Most of my 19th century ancestors lived in rural areas and worked on farms in some capacity, but those who lived in Blandford Forum in Dorset were engaged in a much wider range of businesses.
I have already mentioned that my Maitland ancestors were tailors and shoemakers [see Surprise], and this week’s post will focus on a saddler and harness maker, my great great grandfather, Matthias Dowding, who married Charlotte Maitland in Blandford on 25 November 1850. Charlotte was the daughter of my 3x great grandfather, shoemaker William Baker Maitland.
Matthias was born in Bagber, Dorset in around 1824. His father, who was also named Matthias, was married three times and had fourteen children – I am descended from his second wife, Mary Davis, who he married in Sturminster Newton in 1817. The Dowdings were originally from the village of Cucklington in Somerset, and appear to have been a relatively prosperous family as Matthias senior and his four brothers were all tenant farmers.
The first reference to Matthias junior as a saddler is in the 1841 census, when he was 17 years old and an apprentice living in the High Street, Wincanton. Also resident in the house is his apprentice master, Charles Dowding, who was Matthias’ half-brother – he was born in Stoke Trister, Dorset in 1814 and was the son of Matthias senior and his first wife, Mary White, who died in 1816, aged 27, shortly after the birth of her second child.
By 1851, my great great grandfather is a harness maker living in New Buildings, Blandford Forum with his new wife, Charlotte, and 2 month old baby daughter, Emily Ann Dowding, who would become my great grandmother. It is not clear whether he is working on his own account or for an employer, but an entry in the 1855 Post Office Directory for Blandford shows that he had set up shop as a saddler and harness maker at 33 Salisbury Street where, in 1861, he was employing 1 man and 3 boys.
This photograph shows the building in the early 20th century. The Dowding family also lived there, and by 1861 they had four more children: Frederick (1854), Frank (1856), Albert (1859) and Ellen (1861). Two further children had died in infancy: Henry (1852 – 1859) and Charles (1859 – 1859). By 1871, the family had grown again with the birth of Harry (1866) and William (1868), and a third child had died in infancy: Henrietta (1862 – 1865).
Matthias Dowding died from tuberculosis in 1880 at the age of 55, but that was not the end of the family business as in the 1881 census his son, Frank, is listed as the saddler with his younger brothers, Albert and Harry, working as his assistants. They are all living in Salisbury Street together with their widowed mother, Charlotte, sister Ellen and brother William.
By 1891, Albert had married Elizabeth Belbin and moved to Shaftesbury to become an inn keeper, but Frank and Harry continued to run the business, living with their mother until her death in 1903 at the age of 75. Harry married Marian Case later that year and the 1911 census lists him as head of household, although older brother, Frank, continues to live and work with him at 33 Salisbury Street. It is likely that the image above was taken around this time, suggesting that the proud gentleman posing outside his shop is probably Harry Dowding – perhaps the man in the shop doorway is Frank ?
By 1921, Frank has retired to Bournemouth having married Emma Highway in 1914 – he died there in 1929 aged 73.
Younger brother, Harry, died in Blandford in 1938 and, with no sons to continue it, the family business that the Dowdings had operated at 33 Salisbury Street for more than 80 years reached its end.
Sleuthing Notes 