In writing about naval dockyards, and the infrastructure in general that kept a navy at sea, Portsmouth is a city that cannot be ignored. Once possessing the world’s largest and most important naval dockyard, Portsea Island and neighbouring Gosport is also home to a range of other facilities that have either supported or continue to support the British navy when preparing or returning ships for sea service. In recognising this, I have written much about Portsmouth, looking not just at naval facilities, but also the city where the workforce lived and the impact upon Portsmouth of various threatened enemy invasions.
My Portsmouth titles: Portsmouth Dockyard Through Time (2017) Settlers, visitors and asylum seekers : diversity in Portsmouth since the late 18th century (2007) Portsmouth: Unique Images from the Archives of Historic England (2017) A-Z of Portsmouth: People-Places-History (2018) Portsmouth at Work (2018) Portsmouth’s Military Heritage (2023)
Portsmouth also features significantly in two further books I have written, The Great Anglo-Russian Naval Alliance of the Eighteenth Century and Beyond (2022) and The Naval Mutinies of 1798: The Irish Plot to Seize the Channel Fleet (2024).
