Celebrating Hampshire Historians

Beddington, Winifred Grace

12.08.1878 - 07.12.1952

Winifred was born in south-west Surrey. Her father, David, was described in the 1881 census return as an ‘Australian merchant’. He was a native of Tasmania and by the late 19th century had amassed a sufficient fortune to be ‘living on his own means.’ In 1914 he purchased Longstock House, to the north of Stockbridge, but died before he had time to move in. However, the house was substantially modernised in 1915 with the installation of electricity and a telephone and Mrs Beddington and her children, including Winifred, lived there until her death in 1945, when it was bought by John Spedan Lewis, a businessman and founder of the John Lewis Partnership.

Winifred remained a spinster and at the time of her death she was still living in the parish of Longstock at Little Manor. During the 1920s and 1930s there is considerable evidence in the press to indicate that she devoted a  great deal of her energy to the Longstock Women’s Institute and the Hampshire Federation, which was founded in 1918. This included helping to organise events and giving talks. In an obituary published in the Hampshire Chronicle she was described as an ‘expert handicraft designer and judge ... an authority ... on needlecraft, knitting ... [and] embroidery.’ Apart from her involvement in the project which resulted in the publication of It Happened in Hampshire, in later years ‘she produced for private circulation a very comprehensive history of Longstoke village.’

Sources

• John Lewis Partnership Memory Store

• Hampshire Chronicle, 13 December 1952 p.5.

Portrait

Contribution to county’s history

When It Happened in Hampshire was first published in 1937 it attracted considerable attention in the local press and did much to stimulate interest in Hampshire’s past, with chapters on subjects, such as village churches; industries past and present; legends; stories and sayings; and smuggling. The purpose of the project was ‘to collect and chronicle the life and customs of the villages as observed and assembled by members of ... Women’s Institutes.’ By involving members throughout the county, it can be said to have assisted in ‘democratising’ local history and to have encouraged what became known as ‘oral history’. Moreover, it prepared the ground for similar projects and publications in the years following the Second World War, specifically (a) The New Hampshire Village Book, published in 1990; (b) Hampshire Within Living Memory, published in 1994; and (c) Hampshire: a century in photographs, published in 1998, all of which were compiled by the Hampshire County Federation of Women’s Institutes and included contributions by many of the Institutes in the County.

Relevant published works

• It Happened in Hampshire: doings, sayings and interests, past and present (Hampshire Federation of Women’s Institutes, 1937).

Critical Comments

Other Comments

In her role as compiler and arranger of It Happened in Hampshire, Winifred was ably assisted by Elsa B. Christy of Ringwood and Vera Love, who was responsible for the chapter headings. The publication which retailed for 1s was ‘a best seller’. At the autumn Council meeting of the Hampshire Federation of Women’s Institutes the Chairman ‘thanked the Institutes for their splendid work in selling copies ... They had sold nearly 4000 ... of the first edition ... and 458 ... of the second’ (Hampshire Advertiser, 27 November 1937, p.5). It was also claimed in Winifred’s obituary that the book ‘proved of interest to readers all over the world.’

Contributor

Roger Ottewill (1st March 2024)

Key Words

Longstock, Women's Institute, Hampshire Federation

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