This is the last resting place of the Miles family.
William Miles was born at 30 Reading Street in 1851, the son of William Miles, a modeler and pattern maker from Tredegar in Monmouthshire and his wife Mary.
By the mid 1870s William had left Swindon for Yorkshire where he worked as a chemist’s assistant in Scarborough and married Harriet Matilda Thompson.
William didn’t return to Swindon until the end of the 1890s when he opened a Chemist and Drug Store in Fleet Street.
William died in 1912. Harriet outlived her husband by nearly twenty years. She died in 1931 and is buried here with him. The couple’s only son, William Edward Vivian Miles and his wife May Till Miles are also buried here with their two young sons, William and John.
This magnificent monument is loaded with funereal iconography. With her outspread wings she represents a guardian angel, the five-pointed star behind her is symbolic of divine guidance and protection and the garland she carries is emblematic of victory in death. And in the world of 1980s New Wave pop music she is quite famous. She appeared in a pop video made by Swindon band XTC. The film accompanied their song In Loving Memory of a Name – a song about a soldier laid to rest in the churchyard he knew in childhood.
I knew what went on at No. 11; all of us girls did. And despite what our mothers believed we all knew what went on between a man and a woman as well; what we didn’t know was how to prevent the consequences. This was what led so many girls to come knocking on Mrs Stretch’s lodging house door, and not just girls either, women young and not so young, single and married.
But the case of Martha Scriven proved to be different. For one thing she didn’t live locally and she was a widow. It was only when the case came to court that the full details came out.
Martha Scriven was 27 years old and recently widowed when she came to Swindon in November 1895. With a three-year-old son and believing herself to be pregnant Martha was in a desperate situation. She travelled down from London shortly after the death of her husband to visit his family who lived at Can Court, a farm on the outskirts of Swindon.
You had to ask yourself why she didn’t stay with the Scriven family and not with Mrs Stretch but that was only one of many questions we asked each other.
She walked past our house a couple of times, usually in the company of a man, but it wasn’t what we all thought at the time. It turned out he was her late husband’s brother and he had put her in touch with Mrs Stretch who in turn knew Mrs Lazenby. We all knew Mrs Lazenby as well.
“There’s many a woman very grateful to Mrs Lazenby,” some said.
Not Martha Scriven, I can tell you.
Image published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library
The facts …
Martha died on December 5, 1895. The cause of death was ‘exhaustion from peritonitis set up by punctured wound in the uterus and intestines.’ At the inquest the attending doctor thought it was unlikely Martha had been pregnant at the time the procedure was undertaken.
During the investigations a piece of slippery elm bark was found at 11 Queen Street. This was believed to be the instrument used to induce the abortion and which perforated Martha’s uterus.
Emily Lazenby was charged with the wilful murder of Martha Scriven and with ‘feloniously using a certain instrument.’ She was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in Aylesbury prison but apparently she did not serve her entire sentence. She was released on 13th September, 1900 to an address in New Swindon and a job as a French Polisher.
Mary Jane Stretch was sentenced to five years and sent to Aylesbury Prison. She was released on 18th May, 1899 to 29 Regent Street. Edwin Scriven, Martha’s brother in law who had made the arrangements, was also sentenced to five years imprisonment and sent to Parkhurst Prison. He was released early to take up a position as a groom.
Martha was buried in plot E7201 in Radnor Street Cemetery, a pauper’s grave. In 1902 Mary Jane Stretch was back in Swindon and living at 36 Catherine Street. She died in that same year and in a cruel ironic twist is buried in plot E7072 just a few rows away from Martha’s grave.
This is another magnificent pink granite memorial full of funerary iconography. The fluted pillars or columns at the top symbolise the door to heaven and the passageway to eternity. The letter L is displayed prominently passing through this entrance. The thorny acanthus leaves symbolise the prickly path of earthly life to death and eventual eternal life.
This is the last resting place of the Leighfield family. Firstly, of Elizabeth, ‘the devoted wife of Richard James Leighfield of Witney Street, Swindon who died after a long and painful illness after which she sweetly fell asleep in Jesus on February 2, 1910 aged 49 years.’ Elizabeth was buried with the couple’s second son David who had died aged just 3 weeks old in 1892.
