On 27 September 1898, Prince Louis of Battenberg and his wife Princess Victoria visited Sherborne, where the Princess opened a bazaar held at the Digby Hotel Assembly Rooms (now The Digby) in aid of the Yeatman Hospital. The event was organised by the Rev. Robert Bamford, secretary to the Yeatman Hospital and father of three boys (Edward, Arthur and Robert Bamford) who attended Sherborne Prep School and Sherborne School.
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine was granddaughter of Queen Victoria and married to Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, who in June 1897 was appointed in command of the battleship HMS Majestic in the Channel Squadron.
On the morning of 27 September 1898, the Prince and Princess left Weymouth for Yetminster. After lunching with Rev. and Mrs Gordon Wickham at Bradford Abbas Vicarage they were escorted to Sherborne by the Sherborne Troop of the Dorset Yeomanry. At about 3 pm the Royal party entered Sherborne along Greenhill, which was decorated with evergreens and flags, and proceeded down Cheap Street and South Street to the Digby Hotel where a guard on honour was formed by the Sherborne Volunteer Company, under Major Williams, and Sherborne School’s Cadet Corps, under Captain W.B. Wildman (housemaster of Abbey House) with Lieutenant R. Crosthwaite, Lieutenant G.M. Carey and Sergeant-Major Folkes. As the Prince and Princess alighted from their carriage the Volunteer Band struck up the National Anthem and the troops gave the Royal salute. With the Abbey bells ringing merrily, the Princess was escorted by Mr J.K.D. Wingfield Digby into the Digby Hotel Assembly Rooms where she declared the bazaar open.
Amongst the many stalls set out in the Assembly Rooms was a refreshment stall on which was displayed a cake decorated by Mr Tuffin with medallions depicting the Prince and Princess, Mr J.K.D. Wingfield Digby and the Rev. Robert Bamford, and topped with the Digby crest.
While at the bazaar, the Prince and Princess attended a concert which included a recital by Mr Walter Raymond, action songs performed by the children of the National school, and a conjurer and ventriloquist.
The Prince and Princess left the Assembly Rooms at 4.15 and the Princess was escorted by Colonel Goodden through the guard of honour to a brougham. The band again played the National Anthem and the Royal party were accompanied by the Yeomanry escort along Half Moon Street, Cheap Street, and Cornhill. They then made their way to Pen Mill Station in Yeovil from where they caught the train back to Weymouth.
Unfortunately, shortly after the bazaar, the Rev. Robert Bamford died. The Western Gazette published an obituary on 11 November 1898 in which they paid tribute to the Rev. Bamford and his efforts to raise money for the Yeatman Hospital:
‘The Rev. Robert Bamford, who for the past three years acted as secretary to the Yeatman Hospital, died on Wednesday, at the early age of 44. The deceased clergyman was M.A., Cambridge, and was ordained in 1881. His health had never been robust, and about six years ago he resigned a curacy he held on account of indisposition and settled in Sherborne. From that time he took the greatest interest in the Yeatman Hospital, and about three years ago, on the resignation of General Waller, assumed the secretaryship, the duties of which he carried out with signal success. The success of the recent bazaar, which was opened by Princess Louis of Battenberg, was greatly due to his efforts, and the Hospital at the present moment stands free from debt. It was after the bazaar, the work in connection with which entailed a considerable strain on Mr Bamford, that his health gave way and he took to his bed. He was attended by Dr Whittingdale, but spinal paralysis set in, and after hovering between life and death for some days, he passed peacefully away on Wednesday morning. He leaves a widow and three children, for whom the greatest sympathy is felt. The funeral has been fixed for Saturday at the Cemetery.’
Rachel Hassall
Archivist, Sherborne School
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