The Blandford Express

What are the links between Child Okeford, this Australian lady and the gentleman in the picture? Lisa Davidson is an Australian descendant of this distinguished gentleman who was born in Child Okeford in 1811. In 1835, Samuel Arnold married Ann Savery in Hamoon and a year later the young married couple left England with their baby daughter, Sarah. The Arnolds were seeking a better life in the new Australian colony of New South Wales. They became what were known as ‘Bounty Immigrants’ which was a very early assisted passage emigration scheme to Australia. The scheme, incredibly progressive for the times, was set up by the Macarthur family who were among Australia’s earliest gentry. The ‘Bounty Immigrant’ families were mainly from North Dorset and Samuel Arnold was appointed as their leader. The journey by sailing vessel, the Brothers to the other side of the world was particularly hazardous. During a storm in the Bay of Biscay a prized stallion was thrown overboard and drowned. T

Onion Johnnies were once a familiar sight along the highways and byways of Dorset. They were French farm labourers and farmers who travelled on bicycles selling the distinctive pink and flavoursome Breton onion. These were sold door to door. The history of the Onion Johnny dates back to 1828. Breton farmer Henri Ollivier, put off by the prospect of a long road journey to Paris, decided to make the much quicker journey across the English Channel to Plymouth to sell his onions. Word spread of his success and others followed. Every July, farm labourers and farmers took their pink onions and sailed to England. For several generations, the county of Dorset experienced a mini invasion of French men usually wearing berets and Breton pullovers  riding bikes laden with onions. This became the stereotypical image of a Frenchman in England. Tragedy struck in 1905 when 70 Onion Johnnies were drowned when the London & South Western Railway’s steamer SS Hilda   sank off the French coast. A centu

During the early hours of Sunday 16 February 1958, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) raided Blandford Camp. Brandishing revolvers, masked raiders shot a soldier and overpowered seven others. During the attack, the men were heard to shout, ‘this is with the compliments of the IRA.’ Despite this, the raiders appeared concerned about the young soldier shot in the stomach. They intended to raid the armoury for arms but were unsuccessful. The IRA assault on Blandford Camp was probably an inside job. Frank Skuse was a young Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (REME) corporal. His home was in County Cork. A man answering Skuse’s description had hired accommodation in a country house at Charlton Marshall. When the police forced entry they found ammunition, weapons and three suits of battledress with REME shoulder flashes. Two weeks after the attack, a tommy-gun, small arms and ammunition were discovered in a converted bus parked in a Bournemouth caravan park. Frank Skuse had hired the bu

When Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated the French and Spanish Fleets at Trafalgar on 21 st October 1805, there was a Blandford man aboard his flagship, HMS Victory. Able seaman, Samuel Johnson had been born in the town in 1770. By 1805, he was an experienced seaman having served in the British Navy for at least five years. Such were his capabilities, he was able to take over from the Victory’s helmsman and ensure the vessel remained on course. He had joined the Victory in April 1804. Why and how he joined the Navy is not known. He could have been forced to join by a marauding ‘ press gang’, he could have volunteered or chosen the sea as an alternative to a spell in prison. The latter was a frequent method of sailor recruitment at the time. Initially, Samuel during his first year at sea would have been described as a ‘ landsman ’, then an ‘ ordinary seaman’ before promotion to ‘ able seaman’ .  Samuel Johnson survived the Battle of Trafalgar on HMS Victory, a vessel that suffered

When a Member of Parliament disappeared in December 1881 off the coast at Eype’s Mouth, near Bridport, it made the national news. What was unusual was that Walter Powell MP was the sole occupant of a balloon. It was named ‘Saladin’ and filled with coal gas. Rumour has it that so much coal gas was needed that the people of Bath had to do without. Walter Powell had taken off from Bath to carry out research for the Meteorological Society accompanied by friends Arthur Agg-Gardner and Captain James Templar. They had flown over Glastonbury, Crewkerne and Beaminster. Approaching  Bridport, at around 35mph, they realised they were heading in a direction that would take them out to sea. Anxiously hearing the roar of the sea, Templar opened a valve to allow gas to escape to make a hurried emergency descent. They landed heavily and Powell’s two passengers fell out with Arthur Agg-Gardner  breaking his leg. The Parliamentarian remained in the basket and the balloon much lighter took off again. It

Tom Cox, the son of a Blandford gentleman, was known as the ‘ handsome highwayman. ’ With a colourful life, his story had all the ingredients for a Hollywood adventure film. When his father died he was left some money which he soon squandered. So to fund his high living lifestyle, he took up highway robbery. Near Shepton Mallet, he met Killigrew who was the court jester to King Charles II. Killigrew had been given licence by the King to mock and revile even the most prominent in the land without penalty. Nevertheless, Tom ordered Killigrew to ‘ stand and deliver. ’ ‘ You must be joking’ was the jester’s reply to which Tom retorted: ‘Nay, I am in earnest for though you live by jesting, I cannot. So deliver your money before a brace of balls makes the sun shine through your body!’ Three times in Gloucester, Winchester and Worcester, Tom Cox was tried for highway robbery. Thanks to his charm and silver tongue, he was acquitted. A moneyed lady in Worcester was so besotted that she

  In August 1918, the Ministry of Information made a film about rural life in the North Dorset village of Iwerne Minster. Filmed during the last summer of World War I, this remarkable record has survived and still is available to view today. The silent film features many of the Iwerne Minster villagers engaging in country activities such as butter making, poultry farming and beekeeping. There is also the local cattle market, hurdle making and the breaking in of a horse. Apparently, everyone in the village kept pet rabbits at the time. Children are seen entering their school and maypole dancing. Although generally painting an idyllic picture, there are still reminders of the war. There are scenes of German prisoners of war being put to work on the land with local farmers. They haul wood to be used for aircraft manufacture. While close to the village pump there was a notice board, known as the ‘W ar Office, where news from the battlefronts and from local newspapers was posted. Whil