The inscription on this memorial is the first verse of a hymn called The Christian’s Good Night – lyrics by Sarah Doudney and music by Ira D. Sankey.
Sleep on beloved sleep and take thy rest,
Lay down thy head upon thy Saviour’s breast.
We love thee well but Jesus loves thee best.
Good night, good night, good night.
Richard was born in Wootton Bassett in 1859 the son of postman James Leighfield and his wife Ann. At the age of 12 Richard was already working as a mason’s labourer, later becoming a bricklayer and by 1891 he was a Master Builder.
In 1887 he married Elizabeth Hunt and at the time of the 1891 census they were living at 83 Clifton Street with their two year old son James.
Richard built houses on Clifton Street, Whitney Street* and Ponting Street. At the turn of the century, encouraged by the growth of New Swindon, he purchased a parcel of land on the east side of Whitney Street on which he built a house known as 1 Whitney Street. Behind the house he developed office accommodation, yard, stables and a workshop from which he conducted his business. On the rest of the land he built 6 cottages which he let, principally to members of his staff. Between 1901-1916 the family firm built 39 houses at St Mary’s Grove.
Following Elizabeth’s death, Richard married Clara Williams in 1913. The couple married at the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Regent Street where they were both members. Clara was a descendant of John and Mary Pike who opened their home on Eastcott Hill for meetings during the early days of Primitive Methodism in Swindon.
The Leighfield family firm continued to be busy during the 1920s and 30s when among their projects they built the Primitive Methodist Church at The Circle, Pinehurst; Commonweal School, The Mall, Old Town; the Co-op on Groundwell Road and the Swindon Corporation Electricity Dept showrooms at Regent Circus.
Richard died at his home 109 Bath Road in 1948 aged 89. His funeral took place on April 22 when he was buried in grave plot E8440 with his first wife and son. His second wife Clara died in 1964 and was buried in the family plot.
The Leighfield business continues today at the Coped Hall Business Park in Royal Wootton Bassett.
It was the name of the occupant that drew my attention to this grave.
Ignatius Michael Howell. He had a brother, Aloysius. Pretty distinctive names in Stratton St Margaret, I would imagine.
St Ignatius was an early Christian writer. He was one of the five Apostolic Fathers and the third Bishop of Antioch. He died c108 in the Roman arena. St Aloysius was a 16th century Jesuit who died during an epidemic in 1591. It’s probably fair to say that William and Esther Howell were a devout couple.
William worked as a Railway Clerk and in 1884 when he was 16 years old, Ignatius followed his father into the Works in the Clerks & Draughtsman Department. By 1893 he was earning £80 a year, rising to £110 by 1899.
Ignatius married Kate Celestine Knight on November 25, 1889 and the couple had eight children – seven daughters and one son, Mary, Agnes, Kathleen, Gertrude, Margaret, Monica, Winifred and William.
Ignatius died at his home at 154 Croft Road on April 19, 1951. He was buried in grave plot C3437 with his daughter Agnes who died in 1916 and his wife Kate Celestine who died in 1928.
The photograph of the Burson family grave (see below) was taken several years ago. I now realise someone must have cleared and cleaned it around that time. When I tried to find it recently, thinking it would be an easy task, I was surprised to discover the memorial dulled and dirty. Is it the pollution in our air, less obvious than the smoke of factory chimneys and coal fires of the past, that causes such discolouration?
This is the story of Arthur William Burson who was born in Steventon, Berks, the son of farmer Richard Burson and his wife Louisa. In 1871 Richard was farming 140 acres and employing six labourers and two boys at Sutton Courtney, but Arthur appears to have been unwilling to follow in his father’s agricultural footsteps.
By 1881 Arthur had moved to Swindon and was working as a grocer’s assistant, living above the shop at 57 Bridge Street. In 1888 he married Emily Anna Solway and at the time of the 1891 census the couple were living at 52 Fleet Street where Arthur appears to have his own business.
Ten years later and the family business was at 94 Commercial Road. By now the couple have three daughters, Edith, Elsie and Hilda, fourth daughter Grace was born in 1903. The family later lived at 69, Bath Road.
