The Blandford Express

Gordon Arnold Lonsdale was an apparently successful London based, Canadian businessman who had made his money by hiring out and selling jukeboxes, bubble gum and gambling machines. Another of his products, an electronic car locking device was awarded a gold award at an International Inventors’ Exhibition in Brussels. He was a stocky built man of medium height with a broad cheerful face and ‘very intelligent eyes. ’ On the 28 th June 1960, he had booked himself into the Crown Hotel in Blandford Forum. Yet, all was not what it seemed as Gordon Lonsdale was not his real name neither was he Canadian. His real name was Konon Trofimovich Molody and he was a 38 year old, Moscow born, Russian intelligence agent and master spy. He spoke excellent English with an American accent as he had lived for several years in the USA. Molody had stolen the identity of a dead man who had died in 1943. Purpose of his Blandford stay was later to meet two associates at a house in Meadow View Road, Weymouth...

In the 1700s, if you were looking to order a peruke or periwig then Blandford was most definitely the place to go. But what was a peruke or a periwig? Perukes and periwigs were an expensive fashion statement in the 18 th century. All members of the gentry, who were anybody, would delight in flaunting their latest acquisition. A visit to Richard Kerby’s barber shop in Salisbury Street, Blandford in 1790 would cast light on what perukes and periwigs were. Both were types of powdered wigs. As 18 th century Blandford was neither clean nor hygienic, the regular delousing of wigs was a lucrative sideline for hairdresser, Kerby. As a show of wealth, periwigs became larger, more ostentatious and bizarre. Consequently, they became more and more valuable so wig snatching from the heads of wearers became quite common. The fashion of wig wearing had begun in France with Louis XIV. As baldness was considered to indicate a lack of masculinity so to hide his follicle challenge, Louis appeared i...

  Maryland is a lost village which could be found on the west side of Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour. Originally the island had been called Branksea but apparently so many visitors got off trains at Branksome by mistake that later the island became better known as Brownsea. The lost village was named after the wife of its founder, Colonel William Petrie Waugh. The Edinburgh born Scot’s wife, Mary Murray Halloway-Carew was an amateur geologist. Apparently she was convinced after poking her parasol in the soil that the  island held clay suitable for making high quality pottery. Former Indian Army officer, Waugh had decided to buy the island for £13,000 as a money making scheme. It is said he had returned to England with little property of his own. The purchase was after he had been told by a geologist that Brownsea Island contained a ‘ valuable bed of the finest clay’ worth ‘ at least £10,000 an acre .’ As Waugh was a recently appointed director of the London & Eastern ...

It was almost two o’ clock in the morning when civil servant Harry Houghton said he turned his Renault Dauphine into Blandford’s Ham car park. In the car’s back seats were two Soviet intelligence agents. They had been put ashore just before midnight from a submarine or trawler at Church Ope Cove on Portland. Also known as Smugglers Cove, it had been chosen because of its seclusion and was out of the sight of coastguards. Harry had in the early hours parked in Blandford at some distance from the only other parked car. This was driven by a Soviet agent, known just as John. He had met John previously in a lay by between Puddletown and Blandford. The second parked car had a square of white paper in its window, a sign that Harry had been told to look out for. It could have been a spy movie scene set in Blandford Forum but Harry Houghton was no James Bond. He was a middle aged, heavy drinking clerical officer in Portland Naval Base having previously been a Royal Navy Senior NCO. However Harr...

When Chief Inspector Hambrook and Detective Sergeant Bell from Scotland Yard arrived in Blandford to investigate the crime, it was like a scene from Midsomer Murders. They had arrived at Blandford Station after a long and uncomfortable train journey down from the capital. Two successive managers at the Coverdale Dog Kennels in Tarrant Keynston had lost their lives from shotgun injuries. Both bizarrely had happened in the village within two years. The two detectives soon felt they were receiving little help from the locals and were being met by a conspiracy of silence. They did however uncover tales of marital infidelities, anonymous poison pen letters and petty jealousies. Blandford's Doctor Kenneth Wilson had examined the body and concluded that the injuries could not have been self inflicted. So the Scotland Yard Chief Inspector called in the Home Office Pathologist, Sir Bernard Spilsbury who shared the Blandford doctor's opinion. The villagers were convinced that both deat...

