REPORTS
APRIL 2026
HANNAH MORE AND HER MENDIP SCHOOLS
by John Page
This fresh interpretation of Hannah More uses previously unavailable local sources offering a somewhat different account of her Mendip Schools.
John began by outlining Hannah More’s early life. She was born in 1745, the fourth daughter of school teacher Jacob More from Fishponds near Bristol. Her sisters were Mary, Elizabeth, Sally and Martha. The girls were educated by their father who would not let them study Latin or mathematics as he considered that women’s brains were not suited to these subjects. This was a commonly held view at the time. Hannah finished her education at the school that her sisters ran but was never adept at mathematics, however, was fluent in French. She later taught at the school but gave up when she became engaged to William Turner who repeatedly put off the wedding until Hannah broke off the engagement. More suffered greatly as a result of the wedding being called off and Turner accepted the blame for her subsequent breakdown. He paid her £200 per year for the rest of her life.
The money enabled Hannah More to live as an independent woman and allowed her to move to London where she met and mixed with people such as Dr Samuel Johnson, Joshua Reynolds, and Horace Walpole. She wrote plays, poetry and one novel, “Colebs in Search of a Wife”. In 1762 she wrote “The Search for Happiness” and in 1785 a tragedy, “Percy” where the actor David Garrick wrote the prologue.
In 1785 More bought Cowslip Green in Cheddar where she often entertained William Wilberforce a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. Wilberforce visited Cheddar and was appalled by the poverty he encountered. He offered to fund a school for the poor in Cheddar if Hannah More would run it. The Cheddar school was the first of many such schools in the Mendip area often starting out as Sunday schools but later adding a little more learning. She organised picnics for the children, started the first Women’s Friendly Societies and helped set up the first National School.
Hannah More retired to Bristol where she continued her philanthropic work until she died there in1883.
Chris Featherstone
MARCH 2026
THE BRITISH 1820 SETTLERS TO SOUTH AFRICA
by Dawn Denton
Our speaker for the March meeting was Dawn Denton who gave a well-illustrated presentation on the 1820 settlers in South Africa, about 50 of whom came from the Frome area.
Dawn began by giving examples of other important events that happened on 31st March including the opening of the Eiffel Tower and the death of Jesse Owens, who won 4 gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
National events leading up to the emigration of 4000 people to South Africa include the Peterloo massacre with riots on the streets of Manchester and the introduction of the corn laws. Following the Napoleonic wars, Britain faced economic hardship and the opportunity to go to South Africa was appealing.
British people were needed to fill the colony and the Government were expecting soldiers but they got farmers. Each male was given100 acres of land and a 3-year contract. The cost to emigrate was £10 per person or £14 for a family and £5 for each extra child. Frome people were encouraged to go by Thomas Bunn (1767–1853) a British gentleman and philanthropist, who devoted his energies to improving his native town of Frome. The journey was long and culminated in Algoa Bay for many. People were taken to their allotted land and left to fend for themselves. There was no shelter provided despite having arrived in the middle of winter and it was a struggle to survive as the seed they were given was diseased and the implements supplied were not of a good quality. Local tribes attacked them and families had to walk miles on a Sunday to worship at the nearest church. Despite these hardships many survived and there are still descendants living in Algoa Bay to this day.
Chris Featherstone
FEBRUARY 2026
A HISTORY OF IFORD’S FAMILIES & THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE LANDSCAPE
by Marianne Cartwright-Hignett
Frome Family History Group welcomed Marianne Cartwright-Hignett from Iford Manor to our February meeting. Marianne married into the Cartwright-Hignett family who have owned Iford Manor since the early 1960’s.
After introducing herself, Marianne told us of her love of history and her interest in the history of Iford Manor. Her research was so extensive that she employed two students from Oxford University to help her, resulting in her being able to tell us about the history of Iford going back to Roman times.
The first mention of a family at the Manor were the de Iford’s who arrived somewhere in the 1200’s and stayed until 1362. They were wealthy lawyers from Bath who then passed the land to the monks at Hinton Charterhouse. They were followed by the Horton family who were clothiers and ran several mills in the area. They stayed until William Horton, who styled himself as a gentleman, started to lend money and the house, by which time had become a family residence, was sold to the Hungerford’s in 1625. The following families were all clothiers until 1797 when the Gaisford family took over. The Gaisford’s planted the wisteria in 1825 which is still there today and attracts visitors from all over the world. They made substantial contributions to the gardens and finally sold to William Rooke in 1858.
The architect, Harold Peto bought Iford Manor in 1899 and stayed until 1933. He redesigned both the house and garden creating the great terrace, a summer house and repairing and improving the whole site which is now grade one listed.
Iford Manor was sold by the Peto family to Elizabeth Cartwright who married John Hignett and became Elizabeth Cartwright-Hignett. John Hignett created the Japanese garden and together with Marianne and William Cartwright-Hignett who took over in 2020, created a café, restaurant and a shop. They also run a 1000-acre estate where the emphasis is on sustainability and regeneration whenever possible.
Marianne was thanked for an excellent presentation with beautiful photographs of the gardens.
Chris Featherstone
