If you are of a certain age you may remember Turn, Turn, Turn, a song released by The Byrds in 1965. The lyrics were written in 1959 by Peter Seeger and are taken from the book of Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 verses 1-8.
So, what do you think? Is there a time to be born and a time to die.
Emma Flower died in March 1912. She had lived to see her only surviving child, Edwin Brian Flower, marry. She was 49 years old. A tragedy to die at that age both now and then. Had she suffered a long, painful illness, in which case it might have been a time to die?
Emma Head was born in 1861 the daughter of John Head and his wife Hannah. She married Edwin Flower at the church in South Marston on Christmas Eve 1888. At the time of the 1891 census the young couple and their baby son were living at 36 Avening Street, Gorse Hill. By 1911 the family had moved to 23 Florence Street where their son Edwin Brian was married from on October 21, 1911 and where Emma would die five months later. She was buried on March 14, 1912 in grave plot B3209 where she lies alone. Her husband Edwin married again in 1913 to widow Jane Martha Stone (nee Head) most probably Emma’s elder sister.
Edwin Brian Flower was the only one of Emma’s three children to survive childhood. He was born on September 23, 1889 and lived in Gorse Hill all his life. At the age of 13 he started work as an office boy/messenger in the Carriage Works, later transferring to the Wheelwright Shop. He married Ethel Woodman in 1911 and they had a daughter Iris Minnie born the following year. By 1917 Edwin was serving with the 9th Light Railway Operating Company as a Sapper in the Royal Engineers. He was killed in action on October 4, 1917 aged 28 and is buried in the Rocquingny-Equancourt Road, British Cemetery, Manancourt. Was it his time to die?
George Hunter was born in 1834 in South Cave, Yorkshire. At just 9 years of age he was working as an agricultural labourer to help support his widowed mother. At the age of 17 he converted to Primitive Methodism and spent the rest of his long life in God’s service.
George was described as ‘a splendid visitor, and a true friend and practical helper in cases of distress’ who ‘in the pulpit was earnest, simple, practical and good. He aimed not at display. He preached not to please the ear and tickle the fancy, but to touch the heart and reach the soul. His sole ambition was to save souls.’
He married Mary Thompson and the couple had two daughters, Rosanna born 1868 and Edith Mary born 1870.
In his retirement he made his home in Swindon with his younger daughter Edith where he continued to assist with the work of the Primitive Methodist church. He lived at 75 Morris Street, Rodbourne, where he died in 1916. A long obituary was published in the North Wilts Herald of which the following is an extract.
George Hunter
Death of the Rev G. Hunter
55 Years in the Primitive Methodist Ministry
The Rev. George Hunter, who was for 55 years a Primitive Methodist minister, died at his home, 75 Morris Street, Swindon, on Sunday. He was born in Yorkshire in 1834 and was 82 years of age. The greater part of his ministry was spent in the South of England, and when he retired from active service five years ago he came to reside at Swindon, and for some time continued to assist in Church work.
The funeral took place on Wednesday afternoon. The first portion of the service was conducted at the Primitive Methodist Church, Regent Street, by the Rev. S.A. Barron, who also committed the body to the earth at the Cemetery.
The Funeral Address was delivered by his old friend the Rev. J.H. Cotton …
As a pastor George Hunter had few equals. He knew his people, sympathised with them in their sorrows, advised them in their difficulties, comforted them in their sickness, and encouraged them as they drew near the eve of the great change. In the sick room nothing was more striking than his beautiful sympathy and tender handling of stricken souls. He could not refuse to help in a case of need, and often had made the widow’s heart dance with joy. Twenty years ago he heard friends talking about Mr Hunter’s kindness to the aged poor. In many circuits he would long be held in affectionate remembrance, though the majority of those who benefited from his ministry preceded him into the Great Beyond.
The great sorrow of Mr Hunter’s life was the passing away of the devoted wife who for over 35 years had lovingly shared his ministry. That was in 1900, during his second term at Stewkley.His elder daughter had to look after an aged aunt at Exeter; but the younger, since her mother’s death, had devoted herself to her father beyond all praise. During the coming years it would give to her deep and abiding satisfaction to know that she gave herself so lovingly to bring joy and comfort into her father’s life during his declining years. To these ladies in their intense bereavement and sorrow their sympathy went that day.
