The aspirational Percival Seymour Scott

The re-imagined story …

When I was growing up in Swindon there was a ‘can do’ atmosphere in the town. If you wanted to make something of your life you could, yes even those from disadvantaged families.

From the very early days Swindon was an ambitious town with a self belief that permeated all aspects of life. It was taught in the schools and colleges; preached in the churches and chapels and honed and forged in the Works.

It was said an apprenticeship in the Works was the hallmark of excellence and recognised across the world.

Take George and Eliza Scott’s boy. He grew up in Ashford Road, one of the many roads of ubiquitous red brick terrace houses that crept up Kingshill, but what an exciting life he led. They must have been so proud of him. I’m sure they would say it was worth all the sacrifices they made.

The facts …

George Albert Scott and Eliza Seymour were married in the Providence Baptist Chapel on July 9, 1892. George was 26 and worked as an Engine Fitter and Turner in the GWR Works. He was born in Bristol in 1866 and first appears in Swindon on the 1881 census living with his mother Caroline and stepfather Charles Jefferies at 10 Queen Street. Aged 15 years old, George had already begun an apprenticeship as an engine fitter.

Eliza was born in Lechlade in 1871. In 1891, the year before her marriage, Eliza was living with her parents at 124 Stafford Street. Her father John was a grocer and Eliza worked as a dressmaker.

The newlyweds set up home in Ashford Road where the family would live for more than 70 years. They had three children, Percival born in 1896, Ivy in 1898 and Gwendoline in 1906. The 1911 census records the couple’s only son Percival 15, was a part time student whilst working as an Office Boy in the Works.

In 1915 Percival joined the Royal Navy for the duration of hostilities (the First World War). His naval records describe him as 6ft ½ ins tall with black hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion. At the beginning of 1918 he transferred to the newly created RAF. 

In 1920 Percival married Elsie Holbrow, the daughter of another railwayman Samuel Holbrow and his wife Minnie. The following year Percival’s name appears on the Ship’s Register of the SS Highland Glen bound for South America where Elsie would join him at their home in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The couple apparently made return visits to Swindon and are recorded as passengers on the Asturias in 1926, their destination 47 Deacon Street (the home of Elsie’s parents), their permanent residence Argentina. They were too late to see Percival’s mother Eliza who died in 1922.

Elsie died in Buenos Aires just three years later on January 29, 1929 aged 32. Her details are recorded on her parents’ headstone.

George Scott married for a second time in 1924. He died in 1928 aged 62 years and was buried with his first wife Eliza in Radnor Street Cemetery plot E7492. His second wife Margaret died in 1973 and was buried in the same grave.

Percival remained in South America until at least the 1960s when he is recorded as living in Peru but he died closer to Swindon at his home The Hermitage, Combeland Road in Minehead on November 5, 1979.