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in the Parish of St Peters. South Lodge is a handsome property in a prominent position, just alongside South Walks, in the centre of Dorchester. It was built I think around 1755 - 60 by the BASTARD Brothers, who are well known for the rebuilding of the town of Blandford Forum following a major fire in 1731, which also destroyed very many original and important parish records for the whole area which were stored at Blandford. A recent article in the Journal of the Somerset and Dorset FHS introduced me to Francis CARTWRIGHT, a well known Master Stone Carver and Architect, known to have worked with the Bastard Brothers of Blandford. He was born at Ashton Under Hill in Gloucestershire in 1695, but little is known of his early years and training. He married Ann FREYER at Hinton Parva in 1734, and has a lasting memorial in the impressive Came House at Winterborne Came which he built for John DAMER in 1754, so he was in the Dorchester are about the time South Lodge was built. Was he involved as architect or stone mason with the Bastard Bros. - it may be unlikely with his time committed to the building of Came House. Author’s Note - Some of the information below is confusing as the “ Lodge “ is difficult to trace as early entries appear in records variously described as South Walk (s), South Villa and then later as South Lodge in census returns, directories and other records. I have visited the current owners of South Lodge, and they kindly showed me a file and note about the Lodge prepared by previous owners - sadly, it does not quote the sources of their information that I have included here. It says the House was built for Mrs. William RICHARDS of Warmwell. I think this was Margaret CLAVELL ( 1728 - 1817 ). Margaret came from the CLAVELL family who had owned the Smedmore Estate, near Kimmeredge since about 1426. She would certainly have had the status to require a “ town house “ in Dorchester. William Richards was born at Warmwell on 30th April 1724, and died there on 10th April 1804. On 10th September 1753, he had married Margaret at Westminster Abbey, whilst a member of Inner Temple, i.e. a lawyer. Note - the Rev’d John RICHARDS ( 1760 - 1833 ) son of William and Margaret inherited the Smedmore estate on the death of his older brother George RICHARDS ( 1755 - 1817 ), and thus changed his surname from RICHARDS to CLAVELL, as did other members of the RICHARDS family. The Fordington Tithe Map of 1840’s held at the History Centre shows that no other houses had been built either side of South Walks; this was well before the changes made to that area by the Town Council, with the associated new roads and extra building in the late 1850’s to 1870’s. The owner’s file then suggests that by the 1830’s the HELYER family of Somerset lived at South Walk and it is a pity we don’t have more details - The HELYARs come from Coker Court at East Coker, Somerset which the family owned since 1616, when it was bought by Archdeacon HELYAR from the Courteney family. The Somerset Archive Centre at Taunton ref. DD/HLM/3 hold records amongst the numerous HELYAR family papers of a Margaret SAMPSON who is recorded as living at South Walk, Dorchester - there is an Inventory of her assets in the house from 1803 after she died and was buried in May 1803 at Lopen, near Taunton. There is also an Ann Galpine SAMPSON born about 1764 who died in Hammersmith, London in June 1833 - she is also recorded as being “ from Dorchester .“ I could not establish if she might have occupied South Walk from some time after Margaret’s death until it was sold in 1838. The file says the HELYARs then sold the property on 15th January 1838 to Miss Rebecca STEWARD. This I think refers to the Trustees of Margaret SAMPSON under her Will of 1786 and four Codicils. Rebecca came from the very wealthy STEWARD family from Weymouth, and the Museum there has an extensive family tree for the STEWARDS. Rebecca Tucker STEWARD was the oldest daughter of Gabriel STEWARD, ( 1731 - 1792 ) an official of the East India Co., Captain of their ship ’Neptune’, and M.P. for Weymouth 1778 - 1790. In Dorchester Jury Lists for 1825 - 1840 - the South Walk property was not recorded - Rebecca would not have appeared as a property owner as women were not selected for criminal juries until 1919. Rebecca was living at South Walk in the 1841, along with three servants - the adjoining entry, also marked South Walk in the 1841 census, was for John BARNES, a builder ( see below ). By the time of the 1851 census, Rebecca was living with her three servants at West Back Street ( now Princes St. ), although Kelly’s trade directory of 1855 still quotes Rebecca at South Walks. The owner’s file then says that on the death of Rebecca on 23rd April 1859, South Walk was sold to Thomas BENNETT ( see below ) for £1,563. 