The Bastard Brothers Of Blandford

[AnonyJ]

'Bastard' being the gentlemen's actual surname. I haven't bothered managed to find out the reason for their name - but surmise it was a fair description of their parentage somewhere along the line, rather like the name used to describe William I of England - originally known as 'William The Bastard' (heir of Duc Robert of Normandy).

Thomas, John and William Bastard were highly involved in the reconstruction of the town after an awful fire in 1730, when over seventy people died and the town was laid waste hence the town now has some fine mid-Georgian buildings and the first piped water source was installed (a lack of water had aggravated the fire and death toll).

There is a great dual-purpose memorial and water pump site (replaced by a fountain in the later 19th C.) just by the rebuilt church in Blandford which details some of the context surrounding the famous Bastards:

"In REMEMBRANCE
God’s dreadful Visitation by FIRE
which broke out the 4th June 1731,
and in few Hours reduced, not only the
CHURCH and almost this whole Town to Ashes
wherein 74 Inhabitants perished,
but also two adjacent Villages
And
In grateful Acknowledgement of the
DIVINE MERCY,
that has since raised this Town,
like the PHAENIX from it’s Ashes
to its present beautiful and flourishing State,
And to prevent
by a timely Supply of Water
(with God’s Blessing) the fatal
Consequences of FIRE hereafter
THIS MONUMENT,
of the dire Disaster and Provision
against the like, is humbly erected;
by
JOHN BASTARD,
a considerable Sharer
in the general Calamity.
1760."

The Bastards' house in the town had a room known as The Bastards' Study used as a kind of showroom to show off their interior work. I am wondering when the surname died out - and what the family surname became!

 

[LymeswoldSnork]

I could have sworn the first F.A. Cup final was refereed by a Mr Bastard, but it was actually the 1878 rematch between the Wanderers and Royal Engineers.

 

[Eyespy]

didn't Rik Mayal have a comedy character called Alan B'stard?

Ive come across a couple of refernces to the surname Bustard or Berstard which may be corruptions of Bastard. I suppposed it alldepends who you are a Bastard of whether you wish to adopt the name.

 

[Kondoru]

Bustard would be my bird, surely?

 

[catseye]

Oh for the days of the good old telephone directory, when you could turn to your chosen name and see how many there were in your town!

 

[Erinaceus]

I was hoping the Bastard Brothers Of Blandford were a particularly venal monastic order.

 

[catseye]

I was hoping the Bastard Brothers Of Blandford were a particularly venal monastic order.

Or just a really good album title.

 

[Frideswide]

Oh for the days of the good old telephone directory, when you could turn to your chosen name and see how many there were in your town!

we did that once for my husband's unusual name. Great excitement when there were TWO instances!!!!!!!

The we remembered that BiL stayed in Cumbernauld. So rang him up and he confessed that he'd done the same when he first moved up and then realised it was us

The long winter evenings just fly by.

 

[catseye]

I


we did that once for my husband's unusual name. Great excitement when there were TWO instances!!!!!!!

The we remembered that BiL stayed in Cumbernauld. So rang him up and he confessed that he'd done the same when he first moved up and then realised it was us

The long winter evenings just fly by.

I have quite an unusual surname, and my dad always used to say that all of us with that name are related. HIS dad had fifteen siblings, so there's a fair bet.