In this family history book are many characters: William the wealthy 16th century tenant-in-chief, Christopher the miller, George the baker, Thomas the fashionable cordwainer and Porter the frightened murderer. Then there is Walter, the outspoken attorney who was accused of being a Roundhead or John and Thomas, half brothers who sailed from England to settle in 18th century America and Canada; James was a draper and school governor and Jeremiah an international London merchant. These men would have experienced very different lives but they had one thing in common Ð they were all Ridouts and most of them were from the same family who, for two and a half centuries, lived and worked in the beautiful rural Dorset town of Sherborne.