Broad Street

17 Broad Street
“Blue Posts”

Hampshire Chronicle : Monday 23 November 1778

Edward and Elizabeth Hunt from Bath, beg leave to inform the public in general and their friends in particular, that they have taken and entered  on that well-known and capital inn the Two Blue Posts in Broad Street, and having laid in a large stock of the choicest and most genuine wines, and other liquors, hope by their care and assiduity to merit the continuance of favours from those who have honoured that Inn with their company.

N.B.   Neat post chaises with careful drivers to any part of the Kingdom

Hampshire Chronicle : Monday 26 June 1780

Private Ship of War

For sale by the candle, at the Blue Posts Inn, on Tuesday, the 27th inst., 1780, immediately after the sale of the cargo of the Fortuna, advertised in this paper, that remarkable fine ship th e Dunkerquoise, French Privateer, well known by having captured upwards of 40 English vessels, mounted 22 guns on a single deck, almost new, as complete a vessel for the purpose  as can be found and supported to be one of the fastest sailing vessels that went out of France; a prize to His Majesty’s ships Emerald and Champion.

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Salisbury and Winchester Journal : Monday 20 May 1782

For sale by the candle, at the Blue Posts Inn, on Monday the 27th of may, 1782, at three o’clock in the afternoon.

Sundry ships stores; consisting of standing and running rigging, topmasts, yards, sails, water casks, muskets, cutlasses,, with several other articles, as will be specified in the catalogues, being the equipment of the Tartar brig, privateer, taken on her passage by his Majesty’s Ship, the Arethusa, Sir Richard Pearson, commander.

The stores to be viewed three lawful days previous to the sale, and catalogues to be timely had, by applying to Mr Lindegren, Portsmouth.

NB  At the same time will be sold, sundry ships stores and provisions &c., to be viewed above.

Hampshire Chronicle : Monday 5 January 1784

To be sold by auction, at the Blue Posts, by order of the Assignees, in about three weeks, the stock in trade and effects of Mr Andr Lindegren, Jun., a bankrupt; consisting of a new store house, in East Street, holden on a building lease of 59 years; lease of a house, wharf and stores in Broad Street; shares in three sloops, from 40 to 70 tons burthen; two lighters and other craft; about 220 barrels of tar; 200 barrels of Pitch; a large quantity of ships stores; old guns and shot; several new masts and spars; and sundry other goods for home consumption and exportation.

Also a quantity of household furniture, and a most choice collection of sherry, Madeira, Red Ports, Claret, and other wines, in cask and bottles.

The whole will be more particularly expressed in the catalogues.  The day of sale will be advertised in this paper in due time, and the catalogues will be delivered on the premises, at the place of sale, and by Matthew Miller and Co. of Gosport.

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Salisbury and Winchester Journal : Monday 25 December 1786

For sale by auction, at the Blue Posts Inn, Portsmouth, on Thursday 28th of December 1786 - Two hundred barrels of Archangel Pitch, and one large cask of Lamp Black.  The goods to be viewed two days previous to sale, by applying at Mr Lindegren’s office, Portsmouth Point.

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Hampshire Chronicle : Monday 3 June 1793

To be sold by auction, by Mr Collins,on Monday the 17th June,1793, at six o’clock in the afternoon, at the Two Blue Posts inn, on the Point at Portsmouth, in the county of Southampton, the several valuable estates following :

Lot 1 : All that large and well accustomed public house, bearing the sign ‘ Lord Hood’s Head’, situate in the square, opposite the Round Tower, on the Point of Portsmouth, now in the occupation of Mr Nathaniel Jackson : and two tenements adjoining now in the occupations of Mrs Connor and others.

Lot 2 : Four tenements fronting into the aforesaid square, one tenement at the back thereof, now in the several occupations of James Squib, Ann Mullins and others.

Lot 3 : All that good accustomed public house, bearing the sign of the ‘Ship Tyger’, fronting into the said square, now in the occupation of Mr David Lewis

Lot 4 : Two double messuages or tenements, adjoining the last lot in Tower Street (no 14 and 15) now in the several occupations of Mrs Byfield and Mrs Monday

Lot 5 : a new brick built double messuage or tenement, adjoining the last lot (no 13) now in the occupation of Mr Michael Burn.

Bristol Mirror : Saturday 28 April 1810

To be sold by public auction, at the Blue Posts Inn, on Thursday, the 3d May, 1810, at twelve o’clock at noon, the following goods;

136 bales of cotton : 955 barrels Turpentine : 49 Pieces of rice : 7 casks Bees-Wax : 10,000 White Oak Hogshead Staves and 73 Hands of tobacco.

