It took local residents living in the Kingshill area a little while to get to grips with the rules and regulations concerning the new cemetery. And the ever vigilent caretaker Charles Brown was always keen to enforce them.
Joseph Deacon found himself in trouble with the Burial Board barely four months after the opening of the Swindon Cemetery after finding himself locked in the burial ground. But the full story may have been left untold.
Damaging the Cemetery Fence – Joseph Deacon, 36, carpenter, 6, Albion Street, was charged with committing wilful damage to the rails enclosing the Swindon Cemetery. Mr J.C. Townsend appeared to prosecute on behalf of the Burial Board. On Monday, the 5th inst. The defendant was in the cemetery and went to the Clifton street gates to leave. He was told by John Bastin, a man working there, that the gates were locked, and that he would have to go to the lodge entrance. The gate had been locked by order of the board. Defendant replied to Bastin that he should not go any further round, but should get over the rails. He was told not to do so, but he went up to near the mortuary, and climbed over the rails, scratching off the paint, and telling witness that he could go and tell Brown (the keeper) if he liked. The damage was estimated at 1s – Defendant said he did what he did in a passion. He never heard that the lodge gate was open or he should have gone out by it, that being his nearest road. He should like to know if a person could go through the cemetery? – The Chairman said certainly not; the cemetery was a sacred place and must not be trespassed on. If he was to send defendant to gaol for two months, or fine him £2 and costs, as he could do, every man in Swindon would know that it was a private place. – The defendant said he did not know this. – The Chairman fined defendant and costs, in all £1 8s.
Swindon Advertiser Monday December 19, 1881.
Plaque above No. 9 Albion Street
So how had Joseph come to find himself locked in the cemetery