The Blandford Express

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...

  Featured is Coryates Halt which could be found on the Abbotsbury branch line. It opened in May 1906 but closed in December 1952. Other now almost forgotten Dorset railway stations include: Abbotsbury opened in November 1885: closed in December 1952. Broadstone opened in December 1872: closed for passengers in March 1966. Bridport East Street opened in March 1884: closed in September 1930. Bridport West Bay opened in March 1884: closed for passengers in September 1930. Blandford (Blandford Forum from September 1953) opened in November 1860: closed for passengers from March 1966. Charlton Marshall opened in July 1928: closed in September 1956. Creekmoor Halt opened in June 1933: closed in March 1966. Lyme Regis opened in August 1903: closed for passengers in November 1965. Portland opened in October 1865: closed for passengers in March 1952. Powerstock opened in November 1857: closed for passengers May 1975. Sandsfoot Castle (on Portland branch line) ...

Francis Fane was the silent but rather mischievous Dorset MP who loved a joke and can  also  be regarded as the founder of the village of Spetisbury. Francis Fane was born in the village in 1750 and served as the Member of Parliament for Dorchester from 1790-1807. In line with his taciturn reputation, there is only one record of him speaking in Parliament where he raised just a single question. One day Frances Fane was travelling up to London sitting comfortably inside a horse drawn mail coach when sitting above, in the open, was a barber from Dorchester. The latter’s heavily laden coat pocket hung temptingly over the MP’s open coach window. Francis could not resist slitting the inviting pocket and salvaging its contents which turned out to be a large bundle of bank notes. These had been entrusted to the barber to deliver safely to London. When the Dorchester hairdresser realised his loss he was in a state of apoplexy and extreme desperation. The mischievous MP then produced...

  Otto Koehn was a Dorchester prisoner of war nicknamed ‘ Jack in a Box’ for his extraordinary exploit. He was a distinguished-looking young man with fair hair and a slight fair moustache. Just 22 years old, he wore a pince-nez. Travelling on a Dutch vessel from the USA to Germany, Otto had been arrested when it berthed at Falmouth. At the start of World War I, he was interned in the prisoner of war camp at Poundbury just outside Dorchester. This was a large camp with as many as 4,500 German and Austrian prisoners. No sooner had Otto arrived in Poundbury, he started to scheme his escape. The opportunity arose when he heard that a group of elderly interns were being sent back to Germany, for humanitarian reasons, as a part of a prisoner exchange agreement with the British. They would travel to Tilbury by train and join the steamer, SS Batavia. After arriving in Rotterdam, they could easily return to the Fatherland. In the prisoners’ canteen Otto bought a box which had contained mat...