Queen and Empress was long gone but will never be forgotten

That was the year when the statue of Queen Victoria was moved from where the Central Library is today to a location opposite Portsmouth Guildhall.

• The second picture shows a shot along Fratton station’s platforms looking west.

We can see, through the pillars of the island platform, the stand alone platform for the East Southsea branch line.

Access to the platform was from the footbridge at the far end of these platforms.

On the left behind the Fratton sign can be seen LMS open service wagons with large secured freight boxes. These were an early forerunner of today’s container trains.

To the right of the wagons is a store standing on concrete toadstools to prevent rats getting inside.

This photograph, dating from about 1910 comes from the Barry Cox collection.

• The third picture was sent by David Montana.

It is a still from Carry On Admiral an early 1950s film not to be confused with the Carry On films of a later date.

Here we see the admiral’s car being driven into the dockyard through Unicorn Gate with Unicorn Road behind.

To the right of the police officer are the gates of the dockyard branch railway line.

Unicorn Gate now stands alone of course and acts as a roundabout with a new modern gate set up 100 yards farther down Unicorn Road.

• And finally... in the last photograph Somers Road is behind the camera with Tipton House the tall block of flats in the distance. To the left is Cannock Lawn a replacement block of flats for all the terraced houses that once existed along Somers Road.

Cannock Lawn was demolished in the mid-1990s and smaller apartment blocks built on the site.