Month: October 2019

Comrades of the Great War

The re-imagined story …

I stood in front of the Baptist Tabernacle and watched the crowds gather, ten, twelve, fifteen deep in some places, packing all the approaches to the Town Hall.

Hundreds upon hundreds of people had come to pay their respects. Grieving parents stood next to those who had welcomed home their shattered sons, everyone touched by the horror of four long years of war.

Soldiers on crutches, soldiers with no obvious injuries. Widows holding the hands of little children, who even at such a young age appreciated the solemnity of the occasion.

Gathered immediately around the shrouded war memorial were the Mayor and civic dignitaries standing next to members of the clergy from the various Swindon congregations. Alongside detachments of the local military units were a group of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, all standing to attention.

I went to school with the Preater brothers. I was in the same class as Bert, the youngest. Six sets of brothers were lost from Sanford Street School and I knew them all. Reginald Corser, an Engine Room Artificer who died on board HMS Defence in 1916. His brother Horace died on the Western Front two years later.

The Leggett brothers both served with the Wilts 1st Battalion and died within three months of each other in 1915. Bill was shot through the stomach. He was 22 years old. Ern was also killed in action. He was 21.

I went to school with the Preater brothers and Bill and Ern Leggett and the Corser brothers, but I didn’t go to war with them. The British Army wouldn’t have me. I tried to enlist twice, but each time I failed the medical.

The ladies used to wait outside the Works with their white feathers. I keep mine in an envelope in my sock drawer.

And then it was time for the service to begin. The Mayor unveiled the Cenotaph as the Last Post was sounded.

The band of the Comrades of the Great War played the introduction to the hymn “Nearer my God, to Thee” and a great swell of voices carried the words heavenwards on that serene and sunny day in October 1920.

After the prayers the short service closed with another hymn, “For all the saints who from their labours rest” and as the voices stilled, relatives made their way to the war memorial to lay their flowers. The silence only broken by the sound of sobs. How many more tears could we shed?

Mrs Preater leaned heavily on the arm of her son John, the only one of four who went to war and returned home. She looked frail. Three sons lost and no grave to visit for any of them.

The war had been over for almost two years but for families like the Preater’s it would never be over.

It took a long time for the crowd to disperse. People were reluctant to leave this place, this time.

I stood and watched and wondered how I could continue to face the men who had returned home broken. The war casualties continued long after the armistice.

I am writing my memories of that day. Maybe in the future someone will be interested. At the moment I can’t see a future.

These words were found with a white feather in an envelope in his sock drawer.

Preater family

The Preater family grave in Radnor Street Cemetery

The facts …

Buried in this grave are Charles and Mary Jane Preater, their daughter Hilda who died in 1907 and John Edward Preater, the son who survived the First World War.

A memorial to the three sons who died stands on the grave.

Arthur Benjamin Preater was born in 1886 and served in the 2nd battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment. The battalion had been involved in the Somme battles since July 8, 1916. On October 18 they were in the line along with the 2nd Liverpool, 2nd Manchester Pals and the 2nd Yorks and attacked the German positions not far from Flers. The attack was not successful and the battalion reported casualties of 14 officers and 350 other ranks. Arthur was among those killed. He is remembered on the Thiepval memorial and has no known grave.

Charles Lewis Preater was born in 1889 and served in the 6th battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment. In April 1918 the 6th were in the Messines area of Belgium about seven miles from Ypres. The 2nd part of the great German offensive took place on the night of the 9/10 and the objective was Ypres again. In the path of this onslaught was the 6th Wilts. By the time the battalion was relieved on April 20 they had lost over half their strength. Charles had been severely wounded and died as a result on April 29. His grave was lost due to constant shelling and he is remembered on the Tyne Cott memorial.

Herbert Frederick Preater was born in 1896 and served with the 2nd/8th Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment. He was killed in action on November 1, 1918 and is buried in France in the Cross Roads Cemetery Fontaine au Bois.