When he died in 1934 a lengthy obituary published in the North Wilts Herald described him as ‘A.W. Burson J.P. – Swindon Business Man Who Once Owned Seven Shops.’
Death ofA.W. Burson J.P.
Swindon Business Man Who Once Owned Seven Shops
A Swindon man who rose from a lowly position behind a grocer’s counter to become the owner of seven prosperous shops in Swindon, in one of which he had served as an assistant, is the history of Mr Arthur William Burson, of 69 Bath road, Swindon, whose death occurred last Friday.
There is however a poignant side to his death in that it has robbed him of the opportunity of seeing the completion of the Stratton Green Baptist Chapel, towards the building of which he had given £1,000 as a memorial to two of his children.
Mr Burson, who was well known as a prominent Baptist, died after an illness which had lasted more than three months. He was suffering from bronchial trouble, when heart trouble supervened.
Born at Steventon.
In 1861, Mr Burson was born at Steventon, Berks, and at an early age was apprenticed to the grocery trade at Reading. His connection with Swindon started in 1880 when he was engaged as an assistant in the grocery busines of H. Freeth and Son. For five years he remained in this position, and then made his first venture into business ownership. In partnership with the late Mr Thomas Harry, of Swindon, he opened a shop in Abergwynid, near Maesteg, South Wales, and this business was carried on by the two for five years.
Then, however, he returned to Swindon. With Mr Harry, he became joint proprietor of the business in which he had served as assistant – H. Freeth and Son, and conducted no fewer than seven shops in the town.
The business continued in their joint ownership for two years until the death of Mr. Harry, when Mr Burson assumed sole control. As proprietor of the firm of H. Freeth and Son he continued to take an active part in the conduct of the business until 1926 when he retired.
Gift to Town Gardens
In the year of his retirement, and more or less as a token of gratitude for the prosperity which he had achieved in Swindon, Mr Burson presented to the town the clock over the bandstand in the Town Gardens.
Though he was one of the oldest members of the Swindon Bench of Magistrates, having been a member since the Bench was first appointed in 1907, it was by reason of his religious activities that Mr Burson was better known. He was baptised in 1880 at the Baptist church which stood in Fleet street, and which is now demolished.
On returning to Swindon he continued his association with the Baptist faith in the town, and became connected with the Baptist Tabernacle, which had replaced the former church in Fleet Street.
For many years he was also superintendent of the Gorse Hill Baptist Sunday School, and was also treasurer, and teacher in Baptist Sunday Schools in Swindon for over 50 years.
Former Town Councillor.
At the time of his death he was one of the elders of the Baptist Tabernacle, treasurer of the Tabernacle Sunday School and held a similar post in connection with the Swindon Colportage Association. A prominent teetotaller since the age of 18, he was one of the oldest members of the Tabernacle Temperance Society.
He held a seat on the Town Council from 1900 to 1909, and again from 1911 to 1921 continuous.
While in Wales Mr Burson married a Miss Salway, who was a native of Somerset. Mrs Burson survives him. They celebrated the 46th anniversary of their wedding last Easter. There were four children, all daughters, of whom two are dead. One died in 1913, and the other two years ago. The two surviving daughters are Mrs Dadds, [Dadge] of Bath road, and Mrs Higgins, of Broome Manor lane.
Early this year Mr Burson came forward with an offer of £1,000 towards the cost of the new church at Stratton Green as a memorial to his invalid daughter, on whom the money had been settled as a future provision for her. Announcing his gift, Mr Burson said, “She had been taken and I should like her memory to be enshrined in the new building.”
The cheque for £1,000 was signed by Mr Burson and handed over to the Stratton Baptist officials about six weeks ago, during Mr Burson’s final illness. The Swindon Advertiser is informed, therefore, that the gift will not be affected in any way by the death of the donor.
It has now been suggested by those connected with the Stratton Church that, as a gesture of gratitude to Mr Burson for his gift, the new church shall contain a memorial window to the two daughters of Mr Burson who had pre-deceased him.
The Funeral
In the presence of a large congregation of mourners, the funeral took place on Wednesday afternoon.
The first portion of the service was conducted at the Baptist Tabernacle and the interment took place in the Radnor Street Cemetery.
