Conservation Architect Paul Simons talks on Tuesday 01 March 2.30p.m. at Gold Hill Museum Shaftesbury on “Reconstructing the Theatres of Shakespeare’s Time – the Globe and the Wanamaker Playhouse”.

The original Globe opened on the South Bank of the Thames in 1599. It was owned by six of the troupe of actors known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. William Shakespeare, who wrote most of their material as well as performing, held a 12.5% share. The design of the “wooden O” mentioned in “Henry V” reflected the layout of innyards where many early plays were put on by itinerant companies, especially when plague in London led to Elizabethan lockdowns. The timbers of the Globe had been recycled from The Theatre in Shoreditch, north of the Thames, when the lease on the site ran out. These were dismantled overnight and put into store to prevent the owner of the ground from claiming ownership of the building. They were rebuilt into a larger theatre, the Globe – and then consumed by fire in June 1613 when a cannon special effect during a performance of “Henry VIII” went badly wrong.

The modern Globe was the brainchild of American actor and film maker Sam Wanamaker. Unfortunately he did not live to see its opening in 1997. He had selected McCurdy & Co Ltd, a craft company of carpenters, to erect the first thatched building in central London since the Great Fire of 1666, having previously seen their reconstruction of Barley Hall, a 14th century timber framed structure in York. Conservation architect Paul Simons was a director of McCurdy & Co from 1978 to 2016 and intimately involved in the design and construction process. As you will hear, this was not exactly straightforward when the only surviving contemporary drawing of the interior of an Elizabethan theatre was this one of The Swan:

Paul has earned an enviable, international reputation as a conservation architect and Tourism, World Heritage and thermal spa specialist and consultant. He has masterminded major projects in Bristol and Bath, and is currently chair of the Bath-based Cleveland Pools Trust, which aims to restore Britain’s oldest open-air lido. He may be persuaded to say something about the progress of this scheme.

Please don’t attend this talk if you have reason to believe that you may have Covid or recently been exposed to the virus. The Garden Room will be well ventilated and the seats will be more spaced out than they used to be, with an inevitable reduction in capacity. S&DHS members will have until 2.20p.m. to claim a seat.

On 07 January 2022 Shaftesbury & District Historical Society volunteer Chris Stupples passed another milestone when he posted the 1300th life story researched and written by him on the Shaftesbury Remembers website. In August 2020 Chris had just clocked up a thousand mini-biographies, as reported in this News Blog . A year later it was 1200. We are now pleased to receive complimentary messages, not only from descendants of those recorded in Shaftesbury Remembers but also from professional archivists and researchers. As Chris would insist, the story is all about the lives of those involved in, and often tragically curtailed by, the 1914-18 Great War, such as the Bennett Brothers.

On 27 October, 1883 (writes Chris Stupples) a young couple walked down the aisle of St. Peter ad Vincula Church, at Tollard Royal, Wiltshire, now happily married and looking forward to a long life with children and, hopefully, grandchildren to come. Little did they know that some 31 years later on 04 August, 1914 one of the bloodiest of world wars would break out which would shatter their long held dreams.
The newly-weds were Thomas Bennett and Ann (or Annie) Witt. Thomas was a Farm Servant living at Philips Cottage, Five Ways, Donhead St. Mary, Wiltshire. By 1901 he had become a Gamekeeper at the Ashcombe Estate, Tollard Royal, Wiltshire. The first child to arrive was Bertie Harold (b. 1884) followed by Walter Sam (b. 1885); Clara Maud (b. 1888); Frederick Harry (b. 1889); Thomas William (b. 1894); Annie Mary (b. 1895) and, finally, Reginald George (b. 1897).

The eldest of the five brothers, Bertie Harold (known in the family as Harry) married Mabel Mary Gray in 1910 and like his father, worked as a Gamekeeper, on an estate at Amport, Hampshire. They had two children, William L. (b. 1911) and Albert M. (b. 1913). Harry answered the call when war broke out and joined the Hampshire Regiment as a Private (Service No. 32568) and served in France and Flanders with the 14th (Service) Battalion. He was missing, presumed killed in action, in Belgium on 26 September, 1917 and, like many others, his body was never recovered for burial. Subsequently his name was placed on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium on Panels 90 and 162. Over 30,000 soldiers with no known grave are commemorated here. There are 11,965 burials, of whom 8369 are unnamed. His family were sent the usual Bronze Memorial Plaque as well as the Victory and British War Medals as sad reminders of his sacrifice.

