Robert Astill – Commercial and General Printer

Window bills, confectioner’s bags and sermons are just a few of the seemingly endless list of printing services produced by Robert Astill at his works in Victoria Street.

Born in Coventry in 1833, Robert Astill married Margaret Delphi Considence Hall in 1866 and by 1871 the couple were living at 18 Victoria Street with their two young children. Employed as foreman at the printing works established by auctioneer William Dore, Robert Astill later became proprietor probably after Dore’s death in 1877.

Astill’s premises occupied the large corner plot at the top of Victoria Street where Queen Victoria House now stands. With a Victoria Street frontage measuring 93ft (28.3 metres), the area was known locally as Astill’s corner. Astill had bought the property in 1885, signing a conveyance between Charles Richards Plummer and his wife Mary (most probably the former Mary Dore and daughter of Astill’s former employer, William Dore).

By the turn of the century Robert was widowed, the youngest of his eleven children, Lily Blanche, had recently emigrated to Australia where she worked as a domestic servant in the Brisbane/Gold Coast area. With the business now in the hands of his sons, Robert was preparing to retire to Zeals, a small village near Warminster.

The whole complex was placed on the market in 1903 when it was described as being ‘suitable for any Large Business or Offices with Stable, Coach House, Out Buildings, Yard and Garden ground.’

The 1903 sale catalogue describes a complicated arrangement of domestic and workplace accommodation. On the ground floor there were two entrance lobbies, one opening on to Bath Road and the other on to Victoria Street.

The Breakfast Room facing Victoria Street was used by Astill as a ‘Stationery and Fancy Shop’ while W.H. Bush used the Drawing and Reception Rooms on the Bath Road side as a ‘Hairdressing Establishment.’ The stables and use of the yard were let to Mr Greenman on a weekly tenancy.

A selling feature was made of the bressummers (strong beams supporting the superstructure of the building) thus enabling a conversion into two shops if the purchaser so desired.

With a dining room, seven bedrooms, a dressing room, WC and linen closet on the two upper floors, this building presented a serious undertaking.

A short account of the auction was reported in the Swindon Advertiser.

Sale of Property – An exceptionally large and influential gathering of property owners and speculators assembled at the Goddard Arms Hotel last (Monday) evening to witness the disposal by public auction of that very desirable corner freehold block of buildings situate in Bath Road and Victoria Street, and for many years in the occupation of the owner Mr Robert Astill. Mr T. Hooper Deacon was the auctioneer, and after a short introductory speech, the bidding was started by Mr James Hinton at £2,000, who became the new owner at £2,600. The solicitors for the vendor were Messrs Kinneir and Co.

Swindon Advertiser, Tuesday, February 17, 1903.

Kelly’s Directory of 1915 reveal that the Astill brothers still occupied the premises, then described as 103 Victoria Road after renumbering of the built up road linking former Old and New Swindon.

Margaret Delphi Considence Astill died in December 1899 and was buried in grave plot E8601 where her husband joined her on June 19, 1915. The last burial to take place in this plot was that of their daughter Ellen Victoria Astill who died in 1946 and was buried on April 12.

If there was ever a memorial on the Astill family grave here between the Thatcher and Chum family plots, it is no longer visible. We fully appreciate the financial constraints upon Swindon Borough Council – that the coffers are depleted and there is barely enough money to pay for essential services. But it is such a shame that an important heritage site such as Radnor Street Cemetery receives so little maintenance. Here lies, quite literally, the history of our town – remembering the ordinary people of Swindon.