Kent Road gate
If you are in the habit of cutting through the cemetery to reach your destination you will appreciate what an inconvenience it is to find the gates locked.
This is just the situation in which William Richard Crook found himself on October 17, 1882. The 25 year old carpenter did what any able bodied young man would do and climbed over the fence.
However, he had been spotted by the fiercesome cemetery caretaker Charles Brown. Brown’s care of his kingdom and its deceased residents was exemplary. He had less patience with the general public!
Radnor Street gate
Damaging the Cemetery Fence – William Crook, carpenter, Swindon-road, was charged by the Burial Board with damaging the fencing at the Swindon Cemetery, on the 17th inst. Charles Brown, caretaker, proved seeing defendant climb over the rails of the cemetery when he found the gate locked. – Defendant admitted the offence, and was ordered to pay 1s damage, 1s fine, and 7s costs, the Bench cautioning him not to offend again.
The Swindon Advertiser, Monday, October 30, 1882.
Dixon Street gate
William was born in Pewsey in about 1858, the younger son of George and Amaryllis Crook. By 1871 the family had moved to Swindon and were lodging at 4 Union Street.
William married Alice Pauline Carlton the same year in which he was charged with damaging the cemetery fence. The couple went on to have two children, Victor and Lilian, and by 1891 William was working as a publican at the Oddfellows Arms in Queen Street.
He died at the prematurely young age of 35 years old in 1893 and, of course, his last resting place was in the cemetery, the scene of his fence vaulting crime. I wonder if Charles Brown ever made the connection.
William lies in an unmarked, public grave B1702 which he shares with three others, including his son Victor who died in 1899 aged 15.
Clifton Street gate
Radnor Street Cemetery 