Continuing a series remembering Swindon’s sons who served in the First and Second World Wars.
Reginald Arthur Cook was born in Swindon on September 8, 1896 the son of William and Selina Cook. Reginald entered the employment of the GWR shortly after his 14th birthday and stayed with the company until his retirement. His only absence was during the First World War when he served on the Western Front and was promoted for an act of gallantry.
Swindon Soldier Promoted for Gallantry
Pte. R.A. Cook, the only son of Mr. W. Cook, Cemetery Superintendent, Radnor Street, Swindon, has been promoted to the rank of lance-corporal for gallant conduct.
Major-General H.D.E. Parsons, Director of Ordnance Services, British Armies in France, has written to Pte. Cook, dated October 19th, as follows: “Your name has been brought to my notice by your Commanding Officer for ‘gallant conduct in snatching an enemy stick-grenade, that had become ignited, from another man, and throwing it into a shell hole some ten yards away, thus saving the man’s life at grave risk of your own. The report reflects credit on yourself and the Army Ordnance Corps.”
Lce. Copl. Cook is 21 years of age, and is a native of Swindon. On leaving school he entered the GWR Works as a clerk. He joined the Army on October 6th, 1915, and proceeded to Woolwich for training, but after being there three weeks he was transferred to France, where he has been ever since. He is now home on leave, and will return to France on December 21st.
North Wilts Herald, Friday, December 14, 1917.
Reginald returned home to Swindon at the end of the war and lived with his parents at 63 Kent Road where he died on March 31, 1972. Reginald never married and was buried with his parents and his only sister Winifred Gladys, in the cemetery where his father once worked as Cemetery Superintendent.
Military and local historian Mark Sutton spent a lifetime dedicated to the research of the Swindon men who served in the First World War. In 2006 he published Tell Them of Us – Remembering Swindon’s Sons of the Great War 1914-1918 – a go-to book for anyone researching their Swindon ancestors who served.
Among the many stories Mark tells in his book is that of Jesse Bray.
Born on November 13, 1897 in Aldbourne, Jesse was the son of Albert, a Windsor chair maker, and his wife Honor Bray. He was baptised on January 30, 1898 at the parish church of St. Michael’s and grew up in Castle Street and South Street, Aldbourne.
Taking up the story in Tell Them of Us, Mark writes how Jesse Bray enlisted at the age of just 17 and served with the 4th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment, attached to the Signal Service Royal Engineers. Jesse kept a diary recording his movements during the war, which Mark was allowed access to and which he reproduced in his book.
Jesse enlisted with the 4th Wilts on April 24, 1915. He returned to Aldbourne for a brief holiday before being sworn in at Princes Street, Swindon. On September 3 he joined the Signal Service and was moved to Winton, Bournemouth where he was billeted with “Mrs Best 33 Somerly.”
On March 14, 1916 Jesse embarked on HMS Saturnia at Devonport. “Set sail at noon. Destination unknown.” On April 3 he arrived at Alexandra Docks, Bombay. From 13-17 April he marched more than 60 miles from Jelicote to Chanbattia. On July 7 he visited Ranikhet, the Indian hill station, which made such an impression on another Wiltshire man, the Hammerman poet Alfred Williams.
Jesse spent 3 years serving in India recording his movements and memorable incidents in his diary. He recorded the marches, the outbreaks of fever and a minor wound. And then on November 11, 1918 Jesse Bray, signaller for 37th Brigade HQ, took the historic telegram that announced the armistice and an end to hostilities.
On August 29, 1919 Jess writes: “Transferred to departure camp.” On September 22 he enters “Warned for England.” The following day he left Deolali to begin his journey home. October 14 and he writes “Arrived Plymouth and entrained for Fovant.” Oct 16 – “Handed in rifle and left for Swindon.” On April 1, 1920 he is able to write “Final Discharge.”
Jesse returned to Swindon where he married Teodolinda Stefani in 1922. Despite the dangers and deprivations of his military service, Jesse lived to the grand age of 95. He died on March 24, 1992 at 26 Tiverton Road, Swindon and lies buried in St. Michael’s churchyard, Aldbourne.
