Harry C. Preater and the Red Cross Penny A Week Fund

*Area around the chapel where Harry C. and Lilian Preater are buried*

The re-imagined story …

Every week I watched my mum put a penny on the mantlepiece and then I watched her struggle to pay her bills through the rest of the week. A penny went a long way in those days, but that penny would stay on the mantlepiece until Mrs Morse called to collect it. Mum never missed a week.

I knew mum’s brother Ernie had died in the Great War – what we were now calling the First World War. Most Swindon families had lost a loved one. Just twenty years had passed and the grief was still raw.

There were a couple of photographs of Ernie that hung on the parlour wall during my childhood. One of him at a family wedding and another of him in uniform just before he left for France. Looking back, I wonder why I didn’t know his story, I just knew he had died in the war. I suppose mum wanted to remember him as he lived not as he died.

It was years afterwards, when Mr Preater died, that I understood why mum saved her precious pennies and I discovered how my uncle Ernie had died.

Ernie had enlisted with the 1^st Wilts at the outbreak of war. He had survived numerous, hard fought battles but was eventually caught and taken prisoner. The conditions in the German Prisoner of War camps were appalling, the men were half starved, kept alive only by the food parcels sent by the Swindon Committee for the Provision of Comforts for the Wiltshire Regiment and later the Red Cross.

Ironically, Ernie was put to work on railway buildings behind the German lines until, suffering from malnutrition and exhaustion, he became too weak to work. At the end of the war the prisoners were released, left to find their own way home, their health destroyed. Men like Charles Haggard who died within weeks of his return. Ernie didn’t even make it home.

The Duke of Gloucester’s Red Cross Penny a Week Fund was established in 1939 to support the various services provided by the Red Cross. My mum gave up her pennies to help another woman’s loved one survive a prisoner of war camp and come home.

The facts …

Harry Charles Preater is buried with his wife Lilian in plot D65A close to the cemetery chapel. Harry was the eldest of Charles and Mary Jane’s nine children and when he left school he began work as a clerk. He later went on to run the family garage at Whale Bridge.

Harry was also a prominent Mason, a member of the Calley Lodge No 7525 that used to meet at the Corn Exchange. Harry C. Preater was Provincial Secretary from 1942 to 1951 and Deputy Provincial Grand Master from 1952 to 1966.

During the Second World War Harry and his wife Lilian played an active role in the Red Cross. Lilian was the Honorary Commandant of the 68th Wilts Detachment of the British Red Cross and Harry was Secretary of the Swindon Penny a Week Fund which raised £16,500 towards supporting prisoners of war.

*Harry C. Preater and his wife Lilian and sister Ada*

Harry died in 1968 but his name lived on in the Harry C. Preater Masonic Lodge. The Consecration Ceremony took place that same year at the Civil Defence Centre, Savernake Street, Swindon and the banquet was held in the Civil Defence garage. The Lodge then held its meetings at the Masonic Hall, The Square, finally moving to the Planks when that building was completed.

Lilian died in 1970 aged 90. She was buried with her husband and Harry’s sister Ada.

Mr Levi Lapper Morse – the end of an era

The re-imagined story …

The store closed the day of Mr Levi’s funeral, as a mark of respect. That kind of thing seldom happens now, but things were different in those days.

I had only just started work at Morse’s in the summer of 1913. Drapery assistants worked a long day and as a new, young apprentice I was called upon to do the more menial tasks as I learned my trade. I remember doing a lot of dusting.

Morse’s had begun as a small draper’s shop in Stratton St Margaret, opened by Mr Levi’s father Charles, more than 50 years ago. It was Mr Levi who opened the Regent Street store where he proudly announced that you could furnish your house ‘cheaply and well.’

I often wondered how much of his own stock he used to furnish his big old house at The Croft where he entertained his political friends and held the large Primitive Methodist conventions. My mum told me not to let the manager at Morse’s hear me speak like that as I would soon get my marching orders.

