Gosport Records – 40 Years of Gosport Society Publications
The following article was printed in The Local Studies News, Winter 2010-2011. This was the final edition, before the journal ceased publication.
“The Gosport Society is a non-political Civic Amenity Society which is concerned with conservation, planning and Gosport’s important history.” This is how the Society introduces itself on its website today. The Society was founded as the Gosport Historic Records and Museum Society in October 1970 and Gosport Records, according to the foreword by Dr. L.F.W. White in the first issue, which appeared in March 1971, was intended to be the Society’s official journal. However, it became both less and more than that. The character of the Gosport Records was immediately established as a miscellany of articles about the history of Gosport, each article usually just a few pages long. This corresponded to one of the three aims stated in the Foreword (“to publish material, articles, original documents, maps, charts and manuscripts which illustrate its history”) but was an excellent means of making information about the history of Gosport readily available and at a reasonable price (20 pence for the first few issues). Although the magazine was printed on strong paper with card for the cover, the appearance of the publication was functional rather than luxurious. Forty years ago, the relative cost of printing was much higher than now and the early Records have a very basic typeface, although the illustrations come out quite well on the whole.
Godfrey Williams, himself already the author of several articles in the magazine, wrote a foreword to the eleventh issue published in April 1976. He admitted that the quality of the Records had been somewhat variable, but they encouraged research and were appreciated by other authors, notably by David Lloyd in his Buildings of Portsmouth and its Environs (1974). The Society had published two more extended works in similar format: Gosport’s Railway Era (1975) and The Earlier Fortifications of Gosport (1974). The last Gosport Records in the first format, No. 17, was published in 1980. In the same year, the Society published Holy Trinity: Church, Parish and People, edited by Rev. John Capper, which came to be regarded as No. 16 in the series.
Alderman H.T. Rogers was the first editor (or chairman of the editorial sub-committee) but in 1973 he had to stand down because of ill health. He was succeeded by C.J. Washington. In November 1974 Councillor Mrs Lesley Burton was a member of the editorial advisory sub-committee and by May 1976 she had succeeded as editor. The Society started publishing a new style of book on glossy paper and in A4 format in 1981 with Gosport Goes to War, followed by Gosport 1922: an impression in words and pictures in 1922. Lesley Burton edited all these volumes, sometimes with the help of Beryl Peacey, who was also a contributor to several of them.
For a local society to maintain such an impressive publishing programme over a period of 40 years is a considerable achievement. This is due to the enthusiasm and dedication, driving force and writing skills of the founders, editors and contributors. I dare say, however, that there is still plenty to say about the history of Gosport.”
Mr Alan King
Former Chief Librarian
Portsmouth City Library