{"id":1824,"date":"2020-08-19T10:52:44","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T10:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=1824"},"modified":"2020-12-18T14:28:01","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T14:28:01","slug":"the-diary-of-john-foss-august-1851","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2020\/08\/19\/the-diary-of-john-foss-august-1851\/","title":{"rendered":"The Diary of John Foss: August 1851"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are sharing a monthly look at the farm diary of John Foss, written from his dairy farm in Kingston Russell in 1851.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

August<\/span><\/b>\u00a01851<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span>August in 1851 is \u201c<\/span>fine dry & warm<\/span><\/i>\u201d,<\/span>\u00a0with \u201c<\/span>grand weather for the harvest<\/span><\/i>\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>The hot weather meant that the milk in the dairy was regularly souring, and John spends much time churning to combat this.\u00a0<\/span>S<\/span>ome stormy weather\u00a0<\/span>rolls in\u00a0<\/span>towards the end of the month, and on the 29<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0John wrote: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>about 10 the wind blows very high Indeed & a very heavy storm of rain followed<\/span><\/i>. A<\/span><\/i>\u00a0bout 1\u00a0<\/span><\/i>oclock<\/span><\/i>\u00a0hail fell rather\u00a0<\/span><\/i>awfull<\/span><\/i>\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The hail lasted half an hour<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>forced all the cows into hiding!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Support for Ireland<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

John and his family attend church every Sunday, sometimes travelling to other nearby villages for secondary sermons in the afternoon. Occasionally, John will record what texts were read in the sermon. On the 17<\/span>th<\/span> this month, John writes that they heard from a Mr Walch<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>a\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Beautifull<\/span><\/i>\u00a0Sermon in aid of the Irish Society of London<\/span><\/i>\u201d <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another gentleman, Mr <\/span>Templer<\/span>, gave \u201c<\/span>a very affecting sermon<\/span><\/i>\u201d on the same topic that afternoon, and a collection was taken at the door afterwards.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
D-DPA\/1\/LIB\/23<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Irish Society was set up in the 17<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0century to facilitate the plantation of Ulster in County Londonderry<\/span>. It soon\u00a0<\/span>evolved into a charitable organisation which worked for the benefit of the Irish community<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0It is likely that th<\/span>ese<\/span>\u00a0sermon<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0related to the Great Famine, which began in 1845 and caused extreme poverty and loss of life in Ireland<\/span>\u00a0throughout the remainder of the 19<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0century.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>In the 1851, Dublin-born Lundy Foot is recorded\u00a0<\/span>as the Rector in\u00a0<\/span>Long Bredy \u2013 perhaps this is how the Society came to speak at a rural Dorset church?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Renting the Dairy<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

On the 23<\/span>rd<\/span>, John \u201c<\/span>paid Mr Symes the\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Qts<\/span><\/i>\u00a0Rent for my dairy \u00a3118 15s<\/span><\/i>\u201d. According to The National Archives\u2019\u00a0<\/span>currency converter<\/span><\/a>, this amounts to approximately\u00a0<\/span>\u00a39,<\/span>500 \u2013 enough to buy seven horses<\/span>;\u00a0<\/span>22 cows<\/span>;<\/span>\u00a0or to pay a skilled tradesman for 593 days.\u00a0<\/span>The dairy was c<\/span>ertainly a considerable size!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Summer\u00a0<\/span>Ailments<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

It seems that nearly all the members of the household are unwell at some point this month<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Early in August, both Rachel and the farmhand Cooper are badly affected by headaches<\/span>, possibly as a result of the hot weather.\u00a0<\/span>Later, William has a bad thumb<\/span>, and John has \u201c<\/span>a rising<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0in\u00a0<\/span>his<\/span>\u00a0arm, meaning he cannot milk.\u00a0<\/span>As a res<\/span>ult, William is sent out\u00a0<\/span>to<\/span>\u00a0ask\u00a0<\/span>the local laundress, Sarah\u00a0<\/span>Woodsford<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>if she can<\/span>\u00a0come\u00a0<\/span>to help\u00a0<\/span>at the farm<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Towards the end of the month, William and Susan\u00a0<\/span>have<\/span>\u00a0\u201c<\/span>Hooping<\/span><\/i>\u00a0Cough<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span>, and Rachel spends much of her time caring for\u00a0<\/span>6-year-old<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Susey<\/span>, who seems to have a particularly bad case.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Interested in learning more about John Foss? Explore the other months of his 1851 from the list below:<\/p>\n

January 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

February 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

March 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

April 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

May 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

June 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

July 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

August 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

September 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

October 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

November 1851<\/a><\/p>\n

December 1851<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are sharing a monthly look at the farm diary of John Foss, written from his dairy farm in Kingston Russell in 1851.\u00a0\u00a0 August\u00a01851\u00a0 \u00a0August in 1851 is \u201cfine dry & warm\u201d,\u00a0with \u201cgrand weather for the harvest\u201d.\u00a0The hot weather meant that the milk in the dairy was regularly souring, and John spends much time churning… Read more The Diary of John Foss: August 1851<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[82,124,123,109],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1824"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2120,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1824\/revisions\/2120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}