The Croft

The staff were gathered together when the announcement of his death was made earlier that week. Many were moved to tears. I hung my head but to be honest I didn’t know him, his days of calling into the store and overseeing the business had long passed. We opened late that day, after we dressed the store in black, trimming last used when the old Queen died.

That week in September everyone spoke about Mr Levi in hushed, reverent voices. I wondered if he was really that well liked, or whether this was just the ‘old order’ speaking; those who touched their forelock when the squire drove past in his carriage.

The end of an era, people said. At 16 you don’t really appreciate what that means. But a year later the world was at war. Nothing was ever the same again.

Levi Lapper Morse

The facts …

The remains of the late Mr Levi Lapper Morse were laid to rest at Swindon Cemetery on Saturday, when nearly 5,000 people witnessed the last rites.

The Cortege, on leaving The Croft, proceeded to the Regent Street primitive Methodist Church. It was headed by a posse of police under Inspector Winchcombe. Then followed the borough magistrates and the Mayor (Mr J.J. Shawyer). The deputy mayor (Mr G. Brooks), and the Town Clerk (Mr R. Hilton). Most of the members of the Corporation and representatives of the principal public bodies brought up the rear of the first portion of the procession. Two carriages laden with beautiful wreaths proceeded the handbier, on which the coffin was laid.

An imposing spectacle was made by the male and female employees of Mr Morse’s business, who came immediately behind the carriages conveying the family mourners. Next were the representatives of religious bodies, and finally about 200 friends and acquaintances who had attend to pay their last tributes of respect.

Besides the family wreaths were tributes from Sir William and Lady Hartley, the members of the Swindon Primitive Methodist circuits, the North Wilts Liberal Association, Members of the second Methodist circuit quarterly meeting, the business staff etc.

Levi Lapper Morse (2)

A Friend’s Tribute

An impressive panegyric was delivered by the Rev T.M. Pinnock, who described the late alderman as ‘my faithful and true friend for 40 years.” Speaking with evident emotion, the reverend gentleman referred to Mr Morse’s generosity to the Church both locally and in the connexion generally. Without him it would have been impossible for their church in Swindon to be what it was that day. Reference was also made to Mr Morse’s unobtrusiveness and natural business talent, which latter quality he made of immense serve to the Church. “He never forsook the friends of his youth,” added the speaker, “and he died fearing God. He sought to make God’s will the rule of his conduct, God’s service the joy of his heart, and God’s glory was the aim of his life.”

Another brief but earnest tribute was given by the Rev J.D. Thompson (general committee secretary), who said the sympathy of Primitive Methodists all over the country went out to the bereaved.

During the service the hymns “O God our help in ages past” and “Rock of Ages” were sung.

A cordon of police had been drawn round the chapel, on the west side of which was the grave, lined with the deceased’s favourite flowers – red roses – and many other beautiful blooms. Large and sympathetic crowds witnessed the final rites, conducted by the Revs. J.D. Jackson and J. Dobson.

A memorial service was conducted by the Rev T. Mostyn Pinnock (formerly of Swindon), at the Regent Street Church on Sunday night.

Extracts from The Wiltshire Times Saturday published September 20 1913

Florence Martha Hinton

*James Hinton pictured with his son’s family (left) and his second wife and two daughters (right)*

What job opportunities would have been available to the young Florence Hinton? Unlike the daughters of the railway workers, she would hardly have joined the growing female workforce in the Carriage and Wagon Works. Of course, she might have been employed in one of her father’s several businesses but it seems more likely that she devoted her time to voluntary work with the Wesleyan Methodist community in Gorse Hill.

Florence Martha Hinton was born on December 21, 1872, the elder daughter of James Hinton and his second wife Sarah. Florence was baptised on January 9, 1879 with her sister Mary Ann at a Wesleyan Methodist church in nearby Farringdon.

James Hinton was a typical Victorian entrepreneur. During his lifetime he had several successful careers and was a prosperous landowner, a local politician and served as Mayor of Swindon in 1903/4. When he died in 1907 James Hinton left £18,910 worth approximately £2m today. But what kind of life did his daughter Florrie lead?

