|
Colonel Augustus Barnaby Cyril. Duke,
born in 1888, had two sons and two daughters. His sons were John and Henry.
Once more the oldest non-secular building in Dorchester, Nappers Mite
almshouses, had become an issue. Towards the end of 1952 the Trustees of the
Dorchester Municipal Charities, who had allowed the property to fall into
disrepair, decided to sell the building for demolition and redevelopment.
After much pressure from preservation organisations and individuals such as
Lord Levelling and Earl of llchester, the Minister of Housing and Local
Government called a local enquiry in 1953. The whole subject had been
previously debated by the Town and County Councils who had both refused to
take any action. Yielding to the pressure of the Trustees, reinforced as it unfortunately
was by the unhelpful decisions of those two local authorities, the Minister
decided to permit their demolition. The Trustees then announced an acceptable
offer from a developer. It was at this point that Major John Duke came
forward and displayed an interest in the property, that he was prepared to
back his sympathies financially, and that if he were to acquire it, he would
adapt it to some purpose which would not involves the demolition of the
façade. Although he was prepared to improve on the price at which the
Trustees had been willing to sell for demolition, they still refused to
impose any condition for the preservation of the building. After protracted
negotiations the almshouses were acquired by John Duke. At a the annual
dinner of the Society of Dorset Men in 1954, the Mayor of Dorchester, Councillor
Napper, responding to the toast, commented that "in spite of undisguised
hostility from a certain section of the public in Dorchester, the denial of
financial support or other aid from any local authority, and the absence of
sympathy at Whitehall, Major Duke had instrumentally saved this precious
building. our towns people are thankful that an old friend has been saved
from the demolition gang". Today Chubb, Whetstone and Napper's Almshouses
remain a charity and are registered with the Housing Corporation. They
provide sheltered units for 31 with no requirement for regular prayer by the
residents . Major John had been badly injured in a tank battle in France
during World War II. He lost his left arm and suffered considerable shrapnel
wounds following the Normandy landings in 1944. He became engaged in a tank
battle with a German SS Panzer Division at Hill 112 whilst on route to
liberate Cean. Report of the encounter suggest that no counter attack
developed on a large scale on this battalion's front was primarily due to his
courage and that of a Captain Greenshields of the 224 Field Battery . In 1957
the first village hall was built in Martinstown on land given by Col A.B Duke
(seen in the photograph above), lord of the manor at that time. The hall was
soon put to good use and one of the first events was a fund raising concert
for the church restoration fund. £17.00 was raised. The hall served the
village well but after 14 years the building was destroyed by fire in what
the local paper described as a "twenty minute inferno. Within eighteen
months and considerable effort from an enthusiastic fund raising team, a new
hall was built. For more detail of stories and photographs related to village
life a most commendable book to celebrate the millennium was written by local
historian, Margaret Hearing. In 1959 Colonel Duke died and it would be
correct to say the lordship passed to John, although this was never confirmed
on paper as his estate took some ten years to settle by which time John would
also pass away. Nappers Mite was next door to the offices of the Duke family
business of Auctioneers and Land Agents (Hy Duke & Son) that was housed
in the former Hardye's School premises. This proud structure was the cause of
further controversy as when it was sold in the 1960's for demolition and
development. John Duke was the auctioneer on that occasion. It was reputedly
the first building in the town ever to sell for over £100,000.00. Today there
is a rather unlovely shopping arcade in its place that itself awaits
demolition as part of the long awaited town centre redevelopment. John
continued as an auctioneer until his death in August 1968. Much of the
shrapnel remaining in his body could not be removed and this was to cause him
significant discomfort for the rest of his life. It also engendered
considerable sympathy, which proved that the myth of doit de seignior was not
dead. He was a lovely man; always the life and soul of any party, but his
last years were spent sadly as an alcoholic bought about as a result of his
wounds and an unhappy marriage. It is said he kept a loaded service revolver
under his bed to fend off pink elephants and the bullet holes in the bedroom
ceiling at Maen were evidence of this. The manor and property passed to Henry
Oliver Barnaby Duke (but known as Oliver or sometimes as Major Oliver after
his seven years military service). He was born at West End House, Martinstown
in 1920 and educated locally at Connaught House at Weymouth and at Sherborne
School. At the age of 18 he took a direct commission in the Dorset Fortress
Company Royal Engineers. He was called up prior to outbreak of World War II
in August 1939 serving first on coastal defence searchlights on Nothe Fort,
http://www.fortressweymouth.co.uk/hist4c.htm
Northern Arm and Breakwater Forts at Weymouth,
http://www.cyberport.co.uk/
leaving the town in 1940 for
Scarborough with the 127 Dorset Electrical and Mechanical Company of the
Royal Engineers. At Scarborough he transferred to 21 Training Centre at
Scarborough as Assistant Adjutant. In November 1941 he joined the convoy of
reinforcements for Singapore but on its fall was diverted to India where he
was attached to King George V's Own Bengal Sappers and Miners in February
1942. Here he served in Roorkee which is in the foothills of the Himalayas in
the Orderly Room of the Commandant and Officer Commanding. He was later
promoted to Staff Officer and later to Major Staff Officer with
responsibility for Security and Ciphers. On repatriation in 1945 he was
posted to Germany as Company Commander at 50 Reinforcement Holding Unit at
Bielefelt until demobilised in 1946. In the same year he was made a partner
in Hy.Duke & Son, in Dorchester with his Father and brother John. On 30th
July 1949 he married Joan Mary Wingate at St. Peters church, Vere Street in
London. She played an active role in the village life although her heart was
always London based. Her father was the founder of Hamblins opticians who
held various royal warrants. She was also a director of this company until it
was sold in the 1980's. She was a cousin of major general Orde, who commanded
Wingate's Raiders during World War II. They were an elite corps of British,
Myanmar, and Gurkha commandoes who fought behind Japanese lines in Burma.
