A literary legacy and the Misses Baden

The re-imagined story …

Everyone with the name Jefferies wanted to tell us their memories of the man, even those who were unrelated and had never met him. The Swindon Advertiser had already published a fulsome obituary notice on the local writer Richard Jefferies but Mr Morris wanted me to come up with something more, something from a different perspective.

I did a bit of research and discovered that Mrs Jefferies sisters lived in town, so I made an appointment to visit them.

Mrs Jefferies came from a large farming family. Her father had married twice and produced some fourteen children. Mrs Jefferies was the eldest of the second family. The sisters who lived at 20 Sheppard Street hailed from the first family and were considerably older than the recently widowed Jessie Jefferies.

Jessie Jefferies nee Baden — Mrs Jefferies, the former Jessie Baden

I was greeted at the front door of the red brick villa by Miss Blanche Baden who introduced herself as niece and companion to the Misses Baden. The two sisters were waiting for me in the parlour.

The ladies were dressed in the old country fashion and were frail and elderly. Miss Mary, the younger of the two, spoke for her sister Miss Emma, explaining that she had been deaf and dumb since birth.

Looking out across the road to the looming railway factory, Miss Mary talked about a childhood spent at Day House Farm and their near neighbours, the Jefferies family who lived on the farm at Coate.

In pride of place on the bookcase was a set of Jefferies books. I was invited to select a volume, each one a first edition, inscribed by their famous brother-in-law.

I wrote what I thought was an interesting piece about the Misses Baden and their literary legacy, but Mr Morris didn’t like it. I had missed the point of the exercise, I was told. He’d wanted more insight into Jefferies ambition, the political motivation of the man and what had driven him, not a non-story about two old ladies who had done nothing of note.

It was then that I decided the Swindon Advertiser was not the vehicle for my work and that I would devote my life to writing about the lives of women who had supposedly done little of note.

The facts …

Death of a Distinguished Wiltshire Man

A large circle of readers will be sorry to hear that Mr Richard Jefferies died at Goring on Sunday morning. He will be known to all classes of readers as the author of a charming series of books and fugitive articles on rural life and kindred subjects, that were as interesting to dwellers in town as to those in the country. He united to a singularly close insight into the natural workings of animal and vegetable life a power of description almost unrivalled. His books and articles were redolent of the air of the country, and dealt with nature in so picturesque and graphic a style that the dweller in a city might almost fancy himself in the midst of the scenes described. These scenes were mostly taken from his native county of Wiltshire. The son of a farmer, he soon fell to writing on his favourite subjects in local journals. He soon, however, went to London, where he at once made himself a name as a writer of books and contributor of essays to magazines and periodical literature. Many will remember the delightful freshness of “The Gamekeeper at Home,” which introduced him to the London public about ten years ago. This was followed at short intervals by “Wild Life in a Southern County,” “Round about a Great Estate,” “Hodge and his Masters,” “Nature near London,” “The Life of the Fields,” “Red Deer,” and “The Open Air,” the last of which was published two years ago. Mr Jefferies also wrote a number of works of fiction, which are certainly not so well known – and perhaps deservedly so – as his pictures on country scenes. Thus between 1874 and the present year he published “The Scarlet Shawl,” “Restless Human Hearts,” “World’s End,” “Greene Fern Farm,” “Wood Magic,” “Bevis, the story of a Boy,” “The Dewy Morn,” “After London, or Wild England,” and “Amaryllis at the Fair,” the last in the present year. Also he wrote in 1883 a work of great interest entitled “The Story of my Heart, an Autobiography.”

Extract from The Swindon Advertiser, Saturday, August 20, 1887.

Emma Jane Baden baptised June 8, 1819 at Chiseldon born September 11, 1818 daughter of Andrew and Jane Baden, Badbury, Yeoman.

Mary Hannah Baden baptised February 2, 1830 at Chiseldon born April 3, 1826 daughter of Andrew and Emma Jane Baden, Chiseldon, Farmer.