We discover most about Florrie’s life from a detailed obituary published in the Swindon Advertiser at the time of her death.

Florrie married Benjamin Harding, another business man and local politician, at the Presbyterian Church, Swindon on October 30, 1895. At the time of the 1901 census the couple were living at 35 Cricklade Road, Gorse Hill. Benjamin describes himself as a corn dealer and the couple employed 19-year-old Jane Gage as a servant.

At the time of her death in 1905 Florrie and Benjamin were at “Parkfield,” St Brannocks Road, Ilfracombe in Devon but her body was returned to Swindon for burial. The funeral took place from her parent’s home, The Brow, Victoria Road on what was described as a beautiful day where “a very large number of people attended the funeral on foot” and proceeded to Radnor Street Cemetery. The funeral service took place in the cemetery chapel which was filled with some of the mourners having to stand outside. The funeral report continued:

“At the graveside the ceremony was even more impressive, since the large crowd waiting patiently without was able to participate in the service.”

Among the mourners were members of the Gorse Hill Wesleyan Choir and the Wesleyan Sewing Meeting along with many Gorse Hill residents “the scene of so many of the deceased lady’s ungrudging labours, and where she was held in such loving esteem by all who knew her.”

Florrie was buried in plot E8278, close to the cemetery chapel. Her father James died two years later and is buried in the adjacent plot E8279 where her mother was also buried when she died in 1926.

Within four years Benjamin had remarried and was living in Gorse Hill with his second wife Ethel and their two children. He died in 1934 and was buried with Florrie.

The elaborate, black marble monument has an engraving of towers and rooftops and an inscription that reads “In my Father’s House are many mansions.” Florrie is also remembered in Gorse Hill in the naming of a street built by her father – Florence Street.

Job Day – Clerk of the Works

1915: 36 Hythe Road, Swindon - WW1 Postcard from Belgian Refugee in Swindon to Prisoner of War held in Holland? (FRONT) — Published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library

Job Day was born in 1840, the eldest child of stone mason Moses Day and his wife Esther. By 1874 Job had established two businesses, which he advertised regularly in the North Wilts Herald. Based at his home in North Street, Job set up as a coal and coke merchant alongside his work as a builder and stone mason ‘estimates supplied, building and drainage in all its branches, stove, grates etc fixed.’

The start of a new decade proved a busy one as he married Emma Matilda Pepler in 1870. On the work front during the early 1870s Job’s building projects included a house at the station and two properties in Cheltenham Street and in 1871 he built four houses numbered 42 to 45 North Street, properties in which the family would live at various times. On the 1881 census returns he was described as a Master Builder employing 1 man and 2 boys.

But perhaps his most prestigious contract proved to be his most problematic. A large school building programme began following the creation of the Swindon School Board at the beginning of the 1880s when Job applied for the position of Clerk of the Works. He was up against some keen competition but Job had an influential supporter in his corner. Newspaper proprietor Mr William Morris proposed the appointment of Job, which was seconded by bank manager Wm Brewer Wearing and Job was duly elected at a salary of £2 a week.

Sanford Street School, Swindon published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library

His new job kicked off with the construction of Sanford Street School for Boys followed by the approval of the site and plans for a school in Westcott Street. But within two years things had gone badly wrong, as the following letter published in the North Wilts Herald explains:-

‘The Swindon School Board and the Clerk of the Works – Mr Job Day, the late clerk of the works to the Swindon School Board, requests us to publish the subjoined letter which he has addressed to the Swindon School Board in reference to a resolution passed at their last meeting;-

Gentlemen, I am in receipt of a copy of the resolution passed at your meeting on Thursday last, and as it reflects upon the acknowledgement of my services passed by you 24^th March, 1881, I beg to return you the letter, as I should be sorry to retain it without, in your opinion, I had deserved it. Allow me to say, in reference to this matter, as a temporary accommodation I hauled 20 and 30 loads of sand at the starting of Westcott Schools. My relations with the contractors towards the end were of a very disagreeable nature, through the work I made them do again. Mr Binyon consented to some points in the building of the walls that I objected to. I said when the wall fell down it was through the mortar having perished, and I still have the same opinion.