Advancing years ripened and mellowed Mr Hunter’s character, and considerably broadened his views. He was not sure that he was a man of the eventide after all. He often felt while in contact with him that he was a man of the morning. He passed away, after a brief illness, in the full confidence that death would be to him the gateway to a deeper, richer, and fuller life. To him, indeed, there was no death.
The Rev. W.L. Taylor said he knew Mr Hunter for a very long time. He often met him in the Brinkworth District and other circuits in which he laboured. He had that day seen some documents relating to his coming into this part of the country in 1861; and the people who had known Mr Hunter were thankful to the Hull Conference that day for having sent him. His work was a great success in the agricultural districts and his labours were equally successful in the industrial circuit in South Wales in which he spent a short period of his ministry. He asked the daughters of Mr Hunter to accept, in the sorrow which had overtaken them, the sympathy of the circuit he represented.
Extracts from the North Wilts Herald, Friday, June 16, 1916.
Rev George Hunter died aged 82 years at his home, 75 Morris Street. His funeral took place on June 14, 1916 when he was buried in grave plot C2016.
You can read more about the Rev Hunter and his family here:-
John Norman and his wife Eliza Loveday had a very long courtship. John appears on the 1891 census as boarding with the Loveday family at 26 Victoria Street North. John is 25 and working as a carpenter, Eliza Jane is also 25 and working as a dressmaker. The couple didn’t marry until the winter of 1906.
John Glover Norman was born in Chedworth, Gloucestershire in 1863 the son of Isaac Norman, a woodman and agricultural labourer, and his wife Mary. He completed his carpentry apprenticeship with a Chedworth carpenter but by the end of the 1880s he had moved to Swindon where he set up in business as a builder.
In 1898 and 1899 he was working in Goddard Avenue. He also built several properties in Westlecot Road and in 1906 he built 13 houses in the Mall. John built some classy properties but business was not straightforward and in the Spring of 1909 John Glover Norman was declared bankrupt.
At the time of the 1911 census, following his bankruptcy, John and Eliza are living in Victoria Road with a whole clutch of Loveday relatives. Eliza’s widowed mother lives with them as does two of Eliza’s nephews – Frederick Wm Loveday aged 22 a Law Clerk who describes himself as out of work, and Ernest Albert Loveday who was 24 and a carpenter, so most probably working with John. John and Eliza had two children, Beryl and a son Garnet.
John recovered from the bankruptcy crisis of 1909 and was soon back in business in Gorse Hill where he built a lot of properties including 44 houses in Caulfield Street and between 1926 – 1933 he built more than 60 houses in a road that would eventually bear his name – Norman Road.
John died in the Westlecot Manor Nursing Home in February 1954. He is buried in grave plot E8331 with his wife Eliza Jane, her mother Jane and 14 year old Dorothy Frances Reason the daughter of Eliza’s sister Mabel.
William Hooper image of Goddard Avenue taken around 1910 and published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.
For a certain generation of Swindonians the name Wise will be synonymous with the bakery at Headlands Grove, established in 1938 and which went out of business in 2001. However, this Wise family are railway through and through.
Charles Wise was a Railway Signal Inspector. In 1903 he is recorded in the UK Railway Employment records as having been employed by the GWR for 30 years.
Born in Ufton, Berkshire in about 1848 he married Jane Smith at St Mary’s Church, Reading on December 29, 1874. Their first child Charles was born in Wargrave and their second Thomas in Devizes. By 1879 they had arrived in Swindon where they were living at 14 Sanford Street, their home for more than 10 years.
A daughter Alice Mary who died aged just a year old in 1880, before the cemetery opened, was buried in St Mark’s churchyard and is remembered on this headstone.
Their youngest daughter Gertrude Grace trained as a teacher before marrying in 1917. Her husband was architect Granville Walter Henry George the son of local politician Reuben George.
Jane Wise died at her home 62 Eastcott Hill in August 1920. She was buried in grave plot A238 which she shares with her small son Sydney George who died in 1886 aged 3 years 4 months and her husband Charles who died in 1933 aged 85. Their fallen headstone has been cleared and cleaned by our volunteers.
