Place:Shirley (near Southampton), Hampshire, England

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Shirley from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"SHIRLEY, a chapelry, with a village and four hamlets, in Milbrook parish, Hants; 1½ mile NE of Milbrook [railway] station, and 2 NW of Southampton. It has a post-office under Southampton. Population in 1861: 4,941. Houses: 962. [Shirley] Common is one of the hamlets, takes its name from a recently enclosed common, and has also a post-office under Southampton. The living is a [perpetual] curacy in the diocese of Winchester. Value £450: Patron: the Rev. W. Orger. The church was built in 1836. There are a Wesleyan chapel and a national school.

Shirley was a civil parish between 1894 and 1912 during which time it was part of the County Borough of Southampton. It was completely absorbed into the city itself in 1912.

Research Tips

• Victoria County History of Hampshire, volume 3, chapter on Southampton.
• English Jurisdictions 1851 is a series of outline maps of ecclesiastical parishes thoughout England. It is very handy for working out the neighbourhoods covered by individual parishes, particularly in large towns and cities.
• GENUKI has a list of archive holders in Hampshire including the Hampshire Record Office, various museums in Portsmouth and Southhampton, the Isle of Wight Record Office and Archives.
• The Hampshire Online Parish Clerk project has a large collection of transcriptions from Parish Registers across Hampshire.
• A listing of all the Registration Districts in England and Wales since their introduction in 1837 together with tables listing the parishes that were part of each district and the time period covered, along with detailed notes on changes of parish name, mergers, etc. Do respect the copyright on this material.
• The three-storey City Museum in Winchester covers the Iron Age and Roman periods, the Middle Ages, and the Victorian period.
• Volumes in The Victoria County History Series are available for Hampshire through British History Online. There are three volumes and the county is covered by parishes within the old divisions of "hundreds".

A collection of maps on the A Vision of Britain through Time website illustrating the English county of Hampshire over the period 1832-1932 (the last two are expandible):

• The Hundreds of Hampshire, a map from HMSO Boundary Commissioners, dated 1832
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts as of 1900, a map from the Ordnance Survey
• Hampshire showing parishes in their Rural Districts after the alterations of 1932, a map from the Ordnance Survey

• A group of maps of the post-1974 municipal districts or boroughs of Hampshire on Wikipedia Commons