iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

If you know me, you know that I love curry. Very excited to have a takeaway from Netley Tandoori tonight. I love curry so much. Britain’s first curry house was opened by Dean Mohamed in London in 1810. He was also the first Indian to publish a book in English. In my mind, Mohamed is a legend. 1/4

Recipe for a curry. Text can be found further down the thread.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Thomas Brownrigg, the son of a Southampton post office official, was training to become a barrister at Gray’s Inn when he joined the Middlesex Regiment during First World War. He served in France for around a year. 1/3

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

On this day in 1940, a fierce Battle of Britain dogfight was fought in the skies over Southampton. Twenty-three-year-old James Nicolson would be awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery but tragically, his eighteen-year-old wingman Martyn King (pictured) was killed. 1/17

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

The International Cold Storage & Ice Company operated this huge cold store in Southampton Docks from 1904. It was the largest of its kind in Europe at the time. It was hit during a German air raid on this day in 1940 and completely destroyed by fire. 1/4

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Above Bar Street, early 1900s. The perfect shopping destination for those in need of a shave, artificial teeth, sewing machines, or umbrellas. Sadly, these shops were either demolished in the 1930s or destroyed during the Blitz. The Bargate managed to survive it all, thankfully.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Southampton High Street, looking south from the roof of the Bargate in the 1930s.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Christ Church, Freemantle, early 1900s. Construction of the church began in 1861 and it was consecrated in 1865.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

White Star Line’s Olympic, featured on a postcard that was sent from Southampton by a passenger in 1913, the year after the tragic sinking of her sister ship, Titanic.

Front of postcard, an illustration of the ship.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Overnight between 8 and 9 August 1916, the Hampshire Regiment’s 2nd Battalion suffered a gas attack at Potijze near Ypres. 129 men were killed. 1/3

Group photo with Ernest stood holding a maxim gun.

Ten Hampshire Regiment graves in a line at Potijze Chataeu Wood Cemetery.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

The original post office at Bassett. It was located pretty much next to the Bassett Hotel, just off Burgess Road. 1/4

Three people stood outside the post office.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

The St Luke’s Church football team in the 1925/26 season. My great-grandfather, William Henry Masters, known as Billy, is seated at the front in the slightly darker football kit. He was born in Southampton in 1907 and grew up at 129 St Mary’s Road.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

In 1937, whilst demolishing buildings on the west side of the Bargate, workmen revealed this huge painting of Jesus on the cross. 1/11

Workmen amid demolition staring up at the painting.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

On this day in 1415, Richard of Conisbrough, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, and Lord Henry Scrope were beheaded outside the Bargate for their supposed role in the ‘Southampton Plot’ against King Henry V. 1/4

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

A few years ago I kept seeing this postcard appear for sale online. It was on there for ages, it seemed like nobody wanted it, so I decided to give it a home. I’m sure somebody would have treasured it once. The photo was taken in Southampton but sadly there are no names on the back.

Photograph of a woman gazing lovingly at a baby. Presumably a mother and child.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

The Floating Bridge service had been carrying people across the River Itchen since 1836. Its days are numbered in this photo as the Itchen Bridge is built alongside it. The Floating Bridge service came to an end when the Itchen Bridge opened in 1977.

Construction of Itchen Bridge alongside the Floating Bridge.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

“No luck catching them swans, then?” 📸: Southampton Common, early 1910s.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

The CWGC grave of Richard Wilshin in Southampton Old Cemetery. He was born in London but married a Southampton girl, Ruby Spearpoint (of 133 Avenue Road), in Southampton in 1940. 1/2

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

In July 1884, a man whose face was ‘terribly disfigured’ was charged with being drunk and disorderly on Marsh Lane. The man told magistrates that he had no recollection of what occurred, except that he was ‘knocked down by some man who treated him very badly’. 1/3

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

I was doing some research for a post I’m writing about the time Frederick, Prince of Wales visited Southampton. Whilst here, he was given the freedom of the town. There’s a newspaper article from the time describing the whole thing. 1/2

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Then and now at the Royal Victoria Country Park, Netley, once the site of a vast Victorian military hospital. The chapel was situated right in the middle of the hospital, which was a quarter of a mile in length. It’s the only part of the main hospital building that survives and it’s now a museum.