Perhaps without Mark’s dedicated research we would never have known about Jesse Bray’s Great War Service.
Tell Them of Us – Remembering Swindon’s Sons of the Great War 1914-1918 by Mark Sutton.
With the launch today of the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal 2022 we begin a series of blogposts entitled Tell Them of Us. These articles will be drawing heavily on the work of Mark Sutton. Mark had a life long interest in the Swindon men who served in the Great War, researching, writing and recording their service and sacrifice in his book – Tell Them of Us.
Mark made numerous visits to the battlefield cemeteries in France and Belgium, laying wreaths on the graves of Swindon men on behalf of their families back home. Mark also worked with Swindon’s schools, showing items from his vast military collection. He knew instinctively how to talk to children about a war that was beyond living memory but intrinsic to our town’s history. For many years he conducted guided walks at Radnor Street Cemetery, visiting the Commonwealth War Graves and remembering the men buried there. He was a popular speaker on the Swindon history circuit, his talks selling out immediately they were announced. He was also co-founder of Swindon Heritage, a quarterly history magazine published between 2013 and 2017. Sadly, Mark died earlier this year but his memory and his legacy will live on, in the same way he made the story of Swindon’s sons who served in the Great War endure.
I begin with the story of Arthur North who is mentioned in Mark’s book Tell Them of Us and told in the words of Kevin Leakey, local historian researching the history of Queenstown and Broadgreen.
Gorse Hill Memorial rescued by Mark Sutton and displayed in the Radnor Street Cemetery chapel.
Arthur was a younger brother of one of my Great Grandmothers – Kate Leakey.
He was 7 months old and living with his family at 62 Bright St. on the 1891 census, so I would guess he was probably born at that address.
By the 1901 census the North family were living at 69 Cricklade Rd and by 1911, were at 139 Cricklade Rd, where Arthur’s parents lived until they passed away.
The 1934 funeral of his Mother, Mary Ann, took place at Trinity Methodist Church (139 Cricklade Rd being a few doors away from the church), which I think was the church the WW1 memorial came from.
Arthur emigrated to Australia in 1909 and worked as a farmer, living with his Uncle Samuel North and his family at a small place called Batchica near Warracknabeal, Victoria.
He joined the Australian Army in January 1915, and after going to Gallipoli in Sept. 1915, he seems to have been ill from the end of October until June 1916, then spending the next 7 months in the UK, before being sent to France in Feb. 1917.
He was killed on the 3rd May 1917 on first day of the second battle of Bullecourt. As far as I can tell his body was never recovered.
The Red Cross files give info about his death from other soldiers that saw him on the day it happened. I don’t suppose it was at all unusual, with the men being in the middle of a battle at the time of his death, but their reports as to his whereabouts etc. seem to contradict each other.
Apart from his name being on the Gorse Hill memorial, it is also on the Warracknabeal war memorial in Australia.
Sadly, we have no photos of Arthur and aren’t in contact with any of his brothers and sisters families, but I always put a cross down at the cenotaph every year in remembrance.
Princess Helena Victoria visited Swindon on April 21, 1923 published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.
The re-imagined story …
When I told mum the Mayor had selected me to meet Princess Helena Victoria when she came to Swindon, she said nothing at first.
I joined the Girl Guides when I was 12 and went on to become a Ranger. It was in this role that the Mayor, Cllr Harding, had invited me to meet the Princess when she came to town to open the Boys’ Red Triangle Club.
I loved everything about being a Guide. I loved the fellowship and the feeling that I was making a contribution to society. I had made some good friends. Where we met was the only place I could relax and have fun and laugh and be myself. There wasn’t much laughter in our house. Mum’s grief was all consuming, to laugh seemed to be making a mockery of her sadness.
She hadn’t always been a serious kind of person, it was dad who was the sombre character. She would tease him and tickle him when he refused to smile and I can hear her tinkling laughter somewhere in my memory.
“I’d rather you didn’t meet her, Sylvia.”
I was stunned. The Mayor had paid me a huge honour, selecting me to meet the Princess.