10s. 6d. Rebecca’s Probate in 1859 valued her estate at between £7 - 9,000, equivalent to £4 to £5 million today. In that 1840’s Tithe map above there is a house on Back Street ( now Charles Street ) that I think is South Lodge, with coach house and stables. Here is where some confusion about who lived where at South Walk starts. Pigot’s Trade Directory of 1830 records a Bennett HARVEY Snr. ( 1762 - 1848 ) listed as a Gentleman living at South Walk. He was son of Bennett HARVEY of Melcombe Regis ( 1732 - 1807 ) and Elizabeth CRANE ( 1735 - 1823 ) who had married at Child Okeford on 21st June 1757. He married Charlotte SMITH ( 1766 - 1818 ) at Melcombe Regis on 28th December 1790. Bennett Snr. and Charlotte had six children born at Dorchester, including a son, also named Bennett ( Jnr. 1799 - 1838 ). I don’t know if Bennett HARVEY Jnr. lived in South Walk, but in the Jury Lists for Dorchester 1829 to 1838, he was recorded as an ironmonger in Cornhill, having apparently taken over that business from his father. Bennett Jnr. married Mary Mowlem Besant in Westminster, London on 7th February 1824, and they had eight children baptised at St. Peter’s church, Dorchester but, in 1841 after the death of her husband, his widow Mary was living at a property in Trinity Street. It seems after the death of his son Bennett Jnr. in 1838, Bennett HARVEY Snr. left South Walk to live in North Square, as the Dorchester Jury List for 1839 has a builder called John BARNES living at South Walk. This is confirmed in the 1841 census with South Walk occupied by John BARNES, born at Wimborne 1780, along with Sarah NEWBURY and three servants. Sarah was a lady of independent means born 1781 - she was buried at St Peter’s church, Dorchester 21st May 1847. By 1851, John BARNES had left South Walk and moved to West Back St. now called Princes St. It is interesting to note the preceding entry in the 1851 census is for Rebecca STEWARD, as it was in 1841 - does this suggest they might both be sharing South Walk in 1841 and the West Back St. house in 1851 ? John BARNES died in Dorchester in 1859. Census of 1851 - despite searching for South Walk, I could not find it listed in the census, but many properties were not individually named, nor is it in Jury Lists for the town in 1848 or 1850. The question of who lived where in South Walks is further complicated by entries in the Kelly’s trade directories on 1855 and 1859, which refer to a Mrs BENNETT and a Giles SYMONDS both living at South Walks. Elizabeth BENNETT nee SPRACKLIN ( 1784 - 1861 ) is the widow of Thomas BENNETT ( 1780 - 1850 ), whilst Giles SYMONDS ( 1812 - 1892 ) was a Solicitor, and sometime Town Clerk and Coroner for Dorchester. Neither is recorded at South Walks in the census of 1851, nor in 1861. The owner’s note says that, after the death of Rebecca STEWARD in April 1859, South Walk was sold to Thomas BENNETT for £1,563.10s.6d. including inventoried fittings. Thomas was the oldest son of Thomas BENNETT deceased and Elizabeth above. He was born in Dorchester in 1808, and married his wife Martha MORRIS ( 1808 - 1869 ) at All Saints church, Dorchester on 21st April 1833. They had two daughters, Charlotte born in June 1834, and Martha Susan born April 1836, but Martha sadly died in August 1845. The 1851 census has Thomas and Martha, with daughter Charlotte aged 16, listed in High East Street, his business premises, where he was a cheesemonger/grocer and provision merchant. Around 1858/59, the Town Council decided to use some land it owned, along with some that it acquired from Robert WILLIAMS Esq., to alter the layout of that area, allowing new roads, and thus new villas, to be built. Acland Road was created running from Durngate Street through to South Walks, and off Acland Road, two new roads Wollaston Road and Linden Avenue connecting Acland Road with Icen Way were also created. Thomas BENNETT , his wife Martha, their unmarried daughter Charlotte aged 25 and two servants were still living in South Walk in the 1861 census. In April 1861, Charlotte married Samuel Archer CLIFFORD at St Peter’s church in Dorchester. Samuel was born in Gloucestershire, but was a farmer of 320 acres at Kington, Oxfordshire where they had four children, including Richard Archer CLIFFORD born 1865. Both Samuel and Charlotte died in Dorchester in 1879. By the time of the Census of 1871, Martha had died and Thomas BENNETT was living at