This stylish art deco headstone marks the grave of Ernest Henry Cousens. Ernest was born in Little Coxwell in 1885 the son of William Cousens, a carter, and his wife Annie. In 1891 they appear on the census living in the village of Lyford in Berkshire. Ernest has an 11 year old sister Edith Emma and a brother William aged 8.
In 1901 Ernest was lodging at 30 Hythe Road with Henry J. Keen, a butcher’s assistant. Sixteen year old Ernest was a butcher’s apprentice, so probably worked alongside Henry.
In 1908 he married Laura Young and the couple had four children; Irene born in 1912, Ernest born in 1916, Cecily 1918 and Eric 1922. At the time of the 1911 census he was living over his butchers shop at 15 Bridge Street with his wife Laura who is described as ‘assists in business’. The couple were aged 27 and 25 and had been married for three years. The first of their four children was born the following year. Living with them on census night was Ernest’s uncle James aged 59, a widower who worked as a general labourer.
Ernest Henry Cousens of 14 and 15 Bridge Street, Swindon died on March 28, 1939, aged 54. Probate was declared in London on June 15 and effects valued at £7,443 1s 8d were left to his widow Laura and his eldest son Ernest William Cousens, a chartered accountant. He is buried alone in grave plot C4708.
You can spend a whole lot of time on research when a particular fact piques your interest. This most recently happened to me when I was researching Sarah Judd who died at her home, 27 Havelock Street in 1883. For the past 140 years she has been resting in this sunny spot in Radnor Street Cemetery but before that she had lived in a great many other places.
Sarah was born in 1821 in Palling, Norfolk, the daughter of James and Rosetta Hicks. She married Frederick Judd in Chatham, Kent on January 17, 1850 and at the time of the 1851 census Sarah, Frederick and their baby son James were living with Sarah’s parents in Gillingham, Kent.
During the next 10 years the family moved about – a lot – their six children born at various addresses in Kent and Hampshire. By 1861 Frederick was employed as a Police Constable and they were living at No 19, Archbishop Place, a leafy suburb at the top of Brixton Hill, Lambeth. In 1862 their daughter Elizabeth was baptised at St Matthew’s Church, Brixton and in 1866 a second daughter Harriet was also baptised there.
The Tate Library, Brixton, Lambeth.
I grew up in Brixton in the 1950s and 60s and I know exactly where St Matthew’s Church is; it’s just a stones throw away from the Tate Public Library where I spent a lot of my childhood. Elizabeth was born some 30 years before the library was built in 1890 and 100 years before I used to borrow books there. One of my favourites was the stories about a little girl called Milly Molly Mandy who had the kind of life I wished I had. I used to carefully colour in the pictures before I returned the books.
Milly Molly Mandy and a picture in need of my careful colouring skills
The Judd family had arrived in Swindon by 1881. Frederick had long since left the police force and was working as a house painter. Still living with Frederick and Sarah were James 30 (born in Kent) Sarah 21 (born in Hampshire) and Elizabeth 18 and Harriet 15 (both born in Brixton).
Basking in the sunshine, the leaning headstone has a large ants nest obscuring the last inscription, probably the name of Sarah’s husband Frederick who died in 1907 at his home, 53 Crombey Street.
And buried in this plot in 1944 was their daughter Elizabeth, the little girl born in Brixton more than 161 years ago. I shall call round and say hello next time I’m passing.
If you’re familiar with the CWGC commemorative headstones it might surprise you to know that this is one too. Families were given the choice of an official headstone or one of their own choosing and this is what the family of Edwin Henry Hale did.
Edwin Henry Hale was born on March 30, 1885, the only child of Edwin and Alice Elizabeth Hale. He was baptised at St. Paul’s Church on April 7, 1885 just around the corner from the family home at 2 Regents Place.
