The Blandford Express

Blandford's first hospital opened in 1883 and was financed by Miss Portman, a member of Bryanston’s Portman family. It could be found adjacent to the Corner Coffee House near the junction of Salisbury Street and White Cliff Mill Street. The Coffee House was run by the Church and was a sort of welfare centre. One of its earliest patients was a man who had been involved in a wagon accident at Tarrant Hinton. According to the Blandford Express of 17 th March 1883, he was taken to ‘ the new Cottage Hospital.’ From 1885 to 1887 it became known as ‘ Nurse House’ but did not take in-patients. They were sent to hospitals in Bath, Dorchester, Weymouth or Bournemouth. In September 1887, Blandford Hospital Sunday took place when members of friendly societies and public bodies joined a procession to Blandford Church. The service collection and other donations were passed to local hospitals including the Nurse House. While the previous week the village of Pimperne had passed on the veget...

Elderly farm labourer, John White was due to appear, back in November 1859, before Blandford Magistrates charged with poaching. He was up before Magistrates JJ Farquarson (above) from Langton Long, W P Okendon from Turnworth and Lord Portman from Bryanston. As Dorset landowners and local gentry he knew they would show little sympathy towards a poacher. Indeed there were many Dorset folk who had been transported as convicts to Australia for this crime. Witness Robert Fookes came forward in the Courtroom and identified John as the man he had seen trespassing in the pursuit of game on Baron Hambro’s land. He had seen him with four dogs stop and pick up something which he had put in his pocket. As he could not afford a lawyer, John had to conduct his own defence. He endeavoured to show that neither he, as a silly old man, nor his ‘ poor bitch’ nor his three ‘ pups of two months old’ could ever be guilty of such an offence. The Magistrates were so amused by the old man’s eccentricitie...

London’s Blandford Street can be found just off Marylebone High Street. The latter was once described as the ‘ best street in London.’ Nearby are Shroton Street, Bryanston Street and Durweston Mews. So why are there so many North Dorset street names in such a select part of the capital where a small apartment can cost several million pounds? The reason is due to the Portman family. The family acquired land in Marylebone in the 16 th century and then bought an estate in Bryanston in the 1680s. Edward Berkeley Portman was the first Viscount Portman (1799-1888) and he served as a Member of Parliament for both Dorset and Marylebone. In 1827, he married Emma Lascelles who became a Lady in Waiting and close confidante of Queen Victoria and keeper of her close secrets. The Portman family benefitted from the growth of London onto agricultural land which they owned north of Oxford Street. They also benefitted from the effects of leases coming to an end which saw the estate’s income increas...