Note 77 — THE LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS OF DORSET

William Barnes (1801-1886) was born at Rushay, in the hamlet of Bagber. He was the grandson of John Barnes, yeoman farmer, of Gillingham, and the son of John Barnes, tenant farmer, in the Vale of Blackmore. (A direct ancestor, John Barnes, was head-borough of Gillingham in 1604.) In 1835 he settled at Dorchester, and kept a school. In 1847 he was ordained, and lived at Whitcombe, Dorset. In 1862 he became Rector of Came, where he died.