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The Duke Of Wellington was situated at 93 Russelll Street.

Source: Darkstar

The pub presumably got the name of the Duke of Wellington after the military hero got his title in 1814. It likely existed before then under some other name. In the 1820s it was sometimes known as the Lord Wellington, but more commonly as the Wellington tavern or the Duke of Wellington. The pub’s locality had also various names. An 1828 directory described it as the Half Way Houses, but more commonly the place was known as Hyde Park Corner. The pub stood on the corner of Russell Street and Hyde Park Road, and Hyde Park Corner echoed the address of the Duke of Wellington in London. In the 1820s the Lord Wellington was in the hands of Henry and Lovica Baker. By the early 1830s Henry Baker had died and his wife Lovica, as was customary, took over the tavern. She got into financial difficulties in 1832, and had to give up the pub. By July 1833 she was bankrupt. But For Lovica Baker, keeping the Wellington was not just an occupation, it was an identity. At her bankruptcy in 1833, and on her death in 1844, she identified as the widow of Henry Baker, and keeper of the Duke of Wellington tavern. Keeping the Wellington had similar effects on other licencees, and turned them into well-known figures in the community. William Sprake seems to be the next to keep the Wellington. The Sprakes had migrated to Portsmouth from the Isle of Wight around 1800. William’s brother Jacob was a circus bandmaster, travelling widely, while his brother George was Portsmouth builder, coal meter and beer-house keeper. George Sprake married an Eliza Baker who I suspect was Henry and Lovica’s daughter, although the marriage happened after the Baker’s lost control of the Wellington. During the 1840s the Sprakes participated in the politics and political schemes of the town. William Sprake stood for Poor Law Overseer in the parish of Portsea, while his brother George used his position as coal meter to collect (and substantially forge) signatures to railway petitions. At intervals both William and George served as coal meters. Pubs had various functions besides those of the obvious provision of drink, food and hospitality. The Wellington was being used for auctions by the 1820s, but it was also used quite frequently for inquests. The newspaper record for these seems to begin in the late 1840s but they continued in the Wellington until about 1882. At the licence transfer sessions of December 1858 the licence for the Duke of Wellington was transferred from William Sprake to Charles Louch. Louch moved his family in at the beginning of January 1859. Like the Bakers, but unlike the Sprakes, Louch had children. During the six years he kept the Wellington, one of the Louch children was born, and one died. The tavern continued to serve as a focus for its community, to host inquests and auctions. There were at least 6 inquests at the Wellington in 1863, for example. It also hosted a Conservative committee room during the 1859 election. In the spring of 1863, citing ill-health, Louch made a serious attempt to transfer the licence of the Wellington to someone else, but in the end he remained. Around 1862 the Duke of Wellington became a meeting place for an Oddfellows Lodge. The brethren were an insurance fraternity, whose invented traditions and regalia, enabled ordinary working men to obtain basic life and sickness insurance. The Lennox Lodge began their meetings at the Wellington in the second half of 1862, with around 60 members. The Lodge had been founded in 1851 and had previously met at the Barley Mow and the Wiltshire Lamb pubs in Southsea. Many of the Lodge meetings required catering, which Louch supplied. For a while the Wellington provided them with a lodge room for regular fortnightly meetings. In September 1865 the Lodge formed up a parade at the Wellington, when the Mayor of Portsmouth and the brethren in their regalia, led by the band of the Royal Marine Light Infantry marched off to a fete at the East Hants Cricket Ground. Here they enjoyed refreshments, speeches, sports and, discreditably, a black-faced minstrel show. After 1865 Louch transferred the Duke of Wellington to Elizabeth Jane Smith and her husband. Louch moved on to other pubs, and went bankrupt in the spring of 1868. Running the Wellington seems to have been one of the highlights of his life. Under the Smiths the pub continued to serve the community. The Lennox Oddfellows lodge departed in 1868, having grown too large to meet at the Wellington. Mr. Smith participated actively in the Licensed Victuallers Association, with its annual dinners and balls. The Wellington continued to rent out its space to Conservative and Liberal-Conservative political committees. The inquests continued, with a sorry procession of dead babies, suicides and people who had suddenly collapsed and died. Each drew the coroner, his clerk, 24 jurors, assorted witnesses and curious onlookers. The Smiths were paid for the Coroner’s use of space, but they also benefitted from the numbers of people who availed themselves of the tavern’s hospitality as the proceedings unfolded. In June 1872 there were a series of indignation meetings held by local ratepayers across Portsmouth to express concern about municipal taxation and other matters. At least one of the meetings was held at the Wellington, although it drew such large numbers that the next one had to be relocated to a field at Lake Road. In July 1875 Elizabeth Smith transferred the licence to the Humby family. The nominal licencee was James