PURSE CAUNDLE HISTORY - CHAPTER 8: VICTORIAN PURSE CAUNDLE 1837-1901

Updated: 29th August, 4.15 p.m.

1837, 20th June, accession of Victoria as Queen.
1838 Under the 'Act for the Commutation of Tithes' passed during the year, an appropriate Map and Terrier for the parish of Purse Caundle were drawn up - with the original to be found at the Dorset History Centre.
  The Tithe Map and Terrier recorded:
Wheat at 7s 0 1/4d (approx £25 at 2007 money values) per bushel, 155.2522 acres.
Barley 3s 11 1/2d (£14) per bushel, 275.36842 acres.
Oats 2s 9d per bushel, 396.36364 acres.
  Arable land = 552 acres (38% of parish).
  Mead/Pasture = 729 acres (51%).
  Furze = 152 acres (10%).
  With Glebe (230 acres) excluded, Sir Hugh Hoare owned approximately three quarters (1,066 acres) of the parish, and Edward Huddlestone most of the remainder (375 acres).
  Sir Hugh Hoare's estate was given as 1,066a 2r 30p, £119 2s 4d (£8,340) Rent charge payable to rector - with 18th March 1840 being the date of apportionment. In July 1835 Sir Richard Hoare (died 1838) had been mentioned as being the 'Rector' - see CHAPTER 7.
  The Commutation of Tithes dated 7th November 1838 was assessed for 1,470 acres 2r 16p at £163 10s 0d (£11,448).
  There continued to be a village nucleus close to the church of some farmsteads and cottages, with three outlying farmsteads and a couple of cottages to the south-west, all located on the Lower Fullers Earth Clay, which accounted for the preponderance of pasture land over arable; plus a small group of freehold cottages to the south-east periphery.
  The Landowners and Occupiers, and their properties were shown on the Terrier as:

Sir Hugh Hoare                 Mary White                            Houses, Farms and Lands
                                         William Styles
                                         Sarah Sharp
                                         Richard Winter
                                         William White & the Parish
Edward Huddlestone         William White                        Houses, Farms and Lands
                       Esquire       Robert Williams
                                         John Abbot       

Leasehold Estates under Sir Hugh Hoare

James Young                    Himself                                  House and Garden     

Mary Ann Moores            Joseph Moores                      House, Garden & Orchard 

George Burgess                Himself                                  House and Garden

Mary Harris                      Samuel Hamlyn                     House and Garden 

Hugh Cox                         George Hamlyn                     House and Garden

William Styles                   Himself                                  Shop

     "                                  Mary Ridout                          House and Garden

     "                                  George Clark                         House and Garden

Grace Harris                     Herself                                  House and Garden

Charles Hutchins Esq        Samuel Harris and                 House, Garden, Orchards 

                                                Thomas Burgess                            and Plot of Land

Late Senior                       Sarah Burgess, Thomas         Houses and Gardens

                                          Burgess, Matthew Luffman,

                                          & James Hamlyn
William Harris                   George Burgess                    House and Garden
Sarah Pope                       Herself                                 House and Garden
Reverend Richard              Mary White, Thomas           Parsonage House, Lands,
           Messiter (Glebe)       Burgess, Job Hamlyn           Yard, Garden, Buildings,

                                            & William Styles                 and Church and Yard.

  The shop was where Honeysuckle Cottage now is - between Church Farm and the Old School House.
1840 The Sherborne Journal on 10th November reported: 'As Henry Hann, boot and shoemaker was crosing (sic) the fields from Caundle Purse to Milborne Port, he was met by two men who robbed him of a bundle containing a new pair of boots and a quantity of clean linen. After having taken the bundle, the villains struck the poor boy several times on the head and rifled his pockets of a letter and six shillings and sixpence in money. They then dragged him across a meadow and threw him into a brook of water. The lad, however, very providentially, was not much injured by the violence used but that he was enabled, after the wretches had left him to extricate himself from the water and reach Stourton Caundle.' Hann was not on the 1841 Purse Caundle census; but wherever he was from he was presumably delivering boots and shoes and collecting the money for them.
1841 On the night of Sunday, 6th June, there was a National Census which showed Purse Caundle with 183 inhabitants - 88 males and 95 females, in some 35 properties. In this early Census only the name, age, occupation, and whether born or not in the county, or whether born outside England were recorded. Ages over 15 years were usually rounded down to the nearest 5 years. To assist in locating the places of residence, the enumerator's recorded perambulation is worth showing:
'Caundle Purse. Commencing with Mr William Whites house, through the parish, to Grace Harris's returning then to the old Poor Houses, passing on to Mr White's Farm House thence to Tripps Farm & Farmer Winters, and terminating with the houses near the road towards Haydon.' Thus believed from what is now Home Farm, straight through up to Clayhanger; then from what is now Brook House (being on site of the Poor Houses) up and downalong to Tripps Farm and Rew Farm, and ending up at the two cottages in Rushton Bottom.

