Fishmonger's Fracas

 

James Bartlett was a staunch advocate of the Conservative political cause, was strongly opposed to vaccinations and was strictly teetotal. He was owner of local newspaper, the Blandford Express in whose columns he had argued that the number of public houses in the town should be drastically reduced. Born in Durweston, he spent his early years working on a farm before moving to Blandford to set up a printing business without any training in this trade.

George Vince was a fishmonger with different political views and certainly was not teetotal. In fact he had two convictions for being drunk and disorderly. The two clashed at lunchtime on Monday 15^th June 1885 when Bartlett refused to buy any fish. The altercation took place outside the newspaper offices, known as 'Printer's Corner' at the corner of Salisbury Street and White Cliff Mill Street. Bartlett’s refusal angered Vince such that he described the former as ‘a --------- turnip hacker, shepherd boy and that’s what he was fit to be!’

The fish vendor confronted Bartlett again later in the evening returning with his barrow which he parked right  at the newspaper office’s door. Then he uttered a series of charges against Bartlett accusing him of leading an immoral life and  threatened to smash his head. He also reckoned Bartlett’s newspaper office should burst into flames by dynamite being thrown through the windows! The exchanges continued for half an hour before the police arrived..

In June 1885, the Blandford Police Court was packed to the rafters with observers when local fishmonger, George Vince was charged with using threatening language and with intent to commit bodily harm to James Henry Bartlett. The matter had become the talk of Blandford town. The newspaperman told the court: ‘I swear I am in danger of my life and go in bodily fear of the defendant.’

George Vince claimed Bartlett was always meddling in people’s affairs and he thought it was time to tell him to stop it. There was some truth in this as he had made unsubstantiated allegations against a Liberal politician, a school mistress and a Spetisbury publican among others. He was also a strong anti-vaccinationist and was brought before magistrates on several occasions for refusing to have his sons vaccinated. With his experiences of a smallpox outbreak in Spetisbury being controlled by vaccinations, Blandford's Doctor Spooner found Bartlett to be a thorn in his side. He denounced the Blandford Express as the 'local penny press.'

The Bench, consisting of the Mayor, Mr E.B. Smith and Major General Denne, decided to convict Vince binding him over to keep the peace for six calendar months. He was given until two o’ clock to find sureties which were not forthcoming. So, George Vince was conveyed to Dorchester Jail for default. A few days later they were paid so he was released.

Former farm labourer, printer, newspaperman, churchman and ardent temperance advocate James Henry Bartlett died in 1900.  He had produced the Blandford Express & General Advertiser for Central Dorset, priced at just one penny, for almost 40 years. In his 100^th weekly edition, he wrote: ‘To please everyone and do our duty we long ago found to be impossible, so we chose the latter at the risk of the former…’

Fishmonger George Vince was to pay a price for his love of an alcoholic drink. He had a son, George Vince junior who had joined the Royal Navy. The young naval rating was in 1902 the first known person to lose their life in Antarctica. Sadly, when his father was told the news, the ex-fishmonger could be found in Blandford’s Workhouse.

(Illustration: 'Printer's Corner' in wintry times.)