The Blandford Express

James Shatford was the talented but quite eccentric actor/manager of Blandford’s Theatre. He was a clearly recognisable character around the town. Typically, he might be wearing an outfit of a spangled waistcoat, peach coloured silk stockings, a hat with gold tassels and red slip on slippers. One of his foibles was an utter distaste for umbrellas. He preferred to get wet to the skin rather than hoist an umbrella above his head. Likewise, he would wear ill-matching clothes and shirts with huge frills and deep ruffles on his hands.  Usually, he would take breakfast around midday. While in a barber’s chair, he might impatiently write some half a dozen letters and then stand up and quit the chair half-shaven with his chin bleeding. He might then go shopping to buy a pie and wine for his evening dinner. Despite being an exceedingly slim young man with his taste for the good things in life he soon acquired a bulky appearance as he grew older. Theatre tickets could be bought from him ...

  From Dorset Gallows to Van Diemen’s Land is the unlikely but true story of political corruption, hangings and transportation in the small market town of Blandford in Southern England.  It is available as a paperback from  Amazon in the United Kingdom, Australia and the USA. The book uncovers the extraordinary tale of two ordinary men, George Long a shoemaker and Richard Bleathman a butcher. Driven by belief and dissatisfaction they are swept along by events. Sentenced to be hanged in Dorchester Gaol for their protests against political corruption they are instead, following clemency appeals,  transported to Van Diemen’s Land -  on the other side of the world. ‘A fascinatingly  good read.  This book entirely complements the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs - also transported to Australia.’ (Richard Holledge, newspaper editor, freelance journalist - London. As read in the Independent, New York Times & Financial Times. Author of   Voices of the M...

Today, most rail  travellers cannot buy a cup of tea or even a packet of crisps on a train. Yet in days gone by, in the era of the  Bournemouth Belle, things were quite different. With full onboard dining facilities, this named train from July 1931 was made up of De Luxe  Pullman car, chocolate and cream coloured    rolling stock. Each car was given a name such as Topaz, Ruby or Philomel. Smartly dressed stewards would show passengers to their seats. In the 1930s even an Inspector was employed to taste the quality of the travellers fare. Tasty afternoon teas were a speciality which could be ordered for just three shillings (15p) in the early 1960s. ‘How nice to live at Bournemouth And come up on the Belle. So chic with pale pink lamp shades A golden name as well.’ (G.B. Berry.) The Bournemouth Belle ran daily from London-Waterloo to Bournemouth and then back to the capital. Initially it was non-stop to its destination but then a Southampton stop was incorporated...

In April 1819, a notice was posted up in one of Blandford’s main shops. It stated that a fifty Guineas bet had been wagered that a newly invented and fashionable hobby horse would make the journey from London to the Crown Hotel, Blandford quicker than the mail coach. The hobby horse was the forerunner of the bicycle. It was invented in France in 1817 and introduced into England the following year. It had no pedals or brakes and was propelled along by the rider pushing on the ground with his feet and dragging the feet to slow the machine down. From about an hour before the mail coach was due to arrive in Blandford, a large crowd began to gather outside the Crown Hotel to witness the event. However, upon the arrival of the mail coach, it was discovered the whole thing was a hoax. A small boy appeared carrying a placard on a pole which read, ‘This is the first of April!’ That year fashionable society had become gripped by the new craze of hobby horse riding.

Bridport’s bread riots were unusual for their times because they featured three female rioters. They were  Elizabeth Phillips (25), Susan Saunders (22) and Hannah Powell (21) and all three were twine spinners. Twine spinning was part of the rope making process. The riots took place on 23rd April 1816 when hundreds of Bridport people came onto the streets to protest against the high price of bread. In the previous twelve months wheat prices had doubled with the consequential effects on bread prices. This was caused by an extremely poor harvest. Wages were particularly low in Dorset and many men returning from the Napoleonic Wars could not find employment. The weather that year was bad such that the year became known as ‘eighteen hundred and freeze to death!’ Bakers were a particular target because they had a reputation for corruption. As it was usually the women who bought bread they probably knew which bakers overcharged and provided short measure. Some of the Bridport bakers had t...