It was my opinion that the walls should not have been built in the weather they were, but you must remember the work was greatly pressed by the Board.

I am, gentlemen, your obedient servant

Job Day

North Street, Swindon, 17^th April, 1882.’

Architect Brightwen Binyon responsible for designing numerous high profile buildings in Swindon. Image published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.

The altercation concerning architect Brightwen Binyon and the Swindon School Board did not hold him back though and during the 1880s he went on to build cottages in Clifton Street and houses in Hythe, Ashford and Kent Road.

At the time of the 1911 census Job Day was 70 years old and a widower. He lived at 45 North Street where his 17 year old niece Annie Pepler acted as his housekeeper. He describes his occupation as Builder & Decorator & Coal Dealer. He states he had 5 children, none of them living.

Job died on March 22, 1921 aged 80 years of age. He was buried on March 26, in plot E8013. Buried with him are his daughter Annie Sarah who died in 1899, his son William John who died in 1904 and his wife Emma Matilda who died in 1909.

Swindon’s working class history

Unlike Highgate Cemetery in London, Radnor Street Cemetery is not a tourist destination. Plenty of Swindonians don’t even know of its existence. There are no elaborate mausolea, no Egyptian Avenue or Terrace Catacombs and although at first sight there appear to be large numbers of headstones, the vast majority of graves are unmarked.

The GWR Works opened in 1842 and employed more than 1,700 men twenty years later. At the same time a shortage of burial spaces in the town became of critical concern, but the Radnor Street cemetery was not opened until 1881.

Highgate Cemetery has been the setting for numerous books, several films and in the 1970s was subject to a bizarre vampire obsession. Radnor Street cemetery online archives include just a few early 20^th century photographs and a 1980s music video filmed by Swindon music legend XTC.

Highgate Cemetery is famous for being famous; for the number of people of note and celebrities interred there. Radnor Street cemetery is all about working class history. The men who rose through the ranks of the railway engineering hierarchy and others who spent a lifetime on the factory floor in the GWR Works. Those men who served in two world wars and died as the result of their service. The women who trained as nurses, who taught in Swindon’s schools, worked in factories, shops and offices and raised large families who began the cycle all over again.

This is Swindon’s working class history – stories of the triumphs and the tragedies and the sheer hard work.

The Egyptian Avenue at Highgate Cemetery

Just how much sorrow can one family endure?

Mary Ann Harwood and Ferdinand Turner grew up in the small rural parish of Lydiard Tregoze, on the outskirts of Swindon, most of which was owned by the St John family at Lydiard Park.

Ferdinand Turner was baptised at the parish church of St Mary’s on October 11, 1829, the son of Emma Turner, an unmarried woman who worked as an agricultural labourer. Mary Ann was the daughter of Robert Harwood, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Susannah. She was baptised on April 1, 1832 also at St Mary’s Church.

The young couple married on December 22, 1855 at St Mary’s. In 1871 they were living in Toothill where they both worked as agricultural labourers. Their elder daughters Sarah Jane and Elizabeth worked on the land with them, and possibly their younger daughters Susan and Lucy as well. Their youngest two children were Mary Ellen, aged 3 and 5 month old Frederic William.

But change was on the way and you have to ask yourself just how much sorrow can one family endure?

Mary Ann’s younger brother Robert died in 1872 in a shocking accident while out poaching on land at Toothill Farm.

