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
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
Mary Gibbs was born in 1832 at St Blazey in Cornwall, the daughter of Philip Gibbs, an agricultural labourer. On 20 September 1862 she was married at Tywardreath, Cornwall to William Pearce. Their first child Joseph Henry Pearce (1865-1950) was born in Truro on 26 September 1865, a second son Frederick Gibbs Pearce (1867-1888) was … Read more
During her short life Elizabeth Myers wrote numerous short stories and three novels, A Well Full of Leaves (1943), The Basilisk of St James’s (1945), and Mrs Christopher (1946). Elizabeth Myers was born on 23 December 1912 at 3, Apollo Street, Manchester. Her parents, George William Myers, a Manchester warehouseman [a wholesaler of linen and cloth made in the factories surrounding … 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
On 14 October 1895, the annual Pack Monday Fair was held in Sherborne, Dorset, and the Rowland family were in town with their travelling show which they pitched in the Fair Field in Digby Road (now the Pageant Gardens). Thomas Rowland (1856-1926), a travelling showman, and his wife Betsy (née Smith) (1854-1923) had nine children, … 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