Olif Young died at her home in Hythe Road in 1907 aged 80 years of age. I wonder how she approached her own death. She had had plenty of preparation. Olif’s husband was the Rev Frederick Rowland Young, a Unitarian Baptist Minister and spiritualist about whom much has been written. But was the Rev Young a charlatan as some suggest and that his Doctor of Divinity degree may have been fraudulent.
Olif Wilson was born in Dover, Kent in 1827. By 1851 she was married to the Rev Young and living in Diss, Norfolk with her five year old daughter Juliet and her 10 year old brother Thomas Wilson. However, the Rev Young does not appear to be at home on that census night.
The Unitarian Church – image published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon, Central Library.
During the 1860s Frederick arrived in Swindon when he quickly ingratiated himself into Swindon’s society. In 1861 he built the Unitarian (Iron Church) in Regent Street, which later proved too large for his small congregation and was removed. In 1875 he built the Free Christian Church in Regent Circus. In 1871 he lived with his family in Rose Cottage, Drove Road where he held spiritualist meetings and ‘terrifying’ seances, before moving to a house he built next to the church in Rolleston Street.
The Rev Young was a prolific writer, producing lectures and a pamphlet entitled ‘Hints How To Make Home Happy’ which included chapters on ‘Courtship Days’ and ‘Thoughts for the Honeymoon.’ He also founded and edited The Christian Spiritualist.
The Rev Young was also a faith healer – his modus operandi was to run the flat of his hands along the arms and legs of his patients. Apparently he had more success with his female patients than his male ones.
Frederick and Olif remained in Swindon for some 20 years before Frederick left the church and they moved to Finsbury Park Road, where he died in 1893.
Olif returned to Swindon and lived out her days here. Was she prepared for her own death, I wonder? Did she greet it with joyful anticipation or dread that the dodgy Rev Young might be waiting for her?
Olif was buried on September 26, 1907 in grave plot E8678 where she lies alone.
Rev Young’s Free Christian Church in Regent Circus was later taken over by the Roman Catholic congregation, pictured here by George Puckey. Upon the completion of the Holy Rood Roman Catholic Church in Groundwell Road, the Nonconformist Chapel became known as the Victoria Hall and was home to the Swindon Museum.
Radnor Street Cemetery 