We’re often asked if there is anyone famous buried in Radnor Street Cemetery. Well George Ewart Hobbs is definitely up there when it comes to homegrown brilliance. George was an example of a self taught man with an exceptional intellect. He left school at the age of 13 to begin a lifetime of working ‘inside’ (as the locomotive factory was called) as did every other schoolboy who lived in Rodbourne.
The UK Railway Employment Records 1833-1956 state his first job description was that of ‘boy.’ He would later become an apprentice fitter and turner, then a chargeman and eventually a foreman.
He married Agnes Ann Thomas in 1901 and the couple had two children Dorothy, and Ivor, who sadly died aged 2 years old.
And I’m not going to tell you anymore about George as my friends Noel Ponting and Graham Carter have already done that in two meticulously researched and readable books – A Swindon Wordsmith and A Swindon Radical. Both books can be purchased in the Library Shop, Swindon Central Library or from the publishers Hobnob Press.
George Ewart Hobbs died on December 22, 1946 aged 63 years. He lies in an unmarked grave in Radnor Street Cemetery, which he shares with his young son Ivor and his mother-in-law Eliza Anne Thomas. His wife Agnes died in 1964 and was the last person buried in this family grave, plot number C3617.
The following article was published in Swindon Heritage Magazine in the Summer 2015 edition. Swindon Heritage was co founded by Graham Carter, Mark Sutton and myself in 2013. During a five year period we produced 20 editions of the magazine plus a Battle of Britain 75th anniversary commemorative issue in 2015.
Sadly, Mark died this year, but his work to remember the Swindon men who served in the First World War continues at Radnor Street Cemetery.
A memorial to 19 Swindon men who died during the First World War might also have been lost forever – but for the diligence of Gorse Hill resident Paul Jevder.
Paul, who lives in St Paul’s Road, put out an appeal for the impressive marble memorial to be given an appropriate new home after he found it under a pile of rubbish on his property.
He had been clearing the ground in preparation for some building work when he made the discovery.
Swindon Heritage co-founder Mark Sutton was the first caller to answer Paul’s appeal, and dozens of other people also phoned, some looking for more information, but many recommending that Paul get in contact with Mark.
Within hours the memorial had been loaded into a van and moved to the chapel at Radnor Street Cemetery, which is already the home of several other memorials to the town’s war dead, including another from Gorse Hill. That one commemorates members of the working men’s club, although none of the names are duplicated.
It seems Gorse Hill folk were particularly keen to remember the area’s heroes because St Barnabas Church also has its own war memorial, made of wood, inside the church.
The newly found memorial is dedicated to the memory of former members of a ‘sabbath school’ who died in the war – and this was almost certainly attached to the former Wesleyan Chapel in Cricklade Road, because that building backs on to Paul’s property.
The chapel, along with associated land, has been earmarked for development into flats, and it is thought the memorial, which is slightly chipped but otherwise in good condition, may have become displaced during work to prepare for that.
Thanks to his extensive research into Swindon’s military history, all the names listed on the memorial are familiar to Mark Sutton, who also owns medals and photographs associated with many of them including the ‘dead man’s penny’ (officially called a memorial plaque) that was issued to the family of Walter Thatcher after his death.
Walter, who lived at 4 King Edward Terrace in Gorse Hill, joined the Wiltshire Yeomanry in 1915, aged just 18, and ended up on the Western Front.
As with most of the Yeomanry, he was absorbed into the 6th Wiltshire Regiment, and was sadly killed on the Bapaume-Cambrai Road on March 23, 1918, during the big German offensives of that year.
He has no known grave, but is remembered on the Arras Memorial.
Two of Walter’s brothers also served.
Mark’s researches over the years also traced a photograph of another of those on the Gorse Hill memorial, Augustus Strange, who lived at 199 Cricklade Road, a stone’s throw from where the memorial was found.
Serving with the Royal Engineers, Augustus died two weeks before the end of the war, on October 29, 1918.