Members of the 18th Scouts join us every year for our Remembrance Day Service at Radnor Street Cemetery. I wonder if they know that a very significant man in the history of the scouting movement in Swindon is buried in the cemetery.
William Rowland Bird was born on August 19, 1865 and baptised at St. Andrew’s Church, Chippenham in September 1865. His parents were Robert, at that time employed as a Switchman with the Great Western Railway, and Frances. William was the eldest of their five children and spent part of his childhood at 13 Atchley Street, Bristol, but by 1891 the family had moved to Swindon and a home at 73 Albion Street.
William started work in the railway works aged 14. He later transferred to the laboratory where in 1900 he was appointed chief chemist.
William never married. In 1901 he was living at 125 Goddard Avenue with his unmarried sister Edith. By 1911 it looks as if the rest of the Bird family had moved in as well! William shared the house with sister Amy, brother James and his wife and two children, an aunt and a servant.
William’s life was equally fully. He was appointed Scout Master of Swindon Troop 2 in 1909 and the following year hosted Baden-Powell at a scout rally in the GWR Park. He served as Scout District Commissioner for North Wilts (including Swindon) from 1910 until his retirement in 1945 when he was appointed vice president of Wiltshire County Scouts. And that wasn’t all! He was one of the founding members and secretary of the Swindon and District Football League. He was a referee and a member of St. Mark’s Young Men’s Friendly Society. He gave lectures at the Mechanics’ Institute on a variety of topics and in 1920 was a member of the Swindon Museum Committee.
In this 1915 image District Commissioner W.R. Bird is seated 2nd on the left
Former chief chemist at GWR dies
A former chief chemist and superintendent of the GWR laboratory at Swindon, and for many years Boy Scout District Commissioner for North Wiltshire, Mr William Rowland Bird (85), of 125 Goddard Avenue, Swindon, has died.
A native of Chippenham, Mr Bird came to Swindon as a boy and entered the service of the former Great Western Railway Company when he was 14 as a fitter and turner. He attended the Mechanics’ Institute evening classes and won the Gooch prize, the premier award.
After serving his time in the shops, Mr. Bird was transferred to the laboratory, and in 1900 was appointed chief chemist. For 32 years he served on the Dangerous Goods and Chemists Committee of the Railway Clearing House. He was one of the first chemistry lecturers at the Mechanics’ Institute.
Church Interests
One of the promoters and first assistant secretary of St. Mark’s Church Young Men’s Friendly Society, he also helped found St. John’s Church Club.
The Boy Scout and Church Lads’ Brigade found a staunch supporter in Mr Bird and other deserving causes always commanded his sympathy.
He was a founder and vice-president of the North Wilts Field and Camera Club, a member of the first committee of the Swindon GWR Engineering Society, of which he became a vice president, a member of the Toc H executive and a vice-president of the GWR St. John Ambulance Association.
William Rowland Bird died on July 1, 1951 aged 85 years. He was buried on July 4 in grave plot A857 which he shares with his mother Frances who died in 1894 and his sister Maria May who died in 1972. His father Robert is remembered on this headstone but is buried in grave plot E7798 with other members of the Bird family.
My thanks to Steve Milner, Scout Leader at Wootton Bassett, who is presently working on an account of the life and times of William Rowland Bird and can be contacted by messaging via this blogpost.
I took advantage of a dry spell in the recent turbulent weather to make a visit to the cemetery, my first this year.
Everywhere was look surprisingly unscathed by the recent tempest, although I didn’t venture far from the paths where I could see the work of the dedicated volunteers who have returned after the Christmas holiday.
It’s still rather early for the hardy little snowdrop to make an appearance, but I did see a single sprig of Lunaria, an old fashioned cottage garden plant more commonly known as honesty. And what more symbolic plant could there be for a burial ground, for at the end of life there can only be honesty.
