The Royal Air Force (RAF) was formed on 1 April 1918 and was the world’s first independent air force. It was the result of the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service which was deemed to be necessary due to the growing importance of aviation in the war. The Women’s…
Tag: west sussex
Queen Victoria Hospital Archive Project: McIndoe ‘The Maestro’
This post will provide a general overview of McIndoe’s life and work. Later posts will examine different aspects of his work at Queen Victoria Hospital in more depth. The man who became known as ‘the Maestro’ of Queen Victoria Hospital was born in Dunedin in the South Island of New Zealand on 4th…
Continue reading ➞ Queen Victoria Hospital Archive Project: McIndoe ‘The Maestro’
Kindertransport and refugees in West Sussex
November 2018 marks the 80th anniversary of the Kindertransport, a British led programme which rescued over 10,000 Jewish children from Nazi persecution in Germany and annexed territories. The first trains arrived in Britain on 2nd December 1938 and the scheme continued until the outbreak of war in 1939. Many of the transports arrived in Harwich…
Continue reading ➞ Kindertransport and refugees in West Sussex
International Women’s Day: West Sussex Women and the Centenary of Suffrage
Between the centenary of the Representation of the People Act on 6th Feb 2018, which granted the first women the right to vote, and International Women's Day on 8th March, we have been using Twitter and Instagram to share some of the notable West Sussex women involved in the campaign for suffrage. Using the tag #WestSussexWomen you can follow…
Continue reading ➞ International Women’s Day: West Sussex Women and the Centenary of Suffrage
The Women of Bishop Otter College and the University of Chichester
The University of Chichester (previously known as Bishop Otter College) has a rich history of female leaders - starting with Sarah Trevor, the college's first female principal in 1873, to Professor Jane Longmore, the University’s present day Vice-Chancellor. Sarah Trevor (1873-1895) became principal when the Bishop Otter College reopened as one of the country's first…
Continue reading ➞ The Women of Bishop Otter College and the University of Chichester
Record of the Month
West Preston Manor School, Rustington - South Africa scrapbooks (WPM 1/5/2-5) West Preston Manor School in Rustington was opened in September 1933 by Miss Dorothy Boykett, who remained as headmistress until the school closed in July 1979. There were 15 pupils to start with, aged from about 6 to 12 and including four small boys,…
Queen Victoria Hospital Archive Project: the history of the hospital
The story of Queen Victoria Hospital (QVH) begins in 1863 with its founding as a cottage hospital on Green Hedges Avenue, East Grinstead, in the home of Dr John Henry Rogers. It was only the fifth cottage hospital to be established in England – from its earliest days the hospital was a…
Continue reading ➞ Queen Victoria Hospital Archive Project: the history of the hospital
A Slice of Life – The Quarter Sessions records
Back in January 2012, West Sussex Record Office Conservator Simon Hopkins and I thought up a plan to make the Quarter Sessions rolls more accessible. These are local government records: essentially the business of the courts which ran the administration of the county before the advent of the County Council. The earliest ones are fascinating…
Continue reading ➞ A Slice of Life – The Quarter Sessions records
Queen Victoria Hospital Archive project: Introducing the project
As regular readers of this blog will be aware, since 2016 WSRO has been engaged in a major project involving the archive of the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, which became known during the Second World War as the centre for the treatment of the ‘Guinea Pig Club’, the RAF…
Continue reading ➞ Queen Victoria Hospital Archive project: Introducing the project
Women’s Suffrage in West Sussex
This month sees the centenary of a major success for women’s suffrage. When the Representation of the People Act became law on 6th February 1918, women over 30, who were occupiers of property or married to occupiers, became entitled to vote for the first time in British history. West Sussex Libraries have been finding out…
West Sussex Record Office 