The Blandford Express

It was a long time ago but 25th June 1348 was probably Dorset’s worst day ever. For it was when it is believed that infected sailors arrived at Melcombe, near Weymouth from Gascony in France carrying the Black Death. Like most ships, it would have been carrying rats. No-one knew at the time the causes of the epidemic which became known as the Great Pestilence. Local townsfolk were the first victims of the epidemic. The Great Pestilence quickly spread around Weymouth and people left the town taking the Black Death with them. So many died in Portland that the quarries fell silent. Within weeks, it had spread along the coast and up river valleys. Quickly, it passed through Devon and Somerset and onto Bristol and beyond. The disease was transmitted it is believed by fleas. Sufferers first experienced a black rash, then swollen glands, a high fever and finally death. Such was the devastation of the epidemic that the Bishop of Salisbury appointed new priests in Dorset on 22 days during the 3...

Some breweries are cherishingly remembered while others are now forgotten: Eldridge Pope  of Dorchester. Founded in 1837 by Charles and Sarah Eldridge, a new brewery was built near the railway line in 1880. Edwin Pope had joined in 1870 and was followed by his brother Alfred. The Huntsman   trademark (featured) was shared with Leeds based brewer, Joshua Tetley. Thomas Hardy Ale, a strong barley wine, was one their most famous beers. Eldridge Pope closed in 2003 and the site was sold to a property company. Bournemouth Brewery was founded at 117 Holdenhurst Road in 1858 in association with Heath Poult Inn.  One of its owners was a Mrs Hilda G  Ogden. The brewery was bought by Strong of Romsey in 1925 and survived just as a depot until 1973 when the site was redeveloped. Devenish of Weymouth. Originally the Flew Brewery, it was bought by William Devenish in 1824. In 1931,  Major J Devenish’s home was burgled but the stolen silver was discovered the next day by scho...

  Mary Lawrence was a Dorset born granny who sometimes carried a gun. A servant she was wrongly found guilty in 1813 of stealing a gold watch, valued at over two pounds,  from T Coorton Esq of Weymouth. Mary Lawrence was sentenced to be hanged in Dorchester Gaol. Yet according to her gravestone in Yass, Australia, Mary Lawrence lived to be 113 years old - leaving children to the fourth generation said to number 600. Instead of facing the gallows, Mary Lawrence was transported to Australia for a period of seven years leaving Dartford on the convict vessel Broxbournebury in February 1814. After Mary had served four years of her sentence, the news arrived in Australia that someone in Weymouth had admitted, on their death bed, to have stolen the gold watch. As a result, Mary Lawrence was granted a full pardon and awarded sixty acres of land at Yass by the Governor as compensation. She was said to be the first white woman in the ‘Outback’. Mary had married ex-convict George Davis o...

Despite a much smaller population, there is one global competition where the county of Dorset has matched the USA. In the now somewhat outdated Miss World Contest, Dorset has produced three winners. They are Ann Sidney, Lesley Langley and Sarah-Jane Hutt. The USA has provided Marjorie Wallace (1973), Gina Tolleson (1990) and Alexandria Mills (2010). Ann Sidney was a hairdresser from Poole, on a 30 shillings (£1.50) weekly wage, who won in 1964. She became an actress, married five times and for a short period was a girlfriend of Bruce Forsyth. The contest had an incredible 27.5 million television audience in the UK alone. When Ann returned to Poole she received a reception usually reserved for royalty. Her win led to British born, American comedian Bob Hope inviting her to entertain US troops in Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam. Her autobiography is entitled, ‘Surviving Miss World .’ Next year in 1965, Dorset achieved back to back victories when 21 year old Lesley Langley from Weymout...

John Love from Weymouth was reckoned at one time to be the fattest man in England. By trade, he was a bookseller and publisher but was also an accomplished artist. He did much to promote an interest in art in Dorset. In his shop he had both a library and exhibition rooms. In 1788, he published a Guide to Weymouth. He was so corpulent he regularly wore a waistband nearly up to his neck to prevent his trousers from falling down. John Love rarely wore a coat. Most of the time he just wore his nightshirt in which he was more comfortable.  John Love had studied in London under William Ryland, Engraver to the King who was executed for the crime of forgery. Terrified by his master’s  shameful death, Love returning to Weymouth. Initially, he was quite puny so his Dorchester doctor prescribed a diet of fatty foods as medicine. Results  of this and his overeating soon became evident in his expanding waistline.  ‘Giving himself up entirely to wine and dainties’ he ‘gave himself...

When a  Baptist Minister predicted Weymouth would be destroyed by a mammoth tidal wave it caused quite a stir. The South London clergyman prophesied that this massive tsunami would arrive at exactly 3.53pm on Tuesday 29th May 1928. As this was a bank holiday weekend, Weymouth would be packed with people. The prediction received widespread coverage in the local and national press. Panic spread and a local resident announced he had placed his canoe on the roof of his house to await the tsunami’s arrival. The Mayor of Weymouth reckoned he would be alright because he would be entertaining visitors on a boat in Portland Harbour. As they were from Holland he claimed they would be used to flooding. Weymouth had been hit by quite large waves in the past. A Weymouth magistrate tried to allay fears by claiming the giant wave would instead hit Weymouth, Massachusetts in the USA. While enterprising restaurant owners were adverting Tidal Wave Teas. A bright red sunset the night before was said ...

