James Haydon and his son Lancelot

It’s easy to almost miss this magnificent monument (pink granite again) and another railway family. 

Like the Carlton monument opposite, this memorial was also subscribed to by employees at the GWR Works.

James Haydon was born in Bristol in 1826.  The UK Railway Employment Records on the Ancestry website, indicate that James entered the railway employment in March 1851 aged about 25 years old.

By 1861 he was working as an engine fitter in the Swindon Works.  He lived with his wife Ellen, their young son Lancelot and his wife’s nephew Henry Wardle at 9 London Road. There were an awful lot of people living in this house in 1861 – three inter-related households comprising James and Ellen; Lancelot and Eleanor Young with two young grandsons and Thomas and Ann Watson with their niece.

By 1871 James was Deputy Manager at the Works and living in a property in what was then still known as Sheppard Fields. This later became Sheppard Street, named after the former owner of this area, John Harding Sheppard.

James died on July 5, 1888.  He had been Assistant Manager in the Loco Works for 22 years. 

Also remembered on this memorial is James’ son, Lancelot who died in 1894 aged just 37.

Lancelot followed his father into the Works and his career can be charted through the same railway records.

He began work as a pattern maker in 1871 when he was 14.  In 1877, presumably after he had finished his apprenticeship, he transferred to the Drawing Office.

In 1881, by then a mechanical draughtsman, Lancelot left the GWR for an appointment on the Swindon, Marlborough and Andover Railway, but by 1888 he was back at the GWR firstly as Assistant Draughtsman and later as Chief Draughtsman.

At the time of the 1891 census he was living at his old family home, 21 Sheppard Street, with his wife Isabella and their young daughter.

The following year Lancelot was on the move again, this time to Newton Abbott as Assistant District Superintendent Loco Carriage Dept.  He died less than two years later.

Buried in this double plot are James and Eleanor Haydon. Eleanor died first in 1888 aged 52 years. Her funeral took place on April 11. James died just three months later and was buried with her on July 9. He was 61 years old. Their son Lancelot Thomas Haydon died aged 37 years in 1894 and was buried with them.

Thank you to local historian Kevin Leakey who provided this extra information.

James Haydon was one of the original Directors of the Swindon Permanent Benefit Building & Investment Society (Swindon Permanent Building Society).

Haydon Street was named after him, as well as the nearby Carlton Street – after fellow director Samuel Carlton. Both streets were built on land originally purchased by the Building Society from the GWR. It would become the Queenstown area.