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Friday 29 April 2011

Baron Lister of Lyme Regis

Joseph Lister (1827 - 1912) was a surgeon who is best remembered as a pioneer of antiseptic surgery. His use of carbolic steam sprays (such as the one illustrated on the left) to disinfect wards and operating theatres greatly reduced the spread of deadly bacteria such as MRSA. Lister's name became synonymous with medical hygiene: Listerine mouthwash, although not invented by Lister himself, was named in his honour.

Joseph Lister wasn’t the only scientist in his family: his younger brother Arthur (1830 - 1908) was a pioneer in the field of myxomycetology -- the study of slime moulds! The two of them, Joseph and Arthur, bought a holiday home in Lyme Regis in 1871. This property, High Cliff, remained in the Lister family until 1929. In particular, Arthur's daughter Gulielma Lister (1860 - 1949), known as "Miss Gulie", was very active in local life. She followed in her father's footsteps, becoming a prominent myxomycetologist in her own right. She was one of the first presidents of the British Mycological Society, as well as a vice-president of the prestigious Linnaean Society.

When Joseph was raised to the peerage in 1897, he chose the title Baron Lister of Lyme Regis. The rather blurred photograph below, from the museum's collection, shows a historic view of Joseph Lister at work in a hospital ward.
 Joseph, Arthur and Gulielma Lister are just three of the many famous people who have chosen to spend their holidays in Lyme Regis... to find out about some of the others, see Notable People of Lyme.

Tuesday 26 April 2011

Research into Farming in the Lim Valley

This project began in 2006. As a veterinary surgeon, Graham Davies, with help from Ken Gollop, was asked to research the farming scene in Lyme Regis and Uplyme before information was forgotten and documents lost. After more than two years research, when over 60 farms, past & present, were identified, two exhibitions were held in Uplyme and Lyme Regis in 2008. Then a much larger exhibition followed in Axminster in 2009, covering sixteen parishes.



The research programme for the Lim Valley will continue. There is a lot of material that needs analysing and interpreting.

Two exhibitions have been produced using the information discovered to date. See Farming in the Lim Valley and Lyme's Disappearing Farmland on the Museum's web-site.

[Many thanks to Rikey Austin of Alice's Bear Shop, who originally produced these sketches for the recent Industrial Lyme exhibition.]

For more information (or if you would like to get involved yourself) please see Research at Lyme Regis on the main website.

Monday 25 April 2011

PG Wodehouse in Lyme Regis


One of the last letters written by PG Wodehouse, only 11 days before his death in 1975, was to his friend Teenie (Ernestine Bowes-Lyon) a cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Over 70 years earlier, Wodehouse had dedicated his first novel, The Pot Hunters, to Ernestine and her sisters Joan and Effie.

The Bowes-Lyon girls were related to Sir Campbell Munro of Linderits who had a country retreat, Fairfield House in Lyme Regis. (The Munro family are probably best known from Sir Campbell’s son Hugh’s pastime of listing all Scottish peaks over 3000ft.) One summer, Wodehouse accompanied the girls to Lyme and whilst holidaying formulated his ideas for Love Among the Chickens. It’s even possible that he wrote some of the novel whilst in the town.

The book, published in 1906, is Wodehouse’s only full length novel featuring his well known, larger than life character, Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge, who otherwise only appears in short stories. The book tells of how Ukridge, his adoring wife Millie and his friend, novelist Jeremy Garnet embark on a money-making plan to farm chickens in Dorset. The story is set in Lyme Regis where the chicken farm is a disaster. However, Garnet falls for a local girl and the pursuit of both chickens and love result in much hilarity.

It appears that Wodehouse was not totally happy about his writing because in 1921 he revised and republished the book. Amongst the changes he made were to increase the price of eggs to allow for inflation and to replace Lyme Regis with the fictional Combe Regis. Thus, in later editions, the link with Lyme is lost.

