In North and South, Southampton is one of the places that is mentioned but never visited, unless you count the time Mr. Hale had gone to get the papers from the town. Margaret and the others seem to know that Southampton is a wealthy town, comparing its buildings to the fancy ones in London. The characters we see from Southampton are the Gormons (through mention) and the reporter who questioned Dixon. In reality, Southhampton is an extremely large trading port town southeast of London. In the 16th and 17th century, Southhampton had fallen out of the sea trade, losing it glow as a major import and had fallen to ruin, however, Prince Fredrick, the oldest son on King George the II visited the crumbling town in 1750 and continued to visit in every year after and soon Southampton was reborn and known as one of the most healthy and beautiful towns in England. The port was relighted and merchants started to pour back into the once desolated town. The sudden growth in wealth made living in Southampton expensive, but those who succeded, like the Gormons in North and South, would continue to have their trade and money grow. While not related to the reading, Southampton was the port town that the Titanic had sailed from in 1912, the last voyage it would make. Over 700 passengers on the Titanic were from Southhampton, with 685 crewmembers being from the same port, making Southampton tied to the Titanic forever. As of today, Southampton is still one of England's largest ports, having 40 million exports annually. It also handles cruises and ferries, with over 2 million people using these services every year.

Works Cited

BHT Staff. “Titanic and Southampton.” British Heritage, British Heritage, 22 Mar. 2021, britishheritage.com/history/titanic-southampton.

CruiseMapper, 2021, www.cruisemapper.com/ports/southampton-port-115.

Lambert, Tim. A History of Southampton, www.localhistories.org/southampton.html.