1891 census returns

20 Sheppard Street, New Swindon

Mary H. Baden Head Single 63 Living on own means born Chiseldon (Lame from Rheumatism)

Thomas J. Baden brother Married 56 Engine Fitter born Chiseldon

Emma J. Baden sister Single 73 Living on own means born Chiseldon

John A. Baden brother Single 28 Railway Clerk born Chiseldon

Blanche Baden niece Single 24 Companion born Shalbourne

Alice Jane niece Single 22 Nurse born Shalbourne

Baden Emma Jane 76 years 20 Sheppard Street (burial) 24 March 1894 plot E7206

Baden Mary Hannah 79 years 15 Avenue Road (burial) 27 November 1907 plot E7206

Radnor Street Cemetery Burial Registers

Coming next …

34 Faringdon Road – I quite like what they’ve done to the place, especially the wallpaper in the front parlour. I could never have afforded that when we lived there.

published on Radnor Street Cemetery blog Thursday April 4, 2019.

Miss Blount’s tea party

The re-imagined story …

I really didn’t want to visit Miss Blount. I liked her well enough; she was a kind, patient teacher, but she was dying. We all knew it. She had been ill for a long time and this would probably be the last time anyone other than her family would be invited to visit.

As the senior pupil teacher I was selected to deliver the presents the children had produced. The infants had drawn pictures while the older children had written diary entries telling her what was happening at school. The girls in Standard IV had baked a Victoria Sandwich cake, named after the Queen who was known to have a sweet tooth. My contribution was a bunch of dahlias grown in my dad’s greenhouse.

The Blount family lived at 14 Park Lane. I expected the house to be shrouded and shuttered, the family sombre and in premature mourning, but it wasn’t like that at all. Miss Blount was sitting in the sheltered back garden where her mother served the tea. The flowers were placed in a cut glass vase and set upon the garden table while both ladies exclaimed over the lightness of the sponge cake. The younger children’s pictures caused much delight and the diary entries were pored over with great interest.

Our little tea party was so relaxed and jolly that I began to think perhaps the reports of Miss Blount’s ill health had been exaggerated. Then suddenly she was overcome by a paroxysm of coughing, and her mother rushed to her side. When eventually the attack subsided I noticed the handkerchief she held to her mouth was spotted with blood. She looked exhausted and Mrs Blount thanked me for calling, which I took to be my cue to leave.

Miss Blount was very pretty and so young, just 27, but of course as a 14 year old school girl I didn’t truly appreciate the sorrow.

There’s a beautiful monument on her grave, a floating angel, delivering her soul to heaven. When I visit my parents’ grave I take some flowers for Miss Blount. She told me she thought the dahlias were a cheerful flower, that day of the tea party.

The facts …

Eleanor Marian Blount was born in Hereford, the eldest of William and Ann Blount’s eight children, but she was not the first to die.

William married Ann Lane on August 6, 1866 at St Peter’s, Hereford. They moved to Swindon in about 1868 where William started work as a Moulder in the railway factory. Their first home was in Havelock Street in 1869 before they moved to 43 Cheltenham Street. Their third child, Mary Emma Blount was born in Cheltenham Street but died at 8 months old. She was buried on August 22, 1871 in the churchyard at St Mark’s. In 1881 the family was living at 22 Cheltenham Street and by 1891 they were living at 14 Park Lane.

Three of their children went on to become teachers, Eleanor, Lily and Edgar. William John Lane Blount turned up in the US sometime around 1888-91. George followed his father in the Works as a Brass Finisher, but later he also emigrated to the US. Alexander (Henry) Blount worked as a mechanical engineer in the railway factory. Youngest son Frederick Walter, also worked in the railway factory as a fitter.

William died on April 27, 1913 aged 69. Ann survived him by more than twenty years. She died in 1934 aged 87. They were buried with their daughter Eleanor in a large double plot E8158/8159.

Blount Feb 9, at 14 Park Lane, New Swindon Eleanor (Nell), the dearly loved eldest daughter of William Blount aged 27 years.

Swindon Advertiser Saturday February 23, 1895.

