Dorchester Dorset Family History Guide
Table of Contents
Parishes
- Dorchester All Saints, Dorset
- Dorchester Holy Trinity with Frome Whitfield, Dorset
- Dorchester St Peter, Dorset
Nonconformists include: Countess of Huntingdon Methodist, Independent/Congregational, Particular Baptist, Presbyterian, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.
Parish History
Gazetteer of the British Isles 1887
Dorchester.- capital of county, municipal borough, and market town, Dorset, on river Frome, 8 miles N. of Weymouth and 138 miles SW. of London by rail, 635 ac., pop. 7567; P.O., T.O., 4 Banks, 3 newspapers. Market-days, Wednesday and Saturday. D. was the Durnovaria of the Romans, and the Dorn Ceastre of the West Saxons. Portions of the Roman wall still remain; also, the ruins of a large amphitheatre, the most perfect of its kind in England. There are some breweries, but the trade is mainly agricultural. A little to the W. of the town are large cavalry and infantry barracks. The bor. returned 1 member until 1885.
Source: Gazetteer of the British Isles, Statistical and Topographical. Editor: John Bartholomew. Publisher, A. and C. Black. Published: 1887
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
DORCHESTER, a town, three parishes, a sub-district, a district, and a division in Dorset. The town stands on the Ridgeway, the Via Iceniana, and the river Frome, at the junction of the Southwestern, the Great Western, and the Wilts and Somerset railways, 8 miles N of Weymouth.
Its site is an eminence, sloping on one side to the Frome, and bordered on other sides by open downs. It is the Caer-Dori of the ancient Britons, the Durnovaria and the Dunium of the Romans, and the Dornceaster of the Saxons. It was strongly fortified by the Romans; made a mint-town by Athelstan; burnt, in 1003, by Sweyn the Dane; burnt again in 1613 and 1662; desolated by the plague in 1595; fortified against Charles I. in 1643; taken and held afterwards by both parties in the war; and made the scene of “a bloody assize,” by Jeffreys, in 1685.
The ancient Roman roads from it are still used as highways. The Roman walls around it enclosed about 80 acres; seem to have been grouted, or formed of two parallel walls, with interior fitting of stones, flint, and hot mortar; and, though generally destroyed in making walks and otherwise, are still recognisable in remaining portions, 6 feet thick, and of herring-bone work.
An amphitheatre, called Maenbury or Maumbury, situated beyond the walls, by the side of the Roman road to Weymouth, and of the railway stations, is the most perfect antiquity of its class in the kingdom; has been generally regarded as a Roman work of the time of Agricola, but may have been previously formed by the ancient Britons; comprises an oval earthwork 30 feet high, with area 218 feet long and 163 wide; would afford accommodation to so many as 12,960 spectators; and was used, in 1705, for the burning of a woman’s body after execution, in the presence of about 10, 000 persons.
Roman coins, a Roman gold ring, a bronze Roman Mercury, and a considerable fragment of a Roman pavement have been found in the town and its vicinity. An ancient camp, called Poundbury, of irregular shape, protected by a lofty vallum and ditch, and thought to have been constructed by the Danes, crests a hill on the NW, commanding an extensive view. Another ancient camp, called the Maiden Castle, with three earthen ramparts, the innermost one 60 feet high and a mile or more in circuit, occupies an eminence, by the side of the Ridgeway, 2 miles to the SSW. Great numbers of barrows also dot the hills to the south.
The town has an irregular quadrangular outline; and consists of but a few streets, mostly long, well-built, clean, and quiet. The High-street runs from E to W, on the line of the Via Iceniana; and South-street and North-market run in the opposite direction. The village of Fordington forms a large suburb on the SW. Fine walks engird the town on three sides, along the line of the Roman wall; and are so planted with elms, chestnuts, and sycamores as to have the character of pleasant park-avenues.
The guildhall was built in 1847, and is in the Tudor style. The corn exchange was built in 1868, and is spacious. The shire-hall is a neat pedimented commodious building. The county jail, on the site of an ancient castle, on the north side of the town, comprises an erection of 1793, at a cost of £16, 180, and subsequent wings and other enlargements; and has capacity for 157 male and 28 female prisoners. The railway stations are well situated outside of the town, and have neat arrangements.
