The Blandford Express

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...

          In 1759 , John Ayliffe, who had a house built in East Street, was executed for forgery at Tyburn in London. In 1760 , Dr Dansey was paid six pounds and six shillings (£6.30p) for cutting off Samuel Tucker’s leg. In 1 761 , the Court of Records in London threatened to fine Blandford forty shillings (£2) if the pillory, sixty shillings (£3) if the stocks and five pounds if the pound were not all immediately put into good repair. In 1762 , highwayman John Poulter, with five companions, stole items of gold and silver from the Crown Hotel which they took onto London. In 1766 , a ticket on the horse drawn ‘ Blandford Flying Machine’ cost twenty-five shillings (£1.25p) and it took two days to travel from Blandford to London. In 1769 , fines were imposed on a number of Blandford householders for throwing filth into the streets. In 1770 , a cockfighting contest was held between the gentlemen of Dorset and Wiltshire in the Red Lion Inn. In 1771 , the Ser...

Born in 1811, Frances Jeans was one of Australia’s earliest teachers. In the villages Durweston and Stourpaine there were several Jeans families. At this time, Stourpaine had a particularly unsavoury reputation for unsanitary living conditions and extreme poverty. The Hampshire Telegraph was to write in 1840 of the village: ‘The first feature which attracts the attention of a stranger entering the village is the total want of cleanliness which pervades it. A stream, composed of the matter which constantly escapes from the pigsties and other receptacles of filth, meanders down each street, being here and there collected into standing pools, which lie festering and rotting in the sun so as to create wonder the place is not the continual abode of pestilence – indeed the most malignant fevers have ravaged here at times. It may be sufficient to add for the present that the inside of the cottages in every respect corresponds with the external appearances of the place.’ In October 1836, Franc...

  Blandford’s town council has been giving away free land! Sadly, this is not Blandford, Dorset but in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford which can be found just about an hour’s drive to the south-west of Quebec City, Canada. Despite being mainly French speaking, the small Saint-Louis-de-Blandford town of around 900 people was still named after Blandford in Dorset. To discourage Saint-Louis-de-Blandford’s young and not so young residents from moving away to the city the municipality acquired land which it has been giving away. Applicants have to put down a $1,000  payment and then to commit to build a house worth at least $125,000 within a year. The town then refunds the down payment. Saint-Louis-de-Blandford is well-known for growing excellent cranberries and is regarded as Canada’s capital for this fruit. The town enjoys a proper continental climate of warm summers but the winters are exceedingly cold. If there was a competition for the countries with the most Blandfords then Canada w...

Panda  Blue Rasperry Ade, Strawberry Jelly & Ice Cream and Casper Ghostly Limeade were all unique soft drink flavours produced by the Panda Pops brand owned by Badger Beers. Panda Pops were often sold in small bottles of fizzy drink that were as sweet and sticky as it was as possible for them to be. Other popular Panda Pop flavours were Cherry Ade and Bright Green Cola. Even more singular blends could be concocted by mixing two or more flavours in a Panda Pops mixing bowl. Panda Cola achieved a sort of cult status and there is even a song, ‘ Warm Panda Cola’ . While among Panda aficionados there was even the spoof blend of Princess Diana Memorial flavour! The Blandford drink competed remarkably well against American giants Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola. Panda Pops date back to the 1960s when the Blandford brewer dropped the name of Sunparlor for its soft drink brands. Sunparlor had also been the name of a winning race horse owned by a member of the Woodhouse family. Cream soda was...

  In 1741 , two men, Will King and Ben Fluel, were publicly hanged in the Market Place for robbing Lady Grace Haynes. In 1742 , scavengers Robert Pitman and Richard Dutton were paid fifteen shillings (75p) per quarter to sweep the streets and remove the dung and filth. In 1744 , Blandford Races were revived after a lapse of several years. In 1752 , a cudgel contest was held in the Sword & Dagger public house. A two guinea prize was offered ‘to the man that breaks most heads and saves his own.’ In 1753 , during this year, eight Blandford girls married soldiers. In 1755 , the famous Damory Oak was felled. It stood 75 feet high and its cavity could hold 20 men. During the Civil War, an old man sold beer in it. Its wood was sold for fourteen pounds. During Blandford Races, cockerel fighting took place regularly in the White Bear and the Cock Inn. Eccentric Jonas Hanway, the first man to use an umbrella in London, stayed at the Lion Inn with friends. In 1756 , thirty Blandford men j...

