The fifth volume of Hutchins Extra Illustrated contains some very old documents and has a focus on the towns and villages around Beaminster. Perhaps the most notable are a set of three documents giving grants of land at Marshwood to the Cary family. These date from the 1300’s, the earliest being from 1312.
There is also a document signed by King Charles the Second, which was written to James, Duke of Ormond, instructing him regarding appointments to be made in Ireland.
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Another document that caught our eye was the lovely circular family tree showing the descendants of Thomas Hine and Elizabeth Daniel of Beaminster. Thomas and Elizabeth’s son, also named Thomas, moved to France in 1793 and gave his name to the Hine Cognac company, which is still run by his descendants today.
Elizabeth’s Great Grandfather, James Daniel, who took part in the uprising led by the Duke of Monmouth in 1685, is mentioned in the writing that surrounds the tree.
James fled home after the battle of Sedgemoor, but was hunted by royalist soldiers. Knowing they were on his trail James hid amongst the straw in a barn in Knowle, near Beaminster. As royalist soldiers arrived to search for him he prayed for God to save him. The soldiers searched the barn, spearing the mounds of hay with their bayonets, but not disturbing James’ hiding place.
Convinced that he had been saved by divine intervention James set aside the barn where he had hidden as the family’s place of burial. This burial plot is still tended today by his descendants.
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Thomas Hine must have been an adventurous spirit, leaving England for France in the middle of the French Revolution, but he is not the only adventurer to be featured in this volume.
There are portraits of Samuel, 1st Viscount Hood, who commanded ships in the American and French wars and an account of Beaminster man, Samuel Hearne, who sailed with him. In 1771 Hearne became the first European to make an overland excursion across northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean.
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There are also several articles telling the remarkable story of Elizabeth Watkins, who as a five-year-old child was present at the battle of Waterloo. Elizabeth was the child of Daniel Gale, another Beaminster man, who fought in the battle. She died in 1904 and there is a photograph of her taken shortly before her death. There is also an image of her father in his later years. He died in 1875.
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The last adventurer we will mention is George Somers, who was born in Lyme Regis in 1554. Little is known of his early life, but by 1584 he was a privateer. He went on to command warships and was knighted in 1603. He was appointed Mayor of Lyme Regis as well as serving as MP for the town in 1604.
By the age of 50 Somers had money, status and land, but this did not stop him from getting involved in the attempt to colonise Virginia, which was instigated by Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1608 he was appointed Admiral of a fleet known as the ‘Third Supply’, which was sent to bring supplies, colonists and a governor to the struggling colony at Jamestown.
The fleet ran into a storm. The ships were scattered and after battling the elements for three days Somers was forced to wreck his flagship, the Sea Venture, on a reef in Bermuda, also known as the ‘Isle of Devils’. In doing so he managed to save all of the people on board.
They were stranded on Bermuda for nine months, but in this time were able to build two pinnaces that carried them to Jamestown. Somers also became convinced that Bermuda ought to be colonised.
Jamestown was in a desperate state when they reached it and in order to get much need supplies Somers decided to sail back to Bermuda.
Sadly, he became ill and died on Bermuda on the 9th November 1610. His body was brought home by his nephew and buried in Whitchurch Canonicorum. The settlement that he had set up on Bermuda became its first colony and he is known as the founder of Bermuda. It is also thought that his story may have been the inspiration for Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’.
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The final additions to this volume concern Charles Powlett, the third Duke of Bolton, who owned lands in Hooke and served as a recorder of Poole, and his second wife Lavinia Fenton.
Lavinia Fenton was born in London and worked as a waitress and barmaid before becoming an actress. She is best known for playing the part of Polly Peacham in The Beggars Opera, becoming so synonymous with the part that she was often referred to as Polly Peachem.
Whilst acting she caught the attention of Charles, Duke of Bolton, who was 23 years her senior and already married, although his marriage was an unhappy one.
They ran away together in 1728 and finally married in 1751 following the death of Charles’ wife. Although they had three sons together none of them could inherit as they were all born out of wedlock and Charles’ estates passed to his brother, Harry.
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This blog is part of our monthly series on the 12 extra-illustrated volumes of “Hutchins’ History and Antiquities of Dorset.”
Part one: An introduction to the history and antiquities of Dorset.
Part two: The Pitt family, a piano player, and a plague of caterpillars.
Part three: Coastline, Castles and Catastrophe
Part four: A Phenomenon, Fake News and a Philanthropist