  Harry Herbert, a fitter from Glasgow, was charged with stealing a pair of leggings valued at four shillings and eleven pence (25p), the property of Reginald Watts. The Scot was appearing at Blandford Police Court before the Mayor, Alderman J Barnes and ex-Mayor, Mr A C Woodhouse. The leggings were sold to Elizabeth Foster of Bryanston for nine old pence (4p). PC Barrett had arrested Harry for drunkeness and while in custody he admitted he had pinched the leggings. He was then charged with stealing a waistcoat belonging to John Hicks and valued at five shillings and six pence (27p). He sold this to Alice Blandford of White Cliff Mill Street for just eight old pence (3p). He explained he had walked from Dorchester and was very tired when he did this. Harry Herbert then pleaded guilty to this charge. There was a third charge for stealing a shirt and socks from the shop of George Griffin valued at three shillings and sixpence (17p). He had sold them to William Chard of Charlton M...

William Lawrence was a Dorset soldier who fought the French from 1808-1813 and again at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Yet, despite this, he married a French girl, Clotilde Clairet from St Germain-en-Laye some ten miles from the centre of Paris. Returning to civilian life at the age of 28, he ran an inn with his wife at Studland. Born in 1791, and from a large impoverished Briantspuddle family, he was compelled to seek out his own livelihood at an early age. Initially, he was paid just two old pennies (1p) per day to frighten birds off corn fields and then he worked as a ploughboy earning just six old pence per day. At the age of 14, he was apprenticed to Henry Bush, a Studland builder. Running away from a harsh master, William Lawrence joined the British Army. William Lawrence served in the war in South America in 1805 and through the whole of the Spanish Peninsular War. He was awarded a silver medal with no less than ten clasps representing the battles in which he fought an...

At the time the giant German airship, Hindenberg was the largest aircraft ever built – it was an awe-inspiring sight. With its Nazi emblems, it was the pride of the Nazi Party when it flew over North Dorset during the morning of the 5 th July 1936. However, was the Hindenberg on a spying mission? That was certainly the view of a reader’s letter to the Somerset Standard (11 th July 1936) : ‘Are we in future when this country has been suitably photographed from the air by the Hindenberg to expect showers of bombs and poison gas wherever she has been? That is in the event of a future war. In case the Nazis should at any future date take exception to this letter, I think it more prudent to sign – AYZ.’ Returning from the United States to Germany with passengers, it was not taking the most direct route. It was also making its way contrary to an undertaking between the British & German Governments. This was that the Hindenberg would avoid flying over Britain except when forced to do so...

Dorset clergyman, Henry Moule’s claim to fame was the invention of the earth closet toilet. Born in 1801, he was the sixth son of twelve children of a solicitor, went to Cambridge University and was appointed Rector of Fordington in 1829 -  now part of Dorchester. In 1860, he patented his invention. At the time, Fordington had an inadequate water supply from polluted shallow wells. All the closets in the village were cesspits or privies and as a consequence fever was hardly ever absent. Conditions were ripe for the spread of cholera and he became convinced that its spread was caused by appalling sanitation. Cholera outbreaks in Fordington in 1849 & 1854 had a devastating effect on the clergyman. The village suffered in particular from crowded dwellings, filthy courtyards and a poverty stricken population. When administering to a dying man, Moule witnessed sewage bubbling up through the cottage’s floor. Within a space of no more than five acres some 1,100 people were congregat...