“It was nice to be able to tell Paul about some of the men listed,” said Mark, “including one, Sidney Curtis, who lived in the house opposite Paul’s.
“We’re really grateful to him for making sure it has been recovered and seeing it went to a proper home.
“It will now be safe at in Radnor Street, and anybody will be able to come and see it from time to time as the cemetery chapel is sometimes open for events, and during this summer is the meeting place for guided walks we are running on the second Sunday of every month.”
And Paul, who lived in Cyprus as a child and whose family are Turkish Cypriots, will have understood the relevance of a war memorial, having witnessed, at first hand, the bitter division of the island in 1974.
Occasionally I return to a Radnor Street Cemetery resident for a second blogpost and I felt that W.H. Read was a worthy candidate. You can read about him here where I mention a couple of the building commissions he is best remembered for, but looking at his long list of projects I felt he deserved a revisit.
In 1894 the town celebrated the opening of the Town Gardens with a parade and a celebratory dinner for local dignitaries held in the evening at the Goddard Arms Hotel. The pleasure park was created on a 7-8 acre site of the worked out Swindon quarries and purchased from Ambrose Goddard. W.H. Read had designed the layout of the new recreation ground, the park keeper’s lodge and the band stand. The band stand was erected by Messrs Allan of Glasgow with the assistance of local builder Joseph Williams who also built the lodge at the Westlecott Road entrance. On the arrival of the procession at the Westlecott Road entrance W.H. Read presented W. Reynolds (chairman of the Local Board) with a silver plated key and the gardens were officially opened.
In 1898 Read designed the Even Swindon Hotel for John Groves and Sons Ltd of the Hope Brewery, Weymouth. The hotel was built on a plot of land owned by James Morrison on the corner of an intended new street, which would later become Groves Road, Rodbourne.
And among the prestigious, prize winning projects were the bread and butter commissions – four houses in Cow Lane in 1876, repairs to seven cottages in Mill Street for Swindon Permanent Building Society in 1881 and in 1892 houses in Turner Street.
William Henry Read died in November 1901. A brief report of his funeral, which had taken place earlier that day, was published in the Swindon Advertiser dated Wednesday November 6.
The Late Mr W.H. Read
Funeral To-day
The funeral of the late Mr William Henry Read, architect of Swindon, took place this afternoon. The cortege left deceased’s late residence in Bath Road at two p.m., and the first portion of the service was conducted in the Parish Church. The coffin was conveyed on a hand-bier, and the mourners were all on foot. They included deceased’s sons, and also the following relatives and tradesmen:- Messrs J.H. Chandler, T. Chandler, W. Reynolds, H.W. Reynolds, R. Reynolds, R.S. Edmonds, A. Plummer, S. Snell, R.J. Beswick, Cullingford, Cox, etc
There were signs of mourning on every hand, shutters being up and blinds drawn at all the residences and shops en route to the church. The officiating clergy were the Rev Canon E.W. Estcourt (vicar), and Rev W. Scott (curate). After the first portion of the service at the Parish Church the cortege proceeded to the Cemetery, where the interment took place. The coffin was covered with beautiful wreaths from sorrowing relatives and friends.
William Street published courtesy of P.A. Williams and Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.
In 1950 Sir John Betjeman, Poet Laureate 1972-84, described Swindon as a town with very little architecture and a great deal of building – and you’ve got to take his point. There has never been a time when Swindon was not desperate for housing and the basic red brick, utilitarian terrace house is a feature of our town.
There were a lot of builders in 19th century Swindon, all buying up pieces of land for development. Some bought great swathes of land such as James Hinton who laid out Dixon, Stafford, and Clifton Streets in 1879 and the Gorse Hill housing estate in 1889. Others worked on a smaller, though no less productive scale, sometimes entering into short term partnerships, later creating what would become a family firm employing more than one generation.
George Kilminster was one such builder, working with a Mr Ball on several properties in Swindon Road before establishing his own family business. And between 1893 and 1921 George Kilminster worked close to home – very close.