Shocking Death. – An inquest was held on Monday at Toothill Farm, about four miles from Swindon, on the body of Robert Harwood, aged 27, an engine-driver in the employ of the Great Western Railway Company, who had been found dead on the farm on Sunday, with a gunshot wound through the head upwards. The spot where the body was found commanded a view of several fields, and it is conjectured the deceased went to the farm on Sunday early and shot rabbits from this point, two being found near him. It is supposed that he was drawing his gun towards him to shoot again, when it became entangled, and, the trigger being moved, the gun exploded. The charge entering the throat under the left ear in an upward direction, death of course was instantaneous. When the body was found the muzzle of the gun was towards it, and the butt end in the hedge. Verdict “Accidentally killed by a gun while unlawfully shooting rabbits.”

Southern Times Saturday, July 27, 1872.

The grave of Robert Harwood in St Mary’s Churchyard, Lydiard Tregoze

Robert was buried with his father in the old country churchyard at St. Mary’s. The ripples of shock and grief swept through the family and no doubt Mary Ann drew close to support her widowed mother. But within three years another tragedy hit the family.

By 1875 the Turner family had moved into Swindon and a home in Haydon Street close to the GWR Works where Ferdinand was employed as a labourer. One Saturday morning in March 1875 their two younger children, Mary Ellen and Frederick, walked back to Mannington to visit the neighbours they had once been so close to.

Burned to death – Mr Coroner Whitmarsh held an inquest at the Great Western Hotel, Swindon Station, on Wednesday, on the body of Mary Ellen Turner, seven years of age, daughter of Ferdinand Turner, of New Swindon, a laborer. It appeared that deceased, accompanied by a brother five years of age, left home at ten o’clock on Saturday morning for the house of a person named Carter who lived at Mannington, and was formerly a neighbor of deceased’s mother. The children got there safe enough and, at twelve o’clock, had some dinner with Mrs. Carter, and on the latter again going out to her work in the fields the children with others followed her. They played in the same meadow as that in which Mrs Carter was engaged, and amused themselves for sometime in gathering the early spring flowers which they were fortunate enough to find. In about half an hour, however, Mrs Carter was startled at hearing dreadful screams, and on going in the direction from which they proceeded she saw deceased, whose clothes were in flames, running towards her. It seemed that in putting some sticks on a small fire which was near, and which Mrs Carter’s daughter (a girl about fourteen years old) had lit to keep herself warm while bird-keeping, deceased’s water-proof became ignited. She instantly took it off, but the flames caught her dress, and, finding they had attained a mastery, the child screamed aloud, which as before shown, attracted Mrs Carter’s attention. She did what she could under the circumstances, and deceased was taken to a neighbor’s house. The doctor was sent for, and in a very short time Mr Simon, an assistant to Messrs. Swinhoe and Howse, attended. He dressed the wounds, and the child was removed home to Swindon in a dog-trap. The case, however, was a hopeless one from the first, and deceased died the same night, at a quarter to nine o’clock, from exhaustion and shock to the system, the result of the injuries received. The jury returned a verdict of “Accidentally burnt.”

The North Wilts Herald, Saturday, March 27, 1875.

Poor little Mary Ellen was buried in the churchyard at St Mark’s Church in the railway village on March 25, 1875.

And then in 1886 the couple lost their daughter Susan who died aged 25. Without access to her death certificate we do not know what the cause of death was. A death announcement was published in the Swindon Advertiser, but there is no account of how she died. As a young, unmarried woman it is doubtful she died during childbirth so we can only suspect she died from an illness. She was buried on January 21st, 1886 in grave plot A415 where this elegant headstone was later erected.

Was this all there was to discover about this family? I hoped there would be no further tragic deaths.

Ferdinand died in 1904 aged 72 years old and is buried in the plot next to his daughter, A414. Mary Ann died two years later aged 70 and joined Ferdinand.

Almost thirty years later Susan was joined by a brother-in-law she had never known as he came on the scene long after her death. David L.H. Price was the husband of her elder sister Elizabeth. David worked as a striker in the Works and died at his home 95 Linslade Road, Rodbourne. His funeral took place on May 4, 1915. He was 48 years old.

