The Blandford Express

  Dorset clergyman, John White (1575-1648) did as much as any person to set up the colony of  Massachusetts leading eventually to the establishment of the United States of America. He was Rector of Holy Trinity and St Peter’s Churches in Dorchester, England from 1606-1648. For organising and encouraging emigration to the New World, John White has been described as the Founder of Massachusetts. Yet he never visited the new colony. He was a puritan at a time when there was much religious persecution in England. His first colonial project, the Dorchester Company failed but his second involving the forming of the New England Company was more successful. In March 1830, the Mary  and John  set sail from Plymouth for the New World with 140. Passengers on board. Upon landing after a ten week crossing the settlement of Dorchester, Massachusetts was founded. Many were from Dorset, Devon and Somerset. Weeks later other ships follows and the Great Migration began. John White was...

  According to railway locomotive driver Andrew Thomas (above) there was a major accident near miss on the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway (‘S & D’ ) that could have changed the course of European history. It occurred at Wellow station, some six miles south of Bath, and involved the future twice French Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau. It is believed this incident occurred in 1884 when the Frenchman is known to have visited England. Clemenceau is generally regarded as the statesman who prevented the collapse of the French military forces towards the end of World War I. Such was his tenacity, that he gained the nicknames ‘Le Tigre’ (Tiger) and ‘Le Pere la Victoire’ (Father of Victor y). The French politician was a guest of Lord Wolverton who had been the Liberal MP for Shaftesbury before succeeding his father in the House of Lords. Wolverton lived at Iwerne Minster and had already entertained Prime Minister William Gladstone on his estate. Lord Wolverton decide...

Travelling along Dorset’s roads in the 1700s was hazardous. Not only was there the risk of being robbed by highwaymen, but as there were few signposts, an unwary traveller could so easily get lost. It was the Turnpike Act of 1767 which required trusts, who managed many roads and who charged a toll, to show the names of main towns. This was followed by milestones, often made of local stone, showing distances to the nearest town. Outside the Crown Hotel, Blandford there was a milestone which recorded the distance to Hyde Park Corner in London. Dorset has its own characteristic road signs known as fingerposts (see above). They are topped off by a circular finial or roundel which displays not only the place name but also a map reference. The latter was included at the suggestion of the Ministry of Transport in the 1930s. Worried about the prospects of a German invasion during World War II, the British Government ordered navigational signposts to be removed. After the war, to supplement the...

Back in the 1600s, attendance at church on Sundays was compulsory, particularly in Dorchester.  Failure to do so could lead to a fine of one shilling (5p) - at a time when the average weekly wage was around six shillings (30p). Costs could also be added to the fine. Legislation on church attendance had been introduced back in 1558. Going to church was not only required on the Sabbath but also on all Holy Days. Both constables and church officers regularly called into the homes of non-attendees. Excuses were varied and those received  in Dorchester included: John Facy and his wife said they were too busy baking to go. While a man who missed an afternoon service claimed that his constitution could not cope with three sermons in a day. Despite this he was still fit enough to walk two miles to fetch a horse. Other excuses made included coming home from Blandford and making a deal at Fordington. Barber-surgeon Gabriel Butler was allowed one absence by pleading he was attending a pa...

Here are some old Dorset countryside words now almost completely lost. Curleywig – earwig. Dumbledore – bumblebee. Flittermouse – bat. God ‘lmighty cow – ladybird. Hoss-tinger – dragonfly. Hoss – horse. Palmer – caterpillar. Rot – rat. Wops – wasp. Cutty – wren. Devil Screecher – swift Ruddock – robin. Spadger – sparrow. Tiddies – potatoes. Pissabed – dandelion Chipple – spring onion. Bithy-wine – bindweed. Daffidowndilly – daffodil. Snag – sloe. Culver – dove. Greygle – bluebell. Churry – cherry. Beetlehead - tadpole. Black Bob - cockroach. (Source: A Bit of a Bumble by Alan Chedzoy - 2003.)