William Blount of 14 Park Lane Swindon Wiltshire died 27 April 1913 Probate London 13 August to Ann Blount widow and Edgar Blount Schoolmaster Effects £611 8s.

Park Lane, Swindon

Coming next …

A Literary Legacy and the Misses Baden – Everyone with the name Jefferies wanted to tell us their memories of the man, even those who were unrelated and had never met him. The Swindon Advertiser had already published a fulsome obituary notice on the local writer Richard Jefferies but Mr Morris wanted me to come up with something more, something from a different perspective.

published on the Radnor Street Cemetery blog Thursday March 28, 2019.

Granddad’s Museum

The re-imagined story …

As children my brother and I thought our granddad lived in a museum. His house was packed full of stuff; ornaments on every surface, even affixed to the walls, paintings, prints and photographs and books, so many books.

Inside the house we had to manoeuvre our way around, careful not to knock anything over, but fortunately for us there was a long back garden where we played, whatever the weather. We were even allowed inside the shed if it was lashing down with rain.

The shed was a microcosm of the house, but without the china. There were racks and racks of old fashioned tools but no one seemed to worry that we might sever a limb or drive nails into each others eyes.

One day we found a wooden model train in a box under the workbench. I remember how we stared at one another apprehensively. It looked like a toy, but could we play with it or was it another museum piece? We just didn’t know. We decided we would play with it, only very carefully, and if it got broken we would say it was like that when we found it.

It was actually pretty robust. Not big enough to sit on, although we tried that, but sturdy. The wheels turned and the bell on the front moved, but that was about it really. We sat our Action Men in the cab and created war time scenarios, but there wasn’t a lot you could do with it really.

Clearing granddad’s house after he died was a nightmare. Our poor parents spent weeks and weeks at the job. Everything had to be valued for probate before the bequests in his will could be fulfilled. There were quite a few valuable items, especially among the books. Sadly everything reeked of cigarette smoke and mum didn’t want any of it in her house.

I would have liked longer to go through it all, but there just wasn’t the time and I couldn’t store anything in my small, one bed flat.

The shed was one of the last things we tackled and this yielded some of the biggest surprises. The tools my brother and I had looked upon as instruments of torture turned out to be real museum pieces, some of them dating back to the 18th century and engraved with the initials RGL.

When I saw the train for the first time in years I realised it was a model of the famous King George V loco made in the Swindon Works in 1927. Perhaps the owner of the tools, or one of his descendants had made the model. Sadly there was no way of finding out who. The Carriage and Wagon Works employed hundreds of skilled carpenters and throughout its history Swindon had numbered countless building firms, large and small.

As we bagged and boxed and dumped so much of granddad’s treasure I wondered how he had come by it all, especially those tools. And who had made the model of the King George V loco, which now sits on the coffee table in my lounge.

The facts …

This memorial was recently revealed during a major bramble clearance exercise in Radnor Street Cemetery by Swindon Borough Council.

This is the final resting place of Sarah Leighfield, her husband William and their son in law James George Plank.

Sarah was born in Swindon in c1851 and married William Leighfield in 1871. William was born in Wootton Bassett in c1851 the eldest son of James and Ann Leighfield.

By the time of the 1911 census William and Sarah were living at 91 Curtis Street with four of their children. William, aged 61, was by then working as a Wood Sawyer in the railway works. His son Robert was a Coach Painter in Motor Works, Alfred and Albert were both House Decorators and Ernest also worked as a Coach Painter.

1915 Curtis Street photograph published courtesy of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery.

His younger brother Richard James Leighfield established a successful construction business at 1 Witney Street. The firm still exists today based in Royal Wootton Bassett where in 2015 they celebrated their 130th anniversary.

Sarah died in April 1911 and was buried on April 13 in plot E7339. William died in June 1915 and was buried with his wife on June 9. The last person to be buried in this plot was their son in law James George Plank, their daughter Emily’s husband. J.G. Plank died at St Margaret’s Hospital on July 3, 1955.