Cheltenham Street

Job Day, Jabez Henry Forshaw and C. Joyce were among the builders who begun work on a New Swindon street in 1869/70. By the time of the 1871 census Cheltenham Street was a busy residential town centre street extending from Station Road to the canal. It vanished in all but name with the demolition of more than 80 houses and the later construction of the Tri Centre complex built in the 1980s.

Photographs taken recently show the Fleming Way area as work begins on the ambitious £33m bus boulevard project due for completion in 2024. Reduced to the Cheltenham Street car park for many years this latest project may be the final death knell for a street that provided homes for a busy town centre community. This aerial view is believed to date from the late 1950s before the area was ‘improved’ during an earlier regeneration scheme.

So, what brought James Hager Adnams and his wife Elizabeth to Swindon following their marriage in London in 1863. Two years previously James had served as a Chief Quartermaster on HMS Ganges before the ship was converted into a training ship however, by 1871 the couple were living at 47 Cheltenham Street in a house they shared with Zacharias Peskett and his wife Ann. James describes his status as Seaman Pensioner. James and Elizabeth continued to live with Zacharias when in 1881 their address is 75 Cheltenham Street. They may have moved into another house in the same street or the street may have been renumbered as further properties were added.

James died at number 75 Cheltenham Street in April 1887 and was buried in a public grave in Radnor Street Cemetery plot number B1392. Elizabeth continued to live in the same house, taking a lodger by the time of the 1901 census. Elizabeth died in April 1910 and was buried on April 9, the anniversary of her husband’s funeral. She is also buried in a public grave plot B2360.

In 1912 Cheltenham Street was the former home of retired GWR foreman Benjamin Howard 63, and his wife Ellen 61, when they decided to join their two sons in America. Having sold up their belongings and said goodbye to friends they set sail in style on the ill-fated, luxury liner, the Titanic. Benjamin and Ellen were among more than 1,500 people who died on the ship’s maiden voyage. Their bodies were never recovered.

The lost Alley family babies

It was my great good fortune to recently meet up with some overseas visitors researching the Alley family. Di, George and Kay are all descended from Frederick Alley and his wife Elizabeth. When we visited the couple’s grave in Radnor Street cemetery with local Alley family historian Wendy, we talked about their large family (18 children) and the seven who had died, whose burial places were unknown.

Originally from Westbury and Trowbridge the young couple arrived in Swindon in the late 1860s, appearing on the 1871 census living at 64 Cheltenham Street with their two sons, Frederick 4 and one year old Albert, both born in Trowbridge. Two children had already died.

So many of their lost children were born and died in between the taking of the 10 yearly census returns, but the visiting family members knew their names and all I had to do was discover where they were buried.

Eldest daughter Annie Phedora, born in 1865 who died in 1870 was buried in St Mark’s churchyard. George Martin, born in 1868 died in 1871 and was also buried at St Marks.

View of St Mark’s taken from the cemetery

Three boys and another little girl are all buried in Radnor Street Cemetery although, sadly not together.

Charles was 9 months old when he died in April 1883. He was buried in a public plot number A490 which he shares with six other babies and young children who died between 1883 and 1902.

Later that same year Frederick and Elizabeth lost another baby son. Sidney was only 16 hours old when he died in November 1883. He was buried in a public plot number A62 which he shares with two others; a girl aged 11 years who died in 1901, almost 20 years later. The third burial was that of a gentleman aged 89 who died in 1928, so again another long gap between interments.

Arthur was 11 months old when he died in November 1885. He is buried in plot number A110 with five other babies and young children who died between 1885 and 1915.

The family home at the time these babies died was at 65 Gooch Street.

Lizzie died aged 3 years old and was buried on January 1, 1891. She is buried in a public plot number B1922 with five other babies aged 2 – 13 months who died between 1891 and 1917. At the time of her death the family lived at 16 Princes Street.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find the burial place of one remaining daughter. Elizabeth Maria was born in 1873 and died before her first birthday, but at least we now know where six of those seven little children are buried. I didn’t like the thought of them being ‘lost’.

