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.
Radnor Street Cemetery 