Sunday 24 April 2011

This week's events at Lyme Regis Museum

SPECIAL EVENT

Friday 29 April until Sunday 1 May (Museum open free!)- LYME REGIS FOSSIL FESTIVAL: The museum will have a busy programme of walks, talks and family activities. Click here for full details of each day’s events.

TALKS

Monday 25 April 2.30pm - KNOW YOUR FOSSILS: A talk on how fossils lived, and how to find, identify and handle them, with museum expert Chris Andrew.

EXHIBITIONS

MARY ANNING AND THE MEN OF SCIENCE. An exhibition exploring the relationship between local fossil-hunter Mary Anning (1799-1847) and the great men of science of her day. The exhibition is supported by a grant from the Royal Society and runs until 6 June.

FOUNDLING VOICES. An exhibition celebrating one of Lyme’s famous sons, Thomas Coram, who established the Foundling Hospital in London. Hear voices of former pupils of the Foundling Hospital recounting life before, during and after their time in the institution. This touring exhibition from London’s Foundling Museum can be seen in the ground floor gallery from 21 April to 31 May.

FOSSIL WALKS

Saturday 30 April 09:00
Sunday 1 May 09:30

OTHER WALKS

Saturday 30 April 13:00 - Mary Anning Walk
Sunday 1 May 13:30 - Mary Anning Walk

For full details of upcoming events, see What's On at the Museum.

Friday 22 April 2011

Henry Fielding in Lyme Regis

22 April marks the anniversary of the birth of Henry Fielding in 1707. Fielding's lasting fame rests on his literary output: his novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, published in 1749, was one of the first to be written in the English language. Fielding's one and only encounter with Lyme Regis, however, occurred more than twenty years earlier, in 1725. On his brief visit here, he took a strong fancy to a wealthy local heiress named Sarah Andrew... a match doomed from the start, partly because the young lady was only fifteen years old at the time, and because her uncle, Andrew Tucker, had already marked her down for his own son, John. The young Fielding and his valet made a botched attempt to abduct the girl, but were soon chased off by the Tuckers.

The following day, Fielding decided it was in his best interests to leave Lyme, but before doing so he posted the following public notice (which was rescued from the Borough archives in the 1920s, and is now on display in Lyme Regis Museum): "This is to give notice to the World that Andrew Tucker and his Son John Tucker are Clowns, and Cowards. Witness my hand Henry Feilding" ('Feilding' was the way his family had traditionally spelled their name: he subsequently amended it to its modern form, claiming he was the first of his line to be able to spell properly).

To find out more about Henry Fielding and other writers associated with Lyme Regis, see the Writers and Artists page of the main website... or better still, visit the museum!

Thursday 21 April 2011

Old documents and museum research

If you fancy the idea of working with old documents, here are a few of the museum's current research projects that you may like to try your hand at!

Deeds & Indentures: The Research Team has access to a large number of parchment documents from the 19th century relating to local farming. These are large, difficult to handle and do not lend themselves to copying. Two people usually work on these: they are read, and a précis produced for our databases. If you fancy history in the raw, come and work on these!

Legal documents: Hillman and Bond were a firm of solicitors in Broad Street, Lyme Regis from the end of the 19th century to the end of World War 2. We have been given over 30 volumes of their Copy Letter Books, which will give us an insight into the life of a solicitor and his clients during that period. The main solicitor is Harold John Ramsbotham, and we have already written a short biography partly based on these records, which will soon appear on the museum’s website.

Transcription: We have decided to transcribe information from original documents of census returns, trade directories, burial and parish records to our museum computers. This will provide databases where information can be accessed quickly. We have begun with the Borough burial records!

[Many thanks to Rikey Austin of Alice's Bear Shop, who originally produced these sketches for the recent Industrial Lyme exhibition.]

For more information (or if you would like to get involved yourself) please see Research at Lyme Regis on the main website.

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Curator’s Newsletter April 2011

From Mary Godwin, Curator of Lyme Regis Museum:

Urgent - Volunteers Needed During Fossil Festival
If you can spare a couple of hours to help with out with our Fossil Festival activities in the marquee or museum on any of the three days (29th/30th April & 1st May) please post a comment below.