George Kilminster was born into the building trade in 1857, the son of Cricklade slater and plasterer Robert Kilminster and his wife Maria. By 1871 fourteen year old George was working with his brothers Joseph 18 and Alfred 12 as slaters alongside their father.
George married Mary Ann Hart in Cricklade St Sampson in 1880 and by the time of the census the following year they were living in Upper Stratton. In 1891 the census records the family living in William Street, which became their permanent home and George’s workplace. Between 1893 and 1921 George built in William Street a toolhouse and store; 2 cottages; a schoolroom at the Wesleyan Chapel; seven houses and a villa.
In Roadways – The History of Swindon’s Street Names, authors Peter Sheldon and Richard Tomkins list William Street as being named after builder William Crombey with work beginning in 1878. Street numbering begins and ends at Cambria Bridge Road with more than 160 properties extending to the Kingshill Road. Today there is some new building half way along and alterations to properties at either end of the street, most especially the demolition of the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. But to stand in the street on a quiet day when there aren’t so many cars parked there, well it could look quite similar to the street George would have known.
George died in 1941, leaving his business in the hands of his sons Arthur and Harry. He was buried on February 15 in Radnor Street Cemetery in plot D1037 which he shares with his wife Mary Ann who died in 1946 and their daughter Iris who died in 1978.
Wesleyan Mission Hall
William Street, New Swindon
Such has been the growth of the cause of Wesleyan Methodism in West Swindon that it was found necessary to contemplate the erection of a hall in which to hold the services. A suitable piece of land having been procured at the west end of William Street situated immediately on the south side of the Wilts and Berks Canal and close to the Wootton Bassett road, the erection of a mission hall was very soon commenced. The erection of the building is being accomplished by Messrs J and C Williams, builders, of Swindon, to the specified plans of Mr Davis, architect. The dimensions of the hall will be 35 feet in length by 24 feet breadth, and 13 feet in height. In addition, there will be the necessary out-offices. The building will be of brick, with freestone dressings to windows and piers. Inside, the roof will be match boarded, with worked principals. So far has the erection of the building proceeded that the ceremony of laying the foundation stones was gone through on Wednesday last.
Extract from the Swindon Advertiser, Saturday, October 8, 1887.
William Street published courtesy of P.A. Williams and Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.
My Limmex’s shop stood on the corner of High Street and Wood Street. Every morning one of the shop assistants was tasked with assembling the shop front display out on the street and then at the end of the day taking it all back in again.
It must have taken ages. There were brooms and spades and tools of every description that the gardener, handyman and farmer would ever require.
You could buy anything and everything at Limmex’s, but one day my granddad sent me shopping for a seemingly impossible item.
“Fred – have you heard what this young man wants?”
“We did have a packet of those once – now where did I see them?”
“I think we ought to ask Mr. Limmex – he’ll know where they would be.”
“Now what’s all this chatter going on?”
“It’s this young man, sir, he’s desirous of a very specialised item of carpentry.”
“It’s for my granddad,” I said helpfully. “He said you’d be sure to have a packet of rubber nails.”
The shop assistants laughed, the customers laughed and even Mr Limmex laughed.
Well if Mr. Limmex didn’t stock them I don’t know where my granddad would find his rubber nails.
The facts …
Limmex ironmongers shop dominated the corner of High Street and Wood Street for more than a hundred years.
Samuel Joseph Limmex opened his shop in about 1873. Before this he had a similar business in Brighton where he had married Rebecca Bartrop, a young widow with three children.
Samuel was born in the West Indies in 1842, the son of Methodist Missionary William and his wife Eleanor who are both buried here as well.
The couple led a nomadic life as William continued to follow his calling. After their return from the West Indies they lived in various places across the UK. In the 1870s William was preaching on the Allendale Circuit in Northumberland, travelling across the Scottish Borders. But by 1881 William had retired and he and Eleanor were living next door to Samuel and his family at 15 Prospect.
The shop on the corner of Wood Street continued under the management of Samuel’s son Frederick William following Samuel’s death in 1935. It eventually closed in 2000.
