WHY IS PORTSMOUTH KNOWN AS POMPEY ?
- Legend has it that a snoozing, drunken sailor interrupted a lecture on the Roman Empire given by naval temperance worker, Dame Agnes Weston founder of the Royal Sailors Rests, 'aggie weston's'. Upon hearing that an emperor of that name had died, the sailor shouted out 'Poor old Pompey', the name then stuck and moved into common usage.
- More reliable evidence records a group of Portsmouth-based sailors, who scaled Pompey's Pillar near Alexandria, Egypt, in 1781 and became known as the 'Pompey Boys'.
- Portsmouth has been a port since Roman times, with nearby Portchester as a Roman military base. When the port started to be developed locals nicknamed it Pompey, because Pompeii was well known for its Roman ruins.
- The pomp and ceremony connected with the Royal Navy at Portsmouth led to the adoption of the nickname, Pompey.
- Bombay was part of the wedding gift of Catherine of Braganza to Charles II. Portuguese seaman saw a resemblance between the two ports and may have called Portsmouth 'Bom Bhia' which became Anglicised to Pompey.
- A drunkards slurred pronunciation of Portsmouth Point (where there are many taverns popular with sailors)
- Ships entering Portsmouth harbour make an entry in the ships log Pom. P. as a reference to Portsmouth Point (this being too long). Navigational charts also use this abbreviation.
- La Pompee was a captured French ship moored in Portsmouth harbour and used for accommodation. (Captured 1793 and broken up 1817). There is a Yorkshire term pompey for prison or house of correction.
- Volunteer firemen in the eighteenth century (known as pompiers) exercised on Southsea Common.
