February 18, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy)
In the mid 1950s Britain woke up to the threat of an invasion. “American style” comics were accused of ruining the reading habits of vulnerable children across the country and even inciting racism and violence. Could Captain Marvel cause crime? In this podcast from the National Archihives see the comics condemned as harmful and find out what action the government took to stamp out the comics menace.
February 17, 2009 at 4:00 am (Biography, History, Podcast)
Tags: Dodkin, Somerset, Wells
Born in Millwall, a twin, and the youngest of eleven children, Fred went to the Isle of Dogs School in London. In September 1939 Fred was evacuated to Wells with his twin sister and younger nephew. The forty children from the Isle of Dogs School shared Wells Blue School premises, so Fred was billeted in Wells. He and his sister returned to London in November 1939, but were bombed during the Blitz and so returned to Wells with their parents in 1940. Fred left school at fourteen and worked in W H Smith. After finishing his National Service Fred worked for Pauls the decorators for forty years.
February 16, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy)
Tags: Charles Herbert Mayo, Dorset, Holnest, Long Burton
The Parish, or strictly speaking thr Chapelry Registers of Holnest for this period consisted of six volumes and were transcribed by the Reverend Charles Herbert Mayo, M.A., Rural Dean and Vicar of Longburton with Holnest and published in 1894. The publication was digitized in 2007 by Google and may be read on-line or downloaded here.
February 15, 2009 at 4:00 am (History, Location)
Tags: Dorset, Fabian Hodder, Weymouth, William Sydenham
The civil war in Weymouth is mostly remembered for an incredible plot which was hatched by one of its’ leading citizens and royalist sympathisers, Fabian Hodder.. Together with his wife, her friend Elizabeth Wall and several others, the plot, which has become known locally as the Crabchurch Conspiracy, was aimed at bringing the town once more, under the control of the Kings army, and, before its’ desperate conclusion would result in the deaths of many of the conspirators and the soldiers of both sides.
February 14, 2009 at 4:00 am (Biography, History, Podcast)
Tags: Day, Somerset, Taunton, Trull
Charles Day became a butcher in 1926 when his father died. Charles and his mother ran the butchers in the village of Trull near Taunton. He began work at six o’clock in the morning and four o’clock in the summer, finishing at eight o’clock in the evening. He retired in 1971.
February 13, 2009 at 4:00 am (History, Location)
Tags: Dorset, Stone
Stone from Dorset has graced buildings as impressive at St Paul’s Cathedral and the Cenotaph in London. And it has added beauty to many a farmhouse and cottage in the county.Geologist Jo Thomas, has written a highly readable yet scholarly study of Dorset’s rich variety of stones, how the rocks were formed and where they have been used for buildings.
Read about it in the Daily Echo.
February 12, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy)
Tags: John Brown, Maiden Newton
In the 1880 edition of Kelly’s directory, John Brown is listed as organist to the parish church, bookseller, stationer, dealer in musical instruments and agent for R.R. Williams, bankers. Unless you look hard you may never notice that his main job was that of headmaster of the National School.
February 11, 2009 at 4:00 am (Biography, History, Podcast)
Tags: Cunneber, Somerset, Taunton
After leaving school in the late 1930s, Gladys Cunneber of Taunton completed a course in housecraft at the Battersea Polytechnic, London. She returned to Taunton and subsequently worked for the electricity department as a demonstrator of electric cookers, which were then comparatively new. Later she joined the Ministry of Agriculture in the Rural Domestic Economy Department and gave cookery demonstrations to a variety of organisations across Somerset.
February 10, 2009 at 4:00 am (History)
Tags: Gascon Rolls, Hundred Years War
Important unpublished records of the Hundred Years War are to be made available online in an innovative new project led by the University of Oxford and assisted by The National Archives.
February 9, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy)
Sherborne was the birthplace of Diana Ruth Wilson and her wonderful botanical paintings have returned there. Elisabeth Bletsoe tells her story.
Read the full article in Dorset Life.