Captain Augustus Foster was Sherriff of Dorset, a Justice of the Peace and had a distinguished war record. He had served in the 14th Light Dragoons under the Duke of Wellington in the Spanish Peninsular War. Born in 1787, Captain Foster was also the Lord of the Manor in Warmwell near Dorchester. He was determined to pursue his case for larceny against 13 year old Mary Lovell. So he laid it before his son, Lieutenant Augustus Billet Foster also a magistrate who issued a warrant for the young girl’s arrest. The allegation was that she had stolen a cracked milk jug from the squire’s kitchen. The 84 year old pressed strongly for action to be taken. As a result, 13 year old Mary Lovell was speedily sentenced at Dorset Petty Sessions to 21 days’ hard labour in Dorchester Gaol. Children under 14 years could at the time be tried summarily by two magistrates without a jury. This would be followed by five years to be spent in the Devon Reformatory at Exeter.  Mary Lovell, who was the eldest ...

  Dorset has some quite quirky, strange and rude place names. Among them are: Aunt Mary’s Bottom , a valley near Rampisham Hill but who was Aunt Mary? Belchalwell , near Blandford. Was once the home of television personality Jack Hargreaves. Burnt Bottom, near Hooke in West Dorset. Crumpet’s Drive , Lytchett Matravers. It sounds quite tasty! Droop , a hamlet near Blandford. The name just means an ‘ outlying farm .’ Eype , seaside village near Bridport from the Old English meaning ‘ steep place. ’ Happy Bottom , a hamlet near Corfe Mullen which has its own nature reserve. Melbury Bubb , near Sherborne. Bubbe was a landowning family and Melbury meant ‘ a multi-coloured hill.’ Piddletrenthide & Piddlehinton , near Dorchester and all things to do with the River Piddle. Not forgetting also Tolpuddle, Briantspuddle and Puddletown . Ryme Intrinsica , near Sherborne which means on the ‘ rim of a ridge.' Scratchy Bottom , near Lulworth and was featured in the 196...

During World War I, an urgent call went out to scouts and school children to collect acorns and conkers. This request came from the Royal Naval Cordite Factory at Holton Heath. Young collectors were told this was valuable war work. The reason was not explained but an assurance was given to the gatherers that they would be paid for their collections. The factory had been built after the Admiralty had decided it needed its own cordite manufacturing facility. Holton Heath site had been chosen because it was away from centres of population yet still had good road, rail and sea links. The factory had its own site railway built and a jetty in Poole Harbour from where the cordite was shipped to Priddy’s Hard at Gosport. Cordite was a propellant used in gun and artillery ammunition. During World War I, vast quantities were required and the chemical acetone was one of its constituents. At first acetone was distilled from wheat much of which washed imported from the USA. However by mid 1917, whe...

  A military site between Wareham and Poole was so secret it was deliberately left off an Ordnance Survey map published in the 1940s. At its peak it was the largest industrial complex in Dorset employing around 2,000 people. It was the Royal Navy Cordite Factory. Cordite was a smokeless material developed to replace gunpowder as a military propellant. It was used in large weapons such as tank guns, artillery & naval guns. It was so called because of its cord like appearance. The explosives site was built during World War I at Holton Heath with the help of around 500 bricklayers. First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill had decided the Royal Navy needed its own cordite manufacturing facility. During this war, certificates were issued to men working at Holton Heath to prove they were engaged on important war work and were not avoiding joining the armed forces. The factory included a power station, two acid factories, a reservoir, various buildings and a hospital area. A...

Duke of Wellington was Prime Minister twice and defeated Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. Reflecting his status, his Apsley House, London home in Hyde Park had the distinguished address of Number One, London . It was therefore quite an event when Arthur Wellesley, 1 st Duke of Wellington decided in August 1827 to visit Blandford. Purpose of this visit was to attend Blandford Races held annually on Blandford Down which is now Blandford Camp. These dated back to the early 1600s and by the late 1820s, Blandford Races were at their most prestigious – as famous in that decade as Doncaster or Newmarket. The Duke of Wellington had arrived at the Races as a guest of the Course Steward, William John Bankes of Kingston Lacy. He had become a friend of Wellesley during the Spanish Peninsular War. Their arrival together was a splendid sight involving eleven carriages pulled by 44 horses driven by coachmen accompanied by splendidly dressed footmen. The two day event was crowded...