  Nicknamed ‘ Diamond Pitt’, Thomas Pitt was a clergyman’s son who was born in Blandford St Mary in 1653. During his lifetime, he bought and sold a diamond considered by many to be the most pure and beautiful ever discovered. In 2018, it was valued at £14,000,000. Today, it is on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris. It is known as both the ‘ Pitt Diamond’ and also the ‘Regent Diamond’ . The diamond was found by a slave in southern India and he hid it in a large wound in his leg. An English sea captain found out about the diamond and lured the slave onto his vessel. He threw the slave overboard and stole the gem which he sold to a diamond merchant. The seaman later committed suicide. Thomas Pitt, who was the Governor of Madras and a testy character, bought the diamond for £20,400. His son, Robert brought the jewel back to England hidden in the heel of his shoe. The jewel was cut, a process which took two years and cost £5,000. The cut-off fragments fetched around £4,000. By then, Th

One of Dorset’s first railways was built on the Isle of Portland. Opening in 1826, it was not designed to carry passengers but to carry Portland stone. It was a response to a growing demand for the stone and to improve transportation between the quarries and the shipment point at Castletown Pier. Here stone was loaded onto ships. The railway cost £5,000 to build which was financed by the issue by the Portland Railway Company of a hundred fifty pound shares. Income was generated by the quarry operators who used it. The company had been formed two years earlier by local residents and people involved in the stone trade. The railway had no power other than gravity. The weight of the loaded wagon descending pulled by cable the empty wagon back up the slope. Bizarrely, the track had just three rails on stone sleepers with the middle rail shared by both wagons. However, at the mid-point there were separate tracks to enable the two wagons to cross over. At the top of the slope there was a brak

  It was in the George Inn in Blandford (featured) that an argument between George Seaviour and his married lover, Emma Tanswell led to her tragic death. Originally known as the Three Swans, the pub’s name had been changed to celebrate King George III passing through the town on the way to Weymouth. Emma (28), a married woman, had left her husband about four years earlier and was living with George Seaviour (27) in two small rented rooms. He was a carter who worked for Charlie Coates who was a straw and hay dealer. A Bridport newspaper was to describe Seaviour as ‘somewhat repulsive in countenance..’ Seaviour was drinking in the George Inn in Salisbury Street when Emma entered with friends. He was 5ft 8ins in height, powerfully built  and was described as ‘not well-educated’. An argument broke out between the two drinkers after Seaviour began abusing her using particularly bad language and urging her to go home to her husband and children. Emma claimed during the previous night he tied

In times gone by, Poole was notorious for its fearsome pirates. Among the most terrifying was Poole born Eric Cobham. In his first act of piracy he stole £40,000 worth of gold and goods from a French vessel. From his base in Newfoundland in Canada, he practised piracy on the high seas. It is said he operated out of Sandy Point on the island’s west coast. Throughout his ventures between 1740 and 1760, he was accompanied by his wife, the formidable Maria whom he met in a Plymouth tavern. It was a time when piracy was an all male club and Maria was one of the few exceptions. Both were notorious for their cruelty and for sparing no quarter. Captured crews were murdered with some survivors even used for target practice. This left no witnesses. Then, their vessels were sunk to the bottom of the sea. Chillingly and frighteningly, Maria has been described as Canada’s Pirate Queen . She was definitely not a lady with which to tangle. By all accounts, Maria did not play second fiddle to her husb

  Going for a spin around the Market Place - reckoned to be Blandford's first motor car. North of the town - Blandford's airfield in the 1930s. West Country locomotive Blandford Forum. 1919 transport to Blandford Camp for clerical staff. Bere Regis coaches - gone but not forgotten. Sprackling of Winterborne Stickland's double decker in the Market Place (1930s). Wilts & Dorset bus depot - no More!

Drunkenness was an issue both within and outside the Dorset Constabulary in the mid 19th century. Dorset Constabulary Records - General Orders: 23 rd January 1862. ‘The conveyance of prisoners is one of the most important duties connected with the Constabulary. On 24 th December last a prisoner named Jeremiah Fudge was brought into Headquarters by PC Collins under the influence of liquor. The Chief Constable finds upon inquiry that he was given over to PC Marsh at Buckland Newton who took him to the Royal Oak Inn and gave him a pint of ale having been marched from Sturminster. He then brings him onto Piddletrenthide (4 miles) to PC Collins, who directs PC Marsh to go with the prisoner to the Green Dragon Inn where they were served with two pints of strong beer and PC Collins marched him on from there to Dorchester, going into a public house on his way and of course brings him in drunk. Persons in custody are to be allowed ordinary refreshment and nothing more but it appears that

Ten were killed and 23 were injured according to newspaper reports at the time. This made it one of Dorset’s worst ever industrial accidents. Holton Heath employees were blown into unrecognisable fragments necessitating a roll call of the factory’s entire staff before the identities of those killed were identified. Eleven men were originally believed to have been killed but when a roll call was held one turned up. A crimson red plume of acid vapour had towered into the sky resembling the shuddering eruption of a volcano. It was caused by the bursting of a sulphuric acid tank. Close by low buildings vanished and the shock affected houses for 20 miles with roof slates dislodged, ornaments knocked down and windows broken. The sound of the explosion could be heard at Shillingstone some 18 miles away. Closer to the factory, a hoe was wrenched from the hands of a gardener who was flung against a tree. One fortunate employee, Charles Rogers owed his life to having to leave, just before the