The “Byzant” – Newsletter of The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society
Winter 2020/21
Including:
Chairperson’s Chat – Minutes of the on-line AGM held on 24/09/20 – Mr E Coxell – BBC South Today reports on Culture in Quarantine from a “smaller, quirkier museum” 13/10/20 – Beatrice King’s Recollections of Shaftesbury Life 1937-59 – Chris Stupples on his first thousand biographical entries for the Shaftesbury Remembers the Great War website – Sir John Stuttard on the project to place a Blue Plaque in recognition of John Rutter, one of Shaftesbury’s Greatest Citizens – Ian Kellett describes Life in Ruhleben Camp for British internees during World War I, including a Bristol seaman with a local connection and football legend Steve Bloomer – Claire Ryley reports on developments at Shaftesbury Abbey Museum – Dave Hardiman tells the salutary story of Shaftesbury reprobate William Sims (1808-1852)
Winter 2019/20
Including:
Chairperson’s Chat – Dorset Museums Volunteer of the Year Award – Pressures On Space – The Hovis Bike – Archivist’s Snippets from 1786: Coins Discovered at Wardour; 1842: Consecration of the New Holy Trinity Church; 1851: Boiler Explosion at Barton Hill; 1867: Marchioness of Westminster’s Benevolence to School Pupils; 1901: Tisbury Volunteers Return from the Boer War; 1933: Skeleton Unearthed at New Road – A St James Street Family History 1890-1937 – the History of Christmas Cards – Edmund Goodenhow 1611-88 Puritan Emigrant to New England from Donhead St Andrew – Shaftesbury Miller Meets Unfortunate End 1598
Winter 2023/2024
Including:
Chairman’s Chat December 2023 by Elaine Barratt – 100 years ago 1923 – Minutes of the AGM held 22/08/23 – Professor James G. Clark of Exeter University on the subject of his 2023 Teulon Porter Memorial Lecture The Dissolution of the Monasteries: Shaftesbury and the South-West – Discovering the Peach Family by Heather Blake – Rupert Tapper on the development of A New Museum Guide – A Dynasty of Shaftesbury Clockmakers, All Named Jasper Guy by Ian Kellett, with genealogical research by Linda Wilton – The Alfred Jewel by Dave Hardiman – Who Let the Bloodhounds Out? William Beckford Apparently – Lectures & Events in 2024
Winter 2022/2023
Including:
Tea & Talks, Anyone? – Chairman’s Chat – Minutes of the AGM held 23/08/22 – Guy’s Marsh Military Hospital and pioneer orthopaedic surgeon John Charnley – London and Dorset: A shared history in construction by Sir John Stuttard – The Finest in Motion Picture Entertainment at the Savoy Cinema 1933-84 by Dave Hardiman and Ian Kellett – Henry VI: England’s Worst King? by Ian Kellett – Teulon Porter Memorial Lectures: 2022 William Beckford After Fonthill by Dr Amy Frost and 2023 (forthcoming) Professor James G. Clark on The Dissolution of the Monasteries – A Tribute to Shaftesbury historian Brenda Innes, d. 20/01/2022- Mayor’s Treat to Shaftesbury Workhouse Inmates 1922 – Lectures & Events in 2023
Winter 2021/22
75th Anniversary Edition Including:
Chairperson’s Chat & Reflections on the Visitors’ Book – Minutes of the AGM held 24/08/21 – Origins of The S&DHS and Gold Hill Museum – The Unfortunate Matron of Westminster Memorial Hospital – Frank Hopton’s Recollections of the founder Noel Teulon Porter – The Beckfords of Fonthill and the Great Sales of 1822 & 1823 – Alderman William Beckford – William Beckford of Fonthill Abbey – Press Reports of the first meetings of The S&DHS in 1946 -The Unveiling of the Park Walk War Memorial in October 1921 – A Tale of Two Teulon Porter Memorial Lectures, including Professor Tony Badger on Trump, Biden and the 2020 US Presidential Election – The Art of a Salesman, a life of Merton Russell Cotes of Bournemouth – fully Illustrated including scenes of Edwardian Shaftesbury from the Tyler Photographic Collection and portraits of John and Anne Rutter drawn in 1829
Summer 2019
Including:
Chairperson’s Chat – Professor Steven Gunn and the Everyday Life and Fatal Hazard in 16th Century England Research Project: 1569 Coroner’s Report on the Accidental Death of Jane Shaxspere – William Henry Goss, Maker of Heraldic Pottery – Origins and Meanings of the Term Byzant – Archivist’s Snippets from the Past – a Temporary Shaftesbury Museum in 1861 – Sir Leonard Woolley on Misidentified Artefacts, Forgeries, and T.E. Lawrence – Gleanings from the Registers of Holy Trinity School 1870-1901 – The Lost Village of Imber – Shaftesbury Swimming Baths: Summer 1905 Regulations