General Wingate organised his effective force in 1941 at the request of his
British superiors, and their daring guerrilla strikes dealt a significant
blow to Japanese advancement in Southeast Asia. Also known as the Chindits,
after dragon statues fronting Myanmar temples, the raiders demolished
bridges, military installations, ammunition dumps, and railway lines, and by
1944 they had infiltrated deep into Japanese-held territory, where they
relayed intelligence to the British Royal Air Force. They played a key role
in the Allied counter offensive and eventual recovery of Burma and helped
prevent a Japanese invasion of India. Life as a Chindit was hard. Medical
help was not available to his men who if wounded they would be left with a
service revolver and a single shot. The raiders continued their operations
after General Wingate was killed in an airplane crash in April 1944. In 1955
the village was to enter the record books as the highest 24-hour rainfall was
recorded. In July there was over 279 mm (11 inches) of rain and the road
through the village turned into a river. The weather forecast on that day
gave no warning of the torrent. The headline in the local evening paper
simply advised "Rain Refresher for Scorched Visitors". The Brewers
Arms and nearby cottages nearby were soon marooned and the occupants had to
retreat upstairs. Joan thought it was great sport to drive through the water
at speed making problems still worse for the already flooded cottages.
Together they lived variously in Piddletrenthide, Came Rectory and Gaythorne
at Martinstown, moving to West End House once more Martinstown in 1961. They
had three sons:- Gerald Edward Barnaby born in 1951, Andrew Oliver Barnaby in
1953 and Robert Ian Barnaby in 1954. She died, after a long illness, in March
1999 Oliver Duke owned various farms and land including Ballerat, Goldcombe
and East Farm (formally Grove Hill Farm) with West End Farm at Martinstown. A
flock of 1500 ewes was maintained by him until the mid 1960's when finally
more intensive farming systems would take their place. In 1968 he registered
the Village Green and some of the Manorial Waste under the Commons
Registration Act of 1965. Margaret Hearing writes "It is considered to
be land upon which the inhabitants of the locality have customary rights to
include lawful sports and pastimes." He was highly regarded within his
profession as a land agent and in 1970 was elected as chairman of the Central
Association of Agricultural Valuers of Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset
Branch. In the following year he was elected Chairman of Hampshire Wiltshire
and Dorset Branch of Chartered Auctioneers and of Chartered Surveyors in the
year of their amalgamation. He was the third generation of the family to act
as secretary of the Dorset Down Sheep Breeders Association
http://www.rare-breeds.com/html/rare_breeds/sheep/atRisk/dorset_down.html and
his retirement would also see the end of sheep on Duke farmed land in the
manor. Oliver Duke played an active role in village life as Churchwarden for twenty-four
years until 1996, as school manager at both Martinstown and Winterbourne
Abbas, as lord of the manor for eighteen years until 1986 and as a trustee
Blanchard Charity for 35 years until 1994. He is presently its Clerk. Perhaps
the strangest and most audacious claim of any made during the past millennium
came from Oliver Duke in the late 1990's…… In 1986, the Manor was passed by
his father to the present Lord of the Manor, Gerald Edward Barnaby Duke. He
started his career as a land agent with Hy Duke & Son in 1974. It soon
became clear to him that the partners had their minds on his father's
retirement and another member of the family was not welcome. After a spell at
the Royal Agricultural College, he took over the family farm at Martinstown
in 1978 and developed a successful modern dairy enterprise. He was also
involved in politics and in 1983, was elected as the youngest member of the
West Dorset District Council. His main interest was in housing and the
homeless and this concern lost him his seat. By the end of the 1980's he
became the chairman of a regional political committee concerned in
countryside and environmental issues. This committee covered 50 parliamentary
constituencies from Dorset to the Western edge of London. Mary Ann Marten was
a member of this committee with him and it was successful in shaping
government agricultural and countryside policy of the day. At this time and
with the advent of global warming in mind, he become involved in promoting
the generation of electricity from wind power. In 1990 he attended an
international conference in Copenhagen on renewable energy and waste
recycling were many ideas were gained. Later he was invited to lunch with the
Chancellor of Malta University to discuss how such development might assist
the island. However his plans were not to be as the United Kingdom
government, although vocal supporters, have no stomach to support
controversial planning decisions needed. This situation remains. By the mid
1990's he decided agriculture would not see any better days and qualified as
a lawyer. He presently works as a property lawyer with a pension company in
Salisbury. His long-term goals remain the successful development of a wind
farm at Martinstown where a 15 Mw project is planned and retirement in Malta.
Margaret Hearing continues " One of the last village changes of the
twentieth century was the handing over of responsibility for the Village
Green to the Parish Council. In April 1999 the Lord of the Manor, Gerald
Duke, formally accepted from John O'Brian, Chairman of the Parish Council a
peppercorn, in return for a 99year lease of the Green at an annual peppercorn
rent. Dorset Evening Echo picture and text here please The Chairman promised
that the Parish Council would "make every effort to maintain the Green
as an area of rural charm for the benefit of the whole community". For a
picture of the Village Green and the Parish Church dedicated to Saint Martin
follow this link:
http://www.bath.ac.uk/~lismd/dorset/churches/martinstown.html. and for the
History of Saint Martin
http://www.facoho.freeserve.co.uk/wta/talks/stmartin.html
|
).
