Weymouth Town Criers, Sergeants at Mace and Bill Posters

Weymouth Town Criers

1828 - ? - John SAMPSON was earliest Town Crier I found listed at Weymouth in the Weymouth Guide and Commercial Directory by Benson of 1828, but trying to identify John is not easy or certain. In the 1841 census there is a John Sampson a draper aged 35 living with his wife Jane at Chesterfield Place, off the Esplanade. He was born to James Sampson and his wife Joan in 1806, so was this the same James Sampson who was Sergeant at Mace from 1815 - 1828, and got his son the post of Town Crier ?

James died in November 1829 aged 51 when his name also disappears from the list of Sergeants so it may be correct.

1848 - 1881 ? - Richard SHINNER was born in 1805 at Totnes in Devon, where his father Giles was a gardener. He married Mary CARTER in Anglesey, North Wales in 1827 and in the 1841 census was a steward on the wooden paddle steamer ferry HMS Dasher in Jersey harbour, but living at Oakley Place, Wyke Regis. He is noted as Weymouth Town Crier in trade directories in 1848, 1855 and 1859. In the census return in 1851 he is listed as Town Sergeant, then as Sergeant at Mace in 1861, in both the family are living at the Guildhall. In 1871 and 1881 he is still the Sergeant at Mace, but now living in St Mary Street, Weymouth. He died at Weymouth in March 1882.

1895 - 1910 ? - John ( Henry ) COOKE was Town Crier in 1895 and in the 1901 census. The census in April 1911 shows him as " Town Crier - Late " but did the late refer to an earlier occupation ? By 1921, he was 85 and listed with no occupation. He had been born in Bermondsey, Surrey in 1836 and had a varied career as musician, fishmonger and Assurance Agent, and in 1862 had married Eliza Ann TIZARD in Weymouth . Then in 1899 in Dorchester he married Frances Eliza ROE, and he died in 1923, then living at Walpole Street, Weymouth.

1911 - 1915 ? Joseph PEARCE born at Pensilva, Cornwall in 1854 son of John H. Pearce ( a copper miner ) and his wife Mary Ann TOM. Married Martha Palmer BARTLETT at Winterbourne Abbas in 1878 when a policeman - the 1911 census records them living at 2 Mulberry Terrace, Melcombe Regis - he a police pensioner and Town Crier - but he does not feature in Trade Directories and died in October 1916.

Doris EASTWOOD was appointed Town Crier in 1982 - she died in 2018.

It is not certain where Weymouth Town Crier's of old would have stood, but maybe in the area around the statue of King George 3rd on the Esplanade, or outside the Guildhall.

Weymouth Sergeants At Mace

1790 - 1793 Joseph GARLAND as Town Sergeant

1804 - 1807 Samuel MEECH and Charles STANIER

1815 - 1828 James SAMPSON and Samuel MARGERIE

1828 - 1830 William BEDLOE

1833 - 1836 William BEDLOE and Thomas AYLES

1837 William BEDLOE

1851 - 1881 Richard SHINNER

1865 Richard SHINNER and James HARRIS

1885 - 1895 Robert BRINSLEY and Robert FOWLER

1898 - 1911 Thomas STAINES

1915 Charles HANSFORD

1927 Thomas WINZAR and H TALBOT

1931 - 1939 W CAINES and C DAMAN

In 1838 an application in the Council minutes 1800 - 1899 from William AYLES for £182. 50 for loss of office as Sergeant at Mace was rejected by the Council - it is not known when he was appointed ?

Weymouth Bill Posters

1871 - William HALL born St John's Wood, London in 1825 son of William Hall. Married Emily Fowler in Surrey in 1853, but moved with the railway to Dorset so was a railway inspector at Weymouth in 1861. Was Bill Poster there in 1871 but a bookseller in 1881. Was living on own means in 1891 and 1901 and died at Weymouth in 1905.

1871 - Joseph ROLLS born at Cerne Abbas in 1807 son of Richard and Rebecca Rolls. Married Elizabeth Hansford at Portland in 1829. Worked as a plasterer but in 1871 also recorded as Bill Poster. Passed that role to his sons John and Joseph. He died at Weymouth in January 1887.

1871 - 1901 John G. ROLLS born at Weymouth in 1845 son of Joseph and Elizabeth Rolls above. Recorded on census returns as Bill Poster from 1871 to 1901, and he died at Weymouth in June 1904.

1881 - 1891 - Joseph G. ROLLS born 1842 in Weymouth son of Joseph and Elizabeth Rolls above. Is missing from the 1871 census but recorded in 1881 and 1891 as Bill Poster but then a labourer in 1901 and 1911. He died at Weymouth in December 1915.