  As with some other villages and towns in the area, Purse Caundle had a number of women and girls engaged at home in the Glove manufacturing trade. Some of them obviously started quite early in life. By the 1830s the textile trade, then involving both sailcloth and collars, had been in some degree superseded by glove-making. The first gloving factory was established by J. Hemming in 1810 in nearby Milborne Port. A Mr. Taylor then also started a glove business there in 1816, to be followed by the Ensor family who began production in 1820. With others in 1823 and 1827. New mechanical techniques made factory glove-making even more possible in 1834. The largest factory, Thomas Ensor's in North Street, Milborne Port, processed work of over 2,000 employees from the parish and beyond. Thus this was the local centre of the glove industry, and from there the leather for the gloves was sent out for sewing. This latter was to continue in Purse Caundle throughout the century - DNHAS Vol. 59, 1937.

This is one of the old gloving factories in North Street, Milborne Port, 2001.
  Outworkers in the country later used Singer sewing-machines, patented in 1851. Knitting gloves was also a cottage industry, with even boys earning 7d a pair. What the general level of income from this was is not known: presumably piece-work. But doubtless it was preferable to having to work out on the land in all weathers. Homeworking also made it easier to look after children. But being close work, good lighting would be required - not something always available in dark cottages at that time, lit only by the likes of candles.
  The mention of 'old Poor Houses' pre-supposes that they were no longer used as such, with eligible residents now being carried away to the nearest workhouse at Sherborne. These Poor Houses seem to have been in the vicinity of the road junction just south of the church - possibly where now stand Snowdrop Cottage and Brook House.
  A study of the Purse Caundle Parish Register will show the usual occasional baptism of a "base born" child, e.g. in 1833 was that of Mark, thre bastard son of Jemima Snook, "a married woman, her husband having run away." One should naturally feel sorry for poor Repentance Penny above, who had been baptised in 1797. If as appears she was born out of wedlock, stigma enough, she had then to bear for the rest of her life the added indignity of a name expressing her mother's apparent shame and remorse for the original sin.
  Thomas 'Backer' should doubtless be 'Baker', due to mispronunciation by the respondent in the Dorset dialect. See also 1848 below.
1844 Lewis's Topography described Purse Caundle as:

'. . . a parish in the union and hundred of Sherborne . . . containing 183 inhabitants. Comprises 1470 acres 2 rods 16 perches, of which, with the exception of of about 100 acres of woodland and copse, the whole is arable, meadow, and pasture. The surface is generally level, but rises towards the south, and terminates in a long ridge; the soil is strong clay, alternated in some parts with a stone brash. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £7-8-8, and in thre gift of Sir H. R. Hoare, Bart: the tithes have been commuted for £162, and the glebe comprises 23 acres. In the chancel of the church, under a plain marble tombstone, are interred the remains of Dr. Highmore, a distinguished writer on medical and anatomical subjects.'