Humby, local pork butcher and dairyman, but the effective operator of the Wellington was his son, Walter George Humby, who moved in with his young family. In November 1877 Humby pled guilty to the common practice of watering down the spirits. The Wellington continued as a community hub, hosting local organizations such as the Gift Club for its annual dinners in the early 1880s. Another Oddfellows lodge began meeting at the Wellington in 1878. The Richmond Lodge, previously associated with the Richmond Arms, held their AGM at the Wellington in June 1878. They continued to meet at the Wellington throughout the time that the Humby family held the tavern licence. Their space at the Wellington proved adequate for regular meetings, but for smoking concerts they usually had to book a hall elsewhere. These events were characterised by recitations, and singing. They continued to meet at the Wellington until 1890 when their numbers grew too large for the available space. While previous landlords of the Wellington had accommodated Conservative committee rooms and political organization, under the Humby family the Wellington began to accommodate the activities of organized labour. The Portsmouth Branch of the National Association of Operative Plasterers began meeting at the Wellington in 1882. They continued until about 1898. The Plasterers held dinners at the Wellington, which the Humbys catered, and smoking concerts with piano accompaniment and ocarina soloists. To accommodate the Oddfellows and the Plasterers, the Wellington required a suitably-sized meeting room, which seems to have been equipped with an upright piano. The Humby family also began the practice of advertising for bar staff in the local newspapers. In 1881 they used the Portsmouth Evening News to call for a young man to make himself generally useful, one accustomed preferred. As with previous landlords, the Wellington turned Humby into something of a community figure. He stood for poor law guardian in 1887, and was nominated but did not stand in 1892. By this stage his health was deteriorating. After 5 months of illness, he died on 30 Jan 1893. His widow Julia took over the licence, as was the custom. She kept the pub until April 1897 when the licence was transferred to Charles Daniel Welton. Welton ran the Wellington only for a short time, and by the spring of 1899 had taken over the Mother Shipton on Stramshaw Street. Meanwhile the Wellington had passed into the hands of the Redman family. Ernest Redman seriously considered tearing down some of the pub and enlarging it onto an adjoining property, but at the September 1901 Licencing Sessions the scheme was rejected after complaints by the Hyde Park Tavern. During the Nineteenth century, especially when the Wellington was in use for club, lodge and labour meetings, there were catered dinners. For most of the Twentieth century, despite numerous help-wanted ads in the newspapers, the Duke of Wellington never advertised for kitchen staff. They advertised for barmaids and general servants, backbar staff and strong lads willing to make themselves useful, but never for the kinds of staff need to cater food for large events or pub meals. The impression is that, by the Twentieth Century, The Duke of Wellington had ceased to offer food service. The inflection point may well have been Mr. Redman’s failure to get approval to renovate and expand his kitchen in 1901. Redman had to contend with rowdiness in the bar, some of it concerning men who had returned from the Boer war. In July 1903, the licence for the Duke of Wellington was transferred from Ernest Redman to Harry Redman, who in turn transferred it to James William Perkins in December 1903. The Redman family had moved on, as publicans did, to a new establishment the Stramshaw Hotel. The Perkins family kept the Wellington at least to 1916. Newspaper stories of the period indicate the piano was one of the Wellington’s more important features. By June 1925 the Duke of Wellington had passed to William Richard Hatter, keen to welcome his new and old customers. The Pub’s routines continued, with fundraising efforts for the Hospital Saturday Fund. Hatter parked his 2-seater FIAT outside the pub on Russell Street. In July 1927 Hatter transferred the licence of the Duke of Wellington to George Edward Stanford. Stanford rearranged some of the space at the pub to create a rentable club room, with piano. In addition to the usual bar staff, the Duke of Wellington made efforts to hire pianists to improve the evening atmosphere. By 1937 the Duke of Wellington had transferred again to the Smith family, who would be its last licencees. Sidney Alexander Smith was the licencee of record, but his wife Ada Louise and various available family members assisted in the bar, including daughter Kathy. There were occasional appearances by actress daughter Babs, (stage name Babette O’Deal), who appeared sporadically when at liberty. Sidney Smith died in January 1940, and the licence transferred to his widow Ada. The Duke of Wellington continued to serve its community, hiring bar staff, and raising money for the Portsmouth Spitfire Fund. After generating a stream of newspaper references at regular intervals, the Duke of Wellington abruptly ceased to generate newspaper references after August 1940. The Duke of Wellington pub fell victim to the Portsmouth Blitz, along with a number of surrounding properties. In 1954 Portsmouth acquired the blitzed area through compulsory purchase intending a redevelopment project.

Richard Anderson (April 2023)

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