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May, 2013:

Book Review

May 29th, 2013
by Dorset Ancestors.
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Dorset’s Great War dead remembered

There cannot be a community in the country that was not deeply affected by the catastrophe that was the First World War. As the county town, Dorchester of course had to endure and suffer its share of bereaved relatives, empty living-room chairs, a generation lost, as the country took stock of the aftermath following the armistice.

Now, author Brian Bates has written a definitive gazette documenting those four momentous years in words and a wealth of illustrations. Dorchester Remembers the Great War is organised into eleven chapters which, following a foreword by Leslie Phillips MBE, is headed by a brief overview of Edwardian Dorchester and an account of how the war came to Dorchester.

For each of the four years of the war there follow accounts organised into two sections: the Battle Front sets the scene with an account of the events, strategies and developments across each theatre of the war for the given year.
Roll of Honour then deals with the backgrounds and obituary accounts of key troops of the Dorset regiments to fall in action. The book then concludes with chapters on a post-war roll of honour and remembrance and two appendices.   

As an example of one of the citations, there is that of Pte Frank Adams of the 3rd Btn the Dorsetshire Regiment (p.54) who enrolled with the Dorsets on 31st August 1914, even though he was only 5’ 2” and weighed under 8 stone. He also lied about his age, stating he was 19. Yet the appaling irony is that Adams was not killed by the enemy; he died after accidently being shot dead by a comrade. Frank’s father had to inform the coroner that Frank had turned 16 sixteen a month before his death. Considerably maturer was 30-year-old Rifleman Fred Piddden (p.131) who died from wounds sustained during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Brian Bates, a resident of Dorchester since 1969, has maintained a particular passion for the history of Dorchester ever since writing a thesis on the county town’s economy as it was in the 17th century, a subject on which he lectures from time to time. He particularly focuses on the common man and the community he is a part of.

Bates has previously published a transcription of the diary of William Whiteway, a 17th century Dorchester merchant as well as three biographies of military figures. He lives with his wife Doreen and two daughters.

Dorchester Remembers the Great War comes as a paperback in a six-and-three-quarter by ten inch format and is half-an-inch thick. It is published by the Roving Press at £12.99.
ISBN 978-1-906651-16-9

 A photo of the book cover is in the gallery.

Lieutenant Philip Salkeld V.C.

May 26th, 2013
by Dorset Ancestors.
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Standing in the churchyard of St. Andrew’s Parish Church at Fontmell Magna is the memorial erected for Lieutenant Philip Salkeld V.C., who died on 10th of October 1857 at Delhi. Philip Salkeld was born and brought up in Fontmell Magna where his father the Revd. Robert Salkeld was Rector.

Philip Salkeld’s military career started when he entered Addiscombe College in 1846. While he was there he was selected, by competition, for an engineer appointment, attaining the top position in mathematics and modern languages. He achieved the rank of 2nd Lieutenant on the 9th of June 1848. The next two years he spent studying the theoretical and practical side of fortification and engineering at the Royal Engineer establishment at Chatham.

His service records show he was ordered to travel overland to India and he arrived in Calcutta in June of 1850, where he joined the Corp of Sappers and Miners, Bengal Establishment. He quickly acquired an excellent knowledge of Hindustani. In June 1853 he was sent to Meerut as the extra engineer. Later that year he was appointed officer in charge of the Grand Truck Road, a position he held until December 1856. His promotion to the rank of Lieutenant came on 1st of August 1854.

During his service in India Philip was mindful of events at home and he was able to save enough money to send home £100 a year to be used towards the cost of education for his younger brother Charles, in preparation for him to follow Philip to Addiscombe College. On the 10th May 1857 at the outbreak of the Meerut mutiny Philip Salkeld was still stationed in Delhi; he escaped from the city and the massacre but his possessions were lost, including his money which was in a Delhi bank.

He joined Major General Sir Harry Barnard’s column and was recognised as a brave officer. A decision was taken on the night of 13th September 1857 to launch an assault on the Cashmere and Water Bastions at dawn the following day. Colonel G Campbell was commanding the 3rd column consisting of the 32nd Regiment of Foot; 2nd Bengal Fusiliers and 1st Punjab Regiment. They were to attack the Kashmir Gate after it had been blown open.

Three Engineer Officers were attached to the column: Lieutenants Home, Salkeld and Tandy. According to the account of the attack, the column fell in and marched to their respective places. The plan was for the 1st column to storm the breach near the Cashmere bastions, while the 2nd column was to storm the Water bastion. As the exploration party for the 3rd column advanced to the gateway in broad daylight they came under musket fire from above the gateway and from both flanks as they laid and adjusted the powder bags. Lieutenant Salkeld had been shot and had fallen into a ditch. Sergeant Carmichael tried to fire the charge, but was shot dead. Sergeant Burgess successfully fired the charge but was shot dead. In the confusion Sergeant Smith, thinking that Burgess had failed to fire the charge, ran forward and seeing the charge was alight he threw himself into the ditch.