William Morris, founder of the Advertiser, is captured on film in this Victorian photograph of the High Street frontage of the Limmex shop.
The photograph of this stained glass window, a memorial to the Limmex family in the Bath Road Methodist Church, was sent to us following one of our walks.
Liddington’s Loss
Death of Mr S.J. Limmex
Mr Samuel Joseph Limmex of Liddington, who was one of the oldest men in the district, died at his home, Fair View, yesterday. He was 94 years of age, and had been confined to his bed for only a week.
The son of a missionary, he was born in the West Indies, but was brought to England as a child, in a four-masted sailing ship. He was sent to Woodhouse Grove School Yorkshire, and when his father left the West Indies and was appointed superintendent minister in Swindon of the Wesleyan Church, Mr. S.J. Limmex accompanied his parents to Wiltshire.
Mr. Limmex served his apprenticeship with the late Mr. W.V. Edwards ironmonger, of Swindon. Later he set up business in Brighton, but not long afterwards came back to Swindon, and founded the business which is now carried on by his son, Mr. F.W. Limmex, at Old Town, Swindon.
Mr. S.J. Limmex retired about 25 years ago, and went to Wanborough to live, but after the war he removed to Liddington. Since the death of his wife, about 30 years ago, his daughter, Miss Limmex, has kept house for him.
Mr. Limmex was a member of the Swindon Chamber of Commerce since its inception. He took a keen interest in Swindon Bath-road Methodist Church, having held every office to a layman.
Have you ever thought how fortunate you are to be born in this place at this time? I could have been born 100 years ago or a 150 years from now. What would Swindon be like in the year 2001. Will the mighty GWR, God’s Wonderful Railway still be here in Swindon? Perhaps they will be producing other forms of transport, a time travelling machine perhaps.
Mother says I have some funny notions and how could I possibly have been born in the future. But surely it’s just a random act that a soul enters a body at a given time and place in history – but I suppose if you don’t believe in the existence of the soul, then it does all sound a bit phantasmagorical. I’m not sure what I believe in when it comes to religion. I think there are some things that are still inexplicable and science doesn’t have the answer to everything – yet!
I think my parents wish I was more practical. It’s all very good having these theories but they won’t put food on the table or pay the rent, mother says.
But surely the great inventors of our time are not just good with their hands. Take Mr Bickle, for example. Without a questioning mind how could he invent his double vibrating cylinder steam engine presently on exhibition at the Great Exhibition. Mother and father are going to take me to London in the school holidays. There are so many things I want to see in the Great Exhibition. I especially want to see the Lord of the Isles loco, which will be on display, but I also want to see Mr Bickle’s invention – apparently it is so small it will be displayed on a two inch counter space. Isn’t that incredible. I think that if anyone could invent a time travelling machine it would be Mr. Bickle – or possibly me!
The facts …
‘Daddy’ Bickle’s engineering treasure chest
15 May 1981 Swindon Evening Advertiser
Swindon’s reputation for high quality engineering goes back a long way.
Ever since the railway works were established alongside Brunel’s iron road to the West, generations of craftsmen have been producing the best.
So it’s not altogether surprising that a Swindon man had an exhibit accepted for the world famous Great Exhibition of 1851 at Crystal Palace.
The official catalogue says William Bickle, described as a designer and manufacturer of 18 Reading Street, exhibited ‘a working model of a pair of non-condensing steam engines, which stand within the compass of a shilling and weighs three drachms; made, with the exception of the piston rods, of fine white metal.’
Imagine in thos days when a man had little more than his own skills to depend on producing a working model which would stand on a five pence piece and weighed less than a quarter of an ounce.
A recent visitor to Swindon from Yeovil remembered meeting this remarkable man whose work was ranked so highly 130 years ago.
‘I knew him as ‘Daddy Bickle’ and used to go to his home – he had moved to Oriel Street – to look at all the wonderful things he had made said Stanley Richards, now in his upper eighties.
Stanley’s family lived in Medgbury Road and London Street, and Stanley was apprenticed in the railway works and later held important posts with the aircraft manufacturers Handley Page and Westland.
