Personal Accounts from the Dockyard

A Portsmouth Dockie’s Impressions of HM Ships in the 1960s

A Fitter apprentice entry in January 1964 and eventually seeing the real dockyard 2 years later, I already had a developed interest in ships spawned by watching the great luxury and not so luxury liners that passed in view of my local beach through the Solent from...
Read More

Memories of Victor George Foot

John Crump for David Foot

David Foot contacted us to relate some tales told by his father. Victor George Foot, born January 1919, was a Shipwright Apprentice during the 1930s where he met his wife who also worked in the Dockyard. He had grown up in Gosport and travelled to work...
Read More

Yard Memories 1956 - 64

David Howard

‘Yard Memories 1956 - 1964 I had no idea what I would do when I left school; I had attended the Portsmouth Southern Grammar School for Boys but it turned out that the school and I had different ideas about what was important in life, so it...
Read More

Sport in the Dockyard

Alan Keel

Portsmouth Dockyard had a wealth of sporting talent within its walls, and its employees were involved in Football, Cricket, Cycling, Athletics, Boxing, Golf, Angling, Archery, Tennis, Bowls, Hockey, Sailing and Shooting. The various Departments, factories and shops in the ‘Yard had teams in many different...
Read More

Sportsmen of Portsmouth Dockyard

John Regnard

PRDHT (Support Group) Journal No. 7 (2007) enlightened us with a resume of ‘Portsmouth Dockyard apprentices and employees generally’ achieving excellence in a particular sport undertaken whilst in the Dockyard. This was in conjunction with Alan Keel’s publication of all the sporting activities pursued by employees....
Read More

Kings Theatre Programme

Royal Dockyard School

​This programme for Royal Dockyard School Centenary Prize Distribution at the Kings Theatre held on 27th March 1943 (at the height of WW 2) indicates the status in which the Dockyard Schools were regarded. At least one full admiral and several rear-admirals were present. The Admiral Superintendent...
Read More

In and Out

Bob Russell

Getting in to or out of the Dockyard / Naval establishment or indeed almost any official site has always been a problem. During WWII it was normal at In Muster, for entry to the Dockyard to be by personal recognition only. Duty men, usually Recorders, would...
Read More

A Dockie’s Lament

Doug Seymour

I never thought they’d shut it down Our institution, the centre of town It fed lots of businesses local and wide Some rose and fell, just like the tide A cauldron of tradesmen well trained and true Some served the world and not just...
Read More

Eighty Six to One

Alan Keel

An Open Competitive Examination for the entry of Apprentices in HM Dockyards, and Artificer and Air Apprentices in the Royal Navy, was held in or near Belfast, Cardiff, Chatham, Chester, Devonport, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Ipswich, Leeds, London, Pembroke, Portsmouth, Rosyth, Sheerness and Weymouth, on 17th and 1...
Read More

Royal Dockyard Apprenticeships & Careers The Dockyard Trades (Craftspersons)

John Regnard

1. This article attempts to briefly define the various Trades & work involved. It is not comprehensive as the range of work for most Trades was vast. 2. Over the Centuries, specifically the 20th century, changes in technology with computers, automated controlled machinery & numerous other innovations,...
Read More

​Royal Dockyard Apprenticeships & Careers The Dockyard Trades (Craftspersons)

John Regnard

This article attempts to briefly define the various Trades & work involved. It is not comprehensive as the range of work for most Trades is vast. 1. Over the Centuries, specifically the 20th century, changes in technology with computers, automated controlled machinery & numerous other innovations,...
Read More

Dockyard Outstations - Blackbrook Farm

Doug Seymour

It is a fact that the vast majority of us ‘Dockies’ had little or nothing to do with anything work related that went on outside the walls. It is also true that for some management within them came responsibility for facilities outside.​ ​A point in...
Read More

Dockyard Life in the Late Sixties

Doug Seymour

After my initial 2 years in Flathouse Training Centre I entered the ‘Yard via Unicorn Gate for the first time on January 10th 1966. From the stories among apprentices, warnings from instructors and the fact that a brother and an uncle had already trod similar paths I...
Read More

Behind the Wall

Doug Seymour

The start of 1966 hosted the beginnings of real working life for me as I entered Unicorn Gate to start the 3rd year of my ‘time’, having completed the first 2 years of basic training in the Flathouse Apprentices’ Training Centre opposite Brompton Road, off Mile End...
Read More

A Dockyard Apprenticeship in the 60’s

Doug Seymour

I sat alongside my father at one side of the desk in the headmaster’s room and the Education Department’s Careers Officer occupied the other. “So what sort of job have you got in mind young man”. I hesitantly suggested a Sign Writer and...
Read More

1942 – 1944 My Career Begins

Anon

“In 1942 money was short, so my mother decided that I had to make my own way in the world and the most likely local facility was the Dockyard. In those days the Dockyard was an institution that would last forever and the Civil Service a...
Read More

Apprenticeship Entrance Exam

Keith Henry Westcott Thomas

An example of the Apprenticeship Entrance Exam from March 1939 Factory at Greenock and Artificer and Air Apprentices in the Royal Navy
Read More