King George V, designed by Charles B. Collett and built in the Swindon Works in 1927, was the prototype for Great Western Railway’s (GWR) King class. It was the first of a thirty strong fleet built in Swindon from 1927-1930 to meet the demands of rising passenger numbers and heavier carriages.

Photo of King George V published courtesy of STEAM Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon.

Coming next …

Miss Blount’s Tea Party – I really didn’t want to visit Miss Blount. I liked her well enough; she was a kind, patient teacher, but she was dying. We all knew it. She had been ill for a long time and this would probably be the last time anyone other than her family would be invited to visit.

published on Radnor Street Cemetery blog Thursday March 21, 2019.

Mrs Peddle and me

The re-imagined story …

Life’s circumstances can create some unusual friendships. In the case of Mrs Peddle and me it was the death of our husbands.

We didn’t have a lot in common. Mrs Peddle had money and I didn’t. I had a houseful of children and she had none.

I don’t think she much enjoyed living in Swindon. She told me she was born in a village called Keinton Mandeville in Somerset and she was a country girl at heart. Her back garden was full of old fashioned country flowers like night scented stock and grandmother’s bonnet. My garden was always full of washing.

I’d never known anywhere other than Swindon. I’d been born in the railway village and lived there until I got married. My dad was a railwayman and so was his dad and just about all the boys I grew up with ended up working in the railway factory. My husband Fred was a steam hammerman.

I don’t know why Mr and Mrs Peddle moved to Swindon in the first place. Mr Peddle had worked as a house painter and decorator. Perhaps he looked at all those red brick terrace houses and thought there would be plenty of work for him, but of course everyone took care of their own properties in those days. Few of us had the money for an interior decorator. So like every other man in town, Mr Peddle found himself sucked into the railway works.

Mrs Peddle would come across to my house most afternoons. She seemed to enjoy the noise and chaos the children created and I was grateful for someone to hold the baby while I caught up with some household jobs.

Then afterwards we’d have a cup of tea and we’d talk. We’d talk about really personal stuff, things I’d never spoken to anyone else about. She told me why she’d never had any children and I told her why I had so many.

Before the year was out I married William, one of Fred’s friends, and moved into his house in Clifton Street. He had lost his wife around the same time Fred died. I needed a breadwinner and he needed a mother for his children. More kids! And we soon had one of our own together.

After that I only saw Mrs Peddle occasionally. The intimacy of those few months in 1911 was gone. I’m not sure that either of us wanted to be reminded about some of those confidences we shared.

It’s a funny old world. Death drew us together but life pulled us apart.

The facts …

Emily Jane Louisa was baptised on August 27, 1865 at the parish church in Keinton Mandeville, Somerset, the daughter of John Cox, a labourer and his wife Matilda. Emily worked as a dressmaker until her marriage to James Peddle in the September quarter of 1887.

At the time of the 1891 census James was recorded as living at No. 12 York Place, Swindon, where he worked as a painter and glazier. On census night 1891 Emily was staying with her widowed mother back home in Keinton. By 1901 James and Emily were living at 76 Radnor Street, their home for more than ten years. On the 1911 census James is described as a house painter employed by the railway company. James and Emily had been married for 23 years and had no children.

James died on August 4, 1911 and was buried in plot D1473 on August 9.

In 1916 Emily married widower John Parker, a carpenter who worked in the railway factory. His wife Eliza had died in December 1914. John and Emily lived at 33 Wellington Street.

It was a brief marriage as Emily died on November 15, 1919. She was buried on November 21 with her first husband James Peddle in plot D1473.

John Parker outlived Emily by more than 30 years. He died on November 17, 1952 and was buried with his first wife Eliza in plot D1302, not too far from James and Emily.

John and Eliza Parker share their grave with their grandson Alan Parker who died in 1931 aged 8 years old.

Peddle James of 76 Radnor street Swindon Wiltshire died 4 August 1911 Probate London 9 October to Emily Louisa Peddle widow Effects £715 17s 8d.