Hubert Cyril Littleton Haggard was born on May 23, 1889, the second of William and Sarah Haggard’s two sons. He began work with the Great Western Railway aged 15 as a ‘lad clerk on probation’ in the stores department before transferring to the laboratory as an assistant analysist on the junior staff then progressing to the senior staff. Hubert was a conscientious and meticulous student; sadly, it was this attitude to work, which contributed to his fragile mental health. In 1908 Hubert was signed off work and ‘on the club’ – ‘required to be indoors at half past five in the evening.’ Today we have a better understanding of mental health but even now young people like Hubert are failed by an overburdened system.
Swindon Lad’s Sad End
Chemical Student’s Body found in the Canal
Promising career cut short
An exceptionally sad affair has occurred near Swindon. Last (Wednesday) evening a boy walking along the path by the side of the canal in the neighbourhood of Hay Lane, near Swindon, noticed a body in the water. He at once gave the alarm, and a man succeeded in getting the body out. It was apparent that life was extinct. Enquiries proved that deceased was Hubert Cyril Littleton Haggard, of 29 Chester Street, Swindon.
Our reporter made enquiries at the deceased’s home, where the news of the discovery of the body had come as a terrible shock.
Hubert, who was 19 years of age, was one of the brightest and best liked lads in the chemical laboratory in the GWR Factory. He was a lad full of promise, and most attentive to his work. He had been in the GWR laboratory as an analyst for between three or four years, and his exceptional progress and general aptitude for difficult and delicate work impressed those under whose directions he laboured. He held several certificates, and had won scholarships for efficiency in chemical science, being one of the foremost pupils when at the Swindon and North Wilts Technical School. Latterly he had exhibited signs of suffering from debility, which was attributed somewhat to an over application to his duties, for the father stated to our reporter that “Hubert was an extremely sensitive lad; he was conscientious to a degree, and once he applied himself to any piece of work he would stick at it until it was done to his best satisfaction.” The debility was not by any means acute, but it was decided that Hubert should take up no subjects this season, and he was himself agreeable to this. He placed himself under medical care, and being “on the club,” as the saying goes, he was required to be indoors at half past five in the evening. Before then, however, he generally managed to get in a little stroll.
On Tuesday afternoon he went for his usual stroll. He appeared quite fresh and happy when he went out. When he did not return at the usual time, some anxiety was felt, and as the night came on and he still did not return, the police were informed, and all night a search was kept up without avail, until the news came late on Wednesday afternoon that his body had been found in the canal. The deceased, apart from his work, was a cheerful, pleasant lad. He was a member of St. Mark’s Church, and was well liked and warmly respected by all who knew him. Much sympathy is felt with the relatives in their bereavement.
The inquest was held this afternoon and a verdict of “Found drowned” was returned.
Swindon Advertiser, Thursday, November 26, 1908.
Hubert was buried on November 30, 1908 in grave plot E7727. The burial registers include the comment – Found in Wilts & Berks Canal. His mother Sarah died in 1923 and was buried with him. William Haggard died in 1938 aged 85 years and was buried with his son and wife.
Could the person who planted this tree have imagined how big it would grow? Or perhaps it wasn’t planted but had self seeded and then grown to enormous proportions. This tree has quite literally burst open the grave.
This is the grave of William Rickard Burn who lies alone in a privately purchased plot, surmounted by an attractive kerbstone memorial complete with elegant art deco headstone.
William Rickard Burn was born in Tavistock in about 1857 the son of John Burn, a copper miner, and his wife Mary. William married Lavinia Cross in 1880 and the couple would go on to have a family of seven children.
By 1901 the family had arrived in Swindon and were living at 2 Cambria Bridge Road, but by 1911 something had gone awry. Lavinia was living in Bristol. That year she filled in the census form including the names of her seven children, but later crossed it through. Someone in officialdom had also edited the details with a the stroke of a red pen. Meanwhile, William was lodging in Swindon with his two youngest sons, Charles 14 and John 12. What had happened?
Lavinia died in 1927 aged 70. Her death was registered in the Devizes area. Where was she living at that time? Could she have been a patient at the Wiltshire County Mental Hospital? Further research is required.
William died on April 2, 1936 aged 79 years. He is buried alone in grave plot D442.
Wednesday January 3, and as promised I am working on my new book based on the diaries of Elliot Woolford, but as ever the residents of Radnor Street Cemetery continue to creep in.