Some Highlights for Spring
In addition to the Fossil Festival there are lots of interesting things coming up this spring.
Of course they’re all listed in our new quarterly events programme but I thought I’d highlight some of them here to encourage you to come along and support us.

Foundling Voices Exhibition - From 21st April we have an exhibition on tour from London’s Foundling Museum. Celebrating the link between Lyme and the Foundling Hospital which was established by the distinguished son of Lyme, Thomas Coram, the exhibition focuses on oral history recordings of former pupils. To accompany the exhibition we also have an animated film about the life of Thomas Coram by local Woodroffe school student Donna Wiscombe.

Museums at Night – On 14th May from 8pm we have a ‘Sky at Night’ event at the museum, with experts from the Norman Lockyer observatory at Sidmouth. Pray for clear skies and come along to do some stargazing.

Maritime Events – Following seven years of painstaking research, join us from 6pm on 20th May for the launch of the new book on Lyme’s maritime history by Peter Lacey. We are thrilled that Pete has generously agreed to donate the profits from the first 100 of ‘Ebb and Flow – the Story of Maritime Lyme’ that are sold towards our fundraising for the new museum lighting.

And on Sunday 22nd May, bring yourself and your friends to our ‘Celebrating the Lerret Day’, the first of a series of community events being organised by Gail McGarva as part of our Heritage Lottery Fund project. And listen out for Gail on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour in the days running up to the event!!

We also now have a new Facebook page! We need more people to ‘like’ us on Facebook so please encourage your friends to ‘like’ us as well!!

Monday 18 April 2011

Ivy Compton-Burnett in wartime Lyme Regis

The novelist Ivy Compton-Burnett (1884 –1969) lived for most of her adult life in a flat in Kensington with her friend Margaret Jourdain, an expert on antique furniture. However, during the Second World War Ivy and Margaret found life in London uncomfortable because of the constant bombing, so they came to Lyme Regis for some peace and quiet! They stayed initially at the Royal Lion hotel, and then in a series of cheaper hotels and rooms.

While living in Lyme, Ivy wrote the novel Elders and Betters and started on Manservant and Maidservant, which was finished in 1947 after they returned to London. Ivy and Margaret also produced A Conversation in Lyme Regis, which takes the form of a dialogue with Margaret asking Ivy questions about her novels:

Margaret: I should like to ask you one or two questions; partly my own and partly what several friends have asked. There is time enough and to spare in Lyme Regis, which is a town well-known to novelists. Jane Austen was here, and [Mary Russell] Mitford.

Ivy: And now we are here, though our presence does not seem to be equally felt. No notice marks our lodging. And we also differ from Jane Austen and Miss Mitford in being birds of passage, fleeing from bombs...


Eventually the war ended, and Ivy and Margaret returned to their flat in London. The photograph below shows Broad Street in Lyme Regis on VE Day (8 May 1945): the last day of the war in Europe.

To find out more about Ivy Compton-Burnett and other writers associated with Lyme Regis, see the Writers and Artists page of the main website... or better still, visit the museum!

Sunday 17 April 2011

This week's events at Lyme Regis Museum

SPECIAL EVENT

Saturday 23 April 10.00am at the Pilot Boat Inn, Lyme Regis - BOOK SALE AND COFFEE: Browse hundreds of quality second-hand books at low prices. Organised by Friends of the Museum.

TALKS

Thursday 21 April 2.30pm - THE MAKING OF THE EASTER BUNNY: Rikey Austin and Jo Farmer talk about the history of the Easter rabbit and demonstrate how to make the museum’s own Beatrix bunny. An Easter egg hunt follows.

EXHIBITION

MARY ANNING AND THE MEN OF SCIENCE. An exhibition exploring the relationship between local fossil-hunter Mary Anning (1799-1847) and the great men of science of her day. The exhibition is supported by a grant from the Royal Society and runs until 6 June.