He remembers William Bickle as an outstanding engineer who made at least two microscopes, a gyroscope and his own geometric lathe which enabled him to produce many other pieces.
A beam engine expert employed by Harvey’s of Hale in Cornwall, Mr Bickle is believed to have moved to Swindon to instal the beam engine which kept the Severn railway tunnel free of water.
At one time he worked in the Spanish copper industry.
He became a railway man by adoption and left one example of his craft in the Mechanics Institute a working electric clock, unfortunately no longer in evidence.
Swindon – In addition to the locomotive engine now in course of erection in the Swindon works, and intended for the Great Exhibition, two other articles will be sent from this place, one of which is a double vibrating cylinder steam engine, the handiwork of Mr Wm. Bickle, one of the artizans employed at the Swindon works. So small is this article, that after being wrapped up in paper it can be placed very comfortably in an ordinary size walnut shell. The plate on which this Lilliputian piece of workmanship stands being about the size of a sixpence, yet we have been informed by competent judges that it is quite complete, and that the workmanship and finish are of a first rate character. We understand that two inches of counter space was applied for and granted for this model.
The other article is of a more practical character, being a model to exemplify an improvement in the valve gearing of steam engines. This article is now in course of manufacture by the inventor, Mr. W.D. Sharp, of Swindon.
Salisbury and Winchester Journal Saturday January 25, 1851.
Model of a High Pressure Oscillating Steam Engine, improved and constructed by William Bickle of Hayle Foundry. This model was intended to illustrate an engine of greater simplicity than any hitherto constructed. The steam enters the piston through one side of the tumbler in the cylinder, and leaves through the opposite side. This tumbler is so contrived that the oscillating motion of the cylinder opens and closes those passages at the proper time. All valves, eccentrics, and gear of every sort are therefore dispensed with, and consequently, the liability to derangement is considerably diminished. The speed of the engine is regulated by turning the cock fixed underneath the cylinder; the same cock also reverses the engine by admitting steam through the opposite side of the tumbler; consequently by turning this cock, a reversal of the motion is certain. This engine is therefore peculiarly applicable for whims, marine purposes etc, or where a reverse motion is often required.
As with so many of the 33,000 burials in Radnor Street Cemetery, William Bickle’s grave has no surviving memorial.
With thanks to the family historian bicklehe who has submitted information on a public family tree on Ancestry.
Lethbridge Road published courtesy of P.A. Williams and Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.
After a lifetime of hard graft, Joseph Williams had to face the humiliation of bankruptcy and the end of his business. Ultimately it proved too much to bear.
Joseph Williams was born in Shrivenham in 1841, the second son of Charles Williams, a carpenter and joiner, and his wife Lucy. The couple moved around in the early years of their marriage. Their eldest son James was born in Cheltenham while in 1851 they were in Swindon where a daughter Caroline and another son, Charles, were born. Then by 1861 they were again living in Shrivenham where Charles snr describes himself as a Builder with all three sons working as carpenters – including 13 year old Charles jnr.
Joseph returned to Swindon where he married Sarah Jane Painter at Christ Church on December 26, 1866. The couple had two children, Frederick born in 1870 and Florence born five years later.
Joseph’s brother Charles combined two jobs, recorded as the licensee at the Dolphin, Rodbourne in 1881 but also working as a builder.
Both brothers worked hard, building their business, and building Swindon. By the 1880s both were well established. Elder brother Joseph was working in Stafford Street, Lethbridge Road, and Springfield Road. At the beginning of the 1890s he built more houses in Lethbridge Road, 17 in Albion Street and 22 in Morrison Street.
Charles was equally busy where he built 24 cottages in 1888 on the newly available Rolleston Estate. During 1897 he built a school in Euclid Street, 7 houses in St. Paul’s Street and 40 Houses in Redcliffe Street.
Perhaps the brothers were over ambitious. Perhaps they were not fully acquainted with their financial situation; too busy working.