St. Peter’s church, at the intersection of four streets, near the centre of the town, is a recently restored, well-proportioned, ancient edifice, with Norman porch; consists of nave, chancel, and aisles, with pinnacled tower 90 feet high; and contains a few monuments of distinguished persons, and some ancient brasses.
All Saints church was rebuilt in 1821; and has an interesting east window of painted glass, presented by the late Bishop of Salisbury. Trinity church was rebuilt in 1824.
Fordington church is an ancient structure, originally cruciform, with a high pinnacled tower; is dedicated to St. George; and has, over the south porch, a sculpture of St. George and the Dragon. Christ-church, in W. Fordington, is a recent edifice in the early English style.
The county museum, in High West-street, contains an interesting collection of British and Roman antiquities. The county hospital, in the south part of the town, is a handsome building of 1841, in the Tudor style; and a chapel was added to it in 1862, in the early English style. The workhouse, ½ a mile to the south-west, was erected in 1836. The grammar school has £48 from endowment, with three exhibitions; another school has £108; three alms-houses have £165, £61, and £32; and other charities have £160. There are chapels for Independents, Baptists, Methodists, and Unitarians.
The town has a head post-office, a telegraph station, three banking offices, and three chief inns; is a seat of assizes and quarter sessions, and the political capital of the county; and publishes two weekly newspapers. Markets are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays; and fairs on 14 Feb., 6 July, 6 Aug., 29 Sept., and 25 Oct. The manufacture of broad cloth and serges was, at one time, largely carried on, but has entirely decayed; and the chief trade now, besides a brisk country one at the markets and the fairs, is the brewing and exporting of excellent ale.
The town sent two members to parliament from the time of Edward I. till 1867, but now sends only one; and it is governed by a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors. The parliamentary and the municipal boundaries are co-extensive, and comprise the parishes of St. Peter and All Saints, and parts of the parishes of Holy Trinity and Fordington. Acres, 572. Direct taxes in 1858, £4,651. Pop. in 1841, 3,249; in 1861, 6,823. Houses, 1,030. Electors in 1868, 451. N. Mather, the divine, and Pikes, the Roman Catholic martyr, were natives.
St. Peter and All Saints parishes jointly comprise 42 acres; and Holy Trinity parish includes Frome-Whitfield and Colliton-Row hamlets, and comprises 1,369 acres. Real property of St. Peter, £5,780; of All Saints, £3, 380; of Holy Trinity, £5, 504. Pop. of St. Peter, 1,213; of All Saints, 946; of Holy Trinity, 1, 601. Houses, 166 and 131 and 222. The livings are all rectories in the diocese of Salisbury. Value of St. Peter, £164; of All Saints, £84; of Holy Trinity, with Frome-Whitfield, £500. Patron of St. Peter, the Lord Chancellor; of All Saints, Simeon’s Trustees; of Holy Trinity, the Free School and Alms-houses’ Trustees.
The sub-district contains the parishes of Dorchester, Fordington, Stinsford, Whitcombe, Winterbourne-Came, Winterbourne-Monckton, and Winterbourne-Herringstone. Acres, 9, 830. Pop. 7, 709. Houses, 1, 182.
The district comprehends also the sub-district of Piddletown, containing the parishes of Piddletown, Piddlehinton, West Stafford, West Knighton, Broadmayne, Warmwell, Woodsford, Tincleton, Tolpuddle, Burlestone, Admiston, and Dewlish; the sub-district of Maiden-Newton, containing the parishes of Maiden-Newton, Charminster, Bradford-Peverell, Stratton, Frampton, Frome-Vauchurch, Chilfroome, Toller-Porcorum, Toller-Fratrum, Compton-Abbas, Compton-Vallence, Kingston-Russell, Long Bredy, Little Bredy, Winterbourne-Abbas, Winterbourne-Steepleton, and Winterbourne-St. Martin, and the parochial chapelry of Wynford-Eagle; and the sub-district of Cerne, containing the parishes of Cerne-Abbas, Up-Cerne, Nether-Cerne, Godmanstone, Sydling-St. Nicholas, Cattistock, Frome-St. Quinton, Melbury-Bubb, Batcombe, Mintern-Magna, Alton-Pancras, Piddletrenthide, Chesilborne, Melcombe-Horsey, Buckland-Newton, Mappowder, Pulham, Hermitage, and Wootton-Glanville, and the parochial chapelry of Hilfield.