Parker Emily Louisa of 33 Wellington Street Swindon Wiltshire (wife of John Parker) died 15 November 1919 Probate Salisbury 19 December to Charles Chamberlain electric car driver Effects £745 18s 3d.

Parker John of 33 Wellington Street Swindon Wiltshire died 17 November 1952 at St Margarets Hospital Stratton St Margaret Wiltshire Probate London 31 December to Leonard Victor Parker coach body builder and Wilfred Sydney Parker cabinet maker Effects £3133 11s 7d.

Image published courtesy of Robin Earle taken in the 1980s.

Coming next …

Granddad’s Museum – The shed was a microcosm of the house, but without the china. There were racks and racks of old fashioned tools but no one seemed to worry that we might sever a limb or drive nails into each others eyes.

published on Radnor Street Cemetery blog March 14, 2019

First caretaker – Charles Brown

Radnor Street entrance

The re-imagined story …

It’s a long trek back home from the market to Clifton Street. I usually walk up Deacon Street and cut through the cemetery. Of course, in the old days you weren’t allowed to and if Mr Brown caught us kids, we were in for a right telling off.

Mr Brown was the caretaker who lived in the lodge at the Radnor Street gates. He used to keep all the other gates locked so the only way in and out was past his front door.

Us kids used to climb the railings, but woe betide you if he caught you scratching the paintwork.

*View from the cemetery at the top of Deacon Street*

He and his team kept that cemetery in a beautiful condition. The grass edges were always neat and tidy and come Autumn the paths were all kept clear of leaves. We reckoned he polished the gravestones as well, they were so clean.

He was very proud of the place. Well, he’d been caretaker from the day it opened. Funny to think he’d known the cemetery in its empty state. Strange thing was he died on July 31, 1905 the anniversary of the date he began work in 1881.

People say he’ll be missed. I’m sure he will, but my generation will always remember him as the scary man who used to chase us out the cemetery.

The facts …

With the opening of the cemetery imminent the Cemetery Committee advertised for a caretaker and sexton, at a Salary of £1 a Week, and House-Rent Free. The successful applicant was 44-year-old Charles Brown who in 1881 was working as a Coachman in Wroughton. Charles worked as caretaker for 24 years. He died at home in the Cemetery Lodge on July 31, 1905 and is buried in the cemetery in plot E8661.

Death of Mr C. Brown. The death of Mr C. Brown, the caretaker at the Swindon Cemetery, took place on Monday afternoon. Deceased was born at Lambourne Berks 68 years ago, and after living at Burderop for some time, he removed to Swindon, and became the first caretaker of the Cemetery, being appointed just 24 years ago, his death occurring on the anniversary day. Deceased had been failing in health for the last twelvemonths, and went away a short time ago for the benefit of his health. He was taken seriously ill about a fortnight ago, and passed away on Monday, as already stated. Deceased was always most unobtrusive and courteous in the discharge of his duties – On Thursday afternoon, at 2.30, the mortal remains of the late Mr Brown were laid to rest in the Swindon Cemetery, over which he had had charge for so many years. The remains were enclosed in a polished elm coffin, with brass furniture, and the breast place bore the inscription: “Charles Brown, died July 31, 1905, aged 68 years.”

Mourners and floral tributes

Swindon Advertiser, Friday, August 4, 1905.

Charge of stealing flowers from a grave – James Hill, 51, fitter, of Faringdon street, New Swindon, was summoned at the instance of the Swindon Local Board and Burial Board, charged with stealing some flowers – daisies – from a certain grave in the Swindon Cemetery and placing them on that of his mother – Mr. H. Kinneir, Clerk to the Local Board, appeared to prosecute, and in opening the case stated that the action was taken at the instance of the New Swindon Local Board and the Cemetery Committee. The case, although not a serious one – possibly a trivial one to many – was one of importance to the Cemetery Authority, and people interested in the cemetery. It was well known that persons who had relatives lying buried therein took pains with the graves, and planted flowers thereon. The present action arose through defendant, who was a man well known and highly respected, going through the cemetery on a Sunday and plucking several flowers from a certain grave and placing them on his mother’s grave. It was to point out the seriousness of the case that the present action was taken. Mr Kinneir said the Board did not wish to press the case, but wished for a small fine to be imposed, to let the public know that they must not gather flowers from a churchyard or cemetery. This proceeding of gathering flowers was going on all over the cemetery, and the Board wished to put a stop to it. The maximum penalty for the offence was £5. Without hearing any witness the bench imposed a fine of 2s 6d, and ordered payment of court fees.