“It’s a real privilege mum. The Mayor has only asked George Akins from the Scouts and me to meet her.”
“She’s German,” said mum, blunt just like that. ‘She’s German.’
“She’s Queen Victoria’s granddaughter.” I was incredulous.
“And she was German, too. I’ll not have a daughter of mine shake hands with a German.”
I couldn’t argue with her, that would have been too cruel. She had lost dad and my uncle in the war. Sometimes it felt as if the war had been in another age, at other times it felt as if we were still living through it. Some people would bear the scars for a lifetime, limbs lost, faces disfigured, minds broken. My mum had a broken heart and I doubted whether she would ever recover.
Everyone was excited about seeing the Princess. There was to be a luncheon at the Queen’s Royal Hotel first before she opened the Boys’ Red Triangle Club and a Civic Gathering in the Town Hall afterwards.
I explained to the Mayor why I couldn’t greet the Princess. I thought he would be angry, but actually he seemed to understand.
Sometimes it felt as if the war had been in another age; at other times it felt as if we were still living through it.
Mayor A.E. Harding
The facts …
Princess Helena Victoria visited Swindon on Saturday, April 21, 1923. The Princess was the elder daughter of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Helena, the daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. She was born at Frogmore House in 1870 and lived her entire life in Britain. During the First World War she visited British troops in France and afterwards worked to promote and support the YMCA and the YWCA. During the war King George V relinquished the use of German royal titles for himself and his numerous cousins.
Albert Edward Harding was born in London in 1865. At the time of the 1881 census he was working in the railway factory as a clerk and lodging with the Hunt family at 38 Prospect. He married Agnes Westmacott in 1889 and the couple had three children, Stewart Jasper, Myrtle Marion Westmacott and Albert Edward Benjamin Harding.
The family first lived at 115 Princes Street where in 1898 Harding was the divisional secretary to the National Deposit Friendly Society, in addition to his job as a Clerk in the railway works. The family later moved to their long-time home at 56 Victoria Road.
Albert Edward Harding was a Councillor representing the East Ward from about 1911 and served as Mayor of Swindon in 1922/23, the year that Princess Helena Victoria visited Swindon.
Albert Edward Harding died at his home on December 30, 1943. He is buried in plot E8568 with his wife Agnes, their son Albert Edward Benjamin Harding and daughter in law Kathleen.
Their eldest son Stewart Jasper Harding is buried in the neighbouring grave plot E8569 with his wife Gladys.
Dr George Money Swinhoe was the GWR surgeon at Swindon between c1861 to his death in 1908. He and his wife Diana produced a large family based first at 4 London Street and then later at Park House, which served as family home and doctor’s surgery. They had eight daughters, one of whom died in infancy, five who married and two who didn’t; of their five sons one entered the military, one trained as an engineer and two became doctors working alongside their father. Youngest child Maurice chose a somewhat different career – that of banana planter and fruit exporter working with Elder & Fyfe in Kingston, Jamaica.
Unfortunately Maurice was in Jamaica when an earthquake occurred on January 14, 1907. The first terrifying reports stated that almost all the buildings in Kingston had been destroyed and there was a great loss of life. In the following days an estimated 20,000 people were made homeless, camping out on the racecourse. One report told how ‘continual religious services are being held, in which the people join with hysterical fervour.’ While fires continued to rage in the dock area, a tsunami flooded the lower part of Kingston. The death toll quickly escalated with 1,000 declared dead, although this figure was thought to be an inaccurate and low estimation. The earthquake was described as one of the world’s deadliest recorded in history with aftershocks still being recorded up to March 22, 1907.
Maurice survived and in due course returned to England, but it would appear from the obituary published in the North Wilts Herald, Friday, September 29, 1911 that he never fully recovered from the ordeal.
A Swindonian in Jamaica
News from Mr Maurice C. Swinhoe
On Sunday a cable message was received by Dr George Money Swinhoe from his youngest son, Mr C. Maurice Swinhoe, who went out to Jamaica and settled near Kingston some five or six years ago, stating that he is safe, having, happily, escaped those terrible consequences of the recent earthquake which have been shared by so many.