Extracts from theNorth Wilts Herald, Friday May 25, 1934.
Arthur William Burson, 73 years, of 69 Bath Road was buried on May 23, 1934 in grave plot E7588. His wife Emily Anna died in March 1950 and was buried with him his this impressive grave plot.
In 1950 John Betjeman, Poet Laureate 1972-84, famously wrote in Studies in the History of Swindon that ‘there is very little architecture in Swindon and a great deal of building’. He did however add ‘but Swindon is more interesting than many towns which are more beautiful’. And it is the rows of red brick terrace houses that I’m interested in; more especially the people who lived in them.
For instance, how did Ernesto Poletti, born in Milan, arrive in Swindon and a job in the Works? How was Henry Kirby, a farm labourer, who at the time of his marriage was unable to sign his own name, end up living off a private income in 1911? And who was Mrs Griffin?
In 1906 Mrs Griffin engaged auctioneers Dore, Fielder & Matthews to sell four houses she owned on Kingshill Road.
The properties were to be sold in two lots and were described as follows:
Lot 1 – A pair of substantially erected dwelling houses, beings Nos. 55 and 56 Kingshill Road, Swindon, each containing entrance passage, sitting room, kitchen, washhouse and 2 bedrooms, together with w.c. and large garden at rear (with back entrance) in the respective occupations of Messrs Darling and Pellotti [sic] at weekly rentals producing £28 12s per annum, owner paying outgoings.
Lot 2 – A pair of similar dwelling houses adjoining Lot 1, being Nos 57 and 58 Kingshill Road, Swindon, in the respective occupations of Messrs Waite and Kirby at weekly rentals producing £28 12s per annum owner paying outgoings.
The Poletti’s must have liked Kingshill Road. From 1906-1918 they lived in three different properties, numbers 56, 64 and 188.
Ernesto Cesare Poletti was born in Milan, Italy in 1870. In the December quarter of 1896 he married Bessie Daymond in the Newton Abbot registration district, Devon and the first time I find him in Swindon is on the 1901 census. Then the couple lived at 34 Clifton Street with their two young sons, both born in Torquay, and Ernesto was employed as a carpenter in the railway factory. Ernesto became a naturalised British Subject in 1923. He died at his home in William Street in 1952 aged 83 and is buried in Radnor Street Cemetery.
Henry Kirby was born in Stratton in 1833 and spent most of his life working as an agricultural labourer. He married Eliza Cavey at St Margaret’s Church, Stratton St Margaret on October 20, 1860 when both bride and groom signed the marriage register by making their mark, indicating neither of them could write sufficiently well to sign their names.
In 1911 Henry 78 and Eliza 71 were living at 58 Kingshill Road with their unmarried son William George 41. Eliza states that they had been married 51 years and had ten children, one of whom had died by 1911. William worked as a boiler smith’s driller in the Works while Henry was living off ‘private means.’
Henry died in 1916 and is buried in grave plot C494, a public grave. Eliza died in 1920. Her funeral took place on July 1 when she was buried with Henry.
But how does the street numbering system work on Kingshill Road. The 1899 Ordnance Survey map reveals the road was barely built up at the turn of the twentieth century. The canal side was allotment gardens and on the opposite side there was a large gap in the housing, just before the steep incline begins.
So, as I stand in front of the present-day numbers 55 – 58, while taking photographs and looking extremely suspicious, I’m left wondering if these houses were the homes of Ernesto Poletti and Henry Kirby and who was Mrs Griffin?
In 1887 the GWR Medical Fund Society appointed a dental surgeon to the newly established dental clinic. Apparently, by the end of that year he had pulled out more than 2,000 teeth.
What happened to those 2,000 teeth!
In 1872 Mr Verrier, a dentist with a practice in Bridport, advertised his new method of adapting artificial teeth. Mr Verrier soon made his way to Swindon where he was employed at the GWR Hospital.
Now I’m not implying that the over zealous tooth puller and Mr Verrier with his artifical gnashers are one and the same person, but did the aforementioned dentist have an ulterior motive for removing so many Swindon teeth? It does make you wonder.
