The Story of Dorset's Dairies

To those readers who hope for a definitive history of this family milk business, I apologise. I was bom into it and took it for granted during my early years and, as I try to delve into my memories, I find only a jumble of events which affected me personally. I have sought help from my remaining aunt (Mary Galpin, nee Hann) and from the lady who was head of the Dairy Office for over 40 years. Miss Cissy Randall. Together, we shall try to put the facts into some kind of order.
The first James Hann, my grandfather, left home in Nether Compton, Dorset, as a young man, to seek his fortune in London. He looked after the stables for the original James Greig, the wellknown family grocery firm. It was said that one night grandfather found the body of one of Jack the Ripper’s victims on the doorstep of the stables. When the railway came to Eastleigh, he moved down too. That was in 1903 and he established a tiny milk business based at 76 Market Street. (Later this became Mr. Morris’s sweet shop where we could buy halfpenny ice-creams, made with real cream supplied by my father.) There were two children, Harry, a bit of a tear-away (he was away fighting in the 1914-18 war) and Mary, who worked in the business until she married another milkman and moved away. In 1916, James Hann had the pportunity to move a few doors up the street, to No.68, owned then by Mr. Groves, and where the premises at the back gave better scope for expansion and where there was stabling for at least three horses. From there, grandfather would set out twice daily, helped by his daughter Mary, starting the first round at 5.30. a.m. each morning,with a huge copper chum in a smartly painted cart. Through good, efficient service, the customer numbers began to grow, although there were many other small dairymen at the time and competition was extremely keen.