In May 1899 as a fourteen year old boy he entered the employment of the GWR as an office boy while he waited to begin an apprenticeship. Six months later in September 1899 he began a six and a half year apprenticeship in the Coach Trimming Shop.
In 1908 Edwin married Alice G. Gleed at St. Mark’s Church and by the time of the census in 1911 the couple were living at 53 Sydney St. Hornsey, London N.1. They had been married for three years but had no children.
Edwin’s military records did not survive the bombing during the Second World War, so the inscription on this headstone is crucial to our understanding of his military service during the First World War.
Gunner Edwin H. Hale gave three years service in Mesopotamia. Historically the area of Mesopotamia was situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and today is home to Syria, Turkey and most of Iraq.
During the 1914-18 war the conditions on the battlefields were horrendous. Temperatures regularly reached 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees centigrade) in this arid desert area, which was prone to flooding. More than 12,600 soldiers died of sickness; 51,800 were wounded with 3,900 dying of their wounds; 11,000 were killed in action and 13,400 reported missing or taken prisoner.
And yet somehow Edwin survived this and was brought back to England. Sadly, he didn’t make it home to Swindon though, dying on February 18, 1920 at the Military Hospital in Devonport.
Alice Elizabeth Hale, Edwin’s mother died on November 21, 1927 and his father Edwin died on April 25, 1933. They were buried in the same plot with their only son.
During the First World War Colbourne Street was the site of a munitions factory known locally as the Powder Works. The street is believed to be named after builder Arthur Joseph Colborne who had premises in nearby County Road, but why is Colbourne Street spelt this way? The spelling acquired an additional U when allocated to the new street in 1902. Did no one notice at the time (Swindon has form for this.) Or is the street named after someone (or some place) totally different? I suppose we’ll never know.
Arthur Joseph Colborne, was born in Midsomer Norton in 1870, the son of Thomas Colborne, a builder and timber merchant who by 1873 was established at the Cross Roads, Stratton St. Margaret. Between 1876-1940 the Colborne family built a staggering number of properties in Swindon, despite being on the verge of bankruptcy more than once.
But this is the story of a Colborne wife, and as usual, there is only a little information to be found about her.
Arthur Joseph’s eldest son Arthur Kenneth Colborne married Ivy Berry in 1925. The couple had two sons, Michael John born in 1927 and Richard Graham in 1931. Sadly, Ivy died on July 21 1938, aged just 36.
Death of Mrs A.K. Colborne
Wife of Swindon Business Man
By the death of Mrs Ivy Colborne, who was buried on Monday, the family has suffered its ninth bereavement in the last two years. For in this short period no fewer than nine members and relations of the families of Mr Colborne and his wife have died.
Mrs Ivy Colborne, who died last Thursday after a long illness, was the wife of Mr Arthur Kenneth Colborne, of 33 Croft-road, Swindon. She was 36 years of age.
Mr Colborne is a member of the Building and Public Works Construction Co. Ltd., Swindon. There are two sons one aged 11 and the other aged 6. Mr. Colborne’s brother, Alan, died about two years ago.
Mrs Colborne was a member of Swindon Baptist Tabernacle and used to be a keen worker for the YMCA Boys Club. Before her marriage she was a Miss Berry.
At the funeral service at the Baptist Tabernacle, on Monday, the Rev. C.H. Cleal and the Rev. P. Tomlinson officiated.
There was a large congregation of mourners. Mr A.E. Ford presided at the organ, and the hymns sung were “The morning flowers display their sweets” and “Jesus lives.” The organist also played “O rest in the Lord” and other appropriate music.
The interment took place in the Radnor street cemetery, the Revs C.H. Cleal and P. Tomlinson again officiating.
Extracts from the North Wilts Herald, Friday, 29 July, 1938
Ivy Colborne aged 36 years of 33 Croft Road was buried on July 25, 1938 in grave plot E8627. Arthur Kenneth Colborne remarried in August 1939. When he died in 1963 he was buried with Ivy.