Winter 2018/19
Including:
Chairperson’s Chat – Gold Hill Museum’s Oldest Object (Swiss Army Knife of the Stone Age) – Shoe-Scrapers of Shaftesbury Surveyed – Museum-Minded Tenant Sought, August 1956 – The Pender Tomb Part Two – Admiral Sir James Stirling, 1791-1865, First Governor of Western Australia – Laying the Foundation Stone of the New Town Hall, July 1826 – Poverty in Enmore Green, January 1888 – John Rutter’s Cream Top Hat Graces Launch of New Book The Turbulent Quaker of Shaftesbury
Summer 2018
Including:
Trustee Short Reports – 1500 Weekend Visitors View Mandala Making by Tibetan Monks – Hand Axe Could Be 500,000 Years Old – Full Text of The North Side of the Street Called Bimport by Jo Rutter – Doubts Over a ‘Medieval Sundial’ from Shroton – The Pender Tomb at Donhead St Andrew – Tenders Invited for a Mail Contract 1856 – S&DHS Contributes to Two New Books on Shaftesbury Subjects – Shaftesbury Entertainments Advertised in 1784, 1838 and 1941
Winter 2017/18
Including:
Chairman’s Chat – Shaftesbury Remembers the Great War Community Project: Website Launch – 2017: A Year in the Life of a Steward – Archivist’s This and That including Tisbury 1865: Daring Burglary and Capture of Thieves – The Two Beckfords of Fonthill – A Coaching Accident 1852
Spring 2017
Including:
Chairman’s Chat – Election of Trustees 2017 – Treasurer’s Report – Archive / Library: A Shaftesbury Sensation in November 1906 – Education and Events: Shaftesbury Remembers HLF Great War Project Final Report; Policing Shaftesbury during the Great War – Building Cares: The Story of a Door – Notice of Summer Outing 2017
April 2016
Including:
Acting Chairman’s Chat – Election of Trustees 2016 – Treasurer’s Report: upgrading CCTV, replacing the fire alarm – A Continuing Success Story: stewards and shop – Collection Care: storeroom audit, fans exhibition – Archive / Library: 1909 and 1919 sales catalogues, church matters 1880 – Life in Shaftesbury and Tisbury Workhouses – Lecture Programme: Julian Richards, Gallipoli 1915 – Education and Events: school visits, activity baskets, workshops, HLF Great War Project, Reminiscence and Ancestry Afternoons – Finding Pitt Rivers – Building Cares: “Shaftesbury” steam locomotive name-plate
January 2017
Including:
Marjory Kellett – Chairman’s Chat – Autumn Lectures on Fonthill, Walter Bagehot and Cnut the Great – Great War Commemoration 12 November – A Christmas Wedding Present 1883 – Fire Pump – Snippets from our Visitors – Motcombe Park P.O.W. Camp
December 2015
Including:
Christine Simpson – Acting Chairman’s Chat – Treasurer’s Report – Collection Care [ACE] – Education Events and HLF Great War Project – 1925 Rights on Semley Common – Stewards Secure Sparkford Showcase – Archive / Library / Christmases Past – 2015 Teulon Porter Lecture “Sin in Salisbury Diocese 1410-1503” – Garden Update – Great War Horse Artillery Gunner
September 2015
Including:
Chairman’s Chat – As I Seem to Remember [Early days of S&DHS by Jo Rutter] – Treasurer’s Report – Mary Pennell opening the WI Exhibition – Education and Events – Coffee Morning/HLF Great War Project – Summer Outing Welcomed by the Earl of Shaftesbury – Archive/Library Report/ Summary Justice 1712 – Collection Care/Sarah Taylor’s Wedding Dress and Sampler – Retail and Retirement – Lecture Programme…
April 2015
Including:
Signs of Spring – Treasurer’s Report – Collection Care – Annual Outing – Stewards and Shop – Education and Events – Shedding New Light on Old Subjects – Archive/Library Report/ Robbery at the Knowles Arms Inn 1923 – Now It Can Be Told [James Braxton and TV crew at Gold Hill Museum] – Heritage Lottery Fund Award for Great War Project – Trustee Vacancies – Preparations for the New Season – New Exhibitions Prove a Hit
December 2014
Including:
The Happy Museum? – Treasurer’s Report – Collection Care – Lecture Programme – Are we a Green Museum? – Education and Events – Dorset Crafts and Activity Day Photo Feature – Archive/Library Report/ Shaftesbury and the Boer War – Dorset Museums Association Volunteers of the Year – 2014 Teulon Porter Lecture review “Love, War and the News of Waterloo” – 2015 is Election Year…
The Shaftesbury & District Historical Society – Founded 1946 – Registered Charity No. 1156273