  On 10th October was the marriage at Stourton Caundle od Elizabeth Gosney, born in Purse Caundle, to William Coffin of Stourton Caundle.
  During these so-called 'Hungry Forties' there was a combination of poor farming and crop failures.
1845 During 1838/9 there had been some continuing controversy between John James Farquharson's Blackmoor Hunt, and that of Mr. Wingfield Digby of Sherborne Castle, believed to have been over encroachment onto respective territories. According to The Sporting Magazine in 1845, the Blackmoor Vale Hunt had kennels at Eastbury (4 miles north-east of Blandford) and at Cattistock. Although sometimes meeting nearby, the Hunt apparently did not now do so at Purse Caundle itself as previously, though whether it ever went over the ground there is not known. (See further in 1857)
1846 The Times newspaper published during June-August a series of articles reporting the low pay and wretched conditions of the Dorsetshire agricultural labourer, which seemed to have varied very littlr from village to village. Whilst the general agricultural wage was supposed to be 8 shillings a week, some employing farmers paid less than this. From this was generally deducted a weekly rent of 1s or 1s 6d; and in some cases a rent for a piece of ground on which to grow potatoes. A large family was expected to live in a small cottage with obvious insufficient sleeping accommodation, and most often it was of a derelict condition. Some employers allowed their workers an 'advantage' price for a bushel of "grist" at a shilling below the market price of the best wheat. "Grist" (or tailings) was that portion of wheat which remains after the best, which was designed for the market, had been separated from the mass. It then underwent a second separation, and the dirt and useless stuff is removed. However, when samples of this "grist" sold at 7s 6d a bushel (60s a quarter) were independently tested they were considered to be worth only 35s a bushel. Thus this so-called 'advantage' was anything but. It was noticed at Sherborne that rakes "of most formidable dimensions" were being offered for sale. It was said these were for raking the fields after the corn harvest had been carried off. Thus the poor miserable labourers were even being denied the Biblical practice of gleaning. Purse Caundle was not specifically mentioned in any respect, though its Court Baron meetings at that time often recorded a certain run-down appearance. Probably the availability of glove-making work at or from Milborne Port would have been a god-send to the labouring families of surrounding villages. (See The Greenwood Tree, August 2007. The Illustrated London News of 5th September 1846 printed illustrations of some such Dorset cottages.)
1848, 9th October there was a Court Baron.
  The Kelly's Post Office Directory of Dorsetshire, etc. entry for Caundle,Purse read:
'Letters received through Sherborne. There is in this parish a fine old mansion . . .; it is now converted into a farm house. Thomas Baker parish clerk; Isaiah Dowden farmer; John Ings farmer; James Sherring cooper; George Trent farmer; William White farmer; William Wilkins farmer.'
1851 On the night of Sunday, 30th March, Census = 177 inhabitants - 79 males, 98 females. The enumerator's records are not of the best, with parts almost illegible, or particularly with ages scored through and thus often unreadable. The accuracy of any transcription cannot be guaranteed. It is of interest to again read ther enumerator's preamble as to his journey round the village:

'Caundle Purse, commencing with Mr. William White's house, through the parish to John Abbott's, returning thence to the old Poor Houses, passing on to Mr Ing's Farm house, thence to "Tripps" and "Rew", and terminating with the cottage at "Rushton".'

  Additional details were required in this Census - relationships, marital status, actual agaes, occupations, and places of birth.

  Purse Caundle to a certain extent still seems to have been a typical village, with its several agricultural occupations. Did the children of the village receive any schooling? Only one or two are noted as being a 'Scholar'. Judging by the numerous places of birth there must have been considerable mobility of labour.
  In the Hunt & Co's Directory of Dorsetshire 1851 is shown:
'Thomas Baker  Parish Clerk
Isaiah Dowding  farmer
John Ings  farmer
Robt Minchinton  farmer
James Sherring  cooper
George Trent  farmer
Wm White  farmer
Catherine Williams  farmer
Jane Winter  farmer'
  When described by Hutchins in the mid-1800s the village was enclosed, being chiefly to pasture, plus some arable and coppice. As will be seen there was also around that time a large number of people doing home-work in the glove-making industry. There were two glove-making centres in the area throughout the 19th century - at Yeovil and Milborne Port. There was a depression in this trade in the mid-1850s, but apparently still flourishing certainly up to the 1890s.
1854 The cold summer was to affect crops.
1855 The Post Office Directory of Dorsetshire listed: 'Thos. Baker parish clerk, Anthony Bugg - farmer Tripp's Farm, Isiah Dawson - farmer, Thos. Sherring - cooper, Wm. White - farmer, Wm. Wilkins - farmer.'
1857, May. According to the General Election Poll Book for Dorset:
'Candidates: Hon. William Berkeley Portman, Mr Henry Ker Seymer, Mr Henry G. Sturt, Mr Floyer.
Henry Huddlestone  Purse Caundle House  F/holder  Voted for Portman
William White  Caundle Purse Farm  Occupier  Voted for Portman
James Hall  Caundle Purse Farm  Occupier  Voted for Portman'
  The septuagenarian J. J. Farquhason gave up mastership of the Blackmoor Vale Hunt, which was taken over by Wingfield Digby. The Portman Hunt dates from about the same time, with the 2nd Viscount Portman
being master 1858-1919. The original hunting country was divided between them.
  According to the Western Flying Post of 11th October, thr public stocks at Henstridge were put to use when a young man of Milborne Port had to sit in them for six hours, for not having paid a fine of five shillings for being drunk and disorderly. These stocks thus seem to have been the only ones still available in the area.
1858 Lieut-Colonel Henry Huddlestone died at Purse Caundle, aged 56 (Annual Register 1858, page 438). He was to be buried in the church's chapel, where the memorial slab may still be seen (2010 - see APPENDIX C1E). The Huddlestone family owned the manor house until the end of the 19th century.
1859 The Post Office Directory shows for Purse Caundle:
'Harry Ayles - farmer
Thomas Baker - parish clerk
Samuel Barter - farmer
Thomas Burgess - farmer
Thomas Gartell - cider & apple tree dealer, Bishop's Down
Robert Menchentin [presumably Minchinton] - farmer
William White - farmer
Thomas Worthy - farmer'