Following the sudden death of his sister Ellen in 1905 Elliot was compelled to engage a housekeeper. He appointed Kate Romans who had plenty of experience of domestic service and had recently been employed as a housekeeper for widower James Harper and his three sons in Swindon.
Kate was baptised on January 12, 1870 the daughter of Methodists William and Maria Romans. William states his occupation as labourer and in 1871 the family were living at 5 Eastcott Hill. So, I had to check the Radnor Street Cemetery burial registers and of course several members of the family were buried there.
Both William and Maria were from Chiseldon and their first child, Alfred James Leonard was born there in 1864 and was buried there in 1867.
By 1870 the family had moved to Swindon. William died in 1894 and was buried in grave plot A928 which he shares with his daughter Ada who died two years later.
Maria died at The Institution, Stratton St. Margaret and was buried on April 13, 1916 in grave plot C711. Like William and Ada’s grave, this is a public plot and Maria is buried with 6 others, although two of them are her sons. Ernest Edward Romans who died aged 17 in 1896 and Thomas Webb Romans who died in 1898 aged 38. A note in the burial registers reads – ‘fell down dead at Railway Wks Stratford S.’
I was able to locate various other members of the family – George Romans who died in 1926 and Alfred Henry Romans who died in 1934. Elizabeth Passmore nee Romans died in 1951 and was buried in plot C4677 with her husband and son and Sarah Ann Robinson nee Romans who died in 1913 and was buried with her husband in grave plot D1290. Youngest daughter Florence Jane died in 1963 – in Australia and I can’t find William Romans jnr either who died in 1936, but he maybe buried in Whitworth Road Cemetery.
But what about Elliot’s housekeeper Kate Romans?
On June 14, 1911 Elliot married Amy Newth. Kate had already handed in her notice as Elliot had recorded in his diary entry Tuesday May 23.
With just a day left of their honeymoon, Elliot writes in his diary on Tuesday June 20:
Miss Kate Romans left my employ today after 6½ years service as housekeeper. Very good servant.
So what happened next to Kate. Well, she’s proving to be a bit elusive. In 1939 there is a Kate Romans resident at St. Margaret’s Institution, Stratton St. Margaret. Her occupation is stated as Domestic Duties – Retired. In 1953 there is a death registered in Swindon for Kate Romans aged 81, which is roughly the correct age. Could this be Elliot’s Miss Romans? If anyone has any information I’d love to know.
Now it’s back to Hook Farm and Elliot Woolford’s diary.
Image of Hook Farm published courtesy of the Woolford family and the Friends of Lydiard Park.
Do you know where Carr Street is? If someone asked you for directions, would you be able to help them? Today Carr Street runs behind the Waiting Room pub, an access road with parking for several businesses including Da Vinci’s Restaurant.
However, it wasn’t always so. Carr Street was built in around 1878/9 by the United Kingdom Land and Building Society along with Catherine Street and Farnsby Street. In 1881 Carr Street comprised 27 houses and cottages and was built in a most convenient situation.
In 1885 numbers 2-10 came on the market when they were described as four roomed cottages, ‘yielding the sum of £128 14s per annum.’ As today, investors bought property to rent and Carr Street was an attractive proposition. The advertising blurb stated ‘The Houses are only a short distance from the Great Western Railway Works, and therefore let readily.’
In 1888 numbers 11 and 12 Carr Street were also on the market when they were described as follows – ‘Each house contains Passage, Parlor, Kitchen with Cupboards, 3 Bed-Rooms, back kitchen, with fire-place and copper, coal house and, outside, a closet. The Houses have Gardens, and water is laid on.’
New-build number 13 Carr Street was probably of a similar design when Thomas & Eliza Wells moved there in 1879. Edith Mary was born that same year and Frederick James in 1883. Thomas was employed as a carpenter in the Works and by 1881 his two elder sons had already joined him there – George William 16 worked as a carpenter and 14 year old John as a railway clerk.
The Wells family lived at 13 Carr Street for more than 15 years. By 1900 they had moved to 5 Dean Street where Thomas died in March 1901. He was buried on April 3 in one of three Wells’ family graves, E7644, E7645 and E7646. He was buried with his wife Elizabeth who died in May 1924.
Radnor Street Cemetery 