The life and times of Richard and Ada Jones

Today’s story has been revealed by an enquiry through the Radnor Street Cemetery Facebook page and two newspaper articles.

When Hilda Lawes was interviewed by the Swindon Advertiser in 1995 she spoke with affection about her childhood, living in Faringdon Road above her parents’ fish shop.

It had taken Ada and Richard Jones a long time to get to Swindon.

Ada was born in 1879 in Canton, Cardiff the daughter of Edward Barrow, a stonemason, and his wife Mary. She married Richard William Amhurst Jones in Cardiff in 1897. Their daughter Ada was born that same year in Cardiff. In 1899 a second daughter Emma was born followed by son Richard William in 1902 when the family lived in Tilehurst, Reading where Richard worked as a Ferryman. The family were soon on the move again and Edna was born in 1905 and Hilda in 1907 in Southampton. They eventually arrived in Swindon where Matilda was born in 1910. By 1911 the family were living at 26 Commercial Road where Richard worked as a fish dealer. The census of that year informs us that they have been married for 14 years and have 6 children who are all living. Their last child, Freda, was born in Stratton St. Margaret in 1912.

Their family complete, their business established, Richard and Ada might have thought they were settled.

The Great War was raging when Richard enlisted in Swindon in November 1915.  He was 41 years of age with a family of seven children to support. His military records reveal that he served in the RAMC as a Motor Driver and Mechanic from 1916 to 1919 in what was then known as German East Africa. During 1916 he was injured in a bomb explosion suffering wounds to his left leg. That year he also contracted malaria. He remained in East Africa until the end of the war, returned to England in January 1919 when he was declared 30% disabled, but still transferred to the Reservists List.

Hilda, then aged 12, remembers him returning from the war and how the family moved to new premises at Faringdon Road.

Despite his injuries, work carried on apace for Richard, but family life sounds as if it was rather fun.

In June 1931 Richard and Ada’s youngest daughter Freda entered the Carnival Queen competition organised by the Evening Advertiser. She was crowned by popular actress Evelyn Laye (who had a Swindon connection) and was presented with a silver rose bowl.

The Swindon Advertiser report includes a fantastic photograph of Richard riding his motorbike with Ada sitting in a wicker sidecar. The second photograph is a grainy picture taken from the North Wilts Herald of their youngest daughter Freda crowned Carnival Queen in 1931.

Ada died aged 63 at 39 Faringdon Road. Her funeral took place on October 13, 1937 when she was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery in grave plot C4490. Richard died aged 65 at 176 Pinehurst Road, the home of his youngest daughter Freda, and was buried with Ada on November 24, 1939.

Many thanks to Helen Diggens