FOSSIL WALKS

Monday 18 April 10:45
Tuesday 19 April 11:30
Wednesday 20 April 12:15
Thursday 21 April 12:45
Friday 22 April 13:30
Saturday 23 April 14:00

OTHER WALKS

Saturday 23 April 12:00 - Mary Anning Walk
Sunday 24 April 14:00 - Mary Anning Walk
Sunday 24 April 16:00 - Rockpooling

For full details of upcoming events, see What's On at the Museum.

Thursday 14 April 2011

Introduction to Museum Research

Lyme Regis Museum is lucky enough to have an active Research Team, who are involved in a number of ongoing projects as well as organizing several exhibitions a year. Most of the team’s work is now put on computer which allows for easier access of information.

The Research Team is mainly made up of volunteers from a wide range of backgrounds and past careers. While Richard Bull has been delving into the museum’s archives, Team Leader Graham Davies has been going out into the local community for the last three or four years, listening to people’s stories and borrowing documents and photos for the team to study and record. This benefits both the lender and the museum: there is an exchange of information, the museum database expands, and information is safeguarded for future generations in case the original documents are accidentally lost or destroyed.

Newspapers are an important source of historical information... yesterday’s news is history! The Research Team has access to a thirty year collection of local newspapers. Why not come and help us read them?

[Many thanks to Rikey Austin of Alice's Bear Shop, who originally produced this sketch for the recent Industrial Lyme exhibition.]

For more information (or if you would like to get involved yourself) please see Research at Lyme Regis on the main website.

Wednesday 13 April 2011

French scientist suggests Dorset fossil find may be a fake!

In the winter of 1820/21 Mary Anning, the famous Dorset fossil hunter discovered the partial skeleton of a marine reptile. Nothing like it had been seen before and it was named a plesiosaur by William Coneybeare. Two years later she discovered a more complete specimen of this incredible animal which has 35 vertebrae in its long, long neck. Controversy followed when she sent her drawings of the plesiosaur to the famous French anatomist, George Cuvier.
Some of the neck bones in the specimen were displaced and it is possible that this led Cuvier to suggest that the specimen may have been a fraud made up from the bones of several different animals. A meeting of The Geological Society was called in 1924 and this concluded that the plesiosaur specimens were genuine. Cuvier later admitted that he had been mistaken.

It is believed that Mary Anning never “improved” her specimens but the same is not true for other collectors of that era. However, that is another story.

You can read more about Mary Anning, William Coneybeare and other scientists here.

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Jane Austen, Persuasion and Lyme Regis

The picture on the left (source: Wikimedia Commons) is one of a set of illustrations drawn by C. E. Brock for a 1909 edition of Jane Austen's last novel, Persuasion (first published posthumously in 1818). This particular scene is taken from Chapter 12 (When they came to the steps, leading upwards from the beach, a gentleman, at the same moment preparing to come down, politely drew back, and stopped to give them way... ).

Chapters 11 to 14 of Persuasion are set in the Dorset seaside town of Lyme Regis (referred to in the novel simply as "Lyme"). The settings of Jane Austen's novels were not usually real places: Bath is one exception; Lyme is another. The protagonists arrive in November, and the description of the out-of-season town from the start of Chapter 11 is still recognizable to a winter visitor:

After securing accommodations, and ordering a dinner at one of the inns, the next thing to be done was unquestionably to walk directly down to the sea. They were come too late in the year for any amusement or variety which Lyme, as a public place, might offer. The rooms were shut up, the lodgers almost all gone, scarcely any family but of the residents left; and, as there is nothing to admire in the buildings themselves, the remarkable situation of the town, the principal street almost hurrying into the water, the walk to the Cobb, skirting round the pleasant little bay, which, in the season, is animated with bathing machines and company; the Cobb itself, its old wonders and new improvements, with the very beautiful line of cliffs stretching out to the east of the town, are what the stranger's eye will seek; and a very strange stranger it must be, who does not see charms in the immediate environs of Lyme, to make him wish to know it better.