It is hardly necessary to say that the message, so eagerly looked for, has afforded considerable relief to Dr. Swinhoe and the members of his family.
As stated a fortnight ago in the “Advertiser,” Mr Maurice Swinhoe went out to Jamaica some five or six years ago, and settled some three miles outside Kingston, where he threw in his lot with a partner, possessing an extensive banana plantation, as a planter. Close by the plantation is the racecourse, covering a wide stretch of turf, and, according to the reports received from the stricken area, it was upon this racecourse that the desolated people camped out. Dr. Swinhoe, however, received no news from or concerning his son, and, naturally, the absence of any intelligence gave rise to a little anxiety.
Dr Rodway Swinhoe was, perhaps, the most sanguine member of the family for when fears for the absent one’s safety were beginning to be felt, he said to an “Advertiser” reporter in the course of an interview, “I don’t think anything can have happened to my brother. You see, he picked up a little medical knowledge while out there, and no doubt he has been so busy doing what he can for the sufferers that he has not had the time or opportunity to send any word home.”
The Evening Swindon Advertiser Monday, January 28, 1907
Death of Mr M.C. Swinhoe
The death occurred on Wednesday at the residence of his sister, 11, St. Mary Abbott’s Terrace, London, W., of Mr Maurice Carew Swinhoe, [the youngest age,] was the thirteenth child of Dr. G.M. Swinhoe and was, of course, a brother of Dr. G.R. Swinhoe, of Swindon. Some years ago he went to Jamaica and was occupied as a fruit exporter, being connected with the well known firm of Elder & Fyfe at Kingston. He was in Jamaica at the time of the great earthquake, and a series of letters was published in the columns of this paper at that time vividly descriptive of the stirring phases of danger which the deceased experienced. He suffered much in consequence from nervous derangement, and returned to England, and some two years ago underwent an operation at Bournemouth. It subsequently transpired that this was of little avail, and a further operation was performed at St. Thomas’s Hospital, London. The deceased had been ill for a considerable time previous to his death.
North Wilts Herald, Friday, September 29, 1911.
The body of Maurice Carew Swinhoe was returned to Swindon where he was buried in grave E8228, a large family plot. He was 30 years old.
The following words were published in the North Wilts Herald in 1939 as part of a much longer article celebrating the Golden Wedding anniversary of former Mayor A.E. Harding and his wife Agnes. Of course the article concentrated on the work of the Mayor but his wife was more than an equal in this partnership.
Agnes Westmacott was born in Somerford Keynes into a staunchly Primitive Methodist family. Her father, Samuel Westmacott, was a baker and grocer who moved to Swindon by the time of the 1871 census. He became a member of the Regent Street Chapel with which Agnes would be involved throughout her life.
Agnes married Albert Edward Harding, a railway clerk in 1889 and the couple had three children, Stewart, Myrtle and Albert. The family’s long time home was ‘Apsley.’ Not Apsley House, former home of the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, but a property called Apsley at 56 Victoria Road.
Albert entered politics in 1907 serving as a councillor representing the East Ward on the Swindon Town Council and in 1922 was appointed Mayor. However, family life continued to centre around Primitive Methodism and the Regent Street chapel where Agnes served as a Sunday School teacher for many years. She was also the first secretary of the Brinkworth and Swindon district branch of the Primitive Methodist Women’s Missionary Society.
Agnes Harding died at her home and was buried with her husband, who had died six years previously, in Radnor Street Cemetery in grave plot E8568 on December 30, 1949. The couple were later joined by their youngest son Albert and his wife Kathleen. Buried in the neighbouring plot is their eldest son Stewart, who predeceased his parents, dying in 1931. He is buried in plot E8569 with his wife Gladys who died in 1968.
Married for Fifty Years
Golden Wedding of Mr and Mrs A.E. Harding of Swindon
Mrs Harding’s Record.
