Welcome to the tenth part of our series exploring the history of Icen Cottage, Fordington. In previous blogs, we have introduced you to the cottage, shown you some of the earliest documents relating to the cottage, discussed some of the problems when trying to identify the people who lived in the cottage, introduced George Cull as one of the previous owners, taken a look at the Mitford family and Arnold family in the 1830s, explored the lives of the Wickham family who lived in the cottage, looked at the Hardy connection to some of the former occupants; explored Fordington in the 19th Century; and looked into the turning of the cottage into a Ladies school.
This time we are exploring the Porter family, who came to occupy the cottage in the 1880s…
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The rate book entry for Icen Cottage from December 1881 shows the occupier as Mary Anne Brookes, but at some point her name has been crossed out and replaced by that of William Henry Porter. This is the first document showing the residency of the Porter family, who lived in Icen Cottage for nearly 40 years.
The same rate book shows that the owner of the cottage was still James Cull, the son of George Cull who purchased the copyhold for the property in 1830.We speculated in an earlier blog that George purchased the property as a family home and William Henry Porter probably had similar ideas when he moved in.
William was a wine merchant who was born in Ipswich in 1852. On the 1881 Census he was a boarder at a house in High West Street, Dorchester. The Rate book entry suggests he moved into Icen Cottage at the end of 1881 or at the beginning of 1882.
On the 18th April 1882, William married Martha Reyner Bennicke at the Chapel Royal, Savoy. The couple had four children, Philip Bennicke Porter, in 1883, Bertha Reyner in 1887, Eveline Louisa in 1888 and Felix Rowland in 1895. All four of their children were born and grew up in Icen Cottage.
The family would have seen a huge amount of change in their decades at the cottage. In the early 1880s Icen Cottage was surrounded by fields and stood a little apart from the main streets of Fordington. By 1920 Fordington had expanded rapidly and with the building of Duke’s Avenue and Alfred Place, Icen Cottage was no longer on the outskirts of the town.
We have found very little information about William Henry, beyond what is shown on the censuses and parish records. He died on February 27th 1914 and is buried in Fordington.
We can find out more about his children. His sons both joined the Navy and Bertha married Charles Edward Stewart in Melcombe Regis in 1909. Perhaps the most interesting documents we have found concern Eveline.
There is a record of her marriage in the Western Gazette from 15th May 1914. The wedding was quiet as the family was still in mourning following William’s death, but the groom, William Neville Rowston, was about to leave to fight in the war so it could not be delayed. The bride was given away by a family friend, Mr Maltby, and Bertha’s husband Charles was best man as most of the groom’s friends were away fighting. The article describes the bride’s outfit as a travelling costume of soft, pale, grey material and notes that she carried a bouquet of white lilies.
If losing her father and then having to wave her new husband off to war was not enough for Eveline on 3rd March 1915, just over a year after her father’s death, the Globe newspaper announced the birth of her triplet girls at Icen Cottage. The girls were named Diana, Evelyn and Reyner.
Luckily Captain Rowston survived the war and on the 1939 register he and Eveline are living in Weymouth.
Martha Porter remained at Icen Cottage until 1921, when the sale of the property was announced in the Western Gazette. Martha died in 1951 and like her husband was buried in Fordington.
Look out for our next blog to find out about the next residents.
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If you’ve missed the earlier blogs in this series, you can view them here:
An Introduction to Icen Cottage
Icen Cottage – The Earliest Documents
Icen Cottage – The Masters Family – Too Many John Masters!
Icen Cottage – The Mitfords and The Arnolds
Icen Cottage – Thomas Provis Wickham
Icen Cottage – The Lock family and a Hardy connection