In 1902 Charles built 28 houses in Morrison Street and in 1905 Joseph built 12 houses in Lansdown Road and that seems to be the end of the Williams’ building empire.
In 1906 Joseph sadly took his own life.
1904 map of the Rolleston Estate held in Local Studies, Swindon Central Library
Suicide of Mr Joseph Williams
Found Hanging in a Loft
Inquest and Verdict
Shortly before 11 o’clock on Friday morning a shocking discovery was made in a loft adjoining Clifton House, Devizes Road, [Lethbridge Road] Swindon, the body of Mr Joseph Williams being found hanging from a beam. Immediately the tragedy was revealed, Mr S.W. Filtness, who was engaged at his oil stores opposite, was summoned by Mr Williams’ daughter, and he at once proceeded to the loft and cut the body down, life being found to be extinct.
Mr Williams was missed for about half an hour. He had partaken of breakfast, and appeared as usual, and in cheerful spirits. After the meal he read his newspaper and shortly afterwards went out to fetch some wood. As he did not return, his daughter – Mrs Dismore – went to search for him. When the dreadful discovery was made, Dr. Lavery, who happened to be attending a case in Winifred Street, was called in and subsequently Dr. Reid, but they were only able to pronounce life extinct.
Needless to say, the news caused a good deal of sensation and spread with remarkable rapidity through the town. The deceased’s recent misfortunes have for some time been occupying general interest, and the incidents associated therewith had gained him the greatest sympathy. There is not the slightest doubt but that his mind had become seriously affected as the result of his troubles in this direction, and it will be remembered that prior to his examination in the Bankruptcy Court the state of his health was so distressing that he was compelled to leave the town to recuperate. He never completely regained his physical and mental strength, however, and, although his relatives had never heard him threaten to take his life, the news of his untimely end did not occasion absolute surprise amongst those who were painfully aware of his state of mind.
Mr Williams had resided in Swindon nearly the whole of his life, and, as a builder and contractor, was widely known and respected. He had, until latterly, led a very active life – in fact, his career had been one of hard work, with no indulgences, which makes his tragic end the more painful. Mr Williams has been responsible for many extensive contracts in Swindon and district, and was of course, a large employer of labour. Until within the last twelve months his upright, active and almost youthful bearing hardly betokened a man who had left three score years behind him. For the relatives of the deceased the deepest regret is felt.
Deceased, who is 63 years of age, was prominently connected with the Victoria Road Congregational Church, and was for many years a superintendent of the Sunday School.
The enquiry into the sad circumstances was held at the Fountain Inn, Devizes Road, on Friday afternoon. Mr Alfred Bowker was chosen foreman of the jury. Mr G.M. Butterworth watched the case on behalf of the relatives, of whom Mr C. Williams, deceased’s brother, was present. Supt. Robinson was also in attendance.
The formalities were of the briefest possible description, and the Coroner dispensed with his usual preliminary address to the jury.
Mrs Sarah Jane Williams was the first witness, and said: I live at Clifton House, No. 1 Lethbridge Road, Swindon, and I am the wife of the deceased, whose name is Joseph Williams, and his age was 63 last birthday. He was a builder and contractor. He has been ill for more than twelve months. At times he has been very quiet, and very depressed. He has never expressed the intention of doing harm to himself. He was perfectly well last night, and at breakfast time this morning, only depressed. He had been attended by a doctor, who saw him either on the previous Monday or Saturday.
Stephen William Filtness said: I was in a yard opposite to where Mr Williams lives, on Friday morning, when the deceased’s daughter, Mrs Dismore, came and fetched me about 11 o’clock. She asked me to see what was the matter with her father. I went into deceased’s workshop and up the ladder into the loft. I saw Mr Williams with the rope round his neck. He was suspended, and his feet were touching the ground. I cut him down, and went and found a policeman. Deceased was just warm, but I am quite certain he was dead.
P.C. Walter Shergold said: From information I received I proceeded to Joseph Williams’ loft I found the deceased lying on his back with a rope tightly round his neck. I slackened the rope round his neck and examined him to the best of my ability, and I found he was dead.
