The Alphington Ponies
Photo by kind permission of Bearne's (Exeter).
Two of the Durnford sisters
By Rowena Jay
During the 1840s visitors to Torquay noticed two young ladies of a very unique appearance. They were the two Misses Durnford sisters. They lived, with their mother, at Lavender Cottage in Avenue Road. They did not have a servant so the three of them did all the housework.
At about 3 p.m. the sisters took a daily walk and bad weather was the only thing that stopped them going out. They mainly walked along the Strand and Victoria Parade but, at times, they were also seen in other parts of the town. They were very good walkers, keeping perfectly in step, they were always arm in arm and spoke only to each other.
When they were young they were pretty girls but now they were so heavily made-up that they took on the appearance of painted dolls. Their dress was most peculiar and the style varied only in tone and colour; their shoes were generally green but sometimes red. Their brown curly hair was fastened with blue ribbon and they wore straw or felt hats, which were usually tall in the crown with the sides curled up. Around their throats they had broad frilled or lace collars that fell down over their back and breasts for quite some way. In the summer they kept their necks bare except for numerous chains of coral or bead. Their gowns were so short and they showed so much of their ankles that certain heavily frilled cotton under garments could be seen. In the Winter they wore checked jackets in a "loud" pattern that reached their knees. These jackets had lace cuffs and were of a different colour to that of their gowns. The only things that they wore in place of the jackets were gay-coloured shawls that crossed over their fronts and tied behind at their waists. They were never without their sunshades either in Summer or Winter. The sisters dressed exactly the same and looked so much alike that it was thought that they were twins.
The visitors to Torquay looked upon them with some contempt because they were not in society and did not wear fashionable clothes. Some of the residents felt sorry for them because they were solitary.
They were the daughters of Colonel Durnford, though the mother came from an inferior social rank and they had all lived in Alphington. They had a brother in the Army, 10th Regiment; he was so annoyed at the way they dressed that he offered to increase their allowance if they changed. They refused to do this.
When they first arrived in Torquay they drove a pair of pretty ponies that they had brought with them from Alphington. Because their allowance was reduced they had to sell the ponies and carriage; the name "Alphington Ponies" transferred from the animals to the two young ladies.
Read more about the Alphington Ponies.