Mr Verrier had a very interesting life and career. For one thing, in 1907 he patented an ‘Improved Protective Shield or Band for Pneumatic Tyres’, which is pretty far removed from dentistry.
Alfred Bult Verrier was born in about 1837 in Taunton, Somerset, the son of George Verrier, a Post Office clerk and his wife Selina. By 1851 he was living in Shoreditch Road, Taunton with his mother and aunt. But at the time of the 1861 census he was missing, most probably because he was living in St. Petersburg. He married Elizabeth Hirschfeld on June 2, 1859 at the British Chaplaincy, St Petersburg, Russia and the couple had two children. Following Elizabeth’s death (presumably) he married Sarah Margaret Blackburn on April 16, 1865 also at the British Chaplaincy, St. Petersburg, Russia.
The couple returned to Britain soon after their marriage and in 1865 Alfred Bult Verrier placed an advertisement in the Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette
Mr Alfred Bult Verrier, L.D.S.,
(Royal College of St. Petersburgh,)
Dentist
Informs the Clergy, Gentry, and Public, that he has taken up his residence at Bridport, and solicits the patronage of all who may require his aid.
Mr A.B.V. will be prepared to receive patients on Saturday, December 23rd, at Mr F. Bartlett’s, opposite the Post-office, Bridport.
Mr V. will visit Lyme Regis on Friday, January 5th, at Mrs Davey’s, Confectioner, Broad-street, and Beaminster on Thursday, January 11, at Mrs Meech’s Church-street, continuing his visits at each place fortnightly.
Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette – Tuesday 26 December 1865.
At the time of the 1871 census Alfred and Sarah were living at Chards Mead, Bradpole, Bridport with their five children, George Alfred 5, Alide 4, Lillah 3, Walter Ralph 2 and 3 month old Claude Blackburn. In 1881 they were living at Welcombe Regis, Weymouth, now with eight children.
By 1888 Alfred was living in Swindon, where he advertised in the Swindon Advertiser on June 2, 1888.
17, Bath Road, Swindon
Mr Verrier wishes to intimate to his Patients that he maybe consulted professionally on Fridays, at the above address.
And then I lose Alfred at the time of the 1891 census. It may be a transcription error that makes him difficult to find. Although I found Sarah, still married, but ‘living on her own means’ without her husband in Preston, Weymouth with four of her children Adele 23, Zillah 22, Margaret 17 and 10 year old Aldus. Had the marriage broken down?
Two of Alfred’s sons followed him into dentistry and their details, along with Alfred’s, are recorded in The Medical Directory, 1915.
Verrier, Alfred Bult, “Windermere House” Swindon, Wilts. – L.D.S. R.C.S.I. 1879: (Dub.) Dentist GWR Hosp. late Dentist Bridport Cott. Hos. Author, “On Ventilation;” “Continuous Gum Facings,” Dent Jl. 1873; “Mineral Inlay,” Ib. 1879. Inventor of the Continuous Gum Facing Process as applied to Vulcanite; Mineral Inlay & Tooth Crowns; Furnaces for Continuous Gum Work
Verrier, Walter Ralph le, 32 Wood St., Swindon, Wilts. L.D.S. R.C.S. Ed. 1898; (Ed).
The Medical Directory, 1915.
Alfred died at his home 54, Westlecott Road aged 84 years in 1921. He was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery on April 6, 1921 where he lies alone in grave plot E7614.
So many facts about Alfred Bult Verrier’s life remain unknown, including whether he was the dentist who loved pulling teeth in the GWR dental clinic.
Images published in A Century of Medical Service – The Story of the Great Western Railway Medical Fund Society 1847 to 1947 by Bernard Darwin and published in 1947.
The house in College Street where Alfred Ernest Evans died is gone. The town centre street where the prestigious College Street School once stood is now no more than an access road for shops.
The family home at 23 Commercial Road where William and Salome lived in 1928 looks a little different these days too.
And Princes Street where Salome died in 1936 was redeveloped in the 1970s.
Image published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.
Meanwhile, the inscription on the family’s headstone has all but disappeared.
But it is still possible to piece together the details of the Evans family life.