  J. G. Bartholomew's Gazatteer = 145 inhabitants.
1861 The night of Sunday, 7th April. Census: 185 inhabitants - 92 males, 93 females. The enumerator travelled: 'The whole of the Parish of Caundle Purse commencing at Mr Whites Farm-house, passing on to the eastern end of the Village to Alfred Gosneys, returning and continuing to Mr Minchinton's Farm house, from there to the Manor Farm, passing on to Tripps Farm, turning to the left and proceeding to Rue Farm, returning and concluding at Rushton.' The same information as in 1851 was recorded.

  In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1861, page 557, was the announcement:
'At the Manor-house, Purse Caundle, Dorset, the wife of Capt. Amyatt Brown, late 5th Lancers, a dau.'
It will be noticed that this family does not appear in this year's Census - being possibly only later temporary tenants.
1863, 22nd October, there was a Court Baron.
  During the year was the repeal of the 1566 Vermin Act (q.v.) which saw the cessation of the Parochial Church Council's responsibility for vermin control.
1865 The Postal and Commercial Directory of Dorset and Wiltshire listed for Caundle Purse:
'Harry Ayles - farmer
Thos. Baker - parish clerk
Samuel Barter - farmer
Frederic Bugg - farmer
Thos. Burgess - farmer
Robt. Menchenton - farmer
Mrs White - farmer'
1870, March. In the Dorset History Centre is a solicitor's and user's correspondence relating to the hard surface road going southwards from Purse Caundle, which had been used by waggons and carriages for some 45 years or so. It had been repaired by Purse Caundle parish up to the gate in Cockhills cow leaze; and therefrom it was a 'halter path' to Stourton Caundle. Sherborne Highways Department were now working on widening the road, thereby turning it into a bridle and footpath by throwing soil from either side onto the road, making it impossible to continue to be used for waggons, etc. (DHC ref: D/FFO/27/43)
1871 On the night of Sunday, 2nd April, a Census = 176 persons (84 males, 92 females - 40 inhabited houses). The enumerator's perambulation oof 'The whole of the Parish of Caundle Purse. Commencing at Mr Surtees Manor House passing on to the Western end of the Village returning and continuing to Court Farm from thence to the Manor farm passing on to Tripps Farm, turning left and proceeding to Rue farm returning and concluding with the Cottage at Rushton.' The same personal details were recorded as in the previous two Censuses.

  The Mercer and Crocker's Directory for Hampshire, Dorset, etc. listed for Purse Caundle:
'Harry Ayles - Farmer
Thos. Baker - parish clerk
Saml. Barter - farmer
Frederick Bugg - farmer
Thos. Strange - shoe maker
Nathaniel Surtees Esq. - Manor House'
1877, 12th January. The Times announced the death on the 9th at Weymouth of Fanny, the wife of Nathanial Surtees Esq. of Purse Caundle, only child of the late Thomas Hodwell, Esq. of Gloucester-place, Portman-square, London.
1880 Kelly's Directory of Dorsetshire listed for Purse Caundle:
'Register dates from 1731. Rev. Messiter resides at Caundle Marsh. Soil is limestone and clay; subsoil clay and gravel. Crops:- wheat, barley and mangold wurzel. Parish Clerk - George Clark, Nathaniel Surtees - manor house, Samuel Barter - farmer, Frederick Bugg - farmer, Henry Harris - farmer, (Mrs.) Mary Luffman - beer retailer, Wm. Read - shopkeeper, Thos. Strange - boot maker.'
1881 On thr night of Sunday, 3rd April, Census =  194 inhabitants (94 males, 100 females):

