Wish I Knew...

A Memory of Lulworth Camp.

Hello,

Sadly, as a Yank, I have no memory of West Lulworth but I'd love to learn more from those who do and/or those who can refer me to the old, buried secrets about the Smugglers vs. the Revenuers and Coast Guard back in the 1830s and 40s, in the Weymouth District, particularly in West Lulworth, Preston and Melcombe Regis.

It is only from newspapers and birth announcements, that I can confirm that my ancestor, Captain John Robert Woodriff, RN (then a Lt.) served as Chief Officer attached to the Weymouth District of the Coast Guards from 1836 to 1848.

Presumably after the death of his first wife and being appointed to the Coast Guard, he left his former home in Ware Giffard in Devon to marry his second wife, Jessie Brownsmith Bradley in Kimmeridge, where his brother-in-law, Lt. John Carr, served (and resided in a Coast Guard Cottage which his English descendants have since identified and visited.)

After their marriage, John Robert and Jessie Woodriff removed to West Lulworth where their first child, Jessie Sumarel Woodriff, was born in January 1838. Jessie was followed by 10 more siblings but the family had relocated to Preston, where several more were born and grew up. Sadly, none left a record behind to inform us of their lives!

If anyone reading this knows where I can find primary sources like diaries, paintings, church registers, government records, toys, advertisements, samplers, newspapers, etc. going back to the late 1830s in Lulworth, Dorset and Weymouth, I would be most grateful to learn of them and arrange a visit to see and study them.

I am most interested in the day-to-day lives of women and children in that place in time and of the Coast Guards themselves, their duties and the dangers, if any, they may have endured.

In case it helps, I will add also that the local Anglican clergyman, The Reverend Octavius Piers, who served in Preston for many years, was a dear and respected friend of the Woodriffs, who honored him twice by giving two of their sons his name, one being my ancestor, John Richmond Piers Woodriff, who was born in Preston in 1850 and brought the name to the US where there are still Woodriffs who carry the name Piers.

To anyone who can help, I thank you in advance and for reading this.

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