Walter Sam enlisted with the Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent) Regiment as a Private (Service No. G/10457) and was presumably on leave when he married Ethel F. Bennett (same surname) on 15 April 1916 in Gillingham, Dorset. He was posted to France to join the 6th Battalion in Belgium on 26 April, 1916. He took part in the Battle of the Somme which started on 01 July, 1916 and was reported missing in the field and presumed dead on 3 July 1916 (less than two months after his wedding). The tragedy is that his wife wrote to his Commanding Officer on 08 August, 1916 asking for news of him as she had had no word and had to be advised that due to communication problems the telegram advising of his death was delayed. (See transcript below). Walter was subsequently buried in Ovillers Military Cemetery, (Grave ref: VII. D.). His widow was in receipt of the Bronze Plaque as well as the Victory and British War Medals. Ethel was awarded a pension of ten shillings (50p.) a week and went on to marry George Casbolt in 1918 and they had two children. She died in 1949.

The transcript of Ethel’s letter:

“11/8/16

Dear Sir,

Having been anxious not getting any news from my husband No 10457 Pte W S Bennett of the Royal West Kents since receiving a post card from him dated June 19th, I went and made enquiries (at) York House, Reigate. I asked if they could give me any information there respecting him. I was much surprised to learn that he is posted ‘missing’ from the 3rd July 1916, and I cannot understand why I have not been notified of the fact before now. They were also at a loss at York House to find I had received no news of it?

I was advised to write to you for information to see if you could give me the reason why I have (not heard). If you can give me any further particulars, I shall be very grateful, as the suspense is nearly worse than receiving the worst. So if you will kindly let me know any news of him I shall be glad.

Thanking you in anticipation, I remain, Yrs faithfully, Ethel F Bennett.

PS I forgot to say that it was the 6th Battn C Company 11th Platoon of the R W Kents that my husband was attached to. EB”

Thomas William had by 1911 obtained employment as a Farm Labourer and joined the Hampshire Regiment (as his brother before him) as a Private (Service No. 29510). He was with the 2nd Battalion in Flanders (Belgium) when, having survived the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, he was killed in action on 10 September, 1916 and subsequently buried in the Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium, (Grave Ref: IV. D. 12.). His mother and father would have received his Bronze Plaque as well as his Victory and British War Medals.

Reginald George joined the Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) initially as a Private but was soon promoted to Lance Corporal and posted to the Asiatic Theatre of War in the 134th Brigade Company where he was killed in action in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) on 24 February, 1917. He was subsequently buried in the Amara War Cemetery, Iraq, (Grave Ref: XVII. H. 13.). The parents were in receipt of his Bronze Plaque as well as his Victory and British War Medals.

Frederick Harry married Agnes Marjorie Ingram in 1910 in Andover, Hampshire and was working as a Gamekeeper in Possingworth Park in Sussex when war broke out and originally enlisted with the Somerset Light Infantry as a Private (Service No. 36457). He served with the 1/4th Regiment but transferred to the Devonshire Regiment at some time with the new Service No. 76119. His great-granddaughter (now living in Canada) advised he possibly became a sniper. It is recorded on the Medal Index that he was awarded the British War Medal only on his discharge. He went on to have a successful career at Possingworth Park as a very well-respected Gamekeeper. He retired to Waldron, East Sussex where he had a few dairy cows and delivered milk locally on his bicycle. He also exhibited Labrador dogs at shows. He died in Eastbourne, Sussex, in 1968. It is understood that there is a Memorial Plaque to him somewhere in Possingworth Park though he is buried in the churchyard at All Saints Church, Waldron, East Sussex alongside his wife.

Of the sisters, Clara Maud married William Brown in 1919 but no marriage was recorded for Annie Mary.
Thus within the period July 1916 to September 1917 four of the five brothers perished and, having given their lives for the Country, are now remembered for posterity on the Berwick St. John Memorial Plaque as well as the War Memorial in Tollard Royal.

Gold Hill Museum volunteer Jeanette Hardiman in the process of accessioning a copy of The Art of a Salesman, kindly donated by its author, Paul Whittaker in October 2021. Jeanette has been through the entire stock of the Museum’s Reference Library – over 1300 volumes – entering basic information such as Title, Author, Date of Publication, Publisher, and ISBN into a searchable database. She is now identifying up to 30 Keywords for each book so that future enquirers may find books, via our website, which they may not even have realised were relevant to their research interests. She anticipates completing this massive task by April 2022. It is then our intention to make the Reference Library Catalogue available online.

The Art of a Salesman is a 2019 biography of the hotelier and philanthropist Sir Merton Russell-Cotes who helped to drive the development of Bournemouth as a fashionable tourist resort in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He and his wife gifted the clifftop Russell-Cotes Museum, together with a substantial art collection, to the town in 1907. Prior to Paul Whittaker’s self-published work, there was no accurate account of Merton’s life.

Member of the Archives Team Janet Swiss has been fascinated by this handwritten leather-bound volume in immaculate copperplate. The contents are notes and transcriptions from the monthly Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society, mostly from the period 1815 to 1818, but with references to journals from the early days of this august scientific institution, founded in Charles II’s reign. The anonymous writer is interested in such subjects as the weather, grain, America, black walnut tree imports, and hops. It’s not clear why we have this book so if anyone can help explain its provenance, please get in touch.