When a  Baptist Minister predicted Weymouth would be destroyed by a mammoth tidal wave it caused quite a stir. The South London clergyman prophesied that this massive tsunami would arrive at exactly 3.53pm on Tuesday 29th May 1928. As this was a bank holiday weekend, Weymouth would be packed with people. The prediction received widespread coverage in the local and national press. Panic spread and a local resident announced he had placed his canoe on the roof of his house to await the tsunami’s arrival. The Mayor of Weymouth reckoned he would be alright because he would be entertaining visitors on a boat in Portland Harbour. As they were from Holland he claimed they would be used to flooding. Weymouth had been hit by quite large waves in the past. A Weymouth magistrate tried to allay fears by claiming the giant wave would instead hit Weymouth, Massachusetts in the USA. While enterprising restaurant owners were adverting Tidal Wave Teas. A bright red sunset the night before was said ...

Blandford is well-known today for brewing beer. Yet in the past, it was probably better known for the making of buttons – a trade known as ‘ buttony ’. All these buttons were hand- made. It is reckoned early in the 19 th century, there was an estimated 3,000 people around Blandford engaged in the button trade. The town was particularly known for the making of shirt buttons and a button known as the Blandford cartwheel. Robert Fisher opened a button depot in the 1830s in his draper’s shop in the Market Place. Travelling salesmen would visit the depot and buy buttons in bulk. Smallest buttons were known as mites and were made popular when Queen Victoria bought dozens for just a single dress. At its peak the town could boast of six button merchants. The making of buttons in Dorset had begun in Shaftesbury in 1650 by a man named Abraham Case. It is said a waistcoat that King Charles I wore to his execution had locally made buttons. The earliest buttons were made from the horns of the ...

Hector’s Brewery could once be found on the bank of the River Stour at Blandford St Mary close to Blandford bridge. Described as ‘most delightfully situated’, it had gained its name from John Hector who bought the lease and ran the brewery with his sons between 1826 and 1879. Hector played an important role in the local community and was also a churchwaden. The brewery had been in existence since 1789. Before this, many houses had their own malt houses. In those destroyed in the 1731 fire, there were six in Blandford St Mary with malt houses. In 1879, Hector’s Brewery was bought by Horace Baydon Neame. He was a Kent farmer and hop grower and a member of the Kentish Shepherd Neame brewing family from Faversham. Neame then sold the brewery, together with two maltings at Winterborne Stickland and 15 pubs, to Hall & Woodhouse in 1882. Brewing by Hall & Woodhouse continued for almost 20 years at both Ansty and Blandford St Mary. Some 30 people were employed at Ansty and around 4...

Juliette Kaplin who played Pearl in 226 episodes of Last of the Summer Wine was born in Bournemouth. As Howard’s domineering wife, she was forever suspicious of her philandering husband’s pursuit of the peroxide-blond, seductive supermarket check-out assistant, Marina. She spent her early years in South Africa and then New York before returning to Bournemouth at the age of eleven years. In her teens she attended classes at the Hampshire School of Drama. She paid her way by working as a chambermaid, telephone operator and sales girl. Juliette also trained as a dancer and appearing later in pantomime in Leamington Spa she performed the Sand Dance with Scottish actor Bob Fyfe who played her on-screen husband Howard. Her real husband, Harold, owned a series of gift shops on the Kent coast. After his death, she continued to run them until she joined the cast of Last of the Summer Wine. Juliette first played the role of Pearl during a summer season in Bournemouth in 1984 and then took on the...

Palace cinema, East Street (south-side), Blandford. Palace programme. Cinema interior. Original Palace cinema, East Street (north-side). New Palace cinema - 1920s , East Street (south-side) before frontage modernisation. Palace cinema street poster (circa 1940).                                                Footlight Follies Revue.

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...

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 suff...