the House, now called South Villa, with his grandson Richard Archer CLIFFORD aged 6 and two servants. Thomas had been elected Mayor of Dorchester in 1870, and in the 1871 census was listed as a Yeoman with 80 acres employing 4 men and two boys. Kelly’s Trade Directory in 1880 also records Thomas BENNETT as living at South Walks. In the census of 1881, after both their parents had died in 1879, Richard Archer CLIFFORD, aged 16, was a cheesemonger’s apprentice at Southwark, London along with his brother Thomas Bennett CLIFFORD aged 17. Sometime in 1885, Richard and Thomas both sailed for the USA; Richard died there in 1942, and Thomas in 1958. In the Census of 1881, Thomas BENNETT, by then a widower / Gentleman aged 71, was living at South Walks with 2 servants. ( Incorrectly listed on Ancestry as Thos. DENNETT aged 41 ). His probate in 1888 records that he left an estate of £1,924. 3s 9d. The owner’s note records that the House was sold on 8th May 1889, without saying to whom it was sold. In Kelly’s Trade Directory of 1889, then again in the census of 1891, the name “ South Lodge “ was used for the property occupied by Amyatt E. AMYATT aged 60, Chief Constable of Dorset. He had been appointed on 1st November 1867 to replace Dorset’s very first Chief Constable Colonel Samuel Sykes COX. The timings, and the use of the name South Lodge in 1889 and 1891, suggest that it was Thomas BENNETT, who died on 15th October 1888, and family who were previously living in the Lodge. A thought - it seems likely that the title ‘ South Lodge ‘ was only attached to the property at this time - hence earlier uncertainty. Amyatt was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1831 - his father Major General Peter BROWN had a distinguished Army career. For his last posting in December 1843 he was appointed as Commandant of the Royal Military Asylum for the Children of Soldiers of the Regular Army. There he worked with much success to improve the lives, health and the education of the children. He retired from there in 1852, and died in 1853. Amyatt seems to have changed his surname from BROWN to AMYATT during the 1870’s, but I do not know why. Kelly’s Trade Directory for 1880, and the 1881 census list Captain A. E. AMYATT and family as living at Stinsford House, which was owned by the Earl of Ilchester. He was retired Captain of 5th Regiment of Lancers. Amyatt was living in 1891 at South Lodge with his wife Frances Elizabeth CHARLTON, who was born in Ceylon ( now Sri Lanka ) in 1836, with 3 servants. They had married at Walcot Bath, Somerset in 1857. Her father Colonel Edward CHARLTON was Deputy Adjutant General for Ceylon when he died in 1852, before Frances was married.  South Walks Dorchester - 1896 © Mr. M Russell FIPD Capt. AMYATT retired as Chief Constable on 12th February 1898 - his successor as Dorset’s 3rd Chief Constable Dennis GRANVILLE was elected on 5th March 1898. Census of 1901 - South Lodge was still occupied by Capt. AMYATT, as retired Chief Constable, his wife Frances and their daughter Florence born at Dorchester in 1865, plus 3 servants. Capt. AMYATT died 26th August 1901, and by 1911 his wife and daughter had moved to Windsor, Berkshire, whilst by 1921, Frances and Florence were living at Wokingham, Berkshire, so they did not return to live in Dorset. Western Gazette 27. 9. 1901 - advertises for sale the freehold of South Lodge, Dorchester property of the late Capt. AMYATT, but it seems it went unsold. Western Gazette 25. 3. 1904 - advertises a Property to Let Unfurnished “ South Lodge, Dorchester property of Mrs AMYATT.” Dorchester Electoral Registers from 1906 to 1914 show South Lodge ( sometimes South Walks ) occupied by Major William Alexander CAMPBELL, retired from Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was born in Jamaica, West Indies in December 1854, and in 1893 at Fordington had married Constance DOUGLAS - but they appear to have split up by 1911. He does not appear in Dorchester records after 1914, and in 1921 he was living in Winchester, Hampshire. Western Gazette 31. 10. 