Ken Baily was the England football and rugby cheerleader for three decades and Bournemouth Football Club mascot from the 1950s. An eccentric character and lifelong bachelor, he had a love of trifle and in his spare time could be seen riding his bicycle around the town dressed as either Winston Churchill or the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie. As a cheerleader, he was recognisable in his trademark costume of Union Jack waistcoat, scarlet tails, white gloves and top hat. When meeting royalty, Prince Charles is said to have once remarked ‘ where did you escape from?’ He is also the only man to become both a Freeman of Bournemouth and a Subbuteo figure. Ken Baily was a keen runner and swimmer and maintained his fitness by regular sea bathing. This included regular dips in the Bournemouth briny on Christmas Day and on New Year’s Eve. He worked as a clerical assistant in a Bournemouth telephone exchange and also wrote a gossip column for a local newspaper using the pen name Genevieve...

  Not many towns or villages can claim their very own vampire…yet Tarrant Gunville can! Tarrant Gunville’s vampire is reckoned to be William Doggett a ‘ corrupt manservant’ who stole a large sum of money from his employer, the Second Earl Temple. The Earl had inherited Eastbury House, then one of England’s finest country houses, but was finding it far too expensive to run. In 1795, he moved to Italy and to reduce house running costs he instructed William Doggett to dismantle the wings of the massive property. The greedy Doggett believed that the Earl had moved permanently abroad and saw an opportunity to make money for himself. Doggett demolished the main house and also the south wing and then pocketed the proceeds from selling the building materials. With evidence of his fiddling all around him, Doggett was told that the Earl had just alighted from the London mail coach. It had stopped on the Blandford – Salisbury Road at the Tarrant Gunville turning. The distressed servant sc...

Their correct name is Simulium Posticatum , yet more commonly they are known as the Blandford Fly. It is a small, blood-sucking black fly that can be found in Blandford and in Russia and Eastern Europe. They are also considered a nuisance in Africa and North America. The insect gained its name from the many people in Blandford being bitten in the 1960s and 1970s. In the spring of 1972, some 600 people visited their doctor in the town complaining of pain, itching and scratching in the lower leg. Found in slow moving rivers similar to the Stour at Blandford Bridge, the female of the species seeks out a blood feast before mating. This blood meal is required before allowing its 200-300 eggs to mature. They lacerate the skin and then suck out the blood. Just two to three millimetres long, they also inject an anaesthetic so that the bite is not felt. However, if the bite is scratched germs are released causing the infection. Scissor like mandibles can deliver a bite with painful consequences...

On 18 th November 1940, Blandford was bombed by German aircraft when an estimated 100 explosive devices were dropped on the town and its outskirts. Yet Blandford was not an obvious enemy target with Portland’s naval dockyard, Yeovil’s Westland aircraft factory or the newly reopened army base at Blandford Camp being more obvious targets. So why did the German air force decide to bomb Blandford? At the time the River Stour was in flood, so many of the explosive devices just fell into the water. However, an incendiary device did land on the roof of the Crown Hotel setting it alight. Thanks to prompt action by the town’s fire brigade, led by Captain C M Timbrell, the fire was quickly brought under control. Despite much charring to the beams, the fire fighters were able to confine damage to the hotel roof. After the raid, the brigade’s efforts were acknowledged by the hotel’s management in a letter enclosing a £10 cheque. It was decided, following the raid, to supplement the brigade’s wate...

Why do all pirates talk with an exaggerated Dorset accent? Blame rests firmly on the shoulders of Dorset actor, Robert Guy Newton born in Shaftesbury in June 1905. A colourful, hell raising individual, both on and off stage, Robert had a long and distinguished career in the theatre, in films and on television. For anyone who wants to talk like a pirate, it is almost obligatory to copy the vocal intonations of Robert Guy Newton. He excelled at playing cunning villains. With his thunderous voice and rolling eyes he mesmerised audiences. He is best remembered for playing the rapscallion one-legged pirate Long John Silver in the Disney film, Treasure Island and in its sequel made in Australia four years later. This was followed by a television mini-series filmed on Sydney beaches and on South Sea Islands in the mid 1950s. He had also played the two-legged but bearded pirate, Edward Teach in Blackbeard the Pirate in 1952. Robert was married four times and is remembered also for his pa...