Landed from the American ship Huron, from Wilmington, North Carolina.

The whole to be viewed, catalogues to be had, and further particulars known , by application to Day and Phillips, Portsmouth

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Public Ledger and daily Advertiser : Monday 27 January 1812

On Friday afternoon, a fire broke out in one of the chambers of the Blue Posts Tavern, on the Point, Portsmouth, which threatened the greatest danger ; but by the prompt exertions of the military and inhabitants, it was got under.  The damage is, however, considerable.

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Brighton Gazette : 18 November 1830

Observe!!

The Nimrod, new fast coach, to Portsmouth in six hours, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, at ten - route, through Worthing, Arundel, and Chichester, from the Bedford Hotel and orations Coach office, Brighton, and returns the following afternoons, at three o’clock, from The Blue Posts, Broad Street.Saturday 16 January 1841 : Derbyshire Courier

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Portsmouth Point - Letter to Editor

Portsmouth Point - was - I say was, for I have not seen it in these twenty-five years - a long street, running from the barriers and drawbridge that separated it from the High Street, till it terminated in a shingly beach up the harbour; and being nothing more than a narrow slip of isolated land, from then derived its name.  There was also a sort of purée or by-lane, with an intervening space, which, from its having an old capstan in its centre, was designated Capstan-Square.

A noted spot was the Point in the days of war.  There stood the inviting “Blue Posts’, where many a hungry reefer, has enjoyed his tea for two and toast for six.  Oh it was delectable sight to witness the eagerness with which the “young gentlemen” regaled themselves; d-ing the waiters, to show that they were real officers, and topping the grandee in extraordinary style, without ht least fear of brought up, all standing, by the first lieutenant.

Dear delightful Blue Posts, how well do I remember your characteristic columns at the entrance, and the snug coffee room on the right hand side of the passage; - happy and joyous have been the hours that I have passed within those walls - many a bleak winter morning have I had charge of the large cutter, and pulled or sailed in from Spithead, shivering with cold, wet, hungry, and fretful.  Ordered by the hard-hearted and cruel first lieutenant  not to quit the boat myself, nor suffer the men to do so; no sooner did the cutter’s nose grate upon the beach at Sally-port, than I manifested my obedience by lodging the crew at the Duncan’s Head (where as a matter of course, I paid the shot), and then hurrying to the Blue Posts, have found a dozen or more, equally as attentive to duty as myself - luxuriating in the warmth of a glowing fire - sitting over their steaming cups, and swearing big oaths that they submit to no control but that of the captain; for whom, probably, a letter lay by their side, with orders from the first lieutenant that “it should be delivered immediately on landing.”

“Waiter, breakfast! and bear a hand about it,”was the order; and in came the hot rolls, not merely unctuously spread with, for that would hardly have contented a midshipman’s palate, but swimming in butter, to gratify a half-famished appetite, and no fond momma or discreet papa to check their darling in his gorge.  Oh the glorious, delicious, melting morsels, how rapidly they were devoured; and ever and anon the room sounded with the demand, “Waiter, more rolls.”

 What a history that place record! How many young and ardent aspirants to naval fame have congregated there in the first opening dawn of their glory - from a child of ten years, who fancied his cocked hat and uniform made him a man, to the bold dashing “middy” of twenty, who proudly calculated upon having done “some service to the state.”  I can remember many a fine handsome youth, full of eager hope and expectation, longing for his time of servitude to expire, and reckoning up the sum of influence he possessed to obtain a commission from the hard-fisted, patronage-loving first lord of the Admiralty.  These were the young men who fearlessly sought danger ”Even in the cannon’s mouth.”; and where are they now? Some I see occasionally, are grey-headed old men, who having gained the desired step, have never risen higher; - lieutenants who toiled amidst the the alternate strifes of storm and battle for some twenty or thirty years, and there they are, lieutenants still; whilst boys, who never smelt powder but in firing a salute, have grasped the coveted distinction, and sport their pair of epaulettes.  Others, it is true, are now old post captains, and some few have hoisted their flag, but the greatest portion have swept away into the dark abyss of eternity.

Hampshire Telegraph : Monday 30 October 1837

Capital Inn and Genteel Dwelling House

To be sold by auction, by Mr Peacock, on the premises, on Thursday, the 16th of November, 1837, at three o’clock precisely.  All those extensive freehold, compact and valuable premises, known as the Blue Posts Tavern and Hotel, with the Coach and Waggon offices, extensive ware-room, stabling, and out-houses, situate in Broad Street, and also a genteel residence on the Grand Parade, in two Lots:-

Lot 1 : The Blue Posts Tavern and Hotel, a spacious, long established, and well frequented house, advantageously situate for business on the north side of Broad Street; containing on the ground floor, a good coffee room, coach office, bar, bar parlour, tea room, kitchen, larder, scullery, cellarage and offices: on the first and second floors, an excellent dining room, front and back sitting rooms, principal and secondary staircases, with convenient landings, 19 bedrooms, dressing rooms, water closets &c..

