William Miles – chemist

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.

You might also like to read:

In Loving Memory of a Name

One thought on “William Miles – chemist

  1. I don’t know if you knew that in Radnor street cemetery where William Miles and his wife May Miles and their young sons were buried along with William and Harriet which was William Miles Jr. Parents.

    William Edward Vivian Miles and his wife May also had three other children Barbara Joan, who was me and sister’s Mum also Margaret, Robert who were our Aunt and Uncle all now sadly departed and laid to rest elsewhere, who’s family home was in Westlecot Road Swindon originally. Best Regards Mr.Michael Miles Stoddart

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