Alongside the temporary exhibition following the documentary trail of the Tomkins family’s 1853 emigration is the story of the redoubtable Elizabeth Hunt (nee Lemon) from West Orchard, researched and written by Dave Hardiman. There are parallels in the stories of both families, confirming that life was hard and sometimes short in rural Dorset. A three […]
RMS Titanic departing Southampton on 10 April 1912, as the newest, largest, and undeniably the most luxurious, ocean liner yet built. She was entering the highly competitive trans-Atlantic market where her USP was the superb quality of first-class passenger accommodation and service, matching the standards provided by the world’s most expensive hotels. Passengers on Cunard […]
The story of Dorset unfortunates like the Tolpuddle Martyrs, deported as convicts to Australia in the 1830s, is well known. A more obscure Shaftesbury ne’er-do-well, Elijah Upjohn, transported at the age of 16, achieved some kind of fame in 1880 by deputising for the hangman at the execution of the notorious outlaw Ned Kelly. Less […]
At 2.30p.m. on Tuesday 03 March at Gold Hill Museum, Professor Karen Hunt will give an illustrated talk entitled ‘Women’s Suffrage in Dorset: forgotten stories’. She writes: Dorset is not a county usually associated with the long campaign for votes for women that culminated in partial enfranchisement in 1918. However, that does not mean that […]
On 30 September 1940 at the culmination of the Battle of Britain the town of Sherborne in Dorset was heavily bombed. There have been numerous attempts to explain why, who was involved and the cost. Many of the assertions have been wrong, as aviation expert Vic Flintham will demonstrate in an illustrated talk at Gold […]
Under the Antiquities Law devised by Iraq’s newly appointed Honorary Director of Antiquities, Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), archaeological finds were to be divided equally between the finders and the kingdom of Iraq. Thus 25% of Woolley’s finds from Ur went to Philadelphia, 25% to the British Museum, and 50% remained in Iraq, where sadly many have […]
Twenty-one-year-old Max Mallowan arrived at Ur in southern Iraq in October 1925, where he was to assist the renowned Leonard Woolley in supervising a major archaeological dig. Rising above the flood plain of the River Euphrates was the ancient Sumerian stepped pyramid or Ziggurat, whose name might be called “the Hill of Heaven” or “the […]
“Harrison”, the salmon-pink 1934 Rolls-Royce 20/25 Barker Sports Saloon belonging to former Lord Mayor of London, Sir John Stuttard, can often be seen at local village fetes and charity events. The unusual colour reflects that of the Financial Times, to which Sir John sent regular reports of his 10,000 mile marathon drive from Peking to […]
Claire Ryley and Ann Symons deliver their latest findings on the rivals and contemporaries of Shaftesbury-based photographer Albert Edward Tyler (1873-1919) at 2.30p.m. on Tuesday 02 December at Gold Hill Museum. Whereas anyone today with a smart phone can point, shoot and achieve near-perfect instant results, photography in the Tyler era was far more complicated, […]
At 2.30p.m. on Tuesday 04 November at Gold Hill Museum Andrew Vickers will explore the origins of Shillingstone’s claim to be – as the road signs still assert – the Bravest Village in England. Andrew, the Chairman of Okeford Fitzpaine Local History Group, has researched this story with impeccable thoroughness, and made some surprising discoveries. […]