James Hinton – a return visit

So, what did James Hinton ever do for us? Not me personally, but Swindon in general. Here is a quick resume of the roles he played in both his personal life and his public one.

Published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.

He was born in 1842 in Newport Street, Swindon but grew up on the family farm at Wanborough. In 1860 he married Sarah Ann May and the following year the couple were living in Lambourn where he worked as a Corn, Seed and Flour Factor. He next worked as a butcher, first in Longcot and then in Wroughton. Sarah died in 1870 and after his second marriage to Sarah Honor Whiteman he moved back to Swindon and emerged on the Swindon scene as a businessman of considerable influence. A builder and brick maker he soon became an auctioneer with premises in Regents Circus. He was a railway entrepreneur, a Freemason and a Forester, New Swindon Local Board member, Alderman and Mayor of Swindon in 1903.

But his biggest legacy has to be the numerous properties he built across the town, which still survive to this day. Perhaps his two largest building projects were the development in Kingshill where he laid out the Mount Pleasant housing estate in 1877, building 35 houses in 1878. In 1879 he laid out land between Dixon, Stafford and Clifton Streets where he continued to build in 1883 and 1884. In 1881 he built a brick kiln in Kingshill, obviously to keep up with the demand for bricks while work continued. In 1889 he began work on the Gorse Hill Farm housing estate, meanwhile continuing with further projects across both New and Old Swindon.

published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library

There can be no denying that James Hinton made a tidy penny for himself. After his death in 1907 his effects were valued at £18,910 4s 1d (worth today approximately £2.1m) but without his investment in the fabric of the town it is questionable that it would have developed so extensively or so rapidly as it did in the 1870/80s.

James Hinton died in 1907 and is buried in Radnor Street Cemetery with his wife Sarah who died in 1928.

The Alley family reunion

Local history is a wonderful discipline. When I first began researching those buried in Radnor Street Cemetery I came across a fascinating family by the name of Alley. Fast forward some 15 years and yesterday I was a guest at the Alley family reunion where more than 30 members of the local family (plus Colin and his wife who travelled from Bedfordshire) gathered to celebrate their shared ancestry. The event was organised by Wendy and Christine who welcomed not only local cousins but Di and George from Australia and Kay from Canada.

It was an afternoon packed with stories and discoveries, fun and laughter. There were photographs and spread sheets and family tree charts that people were adding to and updating.

Di, George and Kay joined me on a cemetery visit to the grave of their common ancestors Frederick and Elizabeth Alley. We also paid a visit to the grave of George Richman Alley and his wife Emma and marvelled at the story of their seven daughters, one of whom was Emma Louisa Hull, suffragette.

I’m waiting for the reunion photos to circulate, which I will add to this blogpost, but meanwhile here is the story of Frederick and Elizabeth Alley.

As promised, here a few reunion photographs

Frederick married Elizabeth Gould in 1864 in Trowbridge. He was 19 and she was 17. They had a very large family – 18 children, although sadly seven of them died in childhood.

Frederick arrived in Swindon in 1868 to a home in Cheltenham Street and a job as a railway labourer, later becoming a machine man. He worked in the GWR factory for 51 years and when he retired he set up the GWR Retired Workmen’s’ Association.

The couple were members of the Baptist church where Frederick was a lay-preacher for more than 45 years and from 1890-1924 he was a Trustee of the Baptist Tabernacle.

Elizabeth died in 1927 aged 80. Frederick died the following year aged 83 at 45 Buller Street, the home of his daughter Ada.

The couple had already purchased this grave ten years previously when their youngest son Edgar died in 1918. Edgar had joined the navy as an 18 year old in 1909, initially for a 12 year period. However, in the middle of his service war broke out. Edgar was invalided out of the navy in 1916 – family sources say he had suffered shell shock – and returned to Swindon and a job as an electrician in the ammunitions factory known locally as the Powder Works.

He died on November 28, 1918 suffering from broncho pneumonia and influenza. Edgar was 27 years old when he died. He left a widow and two young children.