P.S. Buchanan said: From information I received I proceeded to the house where Mr Joseph Williams had lived. I found these papers written for his wife. I have read the papers.
The Coroner: What would you say the state of his mind was when he wrote them? – I should say that he was insane or deranged at the time he wrote them.
The Coroner: There is nothing in them. I shall be willing to show them to any particular member of the jury who would like to see them.
Mr Butterworth: It is in his writing; I know it.
The Foreman (after reading the papers): It is no use reading them over. They are written by a man deranged in his head.
The remained of the jury said they did not care to pursue the papers.
The Foreman: I think it is a painful thing to read. I don’t think the man could have been compos mentis.
Dr Charles Lavery said his partner (Dr. Rattray) had been in medical attendance upon the deceased for some time, chiefly for nervous breakdown. He never expressed any intention of taking his life.
The jury returned a verdict of “Suicide whilst temporarily insane.”
The Faringdon Advertiser, Saturday, April 14, 1906.
At the time of the 1911 census Charles appears living at the County Ground Hotel with his son, another Charles, who was the Hotel Proprietor. Charles was 62 and still describes himself as a builder. He lives with Mary, his wife of 43 years and the couple declare that of their five children, Charles (the hotel proprietor) is the only one still living.
Joseph was buried on April 11, 1906 in grave plot D1578. His wife Sarah Jane died in April 1929 aged 85 years and is buried with him. Their daughter Florence Mary Dismore joined them when she died in 1956 aged 80 years.
When probate was granted to his widow in 1919 Joseph’s effects were valued at £15.
Clifton Street with Beswick’s Primitive Methodist chapel on the edge of the photo to the right. Published courtesy of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery
Robert J.R. Beswick was born in Manchester on November 30, 1856 the son of Robert, a Spirits Merchant, and his wife Anne. Robert was christened on January 4, 1857 in Manchester Cathedral.
Robert had moved to Swindon by the mid 1870s when he was articled to another popular local architect W.H. Read and was in practice from about 1874. In 1884 he married Emilie Matilda Elliott, the daughter of John Elliott, a painter in the works.
During a prolific career he designed many landmark buildings in Swindon including the Mechanics Institute Reading Room at 158-9 Rodbourne Road. He also designed the Primitive Methodist Chapel which stood at the Clifton Street entrance to the cemetery, long since demolished and replaced by a modern property. He designed the Co-op premises in East Street and John Street and the Palace Cinema in Gorse Hill.
In 1911 Beswick, by then widowed, was living at a property in Westlecott Road called Kingswood, a house he designed himself. He lived there with his architect son Robert Frederick Beswick (the son who later died in India) and the two men were looked after by housekeeper Gertrude Woodward and a general domestic servant Alice Brinkworth.
Beswick died at the Cheriton Nursing Home on March 28, 1931. He left administration of his will to his only surviving son Alfred Edward Beswick, another architect. His effects were valued at £6,129 4s 3d.
Manchester Road c1912. For more images of the Broadgreen and Queenstown area of Swindon visit the Local Studies flickr page.
Nestling beneath the shade of a tree is this attractive memorial to Dora and William Grainger, a restful place to lie during the current heatwave.
The report of William Grainger’s death (see below) includes an account of his business career, but a rather vague version.
William Grainger was born in about 1865, the second son of Edward Grainger and his wife Sarah. He grew up in Quenington, Gloucestershire and followed his father into the building trade working as a plasterer. By 1887 William was living at 35a Cheltenham Street when he married Dora Ockwell at St. Mark’s Church. The couple had four children but sadly only two daughters survived to adulthood – Emily born in 1891 and Helen in 1893.
George’s business premises were first located at 60 Dryden Street before moving to 141 Manchester Road and spanned the years 1891-1907. During this time he did indeed build a great many properties. In 1897 alone he built a stable and traphouse in Dryden Street; 12 houses numbered 15-26 on the east side of Gladstone Street; 12 houses numbered 107-118 on the west side of Salisbury Street and 12 houses numbered 1-12 on the south side of Elmina Road.