Image split in half, then vs now comparison of the chapel.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Huge crowds out for the May Day celebrations on Above Bar Street. For a while it was tradition for a choir to sing from the top of the Bargate at dawn on the 1st of May. This tradition only dated back to the mid-1880s, and it was revived in 1913. I’d guess this photo was taken then, or maybe 1914.

Huge crowd of people filling the street.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Thomas Hibberd James’ late nineteenth century photograph of the lions that have been guarding the Bargate since 1743. They replaced an earlier pair of lions that dated back to around 1522. 1/4

James’ late 1800s photo of the Bargate with the lions outside.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Isaac Watts was born in Southampton on this day in 1674. He grew up on French Street and attended the nearby King Edward VI School. After completing his education he moved to London where he became ordained as an Independent minister. 1/5

Comparison between two images. The top half is an early 1900s photo of the statue in the park. The bottom half is a modern photo from a similar angle.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

In November 1871, this old lady went and had her photograph taken in Southampton. I suppose it’s very likely that she was born in the 1700s, long before the invention of photography. It’s amazing to consider the changes she would have witnessed during her life.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

No information about this team, unfortunately. The image is on a postcard that was sent locally in Southampton to Miss Foy of 3 Upper Liverpool Street in October 1905. The message reads: ‘Next time I will try to be looking more cheerful, perhaps the circumstances will have changed.’

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Two very different views from the same place on top of Southampton’s medieval walls.

Early 1900s view looking out over the Western Shore and West Bay from the old walls.

Modern view of Westquay shopping centre, built on reclaimed land.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

View of the Junction from Commercial Road. The buildings behind the trams line Above Bar Street.

Busy street scene with trams and horses.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Eliza Hester Powell with her daughter, Lydia, photographed in Southampton on 20 March 1872. Eliza had married John Charles Powell in Southampton on 24 July 1871 and ‘Little Lydia’ (as she’s called on the back of the photo) was born a little over two months later, on 2 October 1871. 1/12

Studio photograph, Eliza sat down in a long dress holding baby Lydia.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Castle Hall was a two-storey stone-built house situated in the south-west corner of the Southampton Castle grounds. It was originally built in the late eleventh or early-to-mid twelfth century at the base of low natural cliff on the shoreline. 1/5

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Women making Spitfire parts at the Supermarine works in Woolston, early 1939. This factory in Southampton, where the Spitfire was originally designed and first built, would be targeted by the Luftwaffe during two daylight air raids in September 1940. 1/2

Women at a production line using a hammer to manufacture Spitfire parts. 📸: Illustrated London News, 4 February 1939.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

A couple of local football teams, photographed by William Pearce of 14 Shirley High Street.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

The Arcades, part of Southampton’s fourteenth century defensive wall, photographed in the early 1900s.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Richard Norris Williams boarded Titanic at Cherbourg with his father, intending to return to America to study at Harvard and play tennis. 1/6

Photo of Williams in his tennis clothes.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Scribbled on the back of this image: ‘Taken in Southampton after evacuation from France June 1940’

Servicemen, group photo. They’re holding cooking equipment.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

The Bassett Hotel on Burgess Road, pictured in the early 1900s. 1/2

The Bassett Hotel on Burgess Road, pictured in the early 1900s. The earliest reference to the hotel I've found was in 1869 when the High Street Brewery offered it to let. George Washington Jones became its landlord in 1870 and announced that the 'FIRST-CLASS HOTEL, with its Picteresque Grounds' was open to the public. Jones offered suites of apartments, horses and carriages for hire, quoits and croquet, dinners, luncheons, teas, and arrangements for picnic parties.
Alfred Welch was the hotel's proprietor by 1872.
Incidentally, he had inherited a Chow Chow from George Washington Jones, who himself had inherited it in 1870 from Admiral Sir Henry Keppel. Keppel had reportedly been given the two-year-old dog by a Japanese government official in 1852 as a gift to be eaten, but Keppel liked it so much he kept it as a pet on board his ship for the next two years. So the story goes, Keppel landed at Portsmouth in 1854 and took the dog to his country seat at Bishopstoke, before giving it to Jones in 1870 on the condition that it would be given a good home at the Bassett Hotel until the end of its life. Which apparently occurred in 1881 at the age of thirty-one!

