On 23 May 1949, Lady Clare Hartnell of The Wilderness, St Swithin’s Road, Sherborne, offered herself as candidate for Sherborne East in the Dorset County Council by-election and set out her manifesto: ‘Ladies and Gentlemen. I beg to offer myself as your Candidate in the forthcoming County Council By-Election… I have now lived for over … Read more
In 1918 the Representation of the People Act gave the vote to certain women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification. The study of the suffrage movement has tended to focus on the actions of militant suffragettes in the larger cities, but women’s fight for the right to vote was also carried … Read more
At 4.40 pm on Monday, 30 September 1940, the Blitz came to Sherborne when German planes dropped several hundred bombs across the town in a straight line from Lenthay Common to Crackmore. Seventeen people, including six children, died as a result of the bombing, and over thirty casualties were taken to the Yeatman Hospital.[1] Under … 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
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
‘Send party to cottage Newland opposite cinema. I trapped’ – this message was relayed to the local emergency services at 17:19 on 30 September 1940 by Maude Steele (1901-1997), the supervising telephonist at Sherborne Telephone Exchange who was later awarded the George Medal for her bravery that day when she refused to leave her post … Read more
Ada Elizabeth Kearvell was born on 24 October 1871 at Warfield, Berkshire, daughter of Francis Kearvell and Charlotte (née Sparkes). She trained as a nurse at the Royal Devonport Hospital. In 1901 she was appointed staff nurse at the Yeatman Hospital in Sherborne and in 1908 she succeeded Miss Clarke as matron, a position she … Read more
Monica Mary Scott was born in Cardiff on 3 July 1917, daughter of John Lawlor Scott and Elizabeth (née Mills). In 1927, her family left Cardiff, moving to Warminster in Wiltshire and later to London, where Monica attended a number of schools including Trowbridge High School, Camden School for Girls, and a school in Chard, … Read more
‘Miss Gartell. Believed buried in wreckage. 20 troops digging. Ambulance standing by’ – this message was relayed to the local emergency services at 19:25 on 30 September 1940 by Maude Steele (1901-1997), the supervising telephonist at Sherborne Telephone Exchange who was later awarded the George Medal for her bravery that day when she refused to … Read more
Lady Anne Russell (c.1620-1697), daughter of Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford (1587-1641) and the Hon. Catherine Brydges (d.1657), was married to George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol (1612-1677). They had two sons and two daughters. During the English Civil War, George Digby supported the Royalist cause and in 1642 their home Sherborne Lodge (the … 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 Second World War. The grave belongs to Margaret Hayter (1923-1943), and the inscription on her headstone reads: 2069687 CORPORAL M.F. HAYTER WOMEN’S AUXILIARY AIR FORCE 24TH JULY 1943 … Read more
Georgina Binnie-Clark was born at the Digby Hotel in Sherborne on 24 April 1871, one of seven children born to Arthur Walter Binnie Clark (1834-1913), manager of the Digby Hotel and former valet to George Wingfield Digby (1797-1883), and Maria Louise Clark (née Letheby) (1837-1908). Georgina’s parents were married by licence at Taunton in Somerset … Read more