  Mary Lawrence was a Dorset born granny who sometimes carried a gun. A servant she was wrongly found guilty in 1813 of stealing a gold watch, valued at over two pounds,  from T Coorton Esq of Weymouth. Mary Lawrence was sentenced to be hanged in Dorchester Gaol. Yet according to her gravestone in Yass, Australia, Mary Lawrence lived to be 113 years old - leaving children to the fourth generation said to number 600. Instead of facing the gallows, Mary Lawrence was transported to Australia for a period of seven years leaving Dartford on the convict vessel Broxbournebury in February 1814. After Mary had served four years of her sentence, the news arrived in Australia that someone in Weymouth had admitted, on their death bed, to have stolen the gold watch. As a result, Mary Lawrence was granted a full pardon and awarded sixty acres of land at Yass by the Governor as compensation. She was said to be the first white woman in the ‘Outback’. Mary had married ex-convict George Davis o...

Around 120 years ago, the Blandford Gazette & Three Shires Advertiser was a local newspaper published in Dorset, Wiltshire & Somerset. Comfortable in Prison . Robert Grass of Farnham was summonsed at Blandford Police Court for poaching in the day time on land belonging to Captain Kidson of Farnham. Defendant did not appear. Gamekeeper, George Elliott said he saw Grass take two rabbits from snares which he had been watching.   There was a long list of previous convictions and it was stated that the defendant had confirmed he was very comfortable in Dorchester Prison and had gained four pounds in weight when last there. He was fined £1 or alternatively 14 days in prison. (Blandford Gazette & Three Shires Advertiser, Saturday 31 st October 1903) Monstrous Turnip . Recently, there has been pulled on Mr J Mitchell’s Shroton Farm an enormous turnip weighing 24lbs and measuring 3ft. 3ins. in circumference. (Blandford Gazette & Three Shires Advertiser, Saturday 14 th ...

  James John Farquharson of Langton Long was a man who loved to party and also  quite liked a drink. Nicknamed ‘Old Farqy’, he was the Commanding Officer of the Blandford Troop of the Dorset Yeomanry. They had been recruited in 1831 to put down the prospect of the locals rioting in the town. The Troop exercised on Blandford Race Down. ‘Old Farqy’ was a splendid sight in his uniform of a scarlet jacket with blue facings and trimmings of silver lace. There was a regulation cap with red and white plumage and trousers with red stripes at the side and a red and yellow girdle. Troop membership required the attendance at an Annual Troop Muster for six days but there was the privilege of exemption from hair powder and horse taxes. When the Blandford Troop of the Dorset Yeomanry was stood down in 1841, it became the excuse for a Grand Dinner in the town’s Crown Hotel. ‘The Dinner was served up with a sumptuous, profusion and elegance.’ Toasts drunk at the end of the meal were too numer...

Three Choughs - West Street. Red Lion - Market Place. Blue Anchor - Salisbury Street (closed around 1790!). Farquharson Arms - Pimperne. Railway Hotel - Oakfield Street. Badger - Junction of Salisbury Road & Park Road. New Inn - East Street. Rose & Crown - Dorset Street. Half Moon - White Cliff Mill Street. Coachmakers Arms - Damory Street/corner of the Close. Damory Arms Hotel - Salisbury Road. Blue Boar Inn - East Street Damory Oak - Damory Oak Street Wheatsheaf - Albert Street Wheatsheaf's Etched Window

On a Tuesday in October 1706, a travelling Poole fishmonger was wheeling his cart on the outskirts of the village of Shapwick. Unknown to him, a large crab fell from his barrow. This was to cause panic and alarm among the Shapwick villagers. Living inland, and perhaps in the 18 th century not having travelled beyond Blandford, the Shapwick villagers had never before seen a crab. Trudging home and exhausted by his day’s labour, a Shapwick farm worker discovered this crawling creature by stepping on it. So strange was its appearance, he believed it was the devil himself. Running on to the village, he told everyone excitingly of his horrid find. Fearing it was the work of the devil, the villagers armed themselves with pitchforks, sticks and stones. Knowing not what to do, they decided to consult the shepherd Rowe considered by many to be the local wise man. Sadly, the aging oracle was now past his prime and for the last six years had been confined to his bed. The old man was as infirm as...