  During World War I, there was a German Prisoner of War Camp on the Blandford Milldown which opened in June 1917. It held nearly 200 internees who were accommodated initially in three huts and 30 large bell tents. Each tent was lit by lamps but there was no heating. The kitchen was in a shed and tobacco could be purchased from a canteen. As there was no infirmary, all sickness cases were sent to Blandford Camp. There was considerable ill-feeling towards German people at the time and that was often reflected, and frequently encouraged, by newspaper reports. The Weekly Despatch of 6 January 1918 reported that ‘the good people of Blandford are much incensed at what they consider to be undue pampering of a number of German prisoners interned there.’ Apparently, the townspeople were surprised to see at Christmas ‘ batches of their grey clad guests’ entering any shop they pleased and buying what they wished – even tea ‘ by the pound’ as one indignant housewife complained. However, ...

Shapwick’s Charles Bennett was Britain’s first track  and field athlete ever to become an Olympic champion. He won two golds and one silver medal at the 1900 Paris Olympics. Nicknamed the Shapwick Express, Charles Bennett was born in the village on 28 December 1870. He became one of the finest middle distance runners of his time. Charles Bennett won the AAA four mile championship in 1897 and the cross country running title in 1899 and 1900. At the 1900 Paris Olympics, he beat the favourite, Frenchman Henry Deloge to win the gold medal in the 1,500 metres race. His time was a new world record. He then won a second gold medal in the 5,000 metres team race. Charles Bennett just missed an Olympic gold hat-trick by coming second in the 4,000 metres steeplechase. Apparently, he celebrated his victory by visiting the Folies Bergere night club. Despite limited press coverage, when he returned home to England, he was carried shoulder high through the streets of Wimborne. Charles Bennett...

Which Blandfordian has appeared the most in film and on television? A strong candidate would be Frederick George Abberline, but who was he? Frederick has been portrayed on the big screen by Michael Cane, Johnny Depp and several other leading actors. Clive Russell played him in the BBC’s Ripper Street. Unfortunately, Caine’s portrayal of Abberline as a drunkard and that of Depp as a drug addict were totally inaccurate. However, as Frederick had passed away in Bournemouth in 1929 he was unable to speak up for himself. In fact, and despite looking more like a bank manager, he is justifiably regarded as both a hard working and decent London policeman. Frederick George Abberline was a Chief Inspector for London’s Metropolitan Police and a key figure in the East London, Jack the Ripper serial killer murders. In a BBC survey, Jack the Ripper was voted as the most evil Briton of the last 1,000 years. After the murder of Mary Ann Nichols, Abberline was chosen in September 1888 to lead the inves...

In the 1950s, there were two cinemas in Blandford, the Palace and the Ritz. Both were in East Street and the Palace was immediately facing the Ritz, the latter on the north side of the street. Both were owned and managed by Percy Carter, a former music hall entertainer. Before the opening of the first cinema in the town, there were the occasional open air screenings put on by travelling showmen. A cinema was first established on the north side of East Street and was called the Palace. All the films were without soundtracks, so Alf Fletcher from Pimperne provided a musical accompaniment on the piano. It is not known when the Palace opened, although in February 1913, there is a newspaper report on whether it had been legal to have shown films in Blandford on Christmas Day. There is also a reference to the Palace, Blandford in the Stage newspaper of October 1912. In October 1917, during World War 1, the Palace was patriotically showing, twice nightly, a film of British tanks in the Ba...

