{"id":2036,"date":"2020-11-30T09:30:43","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T09:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=2036"},"modified":"2020-12-18T14:28:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T14:28:54","slug":"the-diary-of-john-foss-november-1851","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2020\/11\/30\/the-diary-of-john-foss-november-1851\/","title":{"rendered":"The Diary of John Foss: November 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.<\/p>\n

November 1851<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The penultimate month of the year, November is frosty and clear, although there are some stormy nights throughout. The railroad continues to be a topic in the village, and it seems the plan is to take down Pitcombe farmhouse:<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Henning & Mr Foot & Master Here in house looking at the map for to settle about the railroad said the Home is to come down<\/em>\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As the building is still standing today, we know that these plans don\u2019t go ahead!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cheese, glorious cheese<\/h3>\n

Much of the month is taken up with making, selling and transporting cheese. A new customer, Mr Style of Weymouth orders half a ton, or 10 crot, at 30 shillings a crot. When John delivers the cheese, Mr Style puts in an order for 10 more the next week. Villagers and family drop by the farm to buy rounds of cheese throughout November, particularly for \u201cColoured Cheese\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Copyright: Creative Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is most likely a type of blue Dorset cheese, similar to Blue Vinney, although there was a trend for dyed cheeses in the 19th<\/sup> century. Some, perhaps less honest, dairy farmers might colour their milk with natural dyes in order to imitate the creamy, orange cheeses of Gloucestershire and Leicestershire.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Family Memorials<\/h3>\n

John lost his first wife, Emma, in 1848 possibly as a result of complications in childbirth – her death is registered only five days after the birth of their son Edwin. Sadly, Edwin died two years later, and this was followed by the death of Emma and John\u2019s fifth child John in September of the same year.<\/p>\n

\"\"
D-DPA\/1\/LIB\/17<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A year later, John writes that \u201cMr Ropers man been here to cut the Inscription for John & Edwin on their mother\u2019s head stone<\/em>\u201d. The mason visits again on Saturday \u201cto black & finish to <\/em>[sic] lettering<\/em>\u201d on the memorial. Unfortunately, this is not the last tragedy we know of in John\u2019s life. His second wife Rachel dies in 1858, after only nine years of marriage.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Big Decisions<\/h3>\n

This month, John is due to pay his quarterly rent to his master, Richard Symes. When he does, John asked about Richard\u2019s plans for the coming year. It seems that the two men had a somewhat stormy working relationship:<\/p>\n

\u201che askd me if I meant to take the cows again I said yes if we could agree I said if yould not do for us go on in anger with each other he said no it would not<\/em>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Richard said that he would not be making any changes to the price, and John leaves to consider the offer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A week later, on the 27th<\/sup>, they meet at the farm to barter:<\/p>\n

\u201che wanted the same rent as last year 9\/10 per cow I hesitated about giving it for some time<\/em>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mr Symes throws two sacks of wheat and barley into the bargain and promises to do what he can to help the cattle. Finally, they reach a decision: \u201cI said I would take them again on the same terms as last year so we agreed<\/em>\u201d. Much ado about nothing, perhaps?<\/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. November 1851 The penultimate month of the year, November is frosty and clear, although there are some stormy nights throughout. The railroad continues to be a topic in the village, and it… Read more The Diary of John Foss: November 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\/2036"}],"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=2036"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2123,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2036\/revisions\/2123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}