fears arose in Guernsey that a German invasion might take place. The closeness of Guernsey to Cherbourg left it wide open to attack by both sea and air. On 11 June, the British War Cabinet considered that Hitler might occupy the Channel Islands to “strike a blow at […]