In his account Sergeant John Smith says the Sappers going to the gate were led by Lieutenant Home and Bugler Robert Hawthorne; following a few paces behind, led by Lieutenant Salkeld, came the party carrying the powder; Sergeant Smith bringing up the rear to see none of them remained behind. Four of the Indians in the party refused to go on and Sergeant Smith threatened to shoot them. Lieutenant Salkeld came to see what was happening and said to leave them as they had enough powder. Sergeant Smith says he went on but only Lieutenant Salkeld and Burgess were there. Lieutenant Carmichael was dead, Sergeant Smith at great risk retrieved Carmichael’s bag of powder, set the fuse and reported “all ready” to Lieutenant Salkeld who, stooping down to light the fuse, put one of his feet out and was shot through the thigh; he told Sergeant Smith to fire the charge, but it seems Burgess had already done it.

Sergeant Smith says in his account that: “…as soon as the dust had cleared away we saw Lieutenant Salkeld and Burgess covered with dust their laying in the middle of the ditch having saved them from falling debris…I went to Lieutenant Salkeld and called the bugler to help me remove him under the bridge as the fire had covered upon us, and Lieutenant Salkeld’s arms were broken…LieutenantSalkeld would not let us remove him so I put a bag of powder under his head for a pillow, and bound up his arms and thigh and I left the bugler to look after him and went to Burgess…I got some brandy from Lieutenant Home and gave to both...” Sergeant Smith then went to the rear and obtained two stretchers and with the help of Bugler Hawthorne got Lieutenant Salkeld onto one of the stretchers and had him removed to the hospital.

The gallantry displayed that day by Lieutenant Duncan Charles Home; Lieutenant Philip Salkeld (both of the Bengal Engineers); Sergeant John Smith of the Bengal Sappers and Miners and Bugler Robert Hawthorne of the 52nd Regiment, earned them all the Victoria Cross.

Lieutenant Salkeld was mortally wounded. He survived until 10th of October 1857, when he died of his injuries. One report says that one arm had been amputated. The award of the Victoria Cross was given by Major General Sir Archdale Wilson, who had his Aide-de-Camp, Lieutenant Turnbull, pin the ribbon of the VC upon Philip Salkeld in the hope that it might invigorate his spirits but he said only “…it will be gratifying to send it home…” Philip Salkeld was buried in the cemetery at Delhi and his death was recorded on the War Memorial there.

Philp Salkeld’s brothers, Richard Henry and Charles Edward, both served in the Indian Army.

Stephen Pope of Cripplestyle

May 21st, 2013
by Dorset Ancestors.
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We make no great claims for Stephen Pope, nor would he want us to. He was a hard working family man with a dry sense of humour. He lived at Cripplestyle in the parish of Alderholt, where he was born in 1843, the son of James and Elizabeth Pope.

In the autumn of 1867 he married Fanny Beal, a girl from the same parish and they had several children. He earned his living from the land as a woodman, hurdle maker and later as a driver of a corn threshing engine.
 
Stephen Pope was a godly man: he attended the small Williams Memorial Chapel, built in 1807. The mud walls and rough timbers would have fitted well with Stephen’s character and his strong Puritan ways. Later, with generous help from Lord Salisbury, the Old Chapel became a church and Stephen marched in the procession of villagers from the Chapel to take possession of the new Church.
 
Stephen’s interest in the little church to which he belonged remained strong until the end of his life; he told stories of past difficulties but was devoted to the place.

The land for the Old Chapel was given by Mr William Baily and it was his son who became the first Pastor. Stephen Pope was one of the Deacons of the church until he passed away in 1926 at the age of 82. On hearing of Stephen’s death the Marchioness of Salisbury wrote: “I cannot say with what regret we heard of Stephen Pope’s death; he was an old friend, and so striking a personality.”
 
Men like Stephen are immortalised in the novels of Thomas Hardy.

Note: we have placed a photo of Stephen Pope in the gallery.

The Rector and the Church Mice

May 17th, 2013
by Dorset Ancestors.
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In 1951 the church mice resident at All Saints Church, Kington Magna, in north Dorset bit off more than they could chew when they set about the Rector’s church records. In the parish magazine the reverend gentleman put out an urgent appeal for good old-fashioned mousetraps, adding that he would provide the cheese from his own meagre rations. Post war rationing of food was still in force and the Rector’s sacrifice attracted the attention of a local newspaper reporter and it was not long before the national press took an interest in the Rector’s plight and interest did not stop there: the Rector, the mice and All Saints Church were making headlines in Canada, Australia and the United States.

From all over the country letters poured into the parish with advice on how to deal with the rodents without using the Rector’s precious cheese rations. One lady offered the loan of three kittens and the Bishop of Montana in the USA sent two mousetraps and four packets of American cheese compound. One day a Marshall (sorry, a Rodent Control Officer) strode into the village. Most of the mice took the measure of the man, but a few stayed and were eliminated; the majority packed a suitcase and headed for Dorchester, where they had heard there was potentially an enormous feast to be had at the Dorset Record Office!

