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

On Sunday afternoon 23 October 1921, as reported by the Western Gazette, “there took place one of the most impressive and soul-stirring ceremonies in the history of the borough. It was Shaftesbury’s day with the dead. Here upon the wind-swept walk, in the chilly, moist atmosphere of an October day, hundreds of townspeople honoured the memory of the 60 men who gave up their lives in the service of their King and Country.”

The following article is based on the account published in the Western Gazette of 28 October, 1921.

SHAFTESBURY’S WAR HEROES.

BEAUTIFUL EYAM CROSS UNVEILED BY EARL OF SHAFTESBURY.

STIRRING CEREMONY IN “THE PARK.”

Almost directly in front of the Westminster Memorial Hospital, there now stands this visible expression of the gratitude of a thankful people. It is a distinctive tribute, beautiful in its substantial symmetrical proportions, and in perfect harmony with the traditions of the town, itself one of the oldest in England.

The Eyam Cross in Derbyshire is the oldest of the Saxon crosses in this country, and there are few modern imitations. The only replica in the West of England is that erected at Blundell’s School, Tiverton, (by the same company of stonemasons, H. Hems of Exeter, in November 1920.) Hence Shaftesbury has a memorial of distinction.

With the exception of the four panels, which are of Hopton Wood (Derbyshire) stone, the memorial is constructed of the noted Chilmark stone, drawn from the district. The locality of the memorial gives it an added boldness and dignity, overlooking, as it does, miles and miles of country. In this unique spot stands this high tribute to the heroism and devotion to sixty gallant Shastonians, whose example will be as a beacon fire upon the hilltop, pointing the way to true greatness and noble service in the cause of humanity.

The inscription reads: ‘Lest we forget. In proud and grateful memory of the men of Shaftesbury who gave their lives in the Great War, 1914-1918’. The names of the 60 fallen are inscribed on the side panels. They are as follows:-

Walter Harry Alner. Sidney William Alner. Frederick Thomas Atkinson. William Bastable. Harry Bastable. Charles Belbin. William Belbin. Charles Blake. Charles Brickell. Frederick Brickell. James Burbidge. Harry Butt. Frederick Butt. Reginald Butt. William Thomas Cole. Charles Crew. Charles Davis. Harry Davis. Montague Durston. George Henry Dyke. Ernest Foot. Reginald Foot. Harry Gray. Sidney Gray. Edwin Greenway. Leslie Gutsell. Decimus Hardiman. Henry Meatyard Hatcher. John Highman. Walter William Hodder. Percy Hussey. Bertram Keast. Charles King. Edwin Large. Rex Lawson. Gilbert Maidment. Arthur Mayo. Frederick Miller. Frederick Morgan. Edwin George Mullins. George Newton. Sidney Parsons. Charles Parsons. Alfred Parsons. Joseph Powell. Harry Robins. Bertram Robins. Alfred Stainer. John Stainer. Frederick Taylor. Walter Thorne. Arthur Toogood. Harold Lawrence Tuffin. Hubert Frank Weldon. Reginald S White. Frank White. Leslie Reginald Wightman. Thomas Wright. Herbert Wright. Philip Sidney Young.

THE UNVEILING

A long procession left the Town Hall square shortly after 2.15pm, for a service at Holy Trinity Church. At the head walked Inspector Swain and members of the local constabulary, followed by the Comrades’ band, under bandmaster T. Wareham. The Territorials and several hundred ex-servicemen from Shaftesbury & Gillingham, under the command of Lord Stalbridge and ex Corporal-Major, T. Imber, preceded the civic body, which was led by the Mayor, wearing his robes and chain of office.

At Holy Trinity, the service was conducted by the Vicar and commenced with the hymn ‘O, God, our help’ and was followed by a pause for silent remembrance.

After the service, the procession was reformed and to the triumphant music of ‘Onward Christian soldiers’, proceeded to the memorial, which was surrounded by a huge crowd, with every point of vantage being occupied. In reserved positions, close to the memorial, were the relatives of the fallen, most of whom carried floral tributes.

After the hymn ‘Rock of ages’, the Earl of Shaftesbury addressed the crowd and then pulled the cord, releasing the flags, and revealing the beauty of the memorial. The Mayor then solemnly read the names of the fallen, and concluded, ‘May God grant that they rest in peace’. The Rector dedicated the memorial, and Lord Stalbridge laid on it the Comrades’ wreath, in national colours, bearing the inscription, ‘As a token of respect to our fallen comrades, from the ex-servicemen of Shaftesbury’. Many other wreaths were laid until the base was completely covered.

