Alton Papers, no. 24

Publication Date: 2020

Cost: £3.00 (+p&p if ordering by post)
Where to buy: Curtis Museum or by post - see How to Order page.

Articles:

• Every Picture Tells a Story 
  Author: Tony Cross​​
  The picture in question was of Alton High Street on Mafeking Day. The street was decorated to mark the Relief of Mafeking in the conflict in South Africa in 1900. Tony goes on to describe Alton’s connections with the ‘Forgotten War’. There are plaques to the four local men who did not return in St Lawrence’s Church and a cross in Chawton cemetery to their fallen soldier. Tony then goes on to describe the setting up of the Absent Minded Beggar’s Hospital in Chawton for some of the returning wounded.
• The Early Banks of Alton – Part 1
  Author: Trevor R Howard
  Alton’s earliest bank appears to have been that of brewers Baverstock and Dowden in the 1780s. This was followed by the Alton Bank of Austen, Gray and Vincent – the Austen being Henry, brother of Jane. Sadly the business ceased in 1815 while the Baverstock and Levy Bank (which was also in Alton) failed in 1826. This was not a good period for our local banks!
• Wyards and Mrs Pitts – ‘a very obstinate woman​'
  Author: Jane Hurst
  Wyards belonged to Winchester College and, in the mid-1500s, they leased it to William Saunders/Sanders. The family were Roman Catholics who had several nuns and priests among their number. Trained on the Continent, some returned at about the same time as the Jesuit Edmund Campion and were seen as a threat by the Government and imprisoned. Of one, Mrs Pitts, it was said that their return ‘would do more harm than ten sermons could do good.’
• Alton 140 years Ago
  Author: Paul Fenwick
  The remarkable find of a large number of papers in a building in Market Street was the source for this article. They had belonged to William Wright, chimney sweep and umbrella mender, who was also a member of the Ancient Order of Foresters. There were bills and receipts dating from the 1878 to 1880 and these give an insight into local life at the time.
• Alton’s WWII Anti-invasion Devices
  Author: Jane Hurst
  When work was being done on one of the bridges at The Butts in 2019, several ‘tank traps’ were found. Their history was investigated and they have now been placed nearby with an information board.