The Portland Hall Situated south of the Portland Hotel in Kent Road, Southsea Friday 20 November 1891 1905 The Grade II-listed Portland Hotel at 38 Kent Road, in Southsea is going under the hammer July 2014 with a guide price of between 1.4m and 1.6m. The Portland Hotel was a project of architect Thomas Ellis Owen and completed in 1847. Sited at the rear of the hotel used to be Portland Hall, which was used for concerts and events. It was demolished in the early 1950s due to bomb damage inflicted by Hitler's Luftwaffe in the Second World War. The hall was the largest assembly room in Southsea, seating 1600 people. Portland Hall, but it was built in the 1860s and used for various concerts and events. The Salvation Army frequented it for meetings. In 1908 the American composer and conductor John Philip Souza performed there while on tour in the UK. His comment on the gig was: Portland Hall, where we played concerts at 3 and 8 to good business, is located in Southsea. The hall was very cold, and it was painful to work on our instruments as the fingers would almost freeze. At the night concert the temperature of the hall was a little better, as the management decided to put in a couple [of] oil heaters. Mark Lyon made a hit carrying off the stage a hot stove right before the concert. Portsmouth is a great sea-port town. The British battleships make this harbor their principal port . 10 June 1863 Venue: Portland Hall, Southsea Part I Overture, The Merry Wives of Windsor - Nicolai Song, Il Bacio - Arditti (Miss Stacey) Solo Violin, Air varie - De Beriot (Mr. A. Mendes, W.M.) Duo, Di Vergogna (Marino Faliero) - Donizetti (Colonel Hume and Miss Vanden Bergh) Selection, La Traviata - G. Fitzgerald (Solos for the Flute, Oboe, and Cornet, by Messrs. Le Patourel, Selby, and A.B. Mitford) Song, Petrifaction - Barker (Miss Webber) Galop, Greenwich Fair - F. Clay Part II Overture, Oberon - Weber Song, Forsaken - Virginia Gabriel (Miss Stacey) Aria, Si voli il primo a cogliere (Lucrezia Borgia) [Donizetti] (Miss Vanden Bergh) Meditation, Sur le 1er Prelude de Bach - Gounod (Violin Solo - Mr. D Egville, W.M.; Oboe Solo - Mr. Selby, W.M.; Pianoforte - Mr. F. Clay, W.M.) Song, Regret - G. Linley (Miss Webber) Valse, Philomela - S. Egerton, W.M. Song, Good night beloved - Balfe (Colonel Hume) Overture, Fra Diavolo - Auber God save the Queen Violini 1mi: D Egville, Mendes, Goodbody, Pritchard, Thesiger Violini 2di: Hughes, R., Coke, Hughes, L., Sparrow Viole: Cooper, A.D., Fuller, T. Violoncelli: FitzGerald, Knobel Contra Bassi: Hanhart, N., Gerard Flauti: Le Patourel, Curtis, S. Oboe: Varness Clarinetto: Stone Fagotto: Evans Corno: Hanhart, M. Cornet a Pistons: Tatham Trombone: Curtis, H. Tympani, Grosse Caisse, &c &c: Morris, Val. Conductor: The Hon. Seymour Egerton In aid of the Orpheus Relief Fund. 1868 April 2nd, Christy's Minstrels. May 1872 Ernest Boulton and Louis Munro perform fashiuonable sketches operetta and songs, 9th March 1874 Speakers were Miss Beedy, Caroline Briggs, Emily Spender, Rev Edward Grant viocar of SWt T^homas' Portsmouth, mRev John Knappvicar of St John's Portsmouth, Major Francis Nott governopr of Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of WEight, and in the chair Major General George Gardiner Alexander. 1875 Lord Radstock preached the gospel in Portland Hall in Southsea. 18 Dec 1876 GODWIN FOWLES GRAND ANNUAL CONCERT to take place tomorrow (Friday) evening, in the Portland Hall, Southsea, when, assisted by his pupils, Mr. G. FOWLES, F.C.O., son of the eminent marine artist of the same name in this town, will discourse some of the first productions of the classical and popular composers, with several of his own authorship. The programme contains a piano solo, When we went a gleaning (Gauz), which is set down to be performed by Master E. FOWLES, a child aged six years, who, we should think must be a juvenile prodigy, of whom his happy parents must be justly proud. (IW Times) 8 May 1878 The last (documented) concerts Jacques Nicolas Lemmens gave in England took place on 8 May 1878, in the Portland Hall, Southsea. During the morning concert, he took part in a performance of selections from Verdi s (recent) Requiem and in the evening he played during a ballad concert. A remarkable item on the morning programme was a piece of Gregorian chant. July 9th 1878 Loyal Orange Instituteof England meeting at the Portland Hall. 15 April 1882 The Prince of Wales at the Minnesingers' Club, Portsmouth. Portland Hall Southsea Concerts, The Illustrated London News, 15 April 1882 30th May 1882 Speakers from the Manchester National Society and the Central Committee Februay 9th 1889 Arthur Cona Doyle attended an exhibition of 'Mesmeric Force' organised by Professor Milo de Mayer at the Portland Hall. September 1889 Mrs Cummings sang five or six songs, No Sir and The Garden of Sleep : These were two contemporary favourites. George Grossmith wrote and sang a parody of the latter entitled Thou of My Thou at a show performed in front of the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) at the Portland Hall, Southsea, in September 1889. 27th Januay 1890 1st February 1890 Performance of 'Kleptomania' 1891 April 21st & 22nd Amateur Dramatic Performance and Music in aid for the Home for Sick Children Friday 20 November 1891 Madame Luara Zagury, Madame Enriquez, Mr Frank Boor, Mr W H Brereton, Queens Vocal Quartette October 1898 Alfred John West British naval photographer and showman He gavee his first public performance of cinefilm at Portland Hall, Southsea in October 1898. 1898 Sir Winston Churchill's first visit took place in 1898, when, aged 23, he gave a speech at the annual dinner of the Conservative Association at the Portland Hall, Southsea. 26th November 1903 Marie Hall violin, plus Herbert Fryer and Gervase Elwes 4th February 1905 Madam Clara Butt, Mabel Love Muriel Newman, Master J M Smith, grand evening concert Here's a letter from the Portsmouth Evening News on 17th December 1970. The photo shows the hall and the grand stage Mr H J Kent of 57 Kirby Road North End, Portsmouth, has sent this old photograph of a celebration which he attended when he was young. The diners shown were attending an At Home" held on Friday, June 2, I906, at the Portland Hotel. Southsea. by Mr. and Mrs. William A. Snellng, to welcome home their son~ln-law and daughter. Mr. and Mrs Robert Batley, back from Moawhango. New Zealand. March 15th 1911 Pro and Anti vivisectionist 'Had a rare field day' at a packed Portland Hall. It was met with opposing views from the floor, but the presence of a policeman helped maintain order. December 27th, 1919 Sir A. Conan Doyle gave a talk to 1600 people on Death And The Hereafter at Portland Hall, Southsea, and then retired to his hotel room for a private sitting. 21st July 1922 BOXING Corporal Frank Downton v Alf Smith, Portland Hall, Portsmouth, Hampshire, Corporal Frank Downton Lost on a TKO Then in 1999

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