A bed at '˜Aggies'

Last week my colleague Chris Owen published a photograph of Edinburgh Road showing the Agnes Weston's Royal Sailors Rest.
Miss Agnes Weston.Miss Agnes Weston.
Miss Agnes Weston.

This much-loved institution replaced the original off Commercial Road after it was bombed during the war.

Always known by sailors and local alike as ‘Aggies’, Miss Agnes Weston and her devoted assistant Miss Wintz opened the first establishment in Portsmouth in 1882 to give sailors a home from home when on shore leave and a bed as opposed to a hammock.

They also took men’s wives and sweethearts into their confidence and under their wing.

Aggie died in 1918 and the Admiralty held her in such esteem she was awarded a naval funeral.

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