The Blandford Express

  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...

In June 1936, the people of Portesham, near Weymouth came up with an ingenious way to promote their village - cat racing. For newspapers it was the ‘silly season’ and there was a shortage of serious news, so Portesham’s cat racing exploits spread like a wild fire. Daily Express thought it was a good enough story to send a photographer to the village, so several stray  cats were rounded up for him at the inn. The newspaper announced that the 440 yards four-lane track would be open in August and that the Dorset moggies would be chasing an electric rat. If challenged, the licensee of the King’s Arms agreed to confirm that a well-attended experimental cat race had already taken place. It was said that female cats were the better chasers and that tailless cats were not allowed to enter. The cats would wear different coloured ribbons around their necks so that punters could more easily recognise their favourites. Owners would have to pay a two shillings and sixpence (12.5p) fee to enter ...

William Whittle was a seaman with a lucrative sideline. He was a smuggler of foreign spirits.  The Dorset coastal village of Langton Herrimg was his place of birth and he was born there in 1810 on New Year’s Eve. His secondary trade of smuggling seems to have been a family affair as relative Thomas Whittle, a Langton Herring shoemaker, had been sent to prison for smuggling three years earlier. In 1835, William Whittle was charged with assaulting Lieutenant Rowe, a Customs Officer at Abbotsbury and of being the leader of a large smuggling gang. It was reported that a gang of around 600 men were helping with the landing of the liquor. Many were carrying bludgeons. One of the Customs Officers suffered three broken ribs and was unfit for work for seven weeks. Smuggling of wines, spirits and luxury goods from France was a local industry and the men of Abbotsbury and Langton Herring were much involved in the activity. At Dorchester Assizes in March 1835, William Whittle was found guilty ...

Elm Tree Inn, Langton Herring in South Dorset is a 400-year-old hostelry with a colourfully checkered history - that includes smugglers, bouncing bombs, espionage and knicker bunting. Originally leased by the Prince of Wales, it became a known haunt for wreckers and smugglers. Wreckers plundered cargo from shipwrecks. The dangerous shingle banks and deep waters off nearby Chesil Bank led to many local shipwrecks. Folklore has it that wreckers would tie a lantern to a cow’s tail and the gentle up and down motion would simulate that of a ship at anchor. Passing captains would mistake the false light for a safe harbour. Disaster would follow. A fisherman who had cheated others on the size of his catch was chased through the village in 1780 and was hung from a beam at the Elm Tree Inn. In 1834, William Whittle was sentenced to death for smuggling and for assaulting a Revenue Official. Following a petition for clemency, signed by more than 600, he was transported to Australia. The village’s...

These days most toys seem to be made in China. Yet 70 years ago, some very fine toys were made in Blandford. Wend-al was a Blandford company which was a highly regarded maker of aluminium toy figures. Edgar Kehoe was its founder. Immediately after World War II he was looking for a business opportunity. Travelling in France, he discovered his opportunity in the town of Luxeuil-les-Bains where a company named Quirala was making die cast aluminium figures. At the time, lead was more commonly used in the manufacture of toy figures. This company, located in the French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Compte, did not use lead but solid aluminium. Quirala was a combination of the company founder’s surname Quirin and the word aluminium. Edgar Kehoe realised that solid aluminium was stronger and lighter than lead and would not break. As a consequence, he struck up a deal to use French moulds and so production began in Blandford in 1946. He opened his factory in the former Blandford Isolation Hospita...

From the mid-18th century onwards, many Dorset towns and villages set up sparrow clubs. These were not, however gatherings of bird watchers and nature lovers. Their sole purpose was to destroy as many sparrows as possible because it was thought these birds devoured much of the grain being grown. The sparrow was looked upon as an avian rat and a pest. Sparrows were considered such a threat to the harvest that to kill one was almost considered to be a civic duty. They would also burrow into the roofs of farm buildings made of thatch with the consequence the roofs would leak. For many years sparrow  pie was a traditional working class dish and was considered to be a food of the poor. Because the bird is so small at least a dozen would be required for even a family sized pie. In her book The Experienced English Housekeeper  published in 1769, Elizabeth Raffald provided a recipe for sparrow dumplings. In 1931, the College of Pestology even offered  a prize for the best sparrow...

Until it was banned outright under the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1835, the blood sport of cockerel fighting was a popular pastime in Blandford. Large bets were regularly placed on the results and the fighting cocks were specially bred for their aggression. Training was notoriously cruel and well-off owners even employed cockerel trainers. At considerable expense, the pastime was regarded as a ‘predominant amusement’ at the time by the local gentry. At these events, much alcohol was consumed. The enclosed dirt area where the roosters fought became known as a cock pit. This led to the expression ‘to be pitied against.’ Sometimes, the cockerels were required to wear razor-sharp mettle spurs when fighting. Victory was awarded to the cockerel that either killed its opponent or rendered it so injured it could not continue. Some spectators, in the interests of comfort, brought their own light-weight chairs which became known as cock fighting chairs. According to the Salisbury & Wiltshire ...

  At around eight feet tall, Chang Woo Gow was Bournemouth’s tallest man. Although born in China in 1841, he moved to Bournemouth in 1890 for health reasons. Here, he opened a tea shop and an Oriental Bazaar which sold imported Chinese goods. He made his home in Southcote Road, Bournemouth. To ensure his privacy, he built a ten feet high wall around the garden. A bed nine feet long and six feet wide was specially constructed for him. Far from overweight, nevertheless he still weighed 23 stone. On one occasion, a horse drawn carriage collapsed under his weight. It is said he travelled around Bournemouth in a rickshaw. Chang Woo Gow was a highly educated man who reputedly could speak ten languages. Most difficult language for him was English. He had travelled the world as ‘Chang the Chinese giant’ but his real name was Zhan Shi Chai. Under his stage name, he made circus and variety show appearances. He first appeared in London at the Egyptian Halls in 1865 with his wife, known as the...

It was something of a mystery why hundreds of rooks were falling from the skies. This was happening in January 1934 and all within just a few miles from the village of Melcombe Horsey, near Dorchester. The birds appeared to be flying from the direction of Wareham and Lulworth. Nothing like this had ever happened before in the county although there was some talk of it previously happening once in Hampshire. Hundreds were found dead in the woods and locals in North Hampshire were warned not to eat the dead birds. Local rookeries contained thousands of birds which proved unwelcome pests to the Dorset farmers. One theory expressed was that a farmer who had fields of young corn had steeped grain in arsenic or some other poison such as strychnine and scattered this over the land where the rooks fed. All the dead birds were either rooks or jackdaws and it was reported four cats, a dog and a fox also died in the neighbourhood. Followed the analysis of one of the dead birds, it was revealed it ...