The Waggon Department, consists of a bay window front office, a back office fitted with desks, counter, iron safes and presses, comfortable sitting room, sleeping and dressing rooms, an immediate communication with the gateway, and a paved yard completely enclosed with stabling for 20 horses, with lofts over, a lock up coach house,extensive and commodious warehouses, loading shed, cranes, and evert requisite for conducting business on a large scale both by land and water, as the are-rooms open on the Camber, and are capable of affording a quay 88 feet in length, and which, in the event of the formation of Commercial Docks now in contemplation, must prove a most valuable possession; adjoining the gateway, and connected with the Tavern, is a tenement used as a Tap, having a front tap-room, small bar, and five bedrooms &c., completing a street frontage of 88 feet, and running in a straight line backwards 116 feet to the Camber; now in the general occupation of Mr M Hall, and Messrs Pescott and Stanbury, yearly tenants, at the reduced rent of £150

The increasing business of the hotel, and coaching, and the Steam Navigation, under the judicious management of Mr Hall, the extensive London, Bristol and Brighton Waggon Establishment of Messrs Pescott and Stanbury, the tenure, extent and compactness of the premises - the probable establishment of Docks -  and the unparalleled local advantages of a war, are circumstances which cannot fail to present to the public, benefits which appear to attach almost exclusively to Portsmouth as the greatest Naval Arsenal in the world.  (Lot 2 - see Grand Parade)

Hampshire Advertiser : Saturday 31 July 1847

Henry Mandeville was charged by Mary Jane Rogers, with assaulting her on the 23rd inst..  The complainant lived as servant to Mr Scarlett, at the “Blue Posts Tap”, Broad Street, and the defendant also lived at the same house.  On the day in question the complainant told her mistress that “Harry was playing with the nurse-maid, or might have finished his work.”  On this he charged her with telling tales on him and threw a tub of water at her head.  He was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of 10s, and 9s costs, or fourteen days’ imprisonment.

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Hampshire Telegraph : Saturday 7 August 1847

The following inquest was held before W Cooper Esq, Coroner ; On Saturday last at the Lion and Lamb, Broad Street, on the body of Marianne Emery, aged 27, wife of Mr Emery, of the”Blue Posts Tap,” who had been confined about two months, but had sufficiently recovered to enable her to walk out on the Friday evening.  Her husband was dangerously ill ; she was very anxious about him, and had watched by his side, night after night.  On Friday night her mother prevailed on her to go to bed with her ; about one o’clock on Saturday morning, at the request of the deceased, her mother went to see how the husband was ; and returning said he was much the same as when deceased had left him.  The deceased then sat up in bed, took the child to give it to the breast, when she suddenly made an hysterical noise, and died almost instantly.  Mr Garrington, surgeon, who had attended her, examined the body, but found no morbid appearances that could account satisfactorily for the cause of death ; but was of opinion death ensued  from natural causes and most probably from sudden syncope.  Verdict accordingly

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Saturday 4 March 18 1854 : Portsmouth Times and Naval Gazette

Marryatt’s Blue Posts Hotel, Broad Street

Commanding views of Spithead, the Isle of Wight, Motherbank, St Helen’s Roads &c..

W E Alexander

The public will find this house particularly convenient, from its proximity to Victoria Pier, the Custom House, Shipping Agents &c., being comfortable in its arrangements, and moderate in charges. 

Railway and Steam Company’s General Depot.  Omnibuses, cabs, &c., to and from the railway station

W E Alexander having removed to the above old-established house, respectfully returns thanks to his patrons during the past ten years, and trust by strict attention, with moderate charges to merit a continuance of the same.

