ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 5 SEPTEMBER 1862
CORRESPONDENCE
Sir: You published in your last week’s paper a ‘Severe Sentence’ passed by the borough magistrates on a boy named David Bendell; if the law had allowed them to give him six months, it would not have been a day too much, for a worse boy cannot be found in the town of Andover; his age is more than you speak of.
Yours faithfully, Robert Dowling, Cold Harbour
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 6 SEPTEMBER 1901
MIDLAND AND SOUTH-WESTERN JUNCTION RAILWAY
On Sunday last, was completed and opened for traffic the double road on this railway from Ludgershall to Collingbourne, and during that day a large staff was employed completing the laying of the new metals near the station.
So far as this end of the M and SW Junction Railway is concerned a double line is now available from Weyhill to Collingbourne, and this fact will undoubtedly prove a great advantage in dealing with the heavy troop and other traffic that now daily travels over the line, and especially during the summer months when the Salisbury Plain camps are in full swing.
Then before very long the new permanent barracks at Clarendon Hill, near Tidworth, will be in the builders’ hands, and the carrying out of this big scheme is bound to tax the resources of the M and SW Junction Railway, so viewed all round it is evident that Mr J Purkess (general manager) and the directors were well advised in losing no time in carrying forward the doubling of the line mentioned.
Various other improvements are being effected at Ludgershall with as little delay as possible.
A new signal cabin has been erected, and generally speaking there are not wanting those evidences that point to an important future for Ludgershall and district.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 1926
WEYHILL – FRED WINTER
This famous jockey, who is now riding so well for Mr F Hartigan’s stable, has had a career rather mixed if interesting.
It is an open secret that he has never been happier than he is now with Weyhill associations.
He once found that to be in the service of the German Emperor was not all ‘beer and skittles.’
A good many years ago, before the war, Winter’s riding in England attracted considerable attention among racing circles on the Continent and when a jockey was wanted for the Royal Stables in Germany, he was offered the job and took it, naturally enough, being as ignorant as most people of the cataclysm which would so shortly overwhelm Europe, and he had just settled down into his stride when the war cloud burst.
Casting sentiment all on one side the Royal employer had his jockey pitch-forked into an internment camp, and there Winter spent several weary years, a fate shared by three or four other well-known English jockeys.
Coming at the initial period of his career this was enough to have broken the spirit of most riders, but Winter’s courage never abated during the bad times, and he is now riding as well as ever, being possessed of wonderful strength, fine hands and a quick-thinking brain.
SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 7 SEPTEMBER 1951
BOROUGH WANTS THESE RECORDS BACK
Tucked away in the corner of your attic or hidden away in that bottom drawer may be some volumes and ancient documents that the borough archivists have been looking for to complete their picture of Andover centuries ago.
Although Andover is very rich indeed in material for the historians, Mr J B Morgan BA, archivist, who has been studying old records in the borough archives for the past three weeks, told Town Council members on Tuesday evening that several important links were missing.
Among them are four bound volumes of the Gild Merchants’ Morrow Speech books, covering the period 1327-1693, a collection which, in reporting the activities of the merchants at their meetings, gives a clear idea of town topics at the time.
In 1890, they were used in evidence but have not been seen since.
Twelve out of 27 account books of quit rents paid, some of them going back to King Henry VII, have also been lost and the original of the Andover Inclosure Award of 1785 cannot be traced, although there is a copy of 1820 which is among the records.
Last of the undiscovered items, said the archivist, were the Charity Commissioners’ records for the years 1703-1830, containing records of local people who left money for charitable purposes.
He knew the records had gone to a local lawyer but they have not been seen since.
On display in the Council Chamber were examples of excellently preserved documents, including two charters dating back to the time of King John and a variety of artistic seals, still with striking detail.
Two of them dated 1250 and 1340 showed that the Borough crest consisted of a lion, standing alone – another difference from the present crest being that it was facing in the opposite direction, to the right.
The oldest document on display ‘in a remarkable state of preservation’ is that of a grant from the prior of the monastery of St Swithuns, Winchester, to a certain Walter of Cumb, its date being fixed as before 1126.
FORTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO – FRIDAY 7 SEPTEMBER 1979
OPPOSITION TO HOMES FOR THE BOAT PEOPLE
Test Valley councillors will be asked to vote this afternoon on a motion of displeasure against a committee’s decision to house Vietnamese boat families.
The Housing Services Committee allocated three homes for the boat people but after a complaint from an Andover resident, Cllr Dick Lawrence decided to oppose the decision.
Copies of a letter from Mr Peter Taylor, of Pilgrims Way, who opposed the allocation and called for a public meeting on the situation, were circulated to members of the Housing Management Sub-committee who met in Andover on Monday.
Chairman Cllr Betty Stone asked councillors for their comments but the majority declined.
After the meeting Mr Peter Taylor, who is married with a child, told the Advertiser: ‘I wrote that letter and I am down on the housing waiting list for a house transfer.
'I asked if they would hold a public meeting on the matter to hear people’s opinions before taking a decision.
'We voted them into Test Valley Council to look after Test Valley people before looking after outsiders.
'They should look after their own first – particularly people with letters from doctors.’
Mr Taylor said his concern was not just for people waiting for houses in Andover but all over Test Valley.
If Cllr Lawrence’s motion is carried it could mean the decision to allocate homes might be reconsidered by the Housing Services Committee.
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