Munitions workers at the Powder Works, Colbourne Street pictured c1915. Tesco now stands on the site. Image published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.
When John Kelynack retired from the position of chief clerk of the GWR Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Department he received numerous presents; including a cheque from the GWR Enginemen’s and Firemen’s Mutual Assurance Sick & Superannuation Society and ‘a handsome barometer.’
Like so many of his generation John Kelynack appears to have had an inexhaustible enthusiasm for life, although perhaps his rather severe countenance in this press photograph might suggest otherwise.
His 47 year career with the GWR began when he was 16 years old and had taken him from working as a Time & Storekeeper at Penzance station to that of chief clerk in the GWR Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Department with responsibility for more than 1,600 employees.
Among his other responsibilities across the years was vice president, trustee and hon treasurer of the Mechanics Institution along with chairman of the GWR Medical Fund and president of the GWR Staff Gleemen. He taught Evening Classes at Swindon College and was churchwarden at St Augustine’s Church in Rodbourne. He also worked for a whole list of other organisations mentioned in the obituary below.
John Kelynack was born February 1, 1877 in Penzance the son of a cabinet maker John Kelynack and his wife Mary. In 1905 he married Margaret Ethel Maud Hiscock at The Wesley Methodist Chapel in Bath Road, Swindon. The couple did not have any children.
Mr J. Kelynack Dies at 69
Former Chief Clerk to Swindon C.M.E.
Mr John Kelynack, who retired from the position of Chief Clerk of the GWR Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Department at Swindon Works in February, 1941, died at 38, Goddard avenue, Swindon in the early hours of this morning. He was 69 years of age.
Mr Kelynack, who was a native of Cornwall, joined the GWR on 27, November, 1893 at Penzance. Four years later, (15 March, 1897) he was transferred to Swindon as a clerk in the Mileage and Accounts Section. In the evenings he took advantage of the night classes provided by the Education authority to gain a good grounding in accountancy under the late Mr Walter Johnson, chartered accountant.
Promotion Steps
Subsequently he went to the London School of Economics for further study in accountancy and office organisation and, after two years, returned as teacher to the Swindon night classes, where he was originally under Mr Johnson.
On 19 May, 1913, Mr Kelynack was appointed assistant to the clerk-in-charge, Locomotive Acccounts, and in March of the following year he became clerk-in-charge.
On the amalgamation of the Locomotive with the Carriage and Wagon Accounts in 1917, he was appointed clerk in charge of the whole accounting staffs.
Next step in his promotion was to the office of Assistant Chief Clerk on 21 February, 1918, and on the death of Mr A.J.L. White in October, 1929, he reached the top rung of the ladder as Chief Clerk.
Throughout his career he was closely identified with the introduction of new and improved methods of railway accountancy. He was the moving figure behind the great changes that took place in the counting and office methods of the GWR Medical Fund Society, and also rendered valuable assistance in the revision of the Society’s rules.
Church Work
For 30 years Mr Kelynack worked hard for St. Augustine’s Church, and was the first warden appointed by the Vicar.
Other offices held by him during his career included trustee, vice-president and hon. treasurer of the GWR Medical Fund Society; hon. treasurer of the GWR Enginemen and Firemen’s Mutual Assurance Society, trustee and hon. treasurer of the GWR Mechanics’ Institute, Swindon, trustee of the GWR Sick Fund; vice-president and hon. auditor of the GWR (Swindon) Athletic Association; member of the committee of the GWR (London) Lecture and Debating Society, president of the GWR (Swindon) Accounts Staff Gleemen and the GWR (Swindon) Retired Workmen’s Association.
He was also chairman of directors of the Swindon Permanent Building Society, and a member of the Remembrance Lodge of Freemasons.
Mrs. Kelynack died several years ago.
Swindon Advertiser Monday July 22, 1946.