In 1898 he was even busier. The Eastcott Hotel in Manchester Road was built in this year by Strong & Co Brewery of Romsey, most probably with the work sub contracted out to William. In 1898 William built 147 properties in Salisbury Street; Manchester Road (which included his own home); Edinburgh Street, Elmina Road, Graham Street and Rosebery Street.
He appears to have finished work in around 1907 when he was about 41 years old. At the time of the 1911 census he states his occupation as ‘builder with nothing to do.’
Dora died at the family home at 141 Manchester Road and was buried on this spot on June 7, 1922. Perhaps William planted this tree to shade her grave during the hot summers to come. William died five years later and was buried with his wife on May 18, 1927.
Death of Mr W. Grainger – The death took place on Saturday at 141, Manchester Road, at the age of 62 years, of Mr William Grainger. The deceased formerly carried on an extensive business as a builder, and was responsible for the erection of between 400 and 500 houses in Swindon. Among his large contracts was the building of the Eastcott Hotel in Manchester Road. He retired from business at an early age. He was a keen sportsman and was a popular member of the Swindon Town Bowling Club and was also a member of the North Wilts Constitutional Club. He leaves two daughters, who are living in Swindon, and two brothers and two sisters, who reside out of the town. His wife predeceased him some years ago.
Although the Liberal dominance nationally was on the wane in the last decades of the 19th century, Swindon remained a Liberal stronghold and a hive of political activity with women playing an active role. One such woman was Harriett Annie Veness.
We might consider the term feminist to be a modern one but the word first came into usage in 1852 and Annie Veness was an exemplary role model, demanding women’s rights throughout her lifetime.
Annie was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire in 1869, daughter of Thomas Veness, a bricklayer and mason, and his wife Harriett. The family moved to Swindon in the early 1870s and appear on the 1881 census living at 30 Sheppard Street. Annie cut her proselytizing teeth supporting her parents with their work in the Church of England Temperance Society, later becoming honorary secretary of the British Women’s Temperance Society.
Annie joined the Swindon and North Wilts Women’s Liberal Association upon its foundation in 1893, becoming the first Honorary Secretary, a role she fulfilled for more than ten years. Neither did she restrict her campaign work to the Swindon district but travelled across the country canvassing in elections in her role as organizing secretary for the Women’s National Liberal Federation. She was an enthusiastic public speaker, described as giving a “spirited address” in Ebbw Vale whilst speaking for “nearly an hour” in Chelmsford
Following her mother’s death in December 1897 Annie and Thomas continued to live at 30 Sheppard Street where they employed a 15 year old domestic servant, Janet Hinder. Her three brothers Thomas, Alfred and Reginald would all emigrate to the USA.
Annie’s political campaigning appears to have come to an end in around 1908 when she resigned from the Women’s National Liberal Federation. Annie and her widowed father moved to Worcester where Annie got a job as a clerk in the Women’s Department at the Employment Exchange. At the time of the 1911 census Thomas Veness was a patient in Birmingham’s General Hospital while Annie stayed at the Cobden Hotel to be close to her father. Following a lifetime of independence, eventually and inevitably Annie was forced to accept the traditional female role as carer for her elderly father.
Thomas died on May 21, 1920. His body was returned to Swindon where he was buried with his wife in Radnor Street cemetery. After her retirement, Annie also returned to Swindon and a home at 59 Drove Road where it was recorded that she did “quiet, good work in the town in the Liberal interest and the temperance cause.” It is sad to think of the passionate, bold speaker reduced to quiet, good work.
Annie died at the Victoria Hospital on October 31, 1936, her life and death recorded in an obituary published in the Swindon Advertiser where it was commented on that “link with the days when Swindon was a strong Liberal constituency is snapped.”
The funeral service took place on November 4 at the Baptist Tabernacle followed by interment in the cemetery. Annie was buried in plot E8097 with her parents where today a fine headstone lies flat on the family grave.
Radnor Street Cemetery 