Southampton

St Mary's road
32 Carlton place
Commercial road
Shirley road

St Mary's road:
‘Hampshire Royal Garrison Artillery; head quarters,1st Heavy Battery, Right Section, Nos. 2, 5 and 7 Cos., St. Mary’s road.’ (Kelly, 1911)

The Drill Hall was built for the 1st Hampshire Artillery Volunteers. Artillery. Col. Edward Bance (a former artillery soldier and three times mayor of Southampton) was instrumental in the project. Its foundation stone dates it to 1889. From 1974 onwards it has been the St Mary’s Leisure Centre and has been recently refurbished (2007).

32 Carlton place:
‘5th Battalion Hampshire Regiment; head quarters, A, B, C, D, E & G Companies, 32 Carlton pl.’ (Kelly, 1911)

Both 30 and 31 Carlton place were in use in 1914. Number 30 housed the County Administration Headquarters and Stores and number 32 was used by the 5th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment.

The premises are now the headquarters of the Southampton University Officers Training Corps, formed in November 1902 when some twenty or more students of the then Hartley University College joined together to form a Company of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment. They used the Carlton Place premises for weapons training, whilst foot drills were carried out at the College Assembly Hall. Members of the OTC were commissioned into the 5th Battalion Hampshire Regiment and other units during the Great War.

Hamilton House, Commercial road:
3rd Wessex Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps; C Section
C Squadron Hampshire (Carabiniers) Yeomanry
Hampshire Royal Horse Artillery
(All references Kelly, 1911)
Assumed demolished.

Shirley road:
Reference was found in Kelly's 1898 Directory to an Artillery Drill Hall in Shirley road, on the corner of Shirley Avenue.
St Mary's road


St Mary's road


St Mary's road


Carlton Place


Carlton Place


Southampton St Mary's Road 1910
Postcard of St Mary's Road in 1910. Enlarge
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the first attempt at content

The Drill Hall Project - Charting a neglected legacy