John Kelynack died in July 1946 aged 69 years. His burial took place on July 26 in grave plot C10, joining his wife who had died 12 years previously.
John Hulme Preece was born on January 1, 1824 at Tenbury, Worcestershire, the son of a Baptist Minister. He married Eliza Sarah Whitmore in the December quarter of 1853 and by 1855 the couple were living in Swindon. The UK Railway Employment Records 1833-1956 state that John began work as a railway clerk in the Locomotive Department on February 2, 1855.
The couple joined the Independent Church, Victoria Street in 1861. This church was demolished in the 1960s for a road widening scheme.
John and Eliza lived first at Union Villa where Eliza ran a Seminary for Young Ladies. They later moved to 8 Gloucester Terrace which had a larger schoolroom and remained their home until John died in 1885 and Eliza in 1905.
In 1861 John was elected to the Council of the Mechanics’ Institution, the first clerk to be elected. Previously it was felt that only railwaymen would be able to appreciate the needs of those working on the shop floor. But John soon proved his worth and the following year was elected as Secretary of the Mechanics’ Institute, a role he fulfilled with energy and commitment until his death.
Trevor Cockbill makes many references to John in his definitive book about the Mechanics’ Institution – Finest Thing Out published in 1988. He describes him as being a quiet, gentle, studious man of a modest and retiring nature. A devoted Christian who was deeply interested in scholarship and education.
Swindon
The death is announced of Mr. John Hulme Preece, who has been for 26 years secretary of the New Swindon Mechanics’ Institute. Mr. Preece who was 61 years of age, was for about 30 years a clerk at the Great Western Railway Works.
Reading Mercury Saturday 29 August 1885.
The Funeral of the late Mr. John Hulme Preece, whose death on the previous Thursday evening we noticed in our last issue, took place on Monday afternoon, at the Cemetery, and afforded another instance, had it been necessary, of the very general respect in which the deceased was held. The coffin, which was conveyed to the cemetery without the customary pall on a portable bier, was completely covered with floral wreaths and offerings. In addition to the relations of the deceased, who had preceded the funeral cortege to the cemetery, there was a very large representation of the Council of the Mechanics’ Institute, and of the G.W.R. Clerks, to the number of over 150.
Extracts fromhe Swindon Advertiser, Saturday, August 22, 1885.
Graves appear and disappear with the passing seasons here in Radnor Street Cemetery. At the moment the grass is tall and the brambles rampant, but in the autumn the Borough Council will come and mow and perhaps this large family grave will reappear again.
Research has revealed several stories associated with this double grave, which extends across plots E8188 and E8189. The first story involves not a burial but a dedication on the kerbstone surround of the plot.
To the dear memory of Thomas Henry Lucas Lieutenant RAF Killed whilst flying in Egypt May 15, 1918 aged 27 years.
Thomas Henry was born in November, 1890 the son of William and Minnie Lucas, and baptised at St. John the Evangelist (a Chapel of Ease in the parish of St. Mark’s) on January 25, 1891. In May 1905 he began a 6½ year apprenticeship as a Coach Finisher in the Carriage & Wagon Works, later transferring to the Coach Body Making Shop.
Some of his military records survive and we know that he served with the Hampshire Regiment and also the Royal Air Force. He was killed in action on May 15, 1918 and is buried in the Cairo War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt. Were his grieving parents able to visit his grave? It is unlikely.
Thomas’s will was proved in 1919 when his address was given as 6 Lorne Terrace, Station Road. Administration went to his father William, a chargeman in the Works. His effects were valued at £360.
The first burial in this plot took place on January 3, 1920, that of five year old Marjorie Violet L. Faith, the daughter of Charles Frederick Faith and Violet Frances Euphemia Faith nee Lucas. (Charles was buried in this plot when he died in 1958).
Thomas’s parents William Henry and Minnie Sarah were buried here in 1942 and 1951 respectively, but there is one last story to tell.
