Albert Bull died at the age of 67, a prominent local figure with a lively interest in local affairs, becoming Chairman of the Ventnor District Council. He had been born in 1845, the son of William and Peggy Bull who lived at Rock Cottage on Belgrave Road. He started his working career assisting in his father’s business… read more »
Margaret Dick lived at Madeira Hall where she was attended upon, probably up to her death in March 1879, by Dr. James Mann Williamson who was a doctor who had come to the Royal National Hospital in 1868 and later set up practice in Ventnor in 1876. He prescribed various medication for her, whilst also… read more »
At one time, Prospect House (near the bottom of the south side of Grove Road), provided regular rooms for the YWCA, the Young Women’s Christian Association. It appears, ostensibly, to have been a boarding house, but its specific use may also have included being a hostel and club for working women. In the Ventnor Red… read more »
Charles Hibberd’s mineral water business was started at the rear of the butcher’s shop of his uncle, Moses Hibberd, 86 High Street, in the early 1860s. On the double doors to the side archway, the signage read ‘C. Hibberd’s Soda Water, Ginger Beer and Lemonade Manufactory’. The mineral water business thrived and manufacture was soon… read more »
In December 1927 a blizzard raged across a large part of southern England, right from Kent to Cornwall. One to two feet of snow fell in that period, but in exposed places, huge drifts formed. The Regel Bus (driven by Fred Lawson) became snowbound in Wroxall on its trip back to Shanklin from Ventnor, at… read more »
Bernard Augustus Beavis was a Captain with the Clan Line Shipping Company, plying between England and the rest of the world. He was born in Whitwell in 1908, the son of Frank & Edith Beavis (nee Slaughter), one of twelve children and spent most of his life at sea, with the latter years as Master of… read more »
The road from Belgrave Road to the Esplanade was named Bath Road. The reason for this was as a result of the common belief in Victorian times that salt water was a cure for everything from bruises to hysteria. A ‘bathhouse’ had been constructed at the western end of the esplanade for patrons of the… read more »
From the late 1920s travellers and staff alike would have sought the warmth of the Refreshment Room at Ventnor Station to escape the wintry weather. Over the years there were several different proprietors. Initially run by the Dixon family of Mitchell Avenue, it subsequently was run at different times by the Channings, (Gwen along with… read more »
Marigold Harding was ten when WW2 broke out. Her family lived at the foot of Nine Stone Steps, where her father, builder Tom Harding, ran the ‘Trinity Works’. This is the final article of three based on her memories of a wartime childhood in Ventnor. It mentions the family moving to the country (St Lawrence)… read more »
Marigold Harding was ten when WW2 broke out. Her family lived at the foot of Nine Stone Steps, where her father, builder Tom Harding, ran the ‘Trinity Works’. This second of three articles using her memories of a wartime childhood in Ventnor, and mentions home life and the disruption and damage caused by air raids… read more »