In 1731 , the Great Fire of Blandford destroyed the greater part of the town. It started at about 2 o’clock in a soap boiler’s house. Only forty out of around five hundred houses escaped the fire. To add to the troubles, the town was suffering from a smallpox outbreak affecting around 150 people. Following the Great Fire of Blandford an appeal for funds raised £16,151-10s-3d £16.151 51p) which included £1,200 from King George II and his wife, £200 from Bath and £136 from the Isle of Wight. Drury Lane Theatre in London put on a play to raise money for ‘the poor unhappy sufferers from the late fire.’ The practice of ducking ‘ incorrigible shrews and scolds’ was discontinued with the burning of the town’s ducking stool in the fire. In 1733 , there were thirty inns in Blandford. Composer William Knapp wrote an anthem in commemoration of the 1731 Great Fire of Blandford. In 1735 , Blandford Church was constructed at the cost of £3,200 and it cost four years to complete. In 1738 , because o...

Tarrant Rushton was a large RAF base used for glider operations during World War II. It was then taken over by Flight Refuelling for the conversion of aircraft for the development of aircraft in-flight refuelling. However, between 1958 & 1965, the Tarrant Rushton airfield had a much more secretive and less publicised role. This was in support of the nation’s nuclear bomber deterrent, as Tarrant Rushton airfield became a QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) dispersal unit.   During 1958, contractors Costain reinforced the main runway and carried out other work to ensure the giant bomber aircraft could be accommodated. At times just a few miles from Blandford, there would have been up to four RAF Vickers Valiant bombers at Tarrant Rushton ready to become airborne in minutes charged with nuclear weapons. The bombers were from 148 Squadron at RAF Marham in Norfolk. As there was no suitable accommodation at the airfield, an old US Air Force Hospital building at Martin was used. At the time,...

In the latter years of the Second World War, Blandford Camp was occupied by the U.S. Army. While Langton House, now demolished, became the base of the 1 st United States Infantry Division. In preparation for the 1944 Normandy Landings, part of Blandford Camp was transformed into a major U.S. Army Hospital complex. It was to be known as the ‘ 22 nd General Hospital’ . The site was converted from a British Army training camp to a hospital containing wards, operating theatres and medical stores. While the hospital was being constructed, Blandford Camp was also used as a parking zone for tanks and vehicles awaiting the Normandy invasion. This area was well camouflaged and protected by anti-aircraft guns. American Army medical staff arrived in Liverpool in April 1944 and travelled on to Blandford by train. There were five hospital units set up which each had 1,248 beds. They started receiving patients about two weeks after ‘ D Day’ (6 th June 1944). Many casualties were flown into t...

In 1698 , there were 500 lace makers recorded in Blandford. In 1706 , villagers of Shapwick were terrified by a large crab that had fallen from a fishmonger’s barrel believing it to be a monster. In 1712 , Nathaniel Seagar a brewer was attacked and robbed while travelling between Shaftesbury and Blandford. Upon hearing what had happened Joseph Reader, a stocky built miller, pursued the highwayman and felled him with his cudgel. Summarily concluding the highwayman was guilty of assault, Reader proceeded to hang the highwayman from a nearby tree. In 1713 , East Street was burnt down, allegedly by a malicious person. In 1723 , Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders, visited Dorset. He described lace made in Blandford as ‘so exquisitely fine as I think I never saw better in Flanders.’ In 1724 , a troop of Hussars was stationed on Blandford Down, now Blandford Camp, engaged on anti-smuggling duties. In 1728 , Blandford’s Overseers of the Poor accounts show five shillings ...

In the history of the British Navy, it appears there were three HMS Blandfords. The first HMS Blandford, launched at Woolwich in 1711, was lost at sea with all hands. The second, launched in 1720 was a trend setter but also had a dark secret. She was involved in the slave trade. While the third HMS Blandford (1741), featured in frequent skirmishes with the French but more recently had a replica built which featured in a television series. HMS Blandford (1711) served the Royal Navy in the Baltic, North Sea and in the Mediterranean. Sadly, she was lost with all hands including her captain, Erasmus Phillips during a fierce storm in the Bay of Biscay in March 1719. HMS Blandford (1720) was one of the first of a class of 22 vessels to be built to a common standard. This resulted in cost savings in both the building and maintenance of the vessels. It also provided greater certainty as to how they performed at sea. Her first captain was William Martin who eventually became an admiral. A...