The household at 6 Station Road was always a large and busy one. In 1901 William and Minnie Lucas lived there with their three children Violet 17, Minnie 14 and 10 year old Thomas. There were also two boarders living with them and on census night they had four visitors as well. And then there was their 18 year old domestic servant Mary Ann Gee. Mary Ann never married and remained with the family for many years. At the time of her death in 1948 she lived with William and Minnie at 67 County Road. She died that same year when she was also buried with them.
It was said that an apprenticeship served in the Great Western Railway Works was a passport to a job anywhere in the world. Some of the long past railway men might argue that it didn’t necessarily guarantee a job in the Swindon Works though! Skilled, newly qualified men went up a pay scale and the GWR only retained those where vacancies existed in specific shops.
In Doing Time Inside – Apprenticeship and Training in GWR’s Swindon Works Dr. Rosa Matheson reproduces the regulations under which apprentices were employed in the GWR Carriage Works in Swindon in both 1892 and 1908. Apprentices were not taken on under 15 nor over 16½ years of age (later revised to 15½ and 17 years). All candidates had to complete a one month trial without wages before being accepted.
In 1892 a working day began at 6 am and finished at 5.30 pm with a 45 minute breakfast break and an hour for lunch. The daily rate for an apprentice in his first year was 10d. He was expected to ‘commence work punctually at 8 am and to make, as a rule, full time (54) hours during the week.’
One such apprentice was George Albert Hallard who began his months trial on February 20, 1879 aged 15.
George Albert Hallard was born in Bristol in 1864, the eldest of 8 children. His father George was an Erector, Engineer, Fitter and by 1881 the family were living at 38 Westcott Place, next to the Falcon Inn.
George Albert Hallard married Marcella Ellen Kirkham in 1889. At the time of the 1891 census the couple were living at 13 Conduit Street, Plumstead, London but by 1901 they had returned to Swindon and a home in Birch Street.
George Albert Hallard was one of 228 men who retired under the 66 year retirement age limit in 1931.
Mr G.A. Hallard, of 70, Jennings Street, chargeman fitter and turner in “W” Shop, worked in the GWR works for 38 years and was chargeman for about 27. He was apprenticed in the works and then obtained a position in London. He then returned to Swindon. Mr. Hallard’s father, who is 91 years of age, also worked in the works for many years.
Swindon Veterans of Industry – North Wilts Herald, Friday, January 2, 1931.
George Albert Hallard died aged 77 years in Ogbourne Hospital. His home address was 70 Jennings Street. His funeral took place on December 12, 1941 when he was buried in grave plot C745 with his wife Marcella who died in 1903.
W Shop where George Albert Hallard worked for more than 27 years. Image published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.
When Helen Criswick died in 1907 the first name placed on her headstone was that of her husband, although he was not buried with her.
Henry Charles Criswick died at Axim, West Africa on October 6, 1895. Henry, a civil engineer, had spent many years working in West Africa. Infact, he had only recently returned there just two months prior to his death.
Henry Charles Criswick was born in 1838 in Sherborne, Dorset, the son of James Criswick, a printer, and his wife Eleanor. By 1861 Henry and his brother George were lodging in a property in Greenwich where both brothers worked as assistants at the Royal Observatory. This is the last time Henry is captured on a UK census.
In 1868 Henry married Helen Elizabeth Ihler at Monrovia, West Coast of Africa and for most of their married life he worked in West Africa. The couple’s first child, Frances Helena, was baptised at St Alphege Church, Greenwich on March 21, 1871 but at the time of the census taken just a few days later she was living with her grandfather and aunt, without her parents. Perhaps they had returned to West Africa?
How Helen and her children came to be living at 41 Belle Vue Road, Swindon remains unknown. Was Henry working for the GWR at the time? He doesn’t appear with the family on the census returns. By 1891 Helen was living at 11 Claremont Crescent, Weston Super Mare. She must have seen her husband sometime during the intervening 10 years as by then she had two more children, Charles and Margaret. She declares that she was living on an allowance from absent husband – I’m assuming this means absent as in ‘working away’ and nothing more sinister.
