History

LOST DORSET NO. 29 MARNHULL

David Burnett, The Dovecote Press

With the annual Poppy Day commemorations due in November it seemed a good moment to remember those who joined up in August 1914. Here are volunteers for the Dorset Regiment lined up outside the Crown at Marnhull, some of whom look too young to shave, let alone go to war. But go to war they did, and of the 190 men from the village who served during the First World War the names of 35 are listed on Marnhull Memorial Market Cross in New Street – with a further nine from the Second World War. Initially the 1914 war was treated as a six-month adventure. The retreat from Mons that autumn, in which the 1st Battalion of the Dorsets suffered appalling casualties, and the harsh winter that followed, brought home the realities of an entirely new form of warfare. By the date of the Armistice in November 1918 the Dorset Regiment’s Roll of Honour had lengthened to 4,060 names. Four of the 12 battalions bore the brunt of the fighting. The 1st served on the Western Front throughout, tragically losing 60 men in the last week of the war.

dovecotepress.com

The Dovecote Press has been publishing books about Dorset since 1974, many of which are available locally from Winstone’s Books or directly from the publishers. This photograph is taken from Dorset 1900-1999, The Twentieth Century in Photographs.

OBJECT OF THE MONTH TROOPER BROWN’S MEDALS

Elisabeth Bletsoe, Curator, Sherborne Museum

This medal set is one of the many museum artefacts that tell a story to ‘ignite the imagination’, but few tales can be so thrilling. They belonged to William Brown who was born in November 1891 in Sherborne, the son of a coal merchant living in Horsecastles. Baptised in the Abbey, he was one of five surviving children. William’s father was disabled by age 47 and on parish relief so the family all rallied round by working; William was apprenticed to a butcher, while his two older sisters were weavers in the silk factory.

William enlisted with the Queen’s Own Dorset Yeomanry in 1914 and survived active service in the disastrous Gallipoli campaign where soldiers lived and fought in appalling conditions. In November 1915 five thousand Senussi tribesmen, aided by the Turks, rose up against the allies in Italian Libya and western Egypt. The few troops, including the Yeomanry, that were left behind after the withdrawal from Gallipoli were sent to form the Western Frontier Force in order to meet this threat. On 26th February 1916, Trooper Brown was involved in a decisive action which saw the last great cavalry charge of British mounted infantry, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Souter at Agagia. It was made over open country with little cover, by men who were exhausted and horses which had not been watered for twelve hours. Later it was described as madness to send a hundred and eighty yeomen against five hundred tribesmen, known to be skilled desert fighters and armed with rifles and four machine guns, but the Yeomanry spread out in two ranks, with eight yards between each man in the front rank and four yards in the second. In this formation, they galloped for well over half a mile, straight into enemy fire.

Lieutenant-Colonel Souter, Lieutenant Blaksley and Trooper Brown all had their horses shot from underneath them but the three of them managed to apprehend the Turkish commander Ja’far Pasha, who surrendered. Pasha, who was later to serve twice as the Prime Minister of Iraq, noted that the charge was: ‘Beautiful, but not according to the rules. No one but the British Cavalry would have done it.’

On 21st April 1916, the Western Gazette’s triumphant headline ran ‘SHERBORNIANS GAIN DISTINCTION’, reporting how Trooper Brown, aged 24, had been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for gallantry during that memorable charge. It forms part of his medal set along with the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the 1915 Star. William was feted as a hero on his return to Sherborne where he settled in Lenthay and, with his wife Gwendoline, raised his daughters Hilda and Gwenda. He became heavily involved with the Sherborne branch of the Royal British Legion and acted as their standard bearer in parades. He was also honoured by being made a delegate of the local branch of Comrades of the Great War and represented them in the procession to the Cenotaph in London and at the funeral of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey in 1920.

In a satisfying twist to the story, William and Ja’far Pasha met again in 1935 at a dinner in London, at which the Iraqi minister was a guest. Pasha recalled the battle with admiration for his adversaries. He later presented Trooper Brown with a beautifully engraved silver cigarette case made in Baghdad.

