{"id":2094,"date":"2020-12-14T11:39:05","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T11:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=2094"},"modified":"2020-12-18T14:29:18","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T14:29:18","slug":"the-diary-of-john-foss-december-1851","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2020\/12\/14\/the-diary-of-john-foss-december-1851\/","title":{"rendered":"The Diary of John Foss: December 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

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

We\u2019ve reached the last month of 1851, and the final in our series of blogs! This month, the weather is a truly English mixed bag \u2013 hard frost, mild rain, glorious sun, and heavy fog all make an appearance over December. For most of the month, John spends his time moving stock around \u2013 taking cows to Bradford, cheese to Weymouth, and wood to Coyates.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Christmas in Dorset<\/h3>\n

Many of the Christmas traditions we know today were introduced the Victorian era, such as gift-giving, Father Christmas and carols. Crackers and cards became popular as the industrial revolution allowed for faster and cheaper production. In 1848, the Illustrated London News<\/em> showed the royal family gathered around a Christmas tree, inspired by Prince Albert’s childhood in Germany. This soon became a staple of the season.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/em><\/p>\n

Down in Dorset, Christmas Day is clear and frosty, \u201cfine Xms weather<\/em>\u201d. The family go to church in the morning, followed by a Christmas dinner at home<\/p>\n

\u201c…just as we had finish dinner Sister Fanny & her son George came from Longbredy<\/em>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Spending time with family was just as important in 1851 as now!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Boxing Day visits<\/h3>\n

The next day, John is up and about as usual, churning butter and cutting the hedge back. The holiday spirit is still in the air though, as visitors bringing goodwill drop in and out of the farm. John\u2019s sister-in-law and nephew visit at lunchtime, followed by \u201cthe two miss Foots\u201d <\/em>who brought a present for Rachel. Later, Mr Read comes by, and John gives him \u201ca cup of ale & a piece of Bread & Cheese being Xms<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The following afternoon is spent at the pub, after taking his sister home to Bridport. John stopped for dinner at the King of Prussia, and there \u201c…meet with Josph & James & many more<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Looking forward<\/h3>\n

Farm work doesn\u2019t stop, and the family continue to work as normal in in the days between Christmas and New Year\u2019s Eve. Much like Christmas, New Year\u2019s traditions changed during the Victorian era. Queen Victoria\u2019s interest in the Scottish Hogmanay filtered down into general society, and New Year\u2019s Eve became more of a celebration. This doesn\u2019t seem to have reached Dorset though \u2013 John is busy the whole day organising cattle. He ends his dairy of 1851 with the line \u201cThus end the old year<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/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. December 1851 We\u2019ve reached the last month of 1851, and the final in our series of blogs! This month, the weather is a truly English mixed bag \u2013 hard frost, mild rain,… Read more The Diary of John Foss: December 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\/2094"}],"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=2094"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2124,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094\/revisions\/2124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}