On July 31, 1895 Henry sailed on the SS Nubia from Liverpool for Axim where two months later he died from tuberculosis.
So, how did Helen come to be buried here in Radnor Street Cemetery? Had her visit in 1881 endeared her to the town? In 1902 her daughter Helen married Frederick William Yoell, a watchmaker and jewellery dealer. By 1907 they were living in Swindon and premises at 25 Fleet Street, which is the address where Helen Elizabeth Criswick was living at the time of her death.
Helen Elizabeth Criswick was buried in grave plot B2692 on August 25, 1907 – without her husband.
I frequently take Radnor Street Cemetery visitors to the grave of Freda and Irene Dening. These two sisters enjoyed a long career in the Great Western Railway at a time when it was unusual for women so to do. I must admit that I have made little attempt to find out much about their father, until I came across a note of his retirement in the Great Western Railway Magazine.
Richard Dening was born on April 20, 1866 in Winsham, Somerset, the son of Nimrod Dening, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Sarah Anne. He married Alice Louie Hunt in 1890 and the couple began their married life together at Clarence Street, Townstal, Devon.
Richard entered employment in the GWR on July 28, 1891 and is recorded as being Assistant Foreman in Fitting No 3 Shop. The family can be found on the 1901 census living at 61 Hythe Road with their three children Henry 9, Freda 3 and 7 month old Irene.
You can read about Richard’s career below:
Mr R. Dening, who for over four years was foreman of Nos. 3, 15, 15A, 18 and 19D shops, carriage and wagon works, Swindon, has retired from the Company’s service. He was held in high esteem, and widespread regret was felt on his retirement. At a smoking concert at the Great Western Hotel on April 18, a large company assembled to pay tribute to Mr Dening’s popularity. Mr. C.J. Coleman presided, and several interesting presentations were made. These consisted of an armchair and a grandfather clock, together with a handbag for Mrs Dening, from the men in Nos. 3, 15, 15A, 18 and 19D shops, and a set of four woods from the foremen and clerical staff. Tributes to the interest which Mr. Dening had taken in the shops were paid by Mr. S.J. Owen (who made the presentation), and Messrs H. Burchell, W. Clements, A. Fleming, F. Spackman, W. Watts, W. Blanchard, W. Newman, G. Dunn, A.E. Carter, C Thompson, T. Greenwood, and C. Garrett.
Mr Dening entered the Company’s service in July 1891, and commenced work in No. 15 shop. In 1906, he was appointed assistant foreman, and became head foreman in September, 1926. For 21 years he had been connected with the GWR Locomotive and Carriage Department Foremen’s Association, having occupied the positions of auditor, assistant secretary, secretary, vice-president, and finally president. For ten years he was also a member of the GWR Sick Fund Society committee, being chairman for eight years, and a member of the revision committee appointed to deal with the society’s financial position. In connection with his association with the Sick Fund Society, Mr. Dening helped in the formation of a benefit societies’ council, of which he became the first president. He is greatly interested in bowls, and is a vice-president of one of the clubs in Swindon.
Mr Dening’s son and two daughters attained outstanding educational distinction in each winning the Brunel medal at the London School of Economics, Mr H.R. Dening secured the medal in 1920, and Misses F.E. and I.A. Dening in 1921 and 1922, respectively.
Great Western Railway Magazine
Richard Dening died aged 85 years in the Cheriton Nursing Home. He was buried on February 13, 1953 in grave plot D187. His wife Alice Louie Dening died at her home, 60 Goddard Avenue, aged 90 years. She was buried on March 18, 1958 with her husband. Their daughters Freda and Irene were buried with them. Irene died in 1982 and Freda in 1994.
Radnor Street Cemetery 