Location of 1907 May Day parade through Portsmouth streets is identified

It shows a 1907 May Day parade in Portsmouth but neither my colleague Bob Hind nor I could pinpoint it.

All we had to go on was an advert painted on the wall in the distance for U Neal, butcher.

It turns out that the U was a J and the butcher was John Neal at 290 Fratton Road. He occupied the premises from 1896 until 1918.

Stephen writes: ‘The main shops in the photo are between St Mary’s Road and Manor Road.

‘The six shops with pitched roofs fronting the road were Manor Terrace. The boot shop was Fratton Boot Store.’

The same day we published that picture we used one of a Timothy White’s horse-drawn wagon.

Stephen says: ‘Timothy White started as an oilman in Queen Street in the days when paint was made at the shop. Later he expanded into hardware and chemists. The firm expanded with branches throughout southern England and then merged with Taylors of Leeds. In 1968 the merged company was taken over by Boots.’