Acres, 115, 339. Poor-rates in 1862, £14, 378. Pop. in 1841, 20, 815; in 1861, 24, 773. Houses, 4, 637. Marriages in 1860, 193; births, 720, of which 39 were illegitimate; deaths, 482, of which 145 were at ages under 5 years, and 17 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1, 947; births, 7, 889; deaths, 5, 234.
The places of worship in 1851 were 58 of the Church of England, with 12, 224 sittings; 6 of Independents, with l, 390 s.; 1 of Baptists, with 348 s.; 1 of Unitarians, with 300 s.; 10 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 1, 052 s.; 1 of Primitive Methodists, with 70 s.; and 1 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 200 s. The schools were 48 public day schools, with 2, 589 scholars; 56 private day schools, with 952 s; 56 Sunday schools, with 2, 958 s.; and 3 evening schools for adults, with 36 s. Two poor-law unions, Dorchester and Cerne, are comprised in the district; and have their workhouses in Fordington and Cerne-Abbas
The division contains the hundreds or liberties of Culliford-Tree, Dewlish, George, Ower-moigne, Piddlehinton, Portland, Wabyhouse, and Wyke-Regis and Elwell, and parts of those of Eggerton, Fordington, Frampton, Piddletown, Sutton-Pointz, Tollerford, Uggscombe, Winfrith, and Cerne, Totcombe, and Modbury. Acres, 113, 084. Pop. in 1851, 25, 696; in 1861, 28, 868. Houses, 5, 200.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
DORCHESTER, a borough and market-town, having separate jurisdiction, and the head of a union, locally in the hundred of St. George, Dorchester division of Dorset, 120 miles (S. W. by W.) from London; the town containing 3249 inhabitants. The early existence of the old town is evident from the etymology of its Roman names, Durnovaria and Durinum, “a place on or near the Varia,” which was the British appellation of the Frome. Ptolemy describes it as the chief town of the Durotriges, and calls it Dunium; it was named by the Saxons Dornceaster, whence the modern Dorchester is derived. In Athelstan’s charter to Milton Abbey, dated here, Dorchester, which then belonged to the crown, is called Villa Regalis, to distinguish it from Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, which was styled Villa Episcopalis. The Roman station stood on the Via Iceniana, and the remains of its ancient walls, the several vicinal roads leading from it, and the discovery of coins and other relics of antiquity, evince it to have been of great importance. In the Saxon age, two mints were granted to the place by Athelstan. In 1003, it was besieged and burnt, and its walls thrown down by Sweyn, King of Denmark, in revenge for the attempt of Ethelred to extirpate the Danes by a general massacre.
In the reign of Elizabeth, several Roman Catholic priests were executed here; in 1595, the ravages of the plague were very extensive. In 1613, a fire consumed several houses, together with the churches of the Holy Trinity and All Saints: the damage amounted to £200,000. A second conflagration took place in 1662, and a third in 1775. During the civil wars, according to Lord Clarendon, Dorchester was considered one of the strongest holds of the parliament; it was fortified in 1642-3, but on the approach of the Earl of Carnarvon, with 2000 men, the town was immediately relinquished, and the governor fled by sea to Southampton: the Earl of Essex afterwards took possession of it. In 1645, an action took place here between General Goring, at the head of 1500 cavalry, and about 4000 of the parliamentary troops under Cromwell, in which the latter sustained a defeat, but kept possession of the town. In 1685, on the occasion of the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion, the assizes were held here, before Judge Jeffries, when 29 out of 30 persons tried in one day were found guilty and condemned; on the following day, 292 pleaded guilty and were condemned, of whom 80 were executed: on the morning of trial, Jeffries ordered the court to be hung with scarlet.