John Edward Preater was born in 1893. He served with the Worcestershire Regiment. He survived and returned home. He took over as landlord at The New Inn following his father’s death in 1922. John collapsed at the GW Railway Station, Chippenham on August 14, 1933. He was travelling with a group of friends and his fiancée. They were off to Weymouth for a short holiday. He died on the platform before a doctor could arrive. There was no inquest as John was under the care of a doctor at the time of his death. He is buried with his parents and his sister.

Two elder sons didn’t serve.

There were two daughters. Eva Emma Leah Preater who married James Ernest Wood, an Engine Erector, in 1909. Eva died in 1974 aged 90 and is buried close to the Preater family grave. Youngest child, Ada Cora Preater, never married. She took over as proprietor of The New Inn after her brother’s death in 1933. She died on February 26, 1956 at the pub where she had lived all her life. She is also buried in Radnor Street Cemetery in plot D65A.

Resources include Tell Them of Us by Mark Sutton

Swindon’s War Record by W.D. Bavin

William (left) Ernest (right) Leggett (1)

The Leggett Brothers – William (left) Ernest (right)

Sanford Street School memorial 2

Sanford Street School Memorial, Radnor Street Cemetery chapel

Edwin Thomas Brittain – oldest foreman in the Works

The re-imagined story …

Gran loved a good funeral. She especially liked the ones held at St Mark’s where Canon Ponsonby officiated as he had such a lovely voice, she said. But she wasn’t adverse to attending services at one of the many non conformist churches or chapels across town, or even the little cemetery chapel itself.

And afterwards she would come round to our house and over a cup of tea she would recount the events.

Mr Brittain’s funeral ranked as one of the best she had attended, she told us. The list of mourners read like a Who’s Who of Swindon railway royalty, she said.

As a child I accepted Gran’s funeral fascination as just one of the funny things old people did. Most things about the elderly were pretty incomprehensible to the young. It wasn’t until Gran died that I began to understand.

Gran had been born at a time when death was very much a part of life. Before she was ten years old she had lost her own mother and several siblings. Today we tend to think people must have become used to all that death and dying. One child died and the next one born received their name. Perhaps people didn’t invest so much love in their children then as we do now. Of course once I had my own family I realised what a ridiculous notion that was and I came to understand the loss Gran continued to mourn throughout her life.

Mr Brittain’s funeral was one of the best she’d ever seen, Gran told us.

E T Brittain 4

The facts …

Death of Mr E. Brittain – We regret to announce the death of Mr E. Brittain, which took place almost suddenly at his residence in Wellington-street, New Swindon, on Thursday morning. Deceased left his work as usual the previous night, and retired to rest in fairly good health, but died about 4.30 a.m. Mr Brittain was a very old employe of the GWR Co., and had been a foreman in the works for many years. He was a member of the Council of the Mechanics’ Institute, but was best known perhaps as chairman of the New Swindon Industrial Society; he presided at the last half-yearly meeting of the society held a few weeks since.

The Swindon Advertiser, Saturday, June 29, 1895.

The Late Mr E.T. Brittain – We gave a brief account in our last Saturday’s issue of the sudden death of Mr E.T. Brittain of Wellington-street, New Swindon, the esteemed foreman of the R. Shop (Loco. Dept.) of the GWR Works.

Mr Brittain, who was 65 years of age, was well-known in New Swindon. For many years he occupied a seat on the Council of the Mechanics’ Institute, and for 17 years he was a director of the New Swindon Industrial Society, and during the last 12 years he ably filled the office of chairman. Deceased also took a great interest in political matters; he was a staunch Conservative, and at the time of his death was treasurer of the North Wilts Conservative Association.

