The Blandford Express

  Henry, the diminutive vacuum cleaner with eyes and a cheeky grin was conceived in Beaminster. Today, Henry is the only mass-produced consumer vacuum cleaner still produced in Britain. Numatic, the company that produces Henry was founded in Crewkerne in 1969 with just six employees. In 1971 the business moved to a Yeovil watermill and with  continued growth transferred to Broadwindsor Road,, Beaminster in 1974. During a trade show in Portugal in the 1970s, business owner Chris Duncan chalked a a wide grin under the hose outlet of the latest model together with a pair of eyes above. The model was then named, Henry. This caused such an amused reaction among onlookers that  Chris Duncan realised he had stumbled upon a potentially winning concept. The Henry model was then introduced commercially in 1981. To meet the growing customer demand, the company had to move production to Chard, Somerset in 1990. Henry also has sibling model variants named Hetty, Harry and James. There...

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 ...

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...