Volume 6 of Hutchin’s Extra Illustrated covers Weymouth and Dorchester.
The Dorchester section is dominated by documents relating to Judge Jeffreys and the Bloody Assize. There is even a 48-page biography of Jeffreys bound into the volume.
There are several documents connected with Dorchester Gaol, including plans of the new gaol, pictures of the old one and an image of King George visiting the Prison. The new Gaol was built in 1793 and closed in December 2013. One of the men involved in building the prison was William Morton Pitt, who at his own expense set up a hat making factory in the gaol. You can learn more about him in a later blog in this series.
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One person who was held in the gaol was Robert Wedderburn, whose picture appears in this edition. He was convicted of ‘blasphemous libel’ in 1820 and spent two years in the prison.
Robert was born in Jamaica in 1762. He was the son of James Wedderburn, a Scottish sugar plantation owner, and his slave Rosanna. James Wedderburn sold Rosanna shortly before Robert was born, but stipulated that the baby should be born free.
Robert arrived in England in 1778. He was a Unitarian and radical reformer who supported the idea of a revolution against the government. He campaigned against slavery and published the book ‘The Horrors of Slavery’ in 1824.
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A copy of the ‘Dorchester Guide, or A House that Jack Built’ is also included in the volume. This satirical pamphlet by an unknown author was created in response to ‘The Political House that Jack Built’, which was written by reformer William Hone in 1819, just after the Peterloo Massacre, in which cavalry charged in to a crowd of protesters, killing 18 and injuring hundreds. At the beginning of the pamphlet the author states the Dorchester ‘promises to become a fashionable resort’ and proceeds to describe the sort of characters he would imagine parading to the town. These include the priest, the chief and the orator. These characters are meant to represent well known figures of the day, the final character being ‘the devil’ who is meant to be Lord Byron.
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Many of the additions to the Weymouth section are connected with the frequent visits of King George III to the seaside resort. Articles, original letters and cartoons are just some of the items connected to the King that have been added by Broadley.
There are also several influential naval figures that feature in the Weymouth section. Some served with distinction, such as Admiral William Penn, who served as MP for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis and captured Jamaica for Cromwell.
Others are not looked on so favourably by history. Marriott Arbuthnot, was born in Weymouth in 1711 and served as a naval officer and colonial administrator. According to one biographer quoted in the ‘Dictionary of Canadian Biography’ he was:
‘ignorant of his profession, was destitute of even a rudimentary knowledge of naval tactics, and appeared in contemporary stories as a coarse, blustering, foulmouthed bully.’
Some historians argue that he was judged too harshly using material written by his enemies, but the nicest thing we have found written about him was a quote from John Bartlet-Brebner about his time in Nova Scotia which describes him as ‘well-meaning, but optimistic and gullible.’
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Our favourite document connected with this Navy is the response to a letter from William Dommett, MP for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis, whilst he was serving on ‘The Royal George’ requesting replacements for supplies that were unfit for consumption. The document, written in 1794, records that 969 gallons of beer that was sour and stinking and 618 pounds of rotten Cheshire cheese were onboard the ship when the inspectors arrived. We imagine the sailors were very pleased to have these replaced!
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Finally, there is a picture of John Love, a bookseller of Weymouth labelled the fattest and heaviest man in England. Love was an apprentice to James Ryland, a famed London engraver who was convicted of forgery. Terrified that he would be linked to his master’s crimes he fled back to his native Weymouth. At this time he was so thin that his friends and family feared that he had tuberculosis. They contacted a Dorchester doctor who prescribed a diet of rich, fatty foods. John acquired such a taste for these foods that within a year he had gone from skinny and wasted to hugely obese. He died on July 14th 1793, aged 40 and weighing 364lbs, which is 26 stone.
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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
Part five: Antiquities, Adventurers, and an Actress