His position in the GWR Works was unique, as he was the oldest foreman in the Works. He commenced as assistant foreman in the R. Shop, the principal fitting and machine shop, under the late Mr James Haydon. Upon that gentleman being appointed as Assistant Works Manager, Mr Brittain continued in the same capacity under Mr E.J. Davies. When some 20 years ago, Mr Davies obtained the appointment of the managership of the Engine Department of Messrs Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies, Limited, Ipswich, Mr Brittain was appointed to the chief foremanship, a position which he held and worthily filled to the day of his death.

We understand that for many years nearly all the fitter, turner and erector apprentices received their early training under Mr Brittains’s management and we are sure that his lamented death will come as a great shock to engineers who have been trained under him, and who are to be found at most centres in the world where engineers are employed.

The funeral of deceased took place on Monday last, and was the occasion of a striking demonstration of respect on the part of the officials and workmen of the GWR and the various bodies with which deceased was connected, as well as the general public.

The funeral cortege left deceased’s late residence in Wellington-street at half-past four, and proceeded to St Mark’s Church, where the first portion of the service was conducted by the Vicar, the Hon. And Rev. Canon Ponsonby, who also read the concluding service at the graveside in the Cemetery.

There were five mourning carriages, and the chief mourners included deceased’s three sons and brother-in-law. Deceased being an old Volunteer, eight members of the New Swindon Companies attended as bearers. Nearly 400 persons followed the remains from the church to the graveside, and the route was lined with spectators, besides which a vast crowd assembled in the Cemetery. Some idea of the extent of the procession may be gathered when we state that it extended from the Cemetery entrance throughout the whole length of Radnor-street.

The coffin was covered with an immense number of beautiful wreaths and crosses and other floral offerings. Amongst the mourners, besides deceased’s relatives, we noticed Mr. D.E. Marsh (Loco. Dept.), Mr J. Fordyce Stevenson (district engineer), Mr F.C. Kent (district estate agent), Mr Webb (representing Mr Carlton), Messrs. T.B. Watson, A. Adams, W.H. Ludgate, E.L. Pugh, Theo Wright, R.B. Pattison, W. Mole, W. Hunt, T. Veness, W.H. Lawson, J. Ireland, T. Stone, T. Money, H. Green, G.M. Butterworth, R. Baker, A. Nash, W. Booth, W. Harvie, R. Affleck, H.J. Southwell, F. Tegg, W. Sewell, D. White, J.D.R. Phillips, T. Spencer, H. Morris, R. Chirgwin, H. Wright, L. Dyer, H. Andrews, J. Christelow, E.Y. Westlake, E. Harvie, R. Hogarth, W. Morrison, R.N. Sutcliffe, E. Burns, W. Clark, J.S. Protheroe, W.J. Greenwood, C. Fox, T.C. Morgan etc. etc. The funeral arrangements were satisfactorily carried out by Mr H. Smith. Mrs Brittain and family desire to thank the many kind friends for the expressions of condolence and sympathy in their recent bereavement.

The Swindon Advertiser, Saturday, July 6, 1895.

Edwin Thomas Brittain

Edwin Thomas Brittain was born in the parish of St Pancras on November 21, 1829, the eldest son of Henry James Brittain, an undertaker, and his wife Charlotte.

He married Louisa Elizabeth Hooker at Trinity Church, St Marylebone on January 11, 1852 and the couple soon moved to Wolverton in Buckinghamshire where Edwin was employed at the London & North Western engine works. Their son Thomas is born in Wolverton but by 1853 the family have moved to Swindon.

Edwin Thomas Brittain entered the GWR Service on July 26, 1853 working as a Fitter in the Loco factory. He was made Assistant Foreman on October 7,1865 and Foreman on January 12, 1867.

At the time of the 1861 census he was living at No 6 King Street with Louisa and their five children. The couple had nine children in all, moving to Wellington Street where they lived at No 18 and No. 39 at various times over the next twenty year period.

Edwin died at his home at 39 Wellington Street on June 27, 1895. He left effects to the value of £181 5s 2d. Louisa survived him by eighteen years and is buried here with him.