William Evans and Salome Purnell married in the December quarter of 1879 in Paulton, Somerset. Paulton was a coal mining village where William worked in the iron foundry there. The 1881 census sees the couple living in the Paulton Engine Houses – William aged 26, an iron turner, Salome 25 and their sixth month old daughter Florence with William’s mother Sarah 69, who states that her husband is ‘in asylum’.
By 1891 the family had moved to Swindon and were living at 7 Stafford Street. At the time of the 1901 census they were living in 49 Dixon Street and by 1911 they were at College Street. Salome states that the couple had been married 31 years and that they had 6 children still living (one had already died). Still living at home were Ethel 20 a tailoress, Alfred Ernest 17 a boot repairer and 15 year old Arthur Algernon who was still at school.
Alfred Ernest Evans died in 1916 at 4 College Street. He was 22 years old. He was buried in grave plot C3360 on April 22. William George Evans, a retired fitter, died aged 73 in 1928 when he and Salome were living at 23 Commercial Road. He was buried in grave plot C3360 on August 1. Salome was living at 47 Princes Street at the time of her death in September 1936. She was buried with her son and her husband on September 17.
From this unpromising start with a disintegrating headstone and Swindon streets altered beyond recognition, town centre homes demolished and properties repurposed, it has still been possible to recover the lives of one ordinary Swindon family.
Of course, you are too young to remember Blackford’s the butchers. They used to have a shop on the corner of Wood Street and Cricklade Street, but that’s long gone. I can recall going to the shop in Bridge Street with my mother, although it could be quite a scary experience as old man Blackford was a bit erratic. He’d been a famous backsword player in his day and they said he’d been seriously injured several times during his fighting career.
I don’t suppose you know what backswording is either; no one plays it anymore. It was a brutal sport. Players had one arm restrained and with the other they beat their opponent about the head with a wooden stick, the aim to land a blow causing the blood to run for one inch.
There was some decent prize money to be won mind and more if you liked to gamble. Those old gamesters were made of stern stuff but they paid a high price. Joseph’s father Robert suffered from the frequent blows to his head and died from an accidental drug overdose of the laudanum he used to manage the pain.
Joseph concentrated on the butchery business, though and by the time he was raising his family backswording was a thing of the past. Joseph named one of his sons Brave – perhaps he thought he had the makings of a gamester.
Joseph Blackford was baptised at Christ Church, Swindon on March 24, 1830 the younger son of Robert Blackford and his wife Anne. Robert came from a long line of butchers and at the time of the 1841 census the family were living in a property on the corner of Wood Street and Cricklade Street. In 1851 Joseph was running the butcher’s shop on Bridge Street with his sister Mary. He married Mary Ann Holdway and by the time of the 1861 census they wereliving in the railway village at 10 High Street [later named Emlyn Square] with their two children William and Mary Ann. A third child, Elizabeth, was born in 1864. Mary Ann died in August 1865 and was buried in the churchyard at St. Mark’s.
Robert died in 1867 probably as the result of injuries sustained during his backswording career. The verdict of the coroner’s court was that he had “died from taking an overdose of laudanum, whilst labouring under a fit of temporary insanity.”
On February 27, 1867 Joseph married Rosanna [Rosina] Woolls, a widow who describes herself as a butcher. The couple set up home in Purton where they raised their family.
Joseph died in September 1906 aged 76 and was buried in plot D1447 with his son Harry Bath Blackford who had died just weeks before him. Rosina died in 1923 and their daughter Alda Priscilla Bamford died in 1932 joining her parents and brother Harry in plot D1447.
The Blackford family grave
Newspaper proprietor William Morris was particularly opposed to the sport of backswording, writing in his newspaper The Swindon Advertiser:-
And I recollect that this was particularly the case at the New Swindon sports. The left arm and side and thighof one of the players was so cut and bruised that it had the appearance of raw meat, and although the man himself kept on, and always came up to time, the spectators became so alarmed at his terrible condition and lacerated appearance that some attempt was made to get him to leave the stage and insisted that a medical man should be requested to attend him …
Shrivenham was one of the places noted for its backsword players, and I have been told that on one occasion a player in that village continued to play after one of his eyes had been cut out and lay on his cheek, and slices of flesh had been cut off his arms. Of course, such a one would receive much encouragement from the spectators as being a “good plucky fellow,” and the flow of pence into his basket at the close of each bout would be most liberal…
The Popular Amusements of our Grandfathers -The Swindon Advertiser, Saturday December 6, 1884.