Mrs Harding was born at Somerford Keynes and came to Swindon with her parents in her youth. She was a scholar in the day school at the Regent street Primitive Methodist Church, and one of the first scholars to attend the College street school. For many years she was a teacher in the Primitive Methodist Sunday School, Regent street, with which church she has been associated all her life. She was elected to teach a class of unruly youths – and then for many years taught the infants class of some seventy children. During this period she was presented with the diploma for long service.
For many years she has been a class leader, with at one time 95 members on her book, but of late years has had to have more assistants.
Mrs Harding was one of the first pupils of the Art School which was held in the old Town Hall, The Square, whilst the College was being built.
When the Primitive Methodist Women’s Missionary Society was established she was one of the first to form a branch in Swindon, and was secretary of the Brinkworth and Swindon district branch. At the conference at Cardiff in 1924, Mrs Harding was elected national president of the society; she represented the District Sunday School at the triennial conference at Liverpool, was a delegate to the annual synod at Aylesbury and to the conference at Sheffield.
During her year of office as Mayoress, Mrs Harding was presented by the branch with a silver purse and an album of the members’ names. As Mayoress she helped to form the Nursing Association and has continued as a member.
A member of the Red Triangle Club at its formation, she still continues her association with the women’s section.
When the Linen Guild at the hospital was formed, Mrs Harding became a member, and still continues with the weekly meetings. She is president of the sewing circle of the Regent street Church and in connection with these organisations, she has made hundreds of articles and is still an active member of all these societies.
At her silver wedding she was presented with a silver salad bowl by the British Women’s Temperance Organisation.
Councillor and Mrs A.E. Harding were presented to Her Highness Princess Helena Victoria at the opening of the Red Triangle Club; in 1933 to their Majesties King George the Fifth and Queen Mary, when they visited Swindon, and to the Duke of Gloucester on his recent visit when opening the Civic Offices.
Extract North Wilts Herald, Friday, 17 March, 1939
Today there is a worldwide interest in cemeteries both as an historical resource and also as a place of beauty. From pristine perfection to benign neglect, cemeteries are of interest to many.
I follow a wide selection of ‘Friends’ groups including the Friends of Brompton, Kensal Green and Highgate cemeteries. And then, of course, there is Sheldon K. Goodman of Cemetery Club fame who receives rave review on Tripadvisor.
Between the Radnor Street Cemetery group of volunteers we have collected many hundreds of photographs but we seldom come across any taken at the beginning of the cemetery’s history. So it came as something of a surprise to find the following snippet of news published in the Swindon Advertiser in 1889.
Old Swindon Local Board
Cemetery Committee
A report was read from this committee, being of a formal nature. Amongst other business the committee recommended that a sum not exceeding £20 should be spent in purchasing and planting trees in the cemetery. A local photographer had applied to the committee, and was granted permission, to take photographs of and in the cemetery.- The report was adopted and this concluded the business.
The Swindon Advertiser, Saturday, November 23, 1889.
Who was that photographer and where are his photographs? Can anyone enlighten me?
These are the earliest known photographs of the cemetery – unless you know differently.
A photograph dated c1910 taken by William Hooper
A photograph taken following the funeral of Levi Lapper Morse in 1913.
It cannot be denied how important the growth of Primitive Methodism in Swindon was to the development of the town itself. It has been argued that nonconformity arrived in Swindon with the establishment of the Great Western Railway as railwaymen came from across the country bringing with them a tradition of working class, chapel attendance, but this is not the whole story. Evidence of nonconformity was present in the area long before and in 1924 the Primitive Methodists celebrated the Centenary of the Brinkworth and Swindon District Synod.
By 1828 there was a growing Primitive Methodist membership in what was then known as Eastcott, an area around where Regent Circus would later be built. Open air meetings were delivered by travelling preachers until a plot of land was gifted by Thomas and James Edwards in fulfilment of their father’s bequest. It was here, on what would later become Regent Street, that the Primitive Methodists built a chapel.
Charles Morse, a pioneer of Primitive Methodism in North Wiltshire, said ‘that it was like building a Chapel in some foreign land, scarcely a house was near, there was a road through the field, but not a stone to be seen upon it.’