Lytchett Matravers

May 12th, 2013
by Dorset Ancestors.
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On a clear day the views from Lytchett Matravers span woods and moorland and take in the Isle of Wight and Old Harry Rocks. Visible through a gap in the hills is Corfe Castle, disabled for centuries but still standing sentry. In the spring air are the memories of times past: the Maypole, the fairs, dancing and feasting on the green all become almost tangible.

Tholi, a Saxon, once owned the manor but was dispossessed by William the Conqueror. The Domesday Book records that the manor of Lytchett was held by Hugh Maltravers from William de’Eu.  Sir John Maltravers (1266-1341) spent much of his youth in Ireland; he was knighted with the first Prince of Wales in 1306 and he was a conservator of the peace in Dorset in 1307,1308,1314 and 1329. His first son, also John, was born in 1290. John was also knighted in 1306 and he became the first Baron Maltravers.  The younger Maltravers probably fought at Bannockburn and in 1319 he was returned as a knight of the shire for Dorset. He is most famously remembered for being implicated in the death of Edward II at Berkeley Castle. He lived in exile on the Continent for several years following a charge of treason against him in connection with another plot. After serving with distinction in the Flemish Wars he returned to England, having been pardoned by Edward III. He died in 1365 and is buried in Lytchett Matravers church, reputedly in his full body armour.

Later the Earl of Arundel held Lytchett through marriage to the heiress of the Maltravers and by a subsequent marriage the property came to the Norfolks. In 1651 the manor passed to the Trenchard family. An entry in the vestry book 1826 records that William Trenchard offered land and timber for the building of a school.

The early population lived in dwellings round the church, which is situated in the north-west corner of the village near to the manor house. The Black Death took a heavy toll here and the village came close to extinction. Nowadays the church is isolated from the rest of the village which has grown and been rebuilt to a haphazard plan. The parish extends to nearly 3,500 acres and lies about six miles from both Poole and Wimborne.

The Parish Church is dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin. Its walls are of carstone rubble with dressings of Purbeck and greensand; the roofs are covered with tiles and slates. The church was built c.1200 and consists of a chancel, nave and west tower (with six bells) with a north aisle that was added in the mid 14th century, but this and the north arcade of the same date were completely taken down in alterations of c.1500. In c.1400 the chancel was enlarged. Near the altar is a small brass of a 15th century priest in a shroud and there is a brass plaque in the floor that tells us that Margaret Clements, who died in 1505, financed much of the rebuilding work. The font is of Purbeck Marble decorated with the badges of Maltravers and Arundel. St. Mary’s was again restored in 1873, the north vestry and organ chamber were added in 1876.

The Manor House was built by one of the Earl’s of Arundel sometime before the 17th century and later became the seat of the Trenchard family, though little remains of the original structure. In the village there are several late 18th century cottages built of cob mostly faced with brick or stucco and with thatched roofs.

Within the church is an interesting Coat of Arms to George IV that records him as George IIII. The large brass in the north aisle records the death in 1365 of John, Baron Maltravers and commemorates his life; a life spent largely plotting and scheming the downfall of others.

The Day West Bay Fished a Dinosaur

May 1st, 2013
by Dorset Ancestors.
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One day in the 1980’s an ignominious lump of nondescript bone was brought into the Dorset County Museum in Dorchester by a Mr E Taylor. It soon became apparent however that it was a portion of the skull of an animal, for it bore sockets for the creature’s teeth and in its dimensions varied from 46 to 67 millimetres in size.

The skull fragment had apparently been caught up in a fishing net during a trawl for scallops off West Bay, west of Portland. As a remnant of an ancient vertebrate this find in itself was not that unusual, for the seabed in the area in question forms part of the world-renown (and richly fossiliferous) Jurassic Coast Heritage site, and consists of a stage of the Jurassic strata known as the Lower Kimmeridgian, after the village of that name near Kimmeridge Bay. Long before the discovery of the skull, numerous vertebrae of  marine reptiles and possibly even of dinosaurs had regularly been obtained from the same area as tidal action wore away the enclosing rock. While some of these show wear and colonisation by bryozoans and worms, others are fresh-looking suggesting that the bones are still being eroded from the entombing clay.

But the West Bay skull-bone shows both fresh and eroded areas. From examination, it was clearly part of the skull of a large theropod dinosaur, and isolated and fragmentary bones of this kind are generally classified as Megalosaurus (or “large lizard”). This is a genus of dinosaur originally identified from Jurassic strata at Stonesfield in Oxfordshire. The type specimen exists as a group of bones first described by William Buckland in 1824. Although the specimen skull fragment from West bay is similar in general appearance, it evidently belonged to an individual much larger than the reptile(s) who’s remains were excavated from Stonesfield. Thus the latter’s  subnarial height exceeds 164 millimetres, as compared with 110 mm for the Stonesfield specimens. The teeth are also relatively closer together in the Dorset example; the inter-dental plates relatively lower in height.