No less than three screen adaptations of Persuasion have used Lyme Regis as a filming location: the 1971 BBC mini-series starring Ann Firbank, the 1995 film starring Amanda Root, and the 2007 TV adaptation starring Sally Hawkins.

For further information on Jane Austen and Lyme Regis, see the Jane Austen page of the Lyme Regis Museum website.

Monday 11 April 2011

James McNeill Whistler in Lyme Regis

The painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834 - 1903) was American by birth, but of Scottish and Irish descent, and at the age of 29 he settled in London. He was a gifted artist, equally adept in oil, watercolour, etching and lithograph -- but also a controversial one. In 1877 the critic John Ruskin gave one of Whistler's paintings such a bad review that Whistler sued him for libel. Whistler won the case, but was only awarded a farthing in damages (a farthing was the smallest coin in circulation at the time, worth a quarter of an old penny). Whistler was pleased enough... he wore the farthing on his watch chain!

Whistler visited Lyme Regis in 1895 at the age of 61, and spent the autumn at the Royal Lion Hotel. While in the town he produced a number of lithographs and two famous paintings: The Little Rose of Lyme Regis and The Master Smith of Lyme Regis, both of which are now owned by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. A copy of one of Whistler's lithographs is on display in Lyme Regis Museum.

For further information on Lyme's artistic heritage, see Writers and Artists.

Sunday 10 April 2011

This week's events at Lyme Regis Museum

TALKS

Monday 11 April 2:30pm - THE CHARTER SEAL and THE MODEL OF THE UNDERCLIFF: In the series of talks A History of Lyme in Ten Objects, Thea Hawkesworth discusses these two exhibits in the museum collection, each with a special story.

Thursday 14 April 2.30pm - BREWING AT THE MALTHOUSE: Maurice Liddiard and Jon Hosking talk about the history of the Malthouse and beer brewing there – followed by a walk to see the brewing process and a tasting.

EXHIBITION

MARY ANNING AND THE MEN OF SCIENCE. An exhibition exploring the relationship between local fossil-hunter Mary Anning (1799-1847) and the great men of science of her day. The exhibition is supported by a grant from the Royal Society and runs until 6 June.

FOSSIL WALKS

Saturday 16 April 09:00
Sunday 17 April 10:00

OTHER WALKS

Saturday 16 April 13:00 - Mary Anning Walk
Sunday 16 April 12:00 - Mary Anning Walk

For full details of upcoming events, see What's On at the Museum.

Saturday 9 April 2011

Lyme Regis - Dorset or Devon?

Lyme Regis is known as "The Pearl of Dorset" for obvious reasons but it could easily have been "The Pearl of Devon".


In the 8th century, the border between Dumnonia (Devon) and Dornsaete (Dorset) followed the Lim down to the sea but today it veers southwestwards away from the Lim as the river enters Lyme to join the coast at Devonshire Head. Why this change, without which Lyme's famous Cobb harbour would be in Devon? The answer is most probably "Salt".

Salt was a valuable commodity in the 8th century and the coast round Lyme was a source. At that time, the seaboard at Lyme was edged with salt marshes and it is believed that a salt extraction industry existed. In 774AD the West Saxon King Cynewulf granted a helmet shaped area of land on the west bank of the Lim at Lyme to the bishopric of Sherborne. Its boundary is the current county boundary so Lyme is in Dorset! This western part of Lyme became known as Lyme Abbas (Abbot's Lyme) with the eastern part known as Lyme Regis (King's Lyme).

You can read what little more we know about salt production in Lyme in our Generalities paper here.

If you would like to know more about the history of the county boundary then contact Katherine Barker of The Dorset County Boundary Survey team who provided the diagram.

Thursday 7 April 2011

Who killed the ammonite?

Some fossil ammonites show evidence that they had been fatally bitten. Lyme Regis Museum Education Officer - Chris Andrew, Geologist - Paddy Howe, Trustee - Chris Paul and Steve Donovan have investigated who the culprit might have been. Their research has shown that single pieces of shell, which extend almost symmetrically on either side and usually reach the umbilical seam on one side, are missing.