Rev. G. Pilgrim, Minister of the Newport Street Congregational Church, attended the inaugural meeting and he commented that there were very few people there, and of them the greater part were old women and he was at a loss to know how the Primitives were to build a Chapel and pay for it.
But build it they did, and what’s more they rebuilt twice more as their membership grew and out grew three buildings. The first modest chapel was demolished and rebuilt in 1863 followed by a third Chapel providing accommodation for 600 built in 1876 at a cost of £3,110.
Regent Street with Primitive Methodist Chapel on the left of the image. Published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.
The Regent Street chapel became the parent church of the Second Circuit. However, its situation on Swindon’s busy shopping street became increasingly problematic. Sadly, it was demolished in 1957, its funds used to improve other Methodist churches in Swindon.
Image published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.
A public health report and an urgent need for burial space in the rapidly developing town along with the growth of nonconformity contributed to the building of a new cemetery in 1881. Now the nonconformists could bury their loved ones without the strictures or rites of the established church. Radnor Street Cemetery, an area of unconsecrated ground, became the last resting place of some notable nonconformists including Mayors, Councillors and Alderman alongside others who worshipped in the numerous churches and chapels. You might like to read more by following these links …
Amy Edna Riddick was a member of Primitive Methodism royalty. Born in 1852 in Stratton St Margaret, Amy was the second daughter of Charles Morse and his second wife Rebecca Lapper.
Charles Morse was a legendary figure and pioneer of Primitive Methodism in not only North Wiltshire but neighbouring Berkshire and Hampshire. He was born in Purton in 1811 and converted to Primitive Methodism as a young man. He was soon engaged in preaching at open air meetings where he was frequently arrested and escorted away in handcuffs. He became a Sunday School teacher and conducted a Bible class. He was also an organist and became both a superintendent and Circuit Steward. A local business man who ran a grocer’s and draper’s shop in the village, Charles devoted his life to the cause of Primitive Methodism, as did his family.
Amy too spent a lifetime worshipping and working for the Primitive Methodist Church, associated with the first Regent Street Church in Swindon built in 1848 (rebuilt a further two times) and then as a married woman where she worshipped at the Prospect Place Church.
As a young woman still living at home in Stratton St Margaret Amy worked as an assistant in her father’s shop, alongside her brother Levi Lapper Morse. In 1875 she married Henry Raggett, tailor and grocer and Primitive Methodist. The newly married couple lived above the family business at 29 Eastcott Hill, as Amy’s own parents had done in Stratton St. Margaret. By 1891 they were living at 35 Rolleston Street with their four children, Milinda, Beatrice, Henry and Wilfred. Living next door at No. 36 was Primitive Methodist Minister Thomas Whitehead and his family.
Sadly, the beginning of the 20th century saw three deaths in Amy’s immediate family. In 1903 her son Henry Charles Edgar died at the age of 21. The following year her husband Henry died and then in 1905 her eldest child, Milinda died aged 28.
Amy, however, continued to work at a myriad of activities within the church and was appointed the first Treasurer of the Women’s Missionary Federation formed at a meeting convened by her sister-in-law, Winifred wife of Levi Lapper Morse, on October 22, 1910. The census taken the following year records her living alone at 77 Goddard Avenue, a 58 year old widow living on ‘Private Means’.
In the March quarter 1912 Amy married again. Her second husband, Silas Riddick, was also a stalwart Primitive Methodist.
Amy died at her home on August 14, 1931. Her funeral took place at Radnor Street Cemetery on August 18 where she was buried in grave plot D158 with her first husband Henry Raggett and their two children, Henry and Milinda.
The Primitive Methodist records include numerous references to the Morse, Raggett and Riddick families. And Amy was a member of all three.
For more information about the history of Primitive Methodism visit the excellent website My Primitive Methodists.
Mrs S. Riddick
Death of a Well Known Swindon Methodist
Mrs Amy E. Riddick, of 77, Goddard Avenue, Swindon, passed away at the residence on Friday, after a long and trying illness, at the age of 79.
