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DORSET TRADING STANDARDS years during training on HMS Ganges) and covered all aspects of practical and
theoretical seamanship.

Dorset Council Trading Standards Service check and approve Reginald passed out of Britannia in 1896 as a Midshipman and was promoted to
Lieutenant in 1906. It was clear, early in his naval career, that the young
businesses so you don’t have to.
Lieutenant Plunkett, was destined for the higher ranks of the Royal Navy. His Times
For more information visit www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk or obituary said he ‘was a man of brilliant and original brain’ who many of his fellow
call 08454 040506.
officers felt should have succeeded to First Sea Lord when that position became
To report or seek advice about problems you have vacant in 1939. At his own request, he was sent on the Army Staff course at
experienced when dealing with a trader call 08454 040506. Camberley, a highly unusual request, in order to study introducing staff training
into the Royal Navy – something unheard of at the time. He published privately a
book on naval tactics, an action somewhat frowned upon by some of his die-
Two sides to a COVID hair cut hard senior officers, it coming from a relatively junior officer. Nonetheless,
Reginald was the first of 12 officers to be selected to attend training for the new
Hair has become quite an emotional issue during lockdown. Feeling good about Admiralty War Staff when it was set up by Winston Churchill in 1912.
how we look helps us to feel good about ourselves, good wellbeing helps us to
get through these tougher times. He was promoted to Commander during the course and was appointed to the
prestigious post of the War Staff Officer (Operations Officer) to Admiral Sir David
Businesses have been Beatty in 1 Cruiser Squadron on HMS Lion, Beatty’s flagship. Reginald served on
st

reopening from lockdown in HMS Lion at the battles of Helgoland Bight, August 1914, and Dogger Bank,
a staged approach, with January 1915. In May 1915, HMS Lion took a significant role in the Battle of Jutland
Trading Standards oversight, as Admiral Beattie’s flagship of the 1 Battle Cruiser Squadron.
st
as we all work together to
restart our economy safely Admiral Beattie made specific mention in his despatch of Commander Plunkett’s
while Government gradually role during the battle: ‘My Flag Commander, the Hon.Reginald A R Plunkett, was
amend business closure rules. most valuable in observing the effect of our fire, thereby enabling me to take
At the time of writing this advantage of the enemy’s discomforture.’ Plunkett received the Distinguished
Dorset hairdressers and Service Order (DSO) for his services with Beattie.
barbers, closed since the Reginald’s mother, Lady Dunsany, died in early 1916 and the Charborough Park
start of lockdown are estate, which included most of the tenanted properties in Bere Regis, as well as his
reopening. mother’s extensive estates in Dorset, Wiltshire, Kent, Surrey, Yorkshire and the sugar
M a n y p e o p l e h a v e plantations in the West Indies, passed to him. A condition of the inheritance was
embraced DIY hairdressing, that he was to adopt his
attempting at-home trims mother’s surnames of Ernle-
and dye jobs, or growing out a more natural look, but generally we can't wait to Erle- Drax. Thus, his new
get back into the salon and into the hands of a professional hairstylist. quadruple-barrelled surname
of Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax
While thinking about our own hair you may not have given much thought to together with his forenames,
Dorset sheep, but our Trading Standards Animal Health Officers have. This is earned him, amongst his
because COVID-19 has resulted in a lack of migrant workers coming into the UK naval colleagues, the
and when it comes to sheep shearers, that has had quite an impact on farmers. nickname of ‘Admiral
Acronym’. He was married
Shearers normally arrive in the UK from Australia and New Zealand from spring on 15 April 1916 to Kathleen
onwards but have been unable to get here this spring. UK based shearers are Chalmers in Edinburgh and
working hard to get around to all the sheep as soon as possible, which has been lived at Charborough Park.
especially important with the hot weather we have had, as shearing sheep helps
prevents welfare issues from developing.

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