In 1657, Mary Whetcombe gave to Sherborne Abbey a candelabra in memory of her husband John Whetcombe, a former churchwarden. The candelabra, which was probably made in Holland or by London silversmiths to a Dutch design, is the earliest dated example of its type in England. Made of brass, the candelabra is topped by a … Read more
Lucia (the Latinised version of Lucy) Toogood is named in the 1547 Sherborne Court Rolls as a ‘tithingman’ – a parish officer elected to preserve good order. Was she Sherborne’s first policewoman?! Rachel Hassall Further reading: Joseph Fowler, Mediaeval Sherborne (Dorchester: Longmans Ltd., 1951), p.222.
Emmeline Mary Tanner was born on 28 December 1876 at Locksbrook Place, Weston, Bath, Somerset. The eldest of seven children born to Samuel Thomas Tanner, a coal merchant, and Jeanetta Jane (née Fry). At the age of 13, Emmeline became a student teacher and went on to teach at private schools in Birmingham, Southampton, and … Read more
WOMAN “MAGNIFICENT” was one newspaper headline reporting the news that Miss Maude Steele, supervising telephonist at Sherborne Post Office Telephone Exchange, had been named as one of sixteen recipients of the George Medal listed in the London Gazette on 3 January 1941. Instituted by King George VI on 24 September 1940, the George Medal (GM) … Read more
In the Commonwealth War Grave section of Sherborne Cemetery can be found the only war grave in Sherborne to commemorate a woman who died on service during the First World War. The grave belongs to Dorothy Stacey (1893-1918) (1923-1943), and the inscription on her headstone reads: 2/R/S/519 STAFF NURSE D.L. STACEY Q.A. IMP. MIL. NURSING … Read more
Winifred Spooner was born at Woolwich in Kent on 11 September 1900, the fifth child and only daughter of Major Walter Boulton Spooner and Annie (née Kirk). From 1916 to 1918, Winifred attended Sherborne Girls’ School, boarding at Aldhelmsted West. After briefly studying domestic science at Reading University she worked for a short time at a … Read more
Was this Dorset’s last witch trial? At the County Petty Sessions held at Sherborne on 25 September 1884 a woman was tried for stabbing her elderly next-door neighbour with a darning needle. This seemingly minor case created considerable interest because the attack was the result of the woman believing her neighbour had ‘witched’ her daughter … Read more
On 12-16 June 1905 the Sherborne Pageant was performed at Sherborne Old Castle to celebrate the 1200th anniversary of the arrival of Aldhelm in Sherborne. Over 800 performers took part and it is estimated that it was attended by 30,000 spectators. The Pageant was devised by Louis Napoleon Parker (1852-1944), a former music master at Sherborne School … Read more
On the afternoon of Saturday 4th November 1933, a football match was played on the Fairfield in Sherborne between the female employees of the Sherborne Laundry and a ladies’ football team from Yeovil. The match was held as part of Sherborne Carnival’s fundraising week, which, after a lapse of ten years, saw a procession through … Read more
According to her legend, Juthware, or Juthwara (Judith), was a Saxon woman who lived sometime between the 6th and 8th centuries in Halstock, Dorset. Juthware was very religious and known to pray and fast and to give alms to the poor. After her mother’s death, Juthware’s father remarried but when he too died Juthware began … Read more
Emerenciana was a foster sister of St Agnes and was stoned to death when she was found praying at Agnes’s tomb. She is often represented holding stones and lilies and is the patron saint of stomach problems and colic. The feast day of St Emerenciana (also known as St Emerentiana) is celebrated by the Catholic … Read more
On 7 June 1891, Reverend Mother Ignace Pollenus, the Superior of the Religious of the Christian Instruction in Ghent, Belgium, arrived in Sherborne with seven nuns to establish a Roman Catholic community in Westbury in a former Sherborne School boarding house. The Order had many English students in Ghent whose parents wanted them to open a … Read more
Barbara Helen Rawson was born on 2 March 1893 at Brand Hall, Norton in Hales, Shropshire, the eldest child and only daughter of Philip Heathcote Rawson (1864-1917) and Lillie Campbell Rawson (née Clarke-Preston) (1867-1927). A second child, Philip Colin Rawson (1896-1915), was born at Brand Hall on 1 June 1896. By 1904, the Rawson family … Read more
Elizabeth ‘Bess’ Throckmorton was born in 1565, the daughter of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, a cousin of Catherine Parr who served as ambassador to France and Scotland, and Anne Carew, daughter of Sir Nicholas Carew of Beddington, Surrey. Bess’s brother Arthur Throckmorton paid to install her as one of Queen Elizabeth I’s Ladies-in-Waiting, where she was … Read more
Vera Gwendolen Pragnell was born on 23 September 1896 at 10, West Chislehurst Park in Eltham, London, the daughter of Sir George Pragnell (1863-1916) and Leonora Caroline Louise Jenkins (1872-1950). Vera’s father was a self-made man, born in Sherborne, Dorset, his father William George Pragnell (1837-1898) was head gardener to the Wingfield Digby family at … Read more