In the 1840's, Mary Anne and Georgina rented land from local landowners to alleviate rural poverty by creating work for local people.
Using their family inheritance, the sisters were able to fulfil their vision to encourage industry and provide employment through the purchase of land at Wallisdown
The land would be used to create dwellings, farms and produce – a new self-sufficient community that would look after each other from the youngest to the eldest.
The new model village comprised six farms, 16 cottages, seven almshouses, a school and a church. Talbot Village provided homes, jobs and education; improving opportunities and helping people to live well. The local church, St Mark’s provided space to meditate, while the newly-planted woodland provided leisure and recreation.
Since their passing, the legacy of the Talbot sisters continues by charitable trust, ensuring that our work today carries forward their mission, purpose and values.
Key events in our history
Georgina Talbot is born, and Mary Anne Talbot is five years old. The Talbot sisters are daughters to Sir George Talbot, 3rd Baronet of Mickleham and Belfast.
The Inclosure Acts come into force, creating landlords and legal private property rights on previously ‘common land’. The Acts pave the way for innovations in farming, and similarly, the Industrial Revolution sees workers move into towns and cities to support new industry.
Georgina is 12 years old and Mary Anne is 17 years old when the Battle of Trafalgar ends, closing the Napoleonic Wars. Demand for corn and crops falls and pine trees are grown in Bournemouth – helping to grow Bournemouth’s role as a health resort but providing less work for the rural poor.
Queen Victoria takes the throne at the age of 18 – reigning for more than 60 years, Her Majesty presides over the country's hugely successful industrial advances in trade, engineering, and technology.
The Talbot sisters holiday at Hinton Wood in Bournemouth – rural poverty is rife, with many in poverty visiting the town's fashionable clifftop villas in search of work and livelihood. Georgina remarks: "The distress and suffering of the poor is terrible. The people used to come in crowds calling 'Give us work, give us work. We are starving!"
Sir George Talbot passes away and Georgina and Mary Anne, 57 and 62, inherit their father’s wealth. Having previously rented land in Bournemouth to provide employment in the 1840's, the sisters use their new found wealth to buy their first 300 acres of land to build Talbot Village.
A non-denominational school is opened at Talbot Village, designed by architect C.C. Creeke; the school will provide education for the village and surrounding area.
Georgina Talbot draws up 18 rules to provide housing to the elderly in the village almshouses. A year later, the Talbots begin 45 building plots to create the nearby village of Winton.
Three acres of land are set aside and consecrated for St Mark’s Church. The building is completed three years later in 1870.
Georgina Talbot passes away at age 77. She becomes the first person buried at St Mark’s Church.
Mary Anne continues the sisters’ charitable work until her passing and burial at St Mark’s Church in 1885. To create an enduring legacy and protect their ambitions to help others less fortunate, the work continues in charitable trust. Through its Executive Team and Trustees, Talbot Village Trust continues Georgina and Mary Anne’s work to the present day.
