There is no entry for builder William Crombey in the comprehensive Architects and Building Craftsmen with Work in Wiltshire compiled by Pamela M. Slocombe and published by the Wiltshire Buildings Record in 2006. In that excellent book Roadways published in 1979 by Peter Sheldon & Richard Tomkins, Crombey Street is given a construction date of 1891 and a description that William Crombey was a local building speculator who developed much of the Rolleston Estate.
His death warranted just a brief mention in the Swindon Advertiser and so far I haven’t been able to discover an obituary, yet a search through the local newspapers reveal just how busy Mr Crombey actually was.
Crombey Street area of Swindon – Market bottom left
New Swindon Local Board
New Streets and New Buildings
The following plans were presented and passed:- Three new streets on the Rolleston Estate, to be known as Deacon Street, Curtis Street and Cromby Street; hotel and stable in the new road, for Mr W Cromby; nine shops and dwelling houses in Commercial Road for Mr W. Cromby; six houses in Lorne Street for Mr W. Bennett; one cottage in a new street at Gorse Hill for Mr C. Davis; alteration to the Three Cups Coffee Palace, Regent Street, for Mr S.B. Foss; additions to house in Dover street, for Mr E. Chamber; two new cottages in a new road abutting on to Rolleston Street and Eastcott Hill, for Mr E. Chambers; a house and shop and seven cottages in Maxwell Street, for Mr C. Williams; an assembly room for Mr A.E. Withy, to be erected near his house; one house in Gordon Road, Princes Street, for Mr J. Webb; eleven houses in Dean Street, for Mr T. George; fourteen houses in Deacon Street, ten in Cromby Street and two in Curtis street for Messrs Cromby and Horsell; additions at rear of 35, Regent Street, for Mrs S.J. Coleman; four houses in Victoria Road, for Mr H.C. Cook. One plan that of a house and shop to be erected in Groundwell Road, for Mr J.E. Campbell, was disapproved, owing to no sewer being shown on the plan.
Swindon Advertiser, Saturday, July 26, 1890.
So, why has William Crombey received so little attention in the history of the building of Swindon? Perhaps one reason could be that his day job was that of an Engine Driver.
William was born in Houghton le Spring, Durham in about 1825. He first appears in Swindon on the 1861 census when he was one of three boarders lodging at 15 Fleet Street. By 1881 he was lodging with Anne Elizabeth Harvey at Park Hotel, Cambria Bridge Road and in business with her brother-in-law Edwin Harvey. The partnership was dissolved ‘by mutual consent’ in March 1884. However, this was not the only partnership in which William was involved as he was also working with John Horsell. This partnership was dissolved on March 1, 1891, which is hardly surprising as William was obviously terminally ill and died on March 13.
His personal estate was valued at £1,463 1s 6d and probate was awarded to George James Harvey of Newport the son of his landlady Anne Elizabeth Harvey and nephew of his old business partner Edwin Harvey. William does not appear to have married or left any family. He was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery on March 16, 1891 in plot E8003.
William’s various properties came on the market on May 2, 1892 and were auctioned by Messrs Bishop & Day. These included No 1 Brunel Street ‘a freehold dwelling house and shop at the corner of Brunel and Cromwell Streets; adjoining Regent Street (the chief thoroughfare), and near the New Market; a spacious and lofty Building readily converted into Commodious Business Premises;’ No 23 William Street which contained a ‘palisaded forecourt,’ a spacious Corner Shop, Bakery and Residence No 1, Cambria Bridge Road; A Capital Shop and Residential Premises, No 2, Cambria Bridge Road; A Capital Shop and Residence, No 3, Cambria Bridge Road and A Capital Shop and Premises, with a slaughter house, No 4. Cambria Bridge Road.
Swindon Advertiser April 23, 1892.
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Radnor Street Cemetery 
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