The damage lies in a position that would allow a predator to sever attachment muscles and remove the body from the shell more easily. Lack of shell chips preserved adjacent to damaged ammonites precludes scavenging or post-burial crushing as causes of the damage. Ammonites were caught in the water column, manipulated into a horizontal position and then bitten at a precise point.

The most likely predator was an active swimmer, with the capability to hold and manipulate a smooth, possibly slippery, ammonite shell. Their conclusion was that the damage is consistent with bites made by robust, parrot-like, squid jaws.

If our murder mystery interests you then you can find out more here.

Monday 4 April 2011

Fossil ink

In 2009 Tracy Chevalier published her novel Remarkable Creatures about Lyme Regis's famous fossil-hunter Mary Anning and her friendship with Elizabeth Philpot. At the Museum's 2009 Mary Anning Day, following a reading from Remarkable Creatures, Tracy signed copies of the book using genuine Jurassic ink that was almost 200 million years old! The ink, extracted from the plentiful squid fossils found in the local rocks, was recovered and prepared by Museum Geologist Paddy Howe. A sample signed book is shown below.
 [U8PCHDHY8PMS]

Sunday 3 April 2011

Fossil walk on Dorset's Jurassic Coast

The Daily Telegraph featured an article on their website last week in which Simon Hughes described an "exciting as well as educational" trip to Dorset's Jurassic Coast. His visit included a Fossil Walk with Lyme Regis Museum Geologist Paddy Howe and Education Officer Chris Andrew... who are described in the article as "weathered and a little eccentric"!

If you would like to experience a Fossil Walk with Paddy and Chris for yourself, you can find out more here.

Saturday 2 April 2011

G. K. Chesterton in Lyme Regis

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was a poet, novelist and critic, who is probably best known today for his stories about the amateur detective Father Brown. The picture on the left (a detail taken from a photograph in the museum collection) shows Chesterton sitting in the porch of the Three Cups hotel in Lyme Regis.

In the summer of 1926, while Chesterton and his wife were on a motoring holiday in the West Country, they decided to stay in Lyme Regis for a couple of days... and ended up staying for two weeks. They came back again the following summer, and again the summer after that. One of the attractions of the town for Chesterton was a local family named Nicholl, who had six young children who were greatly appreciative of his sense of humour. He invented numerous games and jokes for them... including several at the expense of the elderly Museum curator, Vitruvius Harold Wyatt Wingrave.

In true Father Brown style, some of Chesterton's games for the children involved amateur detective work. On display in the museum is a poster he produced in connection with one of these games (detail below): "Scattered Human Remains! Great Attraction! Visitors are invited to the melancholy pleasure of identifying the legs & arms and other outlying portions of the persons distributed in the last great Railway Catastrophe and of performing the following agreeable duties..." (You'll have to visit the museum to find out what these duties are!).
For further information on Lyme's literary heritage, see Writers and Artists.

This week's events at Lyme Regis Museum

TALKS

Thursday 7 April 2:30pm (Woodmead Hall) - MARY ANNING’S FAMOUS FOSSILS: Geologist Stephen Locke talks about Mary Anning’s role in the early palaeontology of Lyme Regis.

Sunday 10 April 2.30pm - KNOW YOUR FOSSILS: A talk on how fossils lived, and how to find, identify and handle them, with museum expert Chris Andrew.

EXHIBITION

MARY ANNING AND THE MEN OF SCIENCE. An exhibition exploring the relationship between local fossil-hunter Mary Anning (1799-1847) and the great men of science of her day. The exhibition is supported by a grant from the Royal Society and runs until 6 June.

FOSSIL WALKS

Monday 4 April 11:15
Tuesday 5 April 11:45
Thursday 7 April 12:30
Saturday 16 April 09:00
Sunday 17 April 10:00

OTHER WALKS

Saturday 9 April 14:45 - Rockpooling
Saturday 9 April 13:30 - Mary Anning Walk

For full details of upcoming events, see What's On at the Museum.