Themes

Article Highlights

• Introduction - The Royal Navy at Portsmouth

• The Importance of Portsmouth

• The Affect of War on the City

• Naval Ceremony and Pageantry

• Entertainment and Free Time

Entertainment and Free Time

‘Lurid tales were told in our Mess about local ‘knocking shops’ (i.e. Brothels)… Although we pushed our handcart all over Portsmouth we never came across any, having been told they could be identified by the queues outside!’
Lieutenant Ernest Lean, 1941. (RNM 2000/74)

Portsmouth was notorious for the number of its pubs due to the city’s strong connection with the Royal Navy. When on shore leave sailors would frequent the many drinking establishments, and other delights, the town had to offer.

Illustrated postcard of Queen Street, Portsea, Portsmouth featuring sailors walking down the road. Queen Street is located adjacent to the naval base at Portsmouth and would have seen many sailors and dockyard workers. (RNM)

Alcohol abuse was rife and there was an abundance of prostitutes. Philanthropists in cities such as Portsmouth and the other dockyard towns did much to promote temperance – a movement to encourage people to stop drinking alcohol.

In 1941 Lieutenant Ernest Lean was stationed at HMS Victory, Portsmouth’s Royal Naval Barracks as a Probationer Supply Assistant collecting stores from the dockyard. Lean remembers what sailors used to get up to on nights out in Portsmouth:

‘All night leave was de rigueur and the first liberty boat from the Barracks was 1545 and the return had to be by 0715 the next morning. Occasionally we used to get a 6d bed for the night at ‘Aggie Weston’s’ for a change. One could sign the pledge against alcohol and receive in cash 2d for a cup of tea and 1d for a bun in return. Hardened sailors used to go in and sign the pledge – get 3d – and off to the ‘Eight Bells’ in Charlotte Street for a pint.’

The Royal Sailor's Rests at Devonport and Portsmouth. (RNM)

Aggie Weston’s was a Sailor’s Rest, opened in Portsmouth in 1881. Agnes Weston created the Sailor's Rests in various naval towns as a hostel for sailors to eat, drink and stay in. The Royal Sailor's Rest in Devonport was the first of its kind to open in May 1876.

Weston was a member of the Royal Naval Temperance Society and hoped that these sites would encourage sailors to live sober lives. The ‘Rests’ house 900 men at Devonport and 700 at Portsmouth. Their success resulted in several local pubs closing due to lack of custom. Weston and her business partner Sophia Wintz also opened Sailor's Rests in Portland and Sheerness. The Sailor’s Rest in Portsmouth was destroyed during the air raids on the city during World War Two.

A cabin in a Sailor's Rest - Weston also produced the newspaper Ashore and Afloat, which encouraged Christian beliefs in sailors. (RNM)