King George III’s favourite holiday destination was Weymouth. Recovering from an ‘attack of madness’, he was advised that ‘taking the water’ was good for the health. During one of his worst moments, it is said, he shook hands with an oak tree believing it was the King of Prussia. Sea bathing was reckoned to be a cure for melancholy, gout and for ‘bad attacks of the worms.’ His first visit to the town in 1789 caused quite a stir but also a problem of etiquette for the Mayor of Weymouth. Advancing to kiss the Queen’s hand, Colonel Gwynn, a member of the King’s court, whispered: ‘You must kneel sir!’  Unfortunately, the Mayor took no notice of this advice and standing upright kissed the Queen’s hand.  The Colonel commented, ‘You should have knelt, sir!’                                                   ‘Sir’, answered the poor Mayor. ‘I cannot…for I have a ...

When gentlemen bathing naked was discussed at a Weymouth Town Council meeting in May 1860, Alderman Ayling reckoned the culprits should be horsewhipped. The bathing machines, it was suggested, had been placed too close to the promenade creating this indecency. The machines were essentially mobile changing rooms. Locals paid six pence (2.5p) for their use but visitors were charged nine pence (4p). Railway excursionists from Bath and Bristol were blamed for rendering this nuisance to be increasingly offensive. Apparently, both in France and in Brighton, male bathers were required to wear ‘coloured drawers from the waist to the knees’ so it was reckoned that this regulation should be introduced at Weymouth.  It was proposed that the bathing machine proprietors should provide several coloured drawers and a fine of two shillings and sixpence (12.5p) imposed for each offence. As dresses were provided for women, it was reckoned that something broadly similar should  be provided for m...

Weymouth was once referred to as ‘Swindon-on-Sea’. For it was a favourite holiday destination for workers at the giant Great Western Railway’s Swindon Works. The Works was completed in 1843 and at its peak employed some 14,000 people. Arrival of the railway at Weymouth in 1857 would breathe fresh life into the town as a holiday resort. It also saw the town’s population double by 1914. Known as ‘Swindon Week’, the railway maintenance complex would close in July and thousands would cram the platforms of Swindon station in their Sunday best. Many local businesses would also  temporarily close as Swindon became a ghost town. Every year, some five or six thousand workers would travel to the Dorset seaside resort. There were other possible destinations in  the Great Western Railway’s network including to London. The event would become affectionately known as the ‘trip’. For the better off and more adventurous there was the prospect of crossing the English Channel from Weymouth to Ch...

‘ Bunga Bunga’ is today associated with allegedly colourful sex parties attended by former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi. Yet more than a century earlier, the phrase originated and was linked with a different type of party in Weymouth Bay. In 1910, author Virginia Woolf, and her small equally colourful party of friends pulled off one of the most famous practical jokes in British military history. At the time, the British Navy was the most powerful and largest in the world and Portland was an important base. The Royal Navy was seen as one of the foundations of the British Empire and as a reflection of the nation’s power and wealth. The formidable HMS Dreadnought was the pride of the Royal Navy and flagship of the Channel Fleet and in February 1910 was berthed in Weymouth Bay. Pretending to be a VIP foreign delegation, Virginia and her friends obtained permission to visit the prestigious battleship. Four of the party, including Virginia herself, dressed up as fake Abyssini...

  Harry Houghton and Gordon Lonsdale were two members of the Portland Spy. Houghton was a Civil Servant who stole military secrets from the then Portland Naval Base and Underwater Research Establishment. He passed these secrets for money onto Gordon Lonsdale who was a Soviet master spy. Both were arrested in January 1961 and found guilty of espionage and imprisoned. In their respective countries they have quite contrasting memorials. Lonsdale’s real name was Konon Molody and he was born in Moscow in January 1922. He spoke impeccable English with an American accent as he had spent time living in the USA. Upon his release from prison and return to the Soviet Union, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. This was the country’s highest award and was designed to recognise extraordinary courage, dedication and heroism. He had operated in Britain from around 1955 until 1961. When he died in October 1970, his body was laid in state at the KGB Officers’ Club and there is an elaborate t...

Chalkie White and Lobby Lud were once regular summer visitors to Bournemouth and Weymouth sea fronts; but who were these curiously named characters? ‘To my delight, it’s Chalkie White’   was all you had to say to Chalkie to win a £50 prize. This was providing, of course, you were holding a copy of the Daily Mirror. This was a scheme to boost newspapers sales when circulation traditionally fell during the summer months. The Mirror would announce which days the mystery man would be in town and readers would be challenged to seek him out. To help his identification, a picture of Charlie’s eyes would be published daily. A forerunner of Chalkie was Lobby Lud created in 1927 by the Westminster Gazette. Like Chalkie, Lobby would also visit Bournemouth and Weymouth. Prizes equivalent to over £300, in today’s money, were on offer which led to a sort of Lobby Lud mania. Holiday plans would be changed at the last moment in an attempt to catch him. There was even a Lobby Lud train which would ...