Rose Tanner, a child 11 years of age, residing at 42, Clifton street, New Swindon, was charged with a similar offence to the last defendant. – Mr H. Kinneir appeared to prosecute in this case also. The charge was that the child plucked a flower from a grave in the Swindon Cemetery on April 20^th. – Chas. Browne, caretaker of the Cemetery, was sworn, and said he saw the defendant pick a hyacinth from a grave in the Cemetery. He watched her take it away, and followed her, and found she had put the flower underneath a younger sister’s jacket. – Fined 10s 6d, including costs.

The Swindon Advertiser, Saturday July 9, 1887

Bell Ringing – Richard Bunch and Henry Lacey, two young lads, of New Swindon, were summoned at the instance of the Swindon Burial Board, charged with unlawfully ringing the bell at the lodge-keeper’s house of the cemetery, on Saturday last. Charles Brown, the caretaker, said he was much annoyed by boys in the cemetery. He had to order the defendants out. As they passed out of the lodge gate they pulled the bell violently and ran away. This was a very common practice, the false alarms being as often as the legitimate ones. – Mr J.C. Townsend, who appeared to prosecute, said the Burial Board was anxious to put a stop to this nuisance. – The Chairman pointed out that the penalty for such an offence was 40s or imprisonment, said if it was repeated the bench would feel it their duty to punish severely. – Defendants promised not to offend again, and expressed their sorrow for having committed the offence. Fined 6d and 9s 6d costs, or 7 days’ imprisonment. – Paid.

The Swindon Advertiser, Monday May 15, 1882

Damaging the Cemetery Fence – Joseph Deacon, 36, carpenter, 6, Albion Street, was charged with committing wilful damage to the rails enclosing the Swindon Cemetery. Mr J.C. Townsend appeared to prosecute on behalf of the Burial Board. On Monday, the 5^th inst. The defendant was in the cemetery and went to the Clifton street gates to leave. He was told by John Bastin, a man working there, that the gates were locked, and that he would have to go to the lodge entrance. The gate had been locked by order of the board. Defendant replied to Bastin that he should not go any further round, but should get over the rails. He was told not to do so, but he went up to near the mortuary, and climbed over the rails, scratching off the paint, and telling witness that he could go and tell Brown (the keeper) if he liked. The damage was estimated at 1s – Defendant said he did what he did in a passion. He never heard that the lodge gate was open or he should have gone out by it, that being his nearest road. He should like to know if a person could go through the cemetery? – The Chairman said certainly not; the cemetery was a sacred place and must not be trespassed on. If he was to send defendant to gaol for two months, or fine him £2 and costs, as he could do, every man in Swindon would know that it was a private place. – The defendant said he did not know this. – The Chairman fined defendant and costs, in all £1 8s.

Swindon Advertiser Monday December 19, 1881

Damaging the Cemetery Fence – William Crook, carpenter, Swindon-road, was charged by the Burial Board with damaging the fencing at the Swindon Cemetery, on the 17^th inst. Charles Brown, caretaker, proved seeing defendant climb over the rails of the cemetery when he found the gate locked. – Defendant admitted the offence, and was ordered to pay 1s damage, 1s fine, and 7s costs, the Bench cautioning him not to offend again.

The Swindon Advertiser, Monday, October 30, 1882

cemetery lodge front door 2 — Mr Brown’s front door – Cemetery Lodge

Coming next …

Mrs Peddle and me – Life’s circumstances can create some unusual friendships. In the case of Mrs Peddle and me it was the death of our husbands.

published on Radnor Street Cemetery blog March 8, 2019 in celebration of International Women’s Day.