Lord Shaftesbury, although suffering from a sprained ankle, stood throughout the ceremony. Addressing the Mayor, members of the Corporation and the good people of Shaftesbury, he offered his hearty thanks for the share he was privileged to have in the impressive and stirring proceedings. Now they had unveiled the memorial to public gaze, what a host of feelings it evoked. Feelings of wonder and amazement for that supreme act of sacrifice. Then there was the thought of all the pain that that sacrifice entailed. Finally, the sense of thanksgiving and praise for the stupendous victory won. Surely they in Shaftesbury had done well in selecting this form of memorial to those of Shaftesbury who gave their lives for King and Country.

“Greater love hath no man than this,

That a man lay down his life for his friend.”

Then, after Lord Shaftesbury’s address, another hymn, prayers and a blessing, the National Anthem was sung, and a memorable and deeply stirring service ended with the sounding of the Last Post, by three members of the Cadet Corps.

The stories of most, if not all of the individuals whose names appear on local War Memorials have been researched by volunteers of the Shaftesbury Remembers Project and may be accessed by clicking here

Thanks to Peter Stanier for additional research into the construction of local War Memorials.

At 4p.m. on Sunday 09 October 1921 a Memorial to the men of Enmore Green and Sherborne Causeway who gave their lives in the 1914-18 Great War was unveiled by Lady Stalbridge. Virtually every parish in Great Britain had sent men to the war who had not returned, and who would be buried in or near the battlefields where they served. It was government policy that bodies should not be repatriated, with the notable and symbolic exception of the Unknown Warrior, who was interred in Westminster Abbey on 11 November 1920. The overseas cemeteries of the Imperial (later Commonwealth) War Graves Commiss- ion were set out with a beautiful and standardised rigour, and are lovingly maintained to the present day. There was no prescribed uniformity for local parish War Memorials back home, so there is an endearing variety of designs for the monuments, which for many Britons would have been the only accessible place of Remembrance for their relatives.

The monument at Enmore Green is in the practical form of a lamp post, with a plaque bearing the names at the base. All of these names will have been researched and recorded by the volunteers of Shaftesbury Remembers.

The names may be more easily read on this image of the outside of the original programme of the Dedication Ceremony, kindly provided by Nigel Garrett and photographed by Ann Symons at Gold Hill Museum.

Perhaps History does repeat itself. In July 1928 King Amanullah of Afghanistan returned from a lengthy tour of Europe. His enthusiasm for Western manners did not endear him to his subjects, and the Royal Family was forced to flee an armed uprising to neighbouring British India. The British Minister at the newly-built British Legation, Colonel Sir Francis Humphrys, was able to call in 70 Squadron, then based in Iraq (and now at RAF Brize Norton.) The Squadron’s workhorse was the Vickers Victoria, designed to carry 24 troops and their equipment at about 100mph. In 84 missions between 23 December 1928 and 25 February 1929, the RAF pilots, in open cockpits and relying on rudimentary instrumentation, flew 586 shivering passengers of 11 nationalities across the wintry mountains of the Hindu Kush to Peshawar, in what is now Pakistan.

Sherard Cowper-Coles was British Ambassador in Kabul from 2007 to 2009. In ‘Cables from Kabul’ (published 2011) he describes commemorating the 80th anniversary of the first Kabul Airlift, and writes that ‘an added twist to the story was the fact that Aircraftsman T.E. Shaw (aka T.E. Lawrence) was sitting at RAF Miramshah, spending his spare time preparing a new translation of Homer’s ‘Odyssey’. But the word got out among the Waziri tribesmen that “Al Urens” (as the Arabs called Lawrence) was among them, plotting.’ Very swiftly Shaw/Lawrence was transferred from British India back to England, where he continued his service in the ranks until 1935. Two months after leaving the RAF, in May 1935 he was catapulted over the handlebars of his powerful Brough motorcycle and fatally injured near his cottage Clouds Hill, in Dorset.

In January 2009 Cowper-Coles met briefly with Vice-President-elect Joe Biden, emphasising his belief in ‘the need for the military effort to be complemented by a political approach, involving both the internal and the regional parties to the conflict. …. Senator Biden’s scepticism about the feasibility – and afford- ability – of a serious counter-insurgency strategy in a country of the size and poverty of Afghanistan was clear. …. (Cowper-Coles argued that since 2001) There had been huge improvements in health, in education, in infrastructure and, amazingly, in prosperity. All these could be endangered if we pulled our ground-holding forces back unilaterally.’ (pp200-201) Prophetic words written ten years ago.

The subject of the Teulon Porter Memorial Lecture by Professor Anthony Badger at 7.30pm in Shaftesbury Town Hall on Tuesday 05 October 2021 will be ‘The 2020 American Presidential Election in Historical Perspective.’ Free to members of The S&DHS; otherwise £5 on the night.