1913 - Noted that South Lodge, Dorchester - Freehold property failed to sell at auction - bids made to £1,050. In Kelly’s Trade Directories 1915 to 1920 listed as a magistrate living at South Lodge was Elias William KERR M.A., M.D. He was born in Dublin, Ireland about 1850 where he had qualified as a doctor in 1872 and, about 1875, had married Fanny BRADY ( 1851 - 1885 ). The Medical Directory for 1885 shows them living at The Lodge, Cerne Abbas, but sadly Fanny died at Cerne Abbas on 8th October 1885. The 1891 census then shows widowed Elias living at No 5 South Terrace, South Street, Dorchester with his children Arthur 14, Ethel 13, William 12, Walter 10, Harry 8, Mark 7 - all born in Ireland, and Frederick 5 born at Cerne Abbas. The census returns in 1901 and 1911 along with the Electoral Register for 1914 shows Elias still living at 5 South Terrace so he must have moved to South Lodge at the end of 1914 or early in 1915. The Electoral Register for 1920 shows Elias and his daughter Ethel still living at No. 1 South Walks, and Elias died April - June 1920, and was buried at Cerne Abbas. In the Electoral Register for 1921, South Lodge was then occupied by Colonel Hubert ROUSE C.B., D.S.O., and his wife Adeline who had married at Fordington in July 1893. Hubert had been born in Egypt in August 1864 and had a distinguished Army career serving around the world. It appears they moved to South Lodge in 1920/21, as Kelly’s Trade Directory for 1920 lists them at The Bungalow, Icen Way, Dorchester. They were still living at South Lodge in the pre War 1939 census, along with 3 servants, before Adeline died in December 1939. Hubert then died in October 1945. 1946 - 23rd January Henry Duke and Sons advertised the sale of 18th century freehold house South Lodge, Dorchester - copies of the auction details held at History Centre ref. D-HDS/SP/1946/12. One copy has pencil annotations with the name “SHERRARD“ and a column of figures, totalling £3125 - was this the sale price ? The Land Registry confirmed that on 20th February 1946 South Lodge was purchased from the Exors. of Dr ROUSE by Elsie Violet SHERRARD nee ITHELL. She was born in Weymouth on 7th December1906, and had married Ernest T.W. JANSEN at Eltham, Kent in September 1929. Ernest had then died at Dulwich, Surrey in August 1939, and in January 1940 in Weymouth Elsie had married Francis R. G. N. SHERRARD. Francis was born in Sussex in August 1893. In 1921 he was living in Cambridge, and he had married Brunhild OLIVER, born 1887, in London in October 1924, but she had then died in 1935. In the pre war 1939 census, the widowed Francis is an agricultural scientist living at 3 Nothe Parade, Weymouth with his daughter Lucille born 1925. Daily Telegraph 12. 8. 1960 - announced the birth at South Lodge, Dorchester on 9. 8. 1960 a daughter to Joanna J. F. SHERRARD, born 1939, who had married Ian G. H. GEFFERS ( born Glasgow 1932 ) at Weymouth in 1958. Joanna was daughter of F. R. G. N. SHERRARD and his wife Elsie nee Ithell. Daily Telegraph 2. 10. 1963 the engagement / marriage was announced of Annabell Venessa ( born 1940 ) daughter of F. R. G. N. SHERRARD of South Lodge, Dorchester and Capt. M. H. S. AYLESFORD-SANFORD. Vanessa was said to have kept two horses in a building that is now converted to the garage. Birmingham Mail 20. 4. 1966 Holiday accommodation available contact SHERRARD, South Lodge, Dorchester Daily Telegraph 31. 1. 1974 - announced the sudden death at South Lodge, Dorchester of Francis R. G. N. SHERRARD, Elsie SHERRARD left South Lodge in 1985, confirmed with telephone directories, and moved to Wiltshire as she died at Little Somerford, Wiltshire on 5th August 1994. It appears that she may have sold or rented South Lodge to a Dr Roland HANKIN M.D. for use as a doctor’s surgery. Thompson’s telephone directory of 1986/87 records that his surgery was then at The Gables, Albert Road, but in the 1987/88 directory he had moved it to South Lodge in West Walks. He remained at South Lodge until 1994/95 when his surgery had then moved to 20 Trinity Street, but maybe he continued to live there until 2000. The Rightmove website records that South Lodge was sold again on 28th April 2000 to Mr and Mrs Richard THOROGOOD ( born about 1948 ), and then again on 26th July 2005 to Mr and Mrs Anthony Houssemayne DU BOULAY. Anthony ( 1929 - 2022 ) was a world authority on Chinese Ceramics, had a distinguished career at Christie’s London Auctioneers from 1949 - 1980, then as ceramics adviser to the National Trust. 
© Copyright Sarah Smith and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence. Shortly after selling South Lodge, first his wife Judith died on 21st December 2021, and then Anthony died in February 2022 aged 92. The Land Registry confirm that on 25th November 2021, South Lodge was bought from the Du Boulay’s estate by the current owners. The Lodge was listed as Grade 2 by Historic England on 7th May 1950. It must have been an imposing building when built. At some point the former coach house and stables became a separate property but the owner’s note gives no clue when this was, and I have never found it detailed. Richard Smith - orchidgrower@btinternet.com |