In 1900 the Great Western Railway employed more than 12,000 people in the Swindon Works. It has to be said that most Swindon families were a Great Western family.
This is the story of the Cook family.
John Cook was born in Wootton Bassett. He married Emily Smith at Christ Church, Swindon in 1852. At the time of the 1861 they were living in Oxford with their four children. In 1871 John returned to Swindon and brought his family (5 sons and a daughter) back to a home at 22 Westcott Place where two more children were born.
John worked as a boilermaker and by 1881 all five sons were employed in the Works. George 23 was an engine fitter, Henry 21 and Walter 19 were both boilermakers like their father, Alfred was an engine fitter and even 14 year old Frank had begun a boilermaker’s apprenticeship.
Alfred Guess Cook was born in 1863 and baptised at St. Thomas’s Church, Oxford where the family lived at 71 Bridge Street, Osney Town. At the time of the 1871 census the family were still living in Oxford, although it seems likely John had already returned to Swindon and a job in the Works.
By 1911 Alfred 48, lived at 25 Westcott Place with his two sisters Alice 42, and Emily 37, and his youngest brother James Irving Cook 33, a locomotive engine erector.
Six brothers all employed in the GWR – a fact observed in the newspaper report of 1931 when 228 men retired under the compulsory retirement age. It would be interesting to work out how many years combined the members of the Cook family gave to the GWR. They could hardly have anticipated there would come a time when the mighty Works would be no more.
Mr A.G. Cook, chargeman fitter, of 25, Westcott place, worked in the GWR works for 55 years, and held the position of chargeman for 42½ years. During the past 23 years he has inspected and put into traffic about 16,000 locomotives and rail cars.
Swindon Veterans of Industry – North Wilts Herald, Friday, January 2, 1931.
Mr A.G. Cook, who retired from the Company’s service on December 24, was a chargeman erector in the locomotive works for over 42 years. He had been in the Company’s employment a total of 55 years. Mr Cook comes of a Great Western family; six of his brothers are, or have been, chargemen under the Company.
Great Western Railway Magazine 1931
Alfred died at his home in March 1934, aged 71 years old. He was buried in grave plot D242 where he was later joined by his brother James, who died in 1944 and his sister Emily who died in 1947.
Radnor Street Cemetery 