Portsmouth Area Railway Pasts looked at 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 worked together formally until July 2025 – though the collaboration is still ongoing, of course! We were funded by the University of Portsmouth’s Centre for Excellent in Heritage Innovation, and gratefully acknowledge their support. We also worked with the ‘Hills to Harbour’ Community Rail Partnership, and also thank them for their assistance.
What did we do?
Volunteers from the Havant Local History Group (HLHG) and project co-lead Mike Esbester (University of Portsmouth) worked together between November 2024 and July 2025. We explored 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 put those workers and their accidents in the context of their family and community lives. It’s helping 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.
Who did we look at?
We researched 32 railway workers and uncovered some extraordinary stories and lives. We’re sharing them in print and online – and in any other format we can! We’re starting to add the workers and their stories here, with the first individuals now available:
Havant – signalman George Abbott
Fishbourne – signalman William Bridger
Watch this space for more, coming soon!
We’ve included some of the people from the area who feature in the Railway Work, Life & Death project database on the map, below. The people shown and others we found formed the starting point for our research. As we now ‘write them up’, they’re being added to the list above, so you can find out more. As an example of the sorts of things that spurred our interest, this blog post about Frederick Potter is a helpful starting point. All told we think doing this work gives us a stronger impression of the railway and railway people in the local area.
How did the project work?
On the project we worked together, through group meetings and individual research. Collectively we agreed our aims and objectives, before identifying individuals to look into and the sorts of things we might produce to share the research publicly. We wanted the project to be as co-creative and collaborative as possible, recognising and drawing on the expertise of all involved. That’s really important, as what we’ve done is as much about the principles of working collaboratively as it was about the research that we actually produced.
Of why the HLHG was keen to be involved, 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.”
We hope that a benefit of the project will be that the research skills of all involved will be improved, too! It’s been opening up new questions and approaches for all of us, as well as allowing us to share our expertise and sources to explore. That’ll bring long-term advantages for all of us.
What did the project produce?
Ultimately, we think more and better history! That was 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 want to share it with as many people as possible.
Courtesy Havant Local History Group.
At the moment we’re in the final stages of 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. We’re putting together a travelling exhibit, a leaflet, web-based content and interpretation posters to go into local stations.
Courtesy Neil Spurgeon.
We’re contributing 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 2025 is ‘Railway 200’, a nation-wide festival of rail. It’s seeing lots of public history, and we’re glad that our area and our project is contributing!
All of this has benefitted all of us 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 were 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 was represented through Mike Esbester, a History lecturer and Railway Work, Life & Death project co-lead; Lucy Lomax represented Hills to Harbour.
Neil Spurgeon represented the HLHG, and he explained the Group’s aims and activities: ‘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.’
The HLHG volunteers were Ann Griffiths, Geoff Robinson, Alan Roblin and Neil Spurgeon. We’re immensely appreciative of the time and effort they put in, the expertise that they’ve shared, and have benefitted from working together!