Place:Bognor Regis, Sussex, England

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source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Bognor Regis is a seaside resort in West Sussex on the south coast of England, 55.5 miles (89 km) southwest of London, 24 miles (39 km) west of Brighton, 5.81 miles (9 km) southeast of Chichester and 16 miles (26 km) east of Portsmouth. Other nearby towns include Littlehampton east-northeast and the smaller resort of Selsey to the southwest. The nearby former parishes of Felpham, and Aldwick South Bersted are now suburbs of Bognor Regis]]. The population of the Bognor Regis built-up area, including Felpham and Aldwick, was 63,855 at the 2011 census.

Bognor Regis became part of the Arun District of West Sussex in 1974.

A seaside resort named Bognor was developed by Sir Richard Hotham in the late 18th century on what was a sandy, undeveloped coastline. The resort grew slowly in the first half of the 19th century, but rapidly following the coming of the railway in 1864. In 1929 the area was chosen by advisors to King George V which led to its regal suffix, by royal consent. Butlin's has been present in the town since the early 1930s when an amusement park and zoo were opened. A holiday camp followed in 1960 and this has more recently moved towards hotel accommodation with modern amenities.

History

Bognor Regis was originally named just Bognor [redirected here], being a fishing (and smuggling) village until the 18th century, when it was converted into a resort by Sir Richard Hotham who renamed the settlement Hothampton, although this did not catch on. It has been postulated that Hotham and his new resort are portrayed in Jane Austen's unfinished novel Sanditon.

Bognor was originally part of the ancient parish of Pagham in Sussex, with a port or haven on the Aldingbourne Rife. From around 1465 it was included in the parish of Bersted before attaining ecclesiastical parish status separate from South Bersted in 1873. Until 1894 it formed part of the Hundred of Aldwick, an ancient division of the Rape of Chichester. From 1894 to 1974 it was part of Bognor Urban District (renamed Bognor Regis Urban District in 1929), and since 1974 it has been a part of the Arun Districtin West Sussex.

On the beach between Bognor Regis and Aldwick lies the wreck of a floating pontoon (caisson) which was once part of the Mulberry floating harbours used by the Allies to invade the French coast on D-Day 6 June 1944. It was a part of the Mulberry harbour which broke free in a storm on 4 June, the day before it was due to go over the channel to Arromanche. This particular section of Mulberry was abandoned and did not make it across the Channel. It was washed up on the beach shortly after D-Day. It is clearly visible at low tide throughout the year.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Bognor Regis#History. Most of the remainder of this article refers to 20th century events.

Research Tips

• The West Sussex Record Office is located in Chichester. Because it holds the records of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester, which covers the whole of Sussex, it has church records relating to both parts of Sussex.
• An on-line catalogue for some of the collections held by the West Sussex Record Office is available under the Access to Archives (A2A) project (a nationwide facility housed at The National Archives, Kew).
• West Sussex Past - database of 2 million records from West Sussex heritage organizations.
• The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies' Sussex Collection (PDF). This is a 9-page PDF naming the files relating to Sussex in their collection-a possible first step in a course of research.
• The National Library of Scotland has a website which provides maps taken from the Ordnance Survey England & Wales One-Inch to the Mile series of 1892-1908 as well as equivalent maps for Scotland itself. The immediate presentation is a "help" screen and a place selection screen prompting the entry of a location down to town, village or parish level. These screens can be removed by a click of the "X". The map is very clear and shows parish and county boundaries and many large buildings and estates that existed at the turn of the 20th century. Magnification can be adjusted and an "overlay feature" allows inspection of the area today along with that of 1900. The specific map from the series can be viewed as a whole ("View this map") and this allows the inspection of the map legend (found in the left hand bottom corner. Becoming familiar with the various facilities of these maps is well worth the trouble.

• GENUKI on Bognor
• British History Online. A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 4, the Rape of Chichester, section on Bognor
• Maps of the local area are to be found on pages for Aldwick Hundred and Chichester Rape.