Every community has its ‘characters’ whose passing is accompanied by remarks that ‘we shall not see their like again’. Amongst those that have delighted Romsey, was Miss Fanny Buckell, born in 1855 and died in 1940. Her permanent legacy is a collection of charming water colours of the town that were added to one of the volumes of Romsey notes compiled by her friend Mrs Horatia Suckling of Highwood.

Fanny Buckell was the elder daughter of Dr Francis Buckell, who for 60 years practised as a doctor in Romsey. She spent many years as a Sunday School teacher at the Congregational Church and was an ardent advocate of total abstinence from alcohol.

For a while she lived in Willow Cottage beside Sadler’s Mill, where she ran a dame school. Both Aldyth Wellington and J. B. S. Attlee, subsequently mayors of Romsey, were amongst the six pupils that she had at any one time. Aldyth said her father wanted her to experience the ‘rough and tumble of school life’ which is why she was sent there.

Hampshire Chronicle: Spursholt

Acting as lieutenant to Mrs Suckling, she was a leading figure in the local Band of Mercy, which was the junior branch of the R.S.P.C.A. Her obituary recorded her love of the countryside and even in her later years she would take long walks around an area that she knew so well. At the end of her life she was living in ‘Windycot’ on Mile Hill, the large garden of which gave her great pleasure.

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She took an active part in civic affairs. For example, she was the first secretary of the old Romsey Nursing Home in Greatbridge Road (now ‘Birchlands’). With her friend Miss Florence Purchase, she ran a very successful girls’ club before the First World War. She also acted as correspondent (secretary) to the Managers of the local council schools.

For some years she was a Liberal, but later joined the Labour Party, although she would not have had a vote in national elections before 1918. She played an active role in the League of Nations Union, and her obituary suggested that her concern about the outbreak of war in 1939 may have hastened her death.

Latterly she lived with her younger sister, Edith, who had been a social worker in West London for more than 30 years. Edith passed away in December 1941, and their home was put up for auction a few months later.

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