James Lambdin – The Singing Ploughboy

Image published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library

James Lambdin died suddenly and, it would appear, without making a will. Perhaps he had no worldly goods to leave. His life had been spent spreading the word of God.

James was born in Aldbourne in 1850, the son of Joseph and Sarah Lambdin. By the age of 10 years old he was working as an agricultural labourer. He later moved to Swindon and a job in the railway works, but it is his service in the Wesleyan Methodist Church that he is remembered for.

James married twice. His first wife, Faithfull Maria Dew, whom he married in 1874, died two years later aged just 22 years old. She was buried in the churchyard at St. Mark’s.

In 1878 he married Eliza Burt. The couple made their home first in Stratton St. Margaret (1881) and then in Gorse Hill living at 24 Hinton Street (1891) and 21 Avening Street (1901). They had one child, a daughter Beatrice, born in 1886.

A pamphlet produced after his death was entitled – Memoirs of James Lambdin – The Singing Ploughboy who became a Great Preacher and 30 years a Class Leader at Gorse Hill, Swindon.

The Angel Reaper has passed over the Bath Road Wesleyan Circuit, and taken away one of the staunchest adherents, Mr James Lambdin, of Gorse Hill. Mr Lambdin was a highly respected member of the Wesleyan body and looked up to throughout the whole circuit and was widely known for his wise exposition of the Scriptures.

He was a native of Aldbourne, and only the Sunday previous to his lamented death, he went to his birthplace to fulfil a preaching engagement. The day before that he had called upon one of his class members who was almost at the point of death, and the following day week, he himself had taken that journey from whence no traveller returns.

His illness was very short but painful, and his last words were a benediction for his fellow class members and workers. The loss is being felt very keenly throughout the circuit. Last Sunday morning, the preacher at Cricklade Road, a very old and devoted layman, was completely overcome with grief, and the evening congregation were greatly impressed by an impromptu memorial service.

I hear a whisper that a short memoir with a photograph will be prepared shortly.

The Swindon Advertiser, Friday, February 28, 1908.

James Lambdin was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery on February 27, 1908 in grave plot B2912. His wife Eliza survived him by more 19 years and was buried with him on February 3, 1927. The inscription on the modest headstone reads ‘To the revered memory of James Lambdin – Promoted Feb 23, 1908’