The town is pleasantly situated on elevated ground rising from the river Frome, by which it is bounded on the north-west. It occupies an area of about 80 acres, and consists principally of three spacious streets diverging from an area called Cornhill, in the centre, where the corn-market is held, and terminating severally in the roads to London, Weymouth, and Exeter: from West street, in a northern direction, is the road to Bath. The town is well paved, and kept remarkably clean: a company was formed in 1834 for lighting it with gas, for which, and for its general improvement, an act was obtained. The adjacent scenery, which consists of extensive downs, sloping hills, and fertile inclosures, watered by branches of the Frome, forms a picturesque landscape. A small theatre was erected in 1828, which has since been converted into a masonic lodge; and races are held in September. Surrounding the town is a large tract called Fordington Field, partly meadowland, and partly in tillage, without any inclosure, seven miles in circumference; it belongs to the duchy of Cornwall, and is held by the owners on lives, with a widowhood. Six-hundred thousand sheep were formerly computed to be constantly fed within a circuit of six miles, and that number is now exceeded: the high estimation of Dorchester mutton is attributable to the sweet herbage of the soil; and the water, which springs from a chalky bed, is particularly favourable for brewing beer, which is here made to a great extent, and of a superior quality. During the reigns of Elizabeth, Charles I., and James I., there was a flourishing cloth manufactory; but this branch of business has greatly declined, there being only a little blanketing and linsey now manufactured, in addition to the spinning of worsted-yarn. In 1845 an act was passed for the formation of a railway from Weymouth, by Dorchester, to the counties of Somerset and Wilts; and a railway to Southampton was completed in 1847, which is 62 miles in length, including a branch of two miles to Poole. The principal market day is Saturday, and there is an inferior market on Wednesday. The fairs are on Candlemas-day, St. John the Baptist’s and St. James’ days (O. S.), and Oct. 25th; the three last are principally for sheep and lambs.
Dorchester claims to be a borough by prescription. Edward III. granted a charter, which was confirmed by succeeding sovereigns, as also did Richard III., but no specific form of municipal government was established until the charter of James I. Another charter was bestowed by Charles I., and under this the corporation consisted of a mayor, two bailiffs, six aldermen, and six capital burgesses, assisted by a high steward, recorder, town-clerk, two serjeants-at-mace, &c. By the act of the 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 76, the government is now vested in a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors; the mayor, and late mayor, are justices of the peace, and the total number of magistrates is seven. The borough has returned two members to parliament since the 23rd of Edward I. By the determination of a committee of the house of commons, on a petition in 1790, the elective franchise was resolved to be in the inhabitants paying church and poor rates in respect of their personal estates, and in persons paying church and poor rates in respect of their real estates, whether resident or not. Under the act of the 2nd of William IV., cap. 45, the former non-resident electors, except within seven miles, were disfranchised, and the privilege was extended to the £10 householders of an enlarged district, comprising 572 acres, which was substituted for the ancient borough, which included only 67 acres: the mayor is returning officer. There is a court of record, as under the old charter; a court leet is held on the first Monday after New Michaelmas-day, at which four constables and other usual officers are appointed; and pettysessions of the mayor and justices are held every Monday. The powers of the county-debt court of Dorchester, established in 1847, extend over the registrationdistrict of Dorchester and Cerne. The town-hall was erected by the corporation in 1791; underneath is the market-house. The shire-hall is a plain and commodious edifice of Portland stone, containing court rooms where the assizes and quarter-sessions for the county are held: the corporation have a right to use the hall for all public purposes. The county-gaol was erected near the site of the old castle, between 1789 and 1795, at an expense of £16,179, on the plan of the benevolent Howard, and comprises a gaol, sheriffs’ ward, penitentiary, and house of correction; the exterior is handsome, and the interior is divided into various departments for the classification of prisoners, having four wings, which, though detached, communicate with the central building by cast-iron bridges. Dorchester is the place of election for the knights of the shire.
