Frogg Moody

The United Reformed Church in Fisherton Street will host Salisbury History Festival events on August 28 and 29. The programme includes a Studio Theatre drama-documentary about the 1906 Salisbury Railway Station Disaster, in which 28 people died, followed by talks on UK murder law, the history of the Assizes, and a murder at Fisherton Asylum. Tickets are available from local bookshops, with further information from the Fisherton History Society.

Salisbury History Festival will run from August 24 to 30, with events centred on Salisbury Cathedral Close and the city’s heritage. Highlights include a guided architectural and character walk, a Salisbury Museum tour exploring crime and punishment with object handling, and Tom Bromley’s literary tour featuring sites and readings linked to Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens and William Golding. Tickets and further information are available through the Salisbury Museum and Fisherton History Society websites.

Frank Herbert Wort, born in Salisbury in 1878, served on Salisbury City Council for 41 years, becoming mayor in 1922–23, a senior alderman and an honorary Freeman of the city. He attended hundreds of council and committee meetings and was known as the “Father of the Council.” He was also a senior director of Wort & Way, a major South-West construction company involved in sewers, roads, housing and military sites, and helped manage the family’s farming interests. Wort died in 1960 aged 81, and historian Neil Leacy is scheduled to discuss his life at the Salisbury History Festival.

Salisbury had a significant role in Georgian and Regency theatre despite a 1706 ban on dramatic performances. By the mid-eighteenth century, the city hosted regular touring companies and had established playhouses, eventually becoming an important stop on the provincial theatrical circuit. The Salisbury Comedians performed first at the Vine Playhouse and later at the Theatre in New Street, while notable actors including Dora Jordan, Ira Aldridge and William Macready appeared in the city. Chris Abbott’s book, The Salisbury Comedians – Georgian and Regency Theatre in a Provincial City, documents this largely forgotten era through playbills, newspapers, diaries and performance listings from 1744 to 1858.