Tel: 01747 852157 email: library@goldhillmuseum.org.uk

This News Blog samples the invaluable work being done behind the scenes by many volunteers. If you think that you would be interested in joining this happy and motivated group, expertly led by Librarian Ann Symons, please contact us.

As the highly-infectious Omicron variant takes hold, it has been decided to postpone January 2022’s talk by David Beardsley on “Sir Merton Russell-Cotes and the Development of Bournemouth.” This was originally scheduled to coincide with the centenary of Sir Merton’s death in January 2021. But, just as in 1993’s film “Groundhog Day” the curmudgeonly TV weather reporter Phil Connors (beautifully played by Bill Murray) wakes up every morning in the Cherry Tree Inn to the strains of Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe”, it seems that every January we have to cancel David’s lecture.

In case you haven’t seen the film (spoiler alert) it’s likely to be repeated, several times, on 02 February, every year. This is when the people of a small town in Pennsylvania consult their weather oracle, Punxsutawney Phil, as to the prospects of an early or late spring. If Phil, a squirrel-like rodent known also as a woodchuck, sees his own shadow, then he will retire to his burrow and there will be six more weeks of winter. In the film Bill Murray finds himself trapped, first by a storm he failed to predict, and then by a time loop where every day is exactly the same, no matter what happens the previous day. Everybody else in Punxsutawney is oblivious to this eternal repetition. (Big spoiler alert) Phil Connors can commit crimes or even suicide, and still wake up to Sonny and Cher. If this sounds ridiculous, it does in fact lead to an engaging blend of comedy and moral philosophy, and allows the opportunity for the cynical Murray character to earn redemption. Shades of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. The film is now rated on a par with the uplifting Christmas favourite “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the expression “Groundhog Day” (meaning a monotonous, unpleasant and repetitive experience, like the Covid pandemic) has become part of the English language.

The weather lore behind the Groundhog Day ceremony probably arrived with Dutch or German settlers in the seventeenth century. According to Wikipedia, Punxsutawney Phil has forecast 104 long winters and 20 early springs. He’s not been very accurate.

Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol” in six weeks and determined to sell the first edition for 5 shillings. Because the illustrations, by John Leech, were hand-tinted, an army of colourists was required and there was very little profit for author or publisher.

The Trustees of The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society would like to wish all members, volunteers, friends, and readers of this News Blog a very happy Christmas and a healthy New Year.

At 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday 07 December at Gold Hill Museum, former Lord Mayor Sir John Stuttard will give an illustrated talk on the theme of London and Dorset: A Shared History in Construction. “The unique shelly appearance and subtle colour variations of Purbeck Marble”, according to Historic England, “made it the foremost decorative stone of the English medieval period. It was used extensively … in high-status buildings such as cathedrals, abbeys and palaces.” The brilliant white of Portland Stone was also attractive to architects. Inigo Jones used it, along with a honey-coloured stone from Oxfordshire and a pinkish-brown stone from Northamptonshire, to embellish the Banqueting House (above), rebuilt in Whitehall for James I. “In the early 17th century, the shortage of Portland stone often held up the work”, says the Historic Royal Palaces Guidebook. “Seven hundred pounds was paid by the Crown to build a new loading jetty at Portland, Dorset, and a prohibition was placed on the quarry owner against supplying private customers at higher prices than the Crown was prepared to pay.”

In 1666 much of London was destroyed in the Great Fire. Sir Christopher Wren’s decision to rebuild St Paul’s Cathedral substantially in Portland Stone created a huge demand – nearly a million cubic feet of stone was used – and established a regular trade by sea to the Thames. Portland Stone became the fashionable choice for notable Georgian buildings such as the British Museum, Somerset House, the Bank of England, the National Gallery, and Mansion House, official residence of Lord Mayors of London like Sir John. Chief architect of the Bank, Sir John Soane, was responsible for the present-day appearance of the Banqueting House when he decided in the early 19th century to clad it in Portland Stone.

The links between Swanage and London were reinforced when John Mowlem (1788-1868), stonemason and son of a Swanage quarryman, moved to London in 1807. After working on Nelson’s Tomb in St Paul’s and on Somerset House, he set up a thriving business as a paving contractor and stone merchant, in which he was joined by George Burt (his wife’s nephew) and Joseph Freeman (Burt’s brother-in-law). Eventually Mowlem returned to Swanage and in the absence of any Mowlem heirs the company passed to Burt, while retaining the Mowlem name to the present century. As Sir John observes, “they brought back to Swanage from London some interesting artefacts, in a Victorian example of recycling building materials and architectural salvage.”

Please don’t attend this talk if you have reason to believe that you may have Covid or recently been exposed to the virus. The Garden Room will be well ventilated and the seats will be more spaced out than they used to be, with an inevitable reduction in capacity. S&DHS members will have until 2.20p.m. to claim a seat.

Details of our monthly lectures can be found by clicking here