William Ormond, a solicitor, and his wife Georgina lived at a property called the Limes for more than 45 years. The road in which it stands has been variously known as Short Hedge, Horse Fair Street, Devizes Road and is now called Croft Road.
In the late 1880s Marion Ormond was at the centre of the scandalous case of the Christ Church vicar Rev. Newton Ebenezer Howe. Marion 23, one of Georgina and William Ormond’s large family (seven daughters and a son) was a Sunday School teacher and a district visitor.
Rev. Howe, a married man with a young son, arrived in Swindon to take up the post of vicar at Christ Church in 1887. Trouble began almost immediately. In 1889 there was a mishandling of money for the various Church and National School charities of which he was a trustee. Then came the accusations of misconduct involving a church volunteer, Marion Ormond.
The accusations against Howe intensified, yet despite all this Marion continued to visit the vicar and his wife, until eventually it was just the Vicar she was seeing. They began to meet in secret but they had been spotted.
On June 21, 1890 a notice of inhibition (an inquiry into the conduct of the vicar) was served on Howe while the matter was investigated.
For three consecutive evenings protesters gathered outside the vicarage, shouting and throwing missiles. Of course, Howe had made sure he was out of town and Marion had also left Swindon and was staying in Reading.
A public inquiry took place at the town hall in Old Swindon on August 15, 1890 where Howe was charged with adultery and improper behaviour. The hearing took place in a packed courtroom and lasted 5 hours. Marion was called to give evidence during which she became very distressed and had to leave the courtroom to compose herself. Her letter to the court defending Howe was read out.
Following the hearing Georgina submitted a letter to the local press in support of her daughter.
The following letter has been addressed to the Editor of the Devizes and Wilts Advertiser by Mrs Georgina Mary Ormond:
Sir, – In the absence of a word in favour of my daughter Marion in Mr Bucknill’s address to the Commission of Friday the 15th inst I hope you will allow me space in your paper to state in justice to her that she is not the immodest girl she may have appeared. Her visits to the Vicarage were always made to Mrs Howe, by whom, against her parents’ expressed wishes, they were deliberately encouraged, as well as her visits to Mr. Howe at the Vestry room, and the girl’s disobedience no doubt paved the way for all that followed. Mr. Howe represented himself as a cruelly persecuted man, and my daughter believed it her duty to cheer and defend him, trusting him entirely, and utterly unsuspicious of evil in his attentions to her.
The letter read in Court was written impulsively in the hope of freeing Mr. and Mrs. Howe from the imputation circulated against him. In order to make some reparation to her family for the disgrace she has brought on them, and to atone in some measure for her deceit and disobedience, she wished to tell all at the enquiry, and did her best, but the sight of Mr. Howe’s face with its agonised expression (which she saw whenever she looked at the counsel addressing her) so unnerved her that it is hardly to be wondered at if at the moment she failed to give the concluding details of her evidence. Moreover, she had good reason to believe that that part of her evidence would be allowed to be given in writing. In the hope that your readers may see in these details some extenuation of my daughter’s fault, I have troubled you with them.
Devizes and Wilts Advertiser, August 28, 1890.
The case was referred to a Consistorial Court at the Chapter House of Bristol Cathedral where on December 12, 1890 Howe pleaded guilty to all the charges. The Bishop suspended Howe from all duties for 3 years and he had to pay the costs of the hearing.
But amazingly this wasn’t the end of the Rev. Howe. In late 1893 he returned to Swindon where he began another affair and moved Miss Mary Roskyll into the vicarage. He was delivered with a second notice of inhibition and eventually served a 12 month prison sentence with hard labour.
Marion’s last address was the Old Haslings Hotel, Warninglid, Sussex. She died on February 25, 1942 at the Haywards Heath Hospital.
Her mother Georgina died at her home on May 29, 1906 and was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery in plot E8626 on June 1. William Ormond was buried in the same plot following his death two years later.
Radnor Street Cemetery 