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

‘The last Bridge from Southampton’ depicting a comically packed Floating Bridge about to depart Southampton for Woolston across the River Itchen. This postcard was published in Woolston and it was sent in 1916.

Cartoon of an overflowing Floating Bridge, and people in the water.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

The Lido, a popular destination on a hot day! 🥵 There had been an open-air swimming pool here on the Western Shore since 1854. Back then, you’d pay four pence to get in (a penny after 5pm) and the entrance fee would include a towel. 1/9

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

‘Everyone is talking about the hot weather, and asking how long it is to continue before a change sets in, which is to cool us, and drench the thirsty earth with rain.’ Hampshire Advertiser, 13 August 1887. 🥵

Generic illustrative image of a hot sun and a cracked, hot desert.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

It’s very warm so I’m trying to imagine myself on the Avenue during the 25 April 1908 snowstorm.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Southampton in the weeks after D-Day. Eighty-two years ago, in June 1944, the Bagg family are photographed in their garden on Hill Lane. Behind them in Rockleigh Road, an American field howitzer unit is ready and waiting to sail to Normandy. 📸: © IWM (NYT 27247)

The Baggs in their garden, hanging washing on the line and gardening, with American military vehicles in the road beyond their wall.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Thousands of people welcomed Amelia Earhart to Southampton on this day in 1928 after she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic in an aeroplane. Photographed here with Wilmer Stultz (pilot), Lou Gordon (mechanic), and Southampton’s first female mayor, Lucia Foster Welch.

Group photo with Earhart clutching flowers at the centre.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

They say size doesn’t matter but for Southampton in the 1920s and 1930s, it definitely did. Back then, the town was home to some of the world’s largest ships and it was vital that the docks kept expanding and improving in order for Southampton to remain the country’s premier passenger port. 1/5

Aerial photograph of the town, the floating dry dock, and the caisson.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

People have been passing through Southampton’s Bargate for over eight hundred years. Townsfolk, merchants, soldiers, sailors, pilgrims, tourists, nobles, paupers, kings and queens, my ancestors, your ancestors. The last tram to travel through what was once Southampton’s main gate did so in 1938.

Image split in half, on the left is a modern photo of the Bargate, on the right the image continues but it’s a tram passing through the Bargate’s arch in the 1930s.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

‘A man who has spent 47 years collecting rates in Southampton was yesterday presented with a lawnmower by his colleagues in the City Treasurer’s Office, Civic Centre, Southampton, to mark his retirement… 1/8

Echo photo showing Billy being presented with the electric lawnmower.

Billy at work, probably 1930s, in a pinstripe suit pushing buttons on a calculating machine.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

On this day in 1982, QE2 returned home to Southampton from the Falklands War. On board were over seven hundred survivors from HMS Ardent, HMS Antelope, and HMS Coventry, which had all been sunk during the conflict. 📸: © IWM FKD 2816

Crowds greet QE2 and members of the armed forces line the decks.

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Died on this day in 1937: Reginald Joseph Mitchell. He is best remembered for leading the team that designed the Spitfire at the Supermarine works on the banks of the River Itchen in Woolston, Southampton. 1/3

Photograph of a Spitfire in flight. 📸: © IWM HU 1665

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Wounded American troops arriving at Southampton from Normandy on this day in 1944, four days after D-Day. 📸: © IWM (A 24009) | © IWM (A 24008)

Wounded being unloaded from a ship and loaded into trucks. © IWM (A 24009)

Wounded troops being loaded into trucks by Black soldiers. © IWM (A 24008)

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Off to Normandy on this day in 1944, four days after D-Day. American vehicles being loaded at Southampton’s Town Quay. The Royal Pier can be seen in the background. Over two million Americans and hundreds of thousands of vehicles would pass through Southampton between D-Day and the end of WW2.

American vehicles and landing craft.
📸: © IWM (A 24011)

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Historic Southampton @historicalsoton.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

On board RMS Queen Elizabeth on a voyage from Southampton to New York in March 1947.

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