World War Two

These items are a selection of documents which relate to events during World War 2. References to documents are in brackets.

Air Raid Precautions

  • ARP officers log book, Gosport, 1940-42 (48M74/DB11)
  • Hand-drawn coloured map of the centre of New Milton, drawn by Eric Gadd, fire warden, Oct 1942 (30M99/1)
  • ARP Romsey Centre war diaries, 1939-1945. Details staffing, reports to Hampshire Control, incidents within the area, exercises etc. (119M88/1-12)
  • Buriton Village oral history tapes, George and Stella Legg. Details of wartime activities around the parish. Including the Air Raid Precautions team, the Home Guard unit, and evacuees fleeing Portsmouth to live in hop-pickers' huts on the local farms (AV574/14/S1)
  • ARP exercise book kept by G H Webb containing notes on the detection of unexploded bombs, 1940-1941 (12M75/DDC477)

Enemy Action

  • Pathe News footage of a daylight air raid by the Luftwaffe on Portsmouth, 24 Aug 1940 (AV186/1/VID1)
  • Portsmouth City Oral History tapes: Miss E Sylvester and Mr Ford describe bombing of Portsmouth, 1941 (AV56/27/S1)
  • Register of unexploded bombs in Hampshire, 1940-1945 (H/EP1/4)
  • Hampshire incident charts, summary of incidents by year. Includes records of bombs dropped and aeroplanes crashed, 1940-1945 (H/EP1/1,3)
  • Notes issued by Winchester City Council for the reception of persons rendered homeless by enemy action, 1943 (W/C21/1/6)
  • Havant and Waterloo District register of civilian deaths due to war operations, 1940-1943 (15M74/DDB1)

Evacuees

  • NB Many school log books and admission registers of the period record the arrival and departure of evacuees. This is only a selection.
  • Indexed register of evacuees to Winchester, 1940-41 (W/C21/2/1)
  • Register of evacuees in the following Winchester hostels: Winton House, Weeke Manor, St Anns, Well House, Morestead House, Bereweeke House, Lion School, 'Group Billet', 1944-45 (W/C21/2/2)
  • Hampshire evacuees - The wartime diary 1939-1945 of Eric Wyeth Gadd, published 1982 (P88)
  • Mr Walker and the evacuees from Gosport County School remember Eastleigh 1939-1944 edited by Dennis Boxall (B3456)
  • Monk Sherborne school evacuees admission register, 1939-1945 (129M88/A3)
  • Lyndhurst school evacuees admission register, 1939-45.   The majority of evacuees were from Portsmouth and Southampton  (84A03/A1/1)
  • Photograph of Hambledon evacuees from Newtown School, Gosport, c1940 (HPP41/090)

Home front

  • Diary of Edmund PE Jervoise. Includes details of bombs dropped in the Alton area, as well as events of national significance, 1940 (44M69/F16/12/60)
  • Portsmouth: Women's Land Army photographs (17M81/42-49)
  • Hester Pile's diaries, 1940-49 (115M88/F33/1-9)
  • Reminiscences by Frank Wheatley about growing up in wartime Liss (66M92/4)
  • Home Guard and Civil Defence
  • Winchester Home Guard. Amateur film of activities in 1944 (AV409/14/V1)
  • Photograph of the East Meon Home Guard, 1940-41 (73M85/54)
  • Swaythling AFS & ARP. Amateur film of Civil Defence exercises carried out, before the War, 1939 (AV180/3/V1)
  • Royal Observer Corps collection, including log books of aircraft movements (36M96)
  • Account of wartime experiences of Mrs Margaret Hunt who served in ATS at Hayling Island, 1942-46 (100A04/1-2)

Military preparation

  • Hampshire airfields in the Second World War by Robin J Brooks, published 1996 (B3158)
  • Photograph of military vehicles on the bypass (A33) in Kings Worthy, c1943 (HPP14/92)
  • ‘All tanked up': the Canadians in Headley during World War II by John Owen Smith (TOP156/1/9)
  • Spitfire. Footage of Spitfire being assembled and in operation, filmed in 1936 and World War Two (AV18/248/V1)

VE and VJ Day

  • Winchester mayoral scrapbook. Includes reports and photos of VE Day, 1945 (W/C2/5/23)
  • Taken During the War. Amateur film includes colour footage of VE Day in Bournemouth, 1945 (AV237/15/V1)
  • Photographs of VE Day celebrations at West End, 1945 (HPP18/100-102)
  • Eastleigh Victory Walk. Amateur cinefilm of athletics event organised to celebrate Victory in Europe and Japan, 22 Sep 1945 (AV6/M6/V1)

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