The town is divided into three parishes, viz., All Saints’, commonly called All Hallows, containing 692; St. Peter’s, 1203; and the Holy Trinity, 1354, inhabitants. The living of All Saints’ is a discharged rectory, valued in the king’s books at £4. 4. 7.; net income, £84; patrons, the Trustees of the late Rev. C. Simeon. The church was rebuilt after the great fire. The living of Trinity parish is a rectory, to which the rectory of Froome-Whitfield adjoining was united by act of parliament in 1610, valued in the king’s books at £17. 8. 6½., and in the patronage of the Feoffees of the free school and almshouse, who were incorporated by the same act: the tithes have been commuted for £350, and there are 25½ acres of glebe. The church, erected nearly on the site of an ancient edifice pulled down in 1821 in consequence of its dilapidated state and its protruding so far into the street, is an elegant and commodious structure, ornamented with beautifully painted glass. The living of St. Peters is a rectory not in charge, with a net income of £184: the present rector was appointed by the crown, but it has been made a question whether the patrons of Holy Trinity are not entitled to the patronage of St. Peter’s also. The church is in the later English style, and consists of a chancel, nave, and aisles, with an embattled tower crowned by pinnacles, 90 feet in height. It contains several ancient and curious monuments, including one to the memory of Denzil, Lord Holies, of white marble, with his effigy in a recumbent posture, and the handsome tomb of Sir John Williams, of Herringstone, Knt., and his lady. In the north aisle, on a stone coffin lies the effigy of a knight, cross-legged, and completely armed in a coat of mail and helmet, with belt, spurs, and shield, but without armorial devices; and there is a similar figure in the south window: they are supposed to represent two crusaders belonging to the family of Chidiock, founders of the neighbouring priory, and to have been removed hither on the demolition of the priory church. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Wesleyans, and Unitarians. A free grammar school was founded in the year 1579, by Thomas Hardy, and endowed by him with an estate of about £20 per annum: it has an exhibition of £5 per annum, at any college in either university; in addition to which there are two exhibitions, of £10 per annum each, at St. John’s College, Cambridge, for scholars from St. Paul’s school, London, or this school. A second school was refounded by the corporation, about 1623, having existed prior to the establishment of the grammar school; the management is vested in six trustees. A handsome almshouse, founded by Sir Robert Napier, in 1615, for ten men, adjoins the grammar school. Near the priory is another, founded and endowed previously to 1617, by Matthew Chubb, one of the representatives of the borough, for nine women; and in the vicinity of All Saints’ church are Whetstone’s almshouses, for the maintenance of four persons, or four couples, at the discretion of the six trustees of municipal charities. The poor law union of Dorchester and Cerne comprises 59 parishes or places.
There are some probable remains of the wall and fosse by which the town was surrounded while in the possession of the Romans. The wall, which is six feet thick, and in some parts twelve feet high, is founded on the solid chalk rock, and is built of ragstone, laid obliquely and covered with mortar; every second course, in the Roman manner, running the reverse way, and there being occasional horizontal ones for binding, intermixed with flint: the remains appear to be only the groutwork, or interior part of the wall, the facing having been long removed. A great part of the fortifications was levelled and destroyed in making the walks which partially surround the town, particularly in 1764, when 87 feet of wall were pulled down, and only 67 feet left standing. A castle, probably of Roman origin, stood here, the site of which is placed by tradition in a large field near the county prison, still called Castle Green; but there are not the slightest traces of the building. A friary of the Franciscan order was built with the materials, a little eastward from the castle, by a member of the Chidiock family, some time previously to the 4th of Edward III. The conventual church was pulled down at the Reformation, and the house altered by Sir Francis Ashley for his own residence; it contains many of his armorial bearings and insignia. Here Denzil, the celebrated Lord Holies, died; after which the mansion was converted into a Presbyterian meeting-house, and so continued till 1722. Opposite to it, on the north, are the priory close and meadow. Several British tumuli are scattered round the town. In 1725, a large tessellated pavement was discovered, at the depth of three or four feet, in a garden near South-street; and in 1747, a brazen image of some Roman deity, probably of Bacchus, was found at the depth of five feet. In preparing the foundations for the gaol, a great number of Roman coins were dug up, including some of Antoninus Pius, Vespasian, Constantine, Carausius, Valerian, Valens, and Gallienus. In the immediate vicinity of the town are some interesting remains of a supposed British amphitheatre, a Saxon earthwork called Poundbury, and the intrenched residence now called Maiden Castle.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Registers
Marriage Allegations
The following people Surrey have been recorded in the Hampshire Allegations for Marriage Licences granted by the Bishop of Winchester 1689 to 1837.
BARNWELL, Richard, of Dorchester, co. Dorset, plumber, 30, b. , & Ann Fone, of Sparsholt, 25, w. , at 8., 19 May, 1782.
Hodges, Charles, of Dorchester, co. Dorset, & Martha Kent, of Broughton, at B., 4 Feb., 1725.
Parish Records
FamilySearch
The records listed below are part of the FamilySearch Catalog Collection. The records may be Free to view and/or search online or can be ordered from your Local Family History Library.
Archives and libraries – Inventories, registers, catalogs
Business records and commerce
Census
Census returns for Dorchester, 1841-1891
Census returns for Dorchester, 1821
Family tree magazine (Huntingdon, England) – v. 22, no. 2 (Dec. 2005) Supplemental CD
Church history
The Wesleyan Society in Dorchester, 1825-1975 Author: Blake, J. P. H.
