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Celebrating Hampshire Historians

Dale, William

1846 - 1925

‘[With] the death of Mr. William Dale’ states the obituary notice in Volume 10 of the Proceedings, ‘the Hampshire Field Club lost one who served it faithfully and enthusiastically nearly from its foundation.’

William Dale, whose professional career involved a piano business in Sussex Place, Southampton, became a member of the Society in 1887.  This was just two years after the club was formed and he was soon appointed joint honorary secretary.  It was a post he was to hold for the next 37 years.  As well as having a wide knowledge of Hampshire history and archaeology, he was a geologist, conchologist and numismatist.  He became a Fellow of the Geological Society and the Society of Antiquaries and was an official lecturer at the British Museum.

Closer to home Dale was a staunch supporter of the Tudor House Museum in Southampton and of Winchester City Museum, to whom he donated the Dale Collection of prehistoric implements. He was a man of considerable energy, protesting against the destruction of monuments in the New Forest and helping to lead the campaign to stop Southampton Corporation from demolishing the Bargate.

He also became involved in Field Club ‘watching briefs’ at Clausentum, reporting his findings to the Society of Antiquaries in 1902, and at Droxford, where the new Meon Valley Railway was carving through an Anglo-Saxon cemetery.  The recovery of artefacts from this site was far from easy; ‘…the place is 20 miles from my home’ wrote Dale ‘and five from any railway station’ but he collected brooches, toilet implements, swords, spears and shield bosses which would otherwise have been lost and once again exhibited them at Burlington House.

His role as secretary put him at the heart of Field Club events and he made no less than 29 contributions to the Proceedings over the years.  He was also instrumental in revitalising enthusiasm for field meetings in the late Edwardian period, when interest in such visits appeared to be on the wane..

Sources

Obituary; Proc Hants Field Club, 10, 92 (1925)

Taylor, B (1985) One Hundred Years of the Field Club, Proc Hants Field Club 41, 5-20

Portrait

William Dale

Contribution to county’s history

A staunch supporter of the Hampshire Field Club who served it well for nearly four decades; his deep interest in the history and antiquities of the county made him a tireless campaigner in early preservation and conservation efforts and he was keen to put local discoveries onto the wider stage.  

Relevant published works

  • Dale W, (1898), Ancient Bronze Weapons from the Neighbourhood of Southampton, Proc Hants Field Club, 3, 265-6

  • Dale W, (1900), Neolithic Implements from the Neighbourhood of Southampton, Proc Hants Field Club, 4, 183-5

  • Dale W, (1914) Hampshire Flints. Demarcation of the Stone Ages; Proc Hants Field Club, 7, 20-4 (paper read before the Anthropological Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at Birmingham, September 12th, 1913)

Critical Comments

Other Comments

Contributor

Dave Allen, April 2023

Keywords

Hampshire Field Club, Tudor House Museum, Southampton, Winchester City Museum, Clausentum, Droxford Anglo-Saxon Cemetery

Any queries or further suggestions for this part of the list should be addressed to celebrating@hantsfieldclub.org.uk.

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