Location
On the north wall of St. Thomas's Chapel (see Cathedral Plan).
Portrait
WILLIAM HENRY SAUNDERS F.S.A.
BORN AT PORTSMOUTH JANY. 2ND 1832
DIED AT PORTSMOUTH APRIL 21ST 1913
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AN ARDENT ARCHAELOGIST
A RELIABLE AND PAINSTAKING HISTORIAN OF HIS NATIVE TOWN
CLOSELY IDENTIFIED WITH THIS CHURCH FOR OVER 60 YEARS
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THIS TABLET WAS ERECTED BY HIS FELLOW TOWNSMEN
Further Information
William Henry Saunders trade was as a chemist and druggist with a shop at 113 High Street but he is perhaps best known today as the writer of the 'Annals of Portsmouth'. In it Saunders samples the history of the town in episodes beginning with the French Fleet arriving in Spithead in 1545 just in time to witness the sinking of the Mary Rose to the return visit of the French in 1865 on altogether more hospitable terms.
Saunders wrote the book after he had retired from his life as a chemist and took on a job as the Curator of the Borough Museum which was by then situated at the former Town Hall next to the Dolphin Hotel. William Gates speaks fondly of Saunders in his 'Records of the Corporation' in which he describes "A man of genial presence and kindly disposition, he was ever at the service of inquirers, and no trouble was too great in his search for the information required."