Church Records
Baptisms, 1750-1837 Author: Presbyterian Church (Dorchester, Dorsetshire)
Baptisms, 1822-1826 Author: Countess of Huntingdon’s Chapel (Dorchester, Dorsetshire)
Baptisms, 1838-1921 Author: Dorchester Circuit (Wesleyan Methodist)
Births and baptisms, 1788-1836 Author: Independent Church. Durngate Street (Dorchester, Dorset)
Births and baptisms, 1831-1837 Author: Wesleyan Church (Dorchester, Dorsetshire)
Church records, 1828-1951 Author: Dorchester Congregational Church (Dorchester, Dorset)
Church records – Indexes
Computer printout of Dorchester, All Saints, Dorset, England
Church records – Inventories, registers, catalogs
Correctional institutions – Inventories, registers, catalogs
Court records
Description and travel – Guidebooks
Pictorial guide to Weymouth, Dorchester and Dorset : the Naples of England
History
Dorchester through the ages Author: Cook, Jean; Rowley, Trevor, 1942-
Fire from heaven : life in an English town in the seventeenth century Author: Underdown, David
A history of Dorchester, Dorset Author: Clegg, A. Lindsay (Arthur Lindsay)
William Whiteway of Dorchester : his diary 1618 to 1635 Author: Whiteway, William, 1599-1635
Land and property
Military records – Militia
Militia papers, 1795-1808 Author: All Saints Parish (Dorchester, Dorset)
Occupations
Miscellaneous civil records, 1630-1841 Author: All Saints Parish (Dorchester, Dorset)
Miscellaneous records for the Borough of Dorchester, 1660-1830 Author: Dorchester (Dorset : Borough)
Poorhouses & Poor Law
Miscellaneous civil records, 1630-1841 Author: All Saints Parish (Dorchester, Dorset)
Overseers account books, 1784-1835 Author: Holy Trinity Parish (Dorchester, Dorset)
Public records
Miscellaneous records for the Borough of Dorchester, 1660-1830 Author: Dorchester (Dorset : Borough)
Public records – Inventories, registers, catalogs
Social life and customs
Fire from heaven : life in an English town in the seventeenth century Author: Underdown, David
Taxation
Voting registers
Historical Directory Transcriptions
An Address from the County of Dorset on the Elementary Education Bill, May 9 1870
To the Right Honourable The EARL de GREY and RIPON President of Her Majesty’s Privy Council and To the Right Honourable W. E. FORSTER MP Vice President
We the undersigned Clergy and Laity of the Archdeaconry and County of Dorset, accepting the principle of the Elementary Education Bill now before Parliament, by which in existing Schools perfect liberty of Religious Teaching is guaranteed to the Managers, together with perfect liberty of withdrawal from such Teaching to the Parents of the Children, do earnestly deprecate any Alteration in the Bill which may affect such principle.
At the same time we are prepared to concede, if necessary, the substitution for the so-called Conscience Clause, of an Enactment which shall confine the Teaching of the Formularies of any Denomination to the first part of the School Hours.
DORCHESTER
Charles Napier Sturt, Colonel, M.P. for Dorchester J.P.
T. Alexander Falkner, M.A., clerk in holy orders
R. Thornton, J.P. for Dorset
John F. Hodges, Mayor of Dorchester
R.G. Watson, M.A., head master of County School
Robert Davis, J.P., churchwarden
Edwin Burnett, churchwarden, solicitor
John Galpin, J.P. for Dorchester
George Hawkins, gentleman
Frederick Mondey, second master of the County School
John Good, surgeon
George Panton, surgeon
J.H. Jones, accountant
Henry Brown, Civil Service
George Read, victualler
Benjamin A. Hogg, draper
Thomas Richardson, professor of music
Francis Henry Lambert, gentleman
Henry Ling, bookseller
E.P. Watts, chemist
Boyton Smith, professor of music
John Tudor, surgeon
James Miles, saddler
Thomas Lonnon, draper
William Tilley, builder
James William Cuff, brewer’s assistant
James Singleton, photographer
John Richard Taylor, brewer &c.
Edwin Tucker, gardener
Joseph Pope, innkeeper
Robert Case, bank clerk
Joseph Hansford, gentleman
William Bascombe, gentleman
William Cole, builder
Joseph Fudge, coal merchant
C Parsons, soda water manufacturer
Source: An Address from the County of Dorset on the Elementary Education Bill, May 9 1870 by Dorset. Published by H. Spicer, Dorset County Chronicle Office, 1870.