1883 The church underwent a restoration, including rebuilding of the nave. In the Western Gazette of 15th April 1983, in its '100 Years Ago' column was the following:
'PURSE CAUNDLE On Wednesday and Thursday, 4th and 5th April, a bazaar was held in the town hall, Sherborne, in aid of the restoration of Purse Caundle Church. The church is an ancient and picturesque edifice and has gradually, by natural process of decay, been getting into its present delapidated condition, until it has become almost impossible to worship in it with comfort. An estimate was therefore lately procured from Mr Wilcox, architect of Bath, for the proposed work which is to include an entire new roof. Slight repairs to the tower, and the raising of the church floor. The amount of the estimate was about £530 (£38,255) and towards this amount the bazaar contributed £160 (£11,548). The audience on each day was most satisfactory. At intervals popular selections of music were performed by Mrs Lyon, Miss C. Messiter and Miss Thompson. £130 (£(,383) is still required.' Miss Messiter was presumably a relative of the rector of Purse Caundle. The final cost was said to have been £600 according to the 1885 Kelly's Directory - see below.
1884 Gladstone's second Liberal government in the third Reform Act gave farm labourers the vote.
1885 Kelly's Directory for Dorsetshire listed for Purse Caundle:
'Parish Clerk - George Clark. Rural postman passes through at 9 a.m. School Board of 5 members formed in 1876: Henry Harris, clerk to the Board and attendance officer. Board School built in 1879 at a cost of £420, for 39 children; average attendance - 36. Mrs C. M. Nobbs, mistress. Henry H. Huddlestone - manor house, Samuel Barter - farmer, Albert Jehu Brown - Tripps Farm, Frederick Bugg - farmer, John Notley Bugg - farmer, Wm. Gulliver - beer retailer, Henry Lemon - haulier, Raymond Leet - farm bailiff to Sir Hy. A. Hoare Bt., manor farm, Wm. Read - shopkeeper.'
1886, 19th May. The Times reported Petitions against legislative separation between Great Britain and Ireland were presented in the House of Lords by the Earl of Kintore, from Milborne Port, Stalbridge, Purse Caundle, etc., and similarly with other Lords from around the country.
  Kelly's Directory 1886 gave the following details:
'Parish Clerk - George Clark
Nathaniel Surtees, manor house
Samuel Barter, farmer
Frederick Bugg, farmer
Henry Harris, farmer
Mrs Mary Luffman, beer retailer
Wm Read, shopkeeper
Thomas Strange, boot maker'
1887 During this hunting season the Hunt met once at Purse Caundle manor house, on Wednesday 16th February (The Times 12th February), and once at Tripp's Farm.
1889 In Kelly's Directory for Dorsetshire 1889 was the following:
'The church has sittings for 130. The register dates from the year 1731. The living is a discharged rectory, yearly value £160, in the gift of Sir Henry A. Hoare bart. and held since 1885 by the Rev. Charles Lemon. The Manor House now the property of Henry H. Huddlestone esq. J.P. who resides there. Sir Henry A. Hoare bart. is lord of the manor and chief landowner. The soil is limestone and clay; subsoil, clay and gravel. The crops are wheat, barley and mangold wurzel. Rateable value £1,059.
Parish Clerk, George Clark.
Letters are collected by the rural postman, who passes through at 9 a.m. Letters through Sherborne arrive at 8.45 a.m. The nearest money order & telegraph office at at Milborne Port. A School Board of five members was formed July 12, 1876; Edward Wallis Lemon, clerk to the board & attendance officer.
Board School (mixed), built in 1879 at a cost of £420, for 39 children; average attendance 30; Mrs Selina S. Humphreys, mistress.
Henry Huddlestone Huddlestone J.P., Manor house
Rev. Charles Lemon [rector], Rectory
Samuel Barter, farmer
Albert Jehu Brown, farmer, Tripps farm
Walter Brown, farm bailiff to Mr Josiah Fish
John Notley Bugg, farmer
William Gulliver, beer retailer
Henry Lemon, haulier
Raymond Lees, farmer, Manor farm
Mrs Clara Matthews, shopkeeper'
1890, 9th May, being Stalbridge Fair, schoolchildren were given a day's holiday.
  Thursday, 17th July, was the auction by the Huddlestone family at the Digby Hotel, Sherborne, of the Purse Caundle manor house and its estate Woods and Plantations, 'Purse Caundle' Farm (now Home Farm), Gospel Ash Farm, and other estate lands, with an overall total of some 502 acres. According to the full details described in the Sale catalogue, the majority of the lands were currently let to Mr. Thomas Ryall. Then in the Southern Times of Saturday, 26th July 1890, 'The auctioneer was accompanied by a fairly numerous gathering, but the highest bid forthcoming [for the manor house, two farms, and majority of the land] was £12,000 [£946,582], so that as the vendor's reserve was £15,000 [£1,183,228] the lot was withdrawn at that figure, and as a consequence of no sale being effected the three minor lots were not put up.'
  1st August, with the circus visiting Stalbridge, schoolchildren were given a half-day holiday.
  8th November, The Times advertised Purse Caundle manor house being for auction.
1891, on the night of Sunday, 5th April, a Census, showing 160 inhabitants - 78 males, 82 females. The Enumerator recorded his perambulation as the: 'Whole of the parish of Caundle Purse commencing at the Two new cottages on the Milborne Port Road [Raghill] on to Mr Pulam Farm house passing on to the Eastern end of the village, returning on continuing on to Mr Buggs, from thence on to the Manor Farm, passing on to Mr Brownd farm turning to the left and proceeding to Rue Farm returning and concluding with the Cottages at Rushton.'