Mrs Riddick was the daughter of the late Mr Charles Morse, of Stratton, one of the pioneers of the Primitive Methodist Church in the district, and was the sister of the late Mr L.L. Morse, of The Croft, and of Mr E. Morse, of Blunsdon. She was twice married, her first husband being Mr. H. Raggett, who was well known in Primitive Methodist circles. He was an ardent worker in the Liberal cause, and at the time of his death was a member of the Swindon Town Council, the Wilts County Council and the Swindon and Highworth Board of Guardians. Her second husband was Mr S. Riddick, who had, previous to his second marriage, lived at Wootton Bassett. Mrs Riddick had four children by her first husband, two of whom had predeceased her. The remaining children are Mr W.L. Raggett of Bristol, and Mrs R.G. Cripps, of Swindon.
The funeral took place on Tuesday, and a service at the Prospect Place Primitive Methodist Church was conducted by the Revs. W.C. Russell and T. Sutcliffe. A large number of friends were present, Mr Arthur Button was at the organ. The Rev. W.C. Russell performed the last rites at the cemetery.
The chief mourners were Mr W.L. Raggett (son), Mrs R.G. Cripps (daughter), Mr R.G. Cripps (son-in-law), Mr Cyril Cripps (grandson), Mr W.E. Morse (nephew) Mrs W.A. Stanier and Mrs Le Sueur (nieces), Mr S. Payne (brother-in-law), Mr J. Riddick, Mr. W. Riddick, Mr F. Riddick, Mrs N. Riddick, Mrs T. Riddick, Mrs G.H. Matthews, Nurse L. Davis, and Mr W. Davis.
What better way to start the week than with a talk entitled ‘Graveyards to die for.’
Highgate cemetery taken from the Egyptian Avenue
London Guide Charlie Forman was the guest speaker at the Arts Society Kennet and Swindon at the Ellendune Community Centre, Wroughton on October 17. Charlie began by talking about burial practices in London at the beginning of the 19th century and the later movement to out-of -town cemeteries.
Until the rapid growth of mid 19th century London, burials were very much a local affair with the deceased interred in the parish churchyard where they once lived, remaining close to family. But as London expanded, churchyards quickly filled up and Charlie told of some truly gruesome and insanitary burial practises.
We learned about the enterprising and much feared grave robbers, ‘the resurrectionists,’ who stole the bodies of the recently dead to provide fresh cadavers for the anatomists. A change in the law in 1831 allowed anatomists access to unclaimed bodies from the Workhouses for medical research and therefore brought an end to the body snatchers’ trade.
For the cemetery lover there were plenty of photographs taken at some of London’s Magnificent Seven cemeteries including West Norwood, Highgate and Kensal Green. There were photos of catacombs and Egyptian mausoleums and the memorials of Princess Sophia and her brother Augustus, Duke of Sussex in Kensal Green. Charlie’s favourite cemetery (well, we all have one) is Kensal Green.
And I love coming away from a talk with a new discovery. At the end of his talk Charlie briefly mentioned Isabella Holmes. Having studied John Rocque’s 18th century maps of London and making a comparison with 1884 Ordinance maps, Mrs Holmes noticed that a great many of the cemeteries on the earlier maps no longer existed – so she set about conducting her own survey to find out what had happened to them all. Ten years later and the London County Council Parks Committee commissioned Mrs Holmes to continue her work and record the size, condition and ownership of London’s cemeteries.
Mrs Holmes walked the streets of London, consulting the Ordnance Survey maps and looking for burial grounds in use and those that had disappeared; knocking on doors and asking for permission to look out of windows.
She writes: “One day I climbed a high, rickety fence in a builder’s yard in Wandsworth in order to see over the wall into the Friends’ [Quakers] burial ground. No doubt the men in the place thought me mad, – anyhow they left me in peace.”
In 1894 Mrs Holmes discovered 362 burial grounds, 41 that were still in use and 90 that had become public gardens and playgrounds and submitted her report with colour coded maps to the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association. In 1895 the work of the redoubtable Mrs Holmes was published by the Council and her book, The London Burial Grounds – Notes on Their History from the Earliest Times to the Present Day is available to read online.
I salute you Mrs Holmes. And Charlie’s talk was excellent as well.
Radnor Street Cemetery 