Marc Brunel in Portsmouth

Marc Brunel
This entry is part 2 of 10 in the series Hampshire People

The incredible engineers, the Brunels, father and son are in-extrinsically linked to Portsmouth through deed and birth Marc Isambard Brunel was a frenchman who fled the French Revolution and in 1793, fled to America and became chief engineer of New York City.  By 1799 he had married Sophia Kingdom and they had three children, Sophia,…

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Edmund Spenser in Alton?

Edmund Spenser Alton
This entry is part 3 of 10 in the series Hampshire People

The question of whether Edmund Spenser ever lived in Alton is based on a few tantalizing clues that allude to little that can be substantiated. So it is with many historical nuggets that glint in amongst the splendour of Hampshire history.

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Water Babies in Hampshire

Charles Kingsley's grave Eversley Hampshire
This entry is part 5 of 10 in the series Hampshire People

The Water Babies was a children’s novel written by Charles Kingsley, rector of Eversley and inspired by the grounds and building of Bramshill House Hampshire.

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St Boniface and Nursling

This entry is part 7 of 10 in the series Hampshire People

A man named Winfrith and born in Devon became known as the ‘Apostle of Germany’. The humble Winfrith became St Boniface and his story started to take root in Nursling Hampshire. At Nursling (Bede refered to it as Nhutscelle), where the River Test winds towards the sea, one of the earliest Benedictine monastries was founded.…

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Guy Burgess and West Meon

This entry is part 8 of 10 in the series Hampshire People

The remains of Guy Burgess, the Englishman who turned his back on his own country during the Cold War to become a Soviet spy, lie in Hampshire, in West Meon church yard by the grave of his father.

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Gilbert White Selborne

Gilbert White Selborne
This entry is part 9 of 10 in the series Hampshire People

Gilbert White of Selborne, the quiet naturalist, whose life was committed to the observance of all the natural history that surrounded his home in Hampshire.

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