  Several women (and young girls) are continuing in the glove industry, but this time some are shown as glove machinists. Did this mean they went to work at the Milborn Port factories, or were the machines suitable to be used at home? Many inhabitants are perhaps surprisingly shown as single, as well as a fair number of widowers and widows. There were some scholars, though the school's numbers were probably boosted with pupils from just outside of the parish.
1895 In SDNQ IV there is the description: 'Purse Caundle is a small decayed village in Dorsetshire with a population of about 130.'
  During the year was published a Royal Commission Report on Agriculture in Dorset. Amongst the many Tables was the following concerning 'Caundle mPurse', based on Cebsuses:
'     1871                            1881          1891
Inhabited Houses 40             39             34
Families or
Separate Occupiers 43         39             37
Population 176                    194           160'
  As an example of beliefs still held at the end of the 19th century in the Dorset rural countryside, there was a 'cunning man' of Stalbridge, who had a considerable  reputation as a healer of those made sick through being 'overlooked' by a witch or whoever. He ripped the legs from living toads, placed the legs in a bag to be worn around rhe neck of the victim, and pronounced that the evil as remedied. (Touchyng Witchcraft and Sorcerye, Dorset Record Society 1985)
1896 Saturday, 19th September saw the marriage of Mary Jane Hamblin, aged 27, an Assistant Mistress at Purse Caundle school, and Henry John Lane, 21, a policeman from Shapwick, near Wimborne. The schoolchildren presented the bride with three publications by The Religious Tract Society: LIFE'S MORNING: or Counsels and Encouragements for Youthful Christians; LIFE'S NOONTIDE: . . .; and Life's Evening or THOUGHTS FOR THE AGED, each having a handwritten inscription: "Mary Hamblin on her wedding day Sept: 19: 1896. Presented by the children of the Day Schools, Purse Caundle." (See illustrations)

  Purse Caundle church's chapel was restored during the year, presumably at the expense of the manor house's owner - Colonel Huddlestone. The chancel and tower were restored at a cost of £150.
1898 The Times of 10th March reported on the fourteenth show of the Hunters' Improvement Society at Islington, London. Amongst the prizewinners was Mr Guy Henshaw of Purse Caundle, in Class IV for three-year-old colts or geldings (31 entries), who received a premum of £10 for his brown gelding Goldfinder, by Strathmore.
1899, 5th June. The Times reported that at the Horse\Show at the Crystal Palace, London, in the Hunters' Competitions, in Class VI for four-year-olds, up to 14 stone, 3rd prize of £3 went to Mr Guy Henshaw of Purse Caundle, with his brown gelding Knight Errant. In the Officers' Chargers Competition, Class XXIX for Officers' Chargers, suitable for heavy cavalry, 1st prize of £10 went to Mr Guy Henshaw of Purse Caundle, for his 4-year old brown gelding Knight Errant, by Knight of the Vale.
  During the year, 9-year old Gertrude E. Holloway completed a Sampler whilst in Standard III at Purse Caundle School - see illustration.

1900, 27th March. A Purse Caundle Parish Meeting was held at the Schoolroom: 'Mr Barter proposing, Mrs Vincent seconding, Mr Vercoe and Mr Dodd were elected overseers for the ensuing year. Mr Holloway proposing, Mrs Vincent seconding, Mr L. Learmouth was elected Chairman.'
  1st September, a Parish Meeting was held to discuss the water supply of the Parish.
  During the year Mr Merthyr Guest buys the manor house from Colonel Huddlestone.
1901, 22nd January. Queen Victoria died, having reigned since 1837. Accession of George V as king.