The Blandford Express

A wedding, due to take place in Southampton, had to be cancelled because the bridegroom, Uriah Jones (29) was shot when visiting his fiancé in Sixpenny Handley a few days earlier. As he was kissing his intended Beatrice Sheen (23) ‘goodnight’, sixty-eight shotgun pellets crashed through a window into Uriah Jones’s neck killing him. Fortunately, Miss Sheen was only slightly injured. Suspicion fell on Percy Brownsea, also of Sixpenny Handley, who had enjoyed a previous relationship with Miss Sheen.. He had claimed she had severed this relationship because Uriah Jones, known as Hughie, had money, a house and a lorry. Brownsea had tried his hardest to get her to reconsider her decision. Uriah Jones was a partner with his brother and father in a Southampton sand and gravel business. Brownsea, a woodman and ex-serviceman, was taken into custody by the Dorset Police. He admitted to firing the gun saying he was drunk at the time and he only meant to frighten them. He remembered that Miss Sheen...

  Charles Maidment was one of this country’s finest jockeys. Dorset born & bred, Charlie was born in Sixpenny Handley in 1845 and lived for several years in Blandford before he married. With 76 wins each, he shared the Jockey’s Championship with William Gray in 1870 and then with George Fordham the following year with 86 each. In 1871, he won the One Thousand Guineas, the Oaks and the St Leger on Hannah . The following year he won the Derby on Cremorne and the St Leger on Wenlock . After his 1872 Derby win, he suffered a short illness. This it is reckoned to have been due to the aniline dye in his silk jockey’s jacket. Sadly, Charlie Maidment was not good at managing his money. Despite amassing a fortune from his winnings he squandered it and in 1875 was listed in the Cambridge Bankruptcy Court. Owners then tended to shun him until he rode Kisber to win the 1876 Derby at Epsom. He married Mary Vickery Percy and they had four daughters. However, she had health issues. The Bury...