1861 Census : “Blue Posts”

Henry Suter : Office Clerk : 55 yrs

living with Harriett at 3 Mitchell’s Court, light porter on railway;

1871 living with Harriett at alms houses7 Anerley Terrace;

Harriett : 58 yrs

Harriett S Coe : 32 yrs

Lydia H : 4 yrs

Mary E : 2 months

Robert Harris : Ostler : 46 yrs

Elizabeth : 41 yrs

James Tyler : Stoker RN : 24 yrs

Anna : 25 yrs

Wednesday 11 May 1870

Great Fire at Portsmouth

At about 2 o’clock on Saturday morning a waterman named Peter Smith, residing at West Street,, was passing the Blue Posts, public house, Broad street, and saw smoke issuing from the bar doors.  He knocked tat the door, rang the bell and shouted fire, when Mr William Miles, landlord, and his son, James Miles, came to the door.  An alarm was raised and Mr Inspector Hood, and Police-Sergeant Porter went to the place with the hose and reel, which were fixed to a hydrant in Broad Street , opposite the house, but twenty minutes elapsed before a supply of water could be obtained.  In a few minutes the house was in flames.  The borough engine was sent for, and Inspector Reed, from Portsea, arrived with the hose from that place, which was fixed to a plug in West Street, but there was not sufficient of water then.  The borough engine, when it came, was placed in the Baltic wharf, where a good supply of water was obtained from the Camber.  The Royal Artillery, with their engine, came to the spot, and played from the round Tower,  The 46th Regiment came and played form Tower Alley.  The flames spread rapidly, and in spite of all exertions, they gained the mastery in a quarter of an hour, and the house was entirely gutted.  Mr Miles states that about 1.15 am he put the gas out and went to bed, leaving the fire in the bar, and a towel in front of a chair before it.  All the inmates of the house got out safe, and went to 77 High Street, where they were hospitably entertained.  The house is the property of Mr A Nance JP and is not insured.  Mr Miles is insured for stock, furniture, clothes etc, in the London, Liverpool, and Globe Fire Office, for £500, but the damage he has sustained is £600.  About ten horses and several cabs were kept in the yard adjoining the house, but these were safely got out.  The Blue Posts was one of the oldest houses in the town.  It was an inn frequented by officers of the royal navy as far back as the time when , after his great fight as merchant captain with the Sallee pirates, received his commission from King James II : but obtained its highest popularity among the junior officers of the navy at the time of Duncan and Nelson.  It was built in 1613 and a huge porch at the front entrance, removed many years ago, was supported by two columns at its outer end, which were always kept painted bright blue.  Of late years two columns of very modest proportions  on each side of the dilapidated doorway have done duty for the more imposing columns of ancient times.

Peter Smith, living with wife Catherine at 5 Albion Place, West Street, Mariner, 34 yrs.   (1871 Census - West Street)

1881 Census

Antonio Petracca : Confectioner :  26 yrs

Josephine : 23 yrs

Henrietta : 2 yrs

Joseph : 10 months

Vincent Ditolla : Travelling Musician : 28 yrs

Frances : 23 yrs

Guiseppe Pompa : Travelling Musician : 33 yrs

Prudenca : 30 yrs

Guiseppe : 2 yrs

1891 Census

Antoine Petracca : Ice Cream Maker : 35 yrs

Josephina : 33 yrs

Henrietta : 12 yrs

Joseph : 10 yrs

Bertie : 8 yrs

Mary : 6 yrs

Anthony : 5 yrs

Caroline : 3 yrs

Frank : 1 yr

1901 Census

Antonio Petracca : Confectioner, Shop Keeper, Baker : 46 yrs

Josephine : 43 yrs

Joseph : Music Teacher : 20 yrs

Marie : Corset Maker, Stays : 16 yrs

Thomas : 15 yrs

Caroline : 13 yrs

Lily : 5 yrs

1911 Census

Antonio Petracca : Confectionary : 56 yrs

Josephine : Assisting in Business : 53 yrs

Henrietta : 32 yrs

John Herbert : : Army : 28 yrs

Maria Virginia : Corset Maker : 26 yrs

Caroline : 23 yrs

Lily : Corset Maker : 15 yrs

Portsmouth Evening News : Wednesday 10 August 1938

In November, 1800, two military officers, whose names  I purposely omit, because their relatives are alive today, agreed to settle a dispute, by the arbitration of the pistol, so early on the morning of a day in 1800 they went, quite alone, to a narrow passage  behind the Blue Posts in Broad Street.  A distance of about ten paces was stepped out, and they fired simultaneously, but neither was hit.  With a second shot one of them was mortally wounded, and his body lies today in the ground around the Garrison Church.  The victor was tried at the following Assizes at Winchester, found guilty of manslaughter, fined £50, and sent to prison for six months, but he was released after nine weeks confinement.

Portsmouth Evening News : Tuesday 12 November 1938

Officers were Lieutenant Stapleton and Ensign Grainger.

Ensign Grainger died.

In those days it was considered quite the gentlemanly thing to kill your man, and the Law turned its blind eye to the offence whenever it could.