This, together with the medal set and a photograph of Brown, were generously donated to Sherborne Museum by his family.

sherbornemuseum.co.uk

Sherborne Museum is open Tuesday to Saturday 10.30am4.30pm. Admission is free but donations are welcome.

Chris Dorney/Shutterstock

THE BLOODY ASSIZES

Cindy Chant

The failure of the Monmouth Rebellion had a tragic sequel, as the authorities punished those who had given any sort of support or encouragement to it, in a very savage and cruel way. Immediately after the Battle of Sedgemoor, constables had been ordered to search out, and report the names of all the men absent from their homes during the period of the rebellion. Over a thousand of Monmouth’s men were captured on Sedgemoor after the battle, but many more escaped, disappearing into the countryside, unsure whether to return to their homes or just hide and lay low.

A great deal has been written about the Autumn Assizes of 1685 and an unprecedented number of prisoners were sentenced to death or transportation, and the executions were carried out in the most barbaric manner. Despite the harsh punishments, the savagery of those dealt with at the Bloody Assize aroused widespread revulsion and hatred against King James II. The trials were not specially arranged, but were conducted as part of the normal Autumn Assize of that year. However, with so many present for sentencing, the normal two judges would be unable to cope, so the Chief Justice was given four assistants on this particular circuit. Everybody knows, of course, that the villain of the piece was the Lord Chief Justice, Judge Jeffreys, and it was the Dorset section of the judge’s tour that earned it the name of the Bloody Assize.

Judge Jeffreys met up to his reputation as a sadistic bully and was noted for delivering verdicts required by his political masters. He, undoubtedly, was given precise instructions to make an example of the rebels, and this he did with great enthusiasm. It was the judges’ section that named it the Bloody Assizes, as more prisoners were sentenced to death in Dorset than in any other county, and it was in Dorset alone that all the sentences were carried out while the Assizes were still in progress. There are no accurate or reliable records of the proceedings, and the exact number of prisoners

is not known. It appears that some 312 rebels were brought to trial and 94 were sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered. Many were sentenced to be transported, some were fined or lashed at a pillar, and 54 lucky ones were acquitted. Jeffrey’s harsh treatment of these prisoners has always been extraordinary, as, by comparison, only 6 men were executed in the neighbouring counties of Devon and Somerset.

During the trials, Jeffreys was sending detailed reports to the king, and royal advice may have come back from London suggesting transportation. Maybe it was the king’s decision to transport so many, as it was a more profitable course of action. This was because planters in the West Indies would pay a good price for white servants.

But it was all too late for the poor devils already sentenced to death. The horrific process of hanging, drawing and quartering, was a common punishment for high treason, and it was carried out in public, for all those wishing to witness this sickening event. After being convicted, the poor wretch was dragged to the place of execution, where he was hung and throttled until almost dead. His abdomen was then split open and he was disembowelled, while still alive - the organs being then burned on a bonfire. Finally, death came when the head was severed, and the torso was cut into four pieces, with arms and legs still attached. These pieces were then boiled in tubs of brine, and finally, they were dipped and covered in tar, to preserve them for a while. The heads and body parts were put onto spikes and displayed around the villages and towns from which they came, to serve as a warning to any other wouldbe traitors. It was a punishable offence for relatives to remove any of these, for a proper, decent burial.

For those that were transported, their plight was no less terrible. Those who survived the harsh crossing, usually to the sugar plantations of Barbados and other parts of the West Indies, became slaves and many suffered and died of ill-treatment and disease.

After the bloody deeds in Dorchester, the judges moved on to Exeter and Taunton, for further Assizes. In total, the Monmouth rebellion brought one thousand three hundred rebels to trial, and this in turn resulted in much sorrow and hardship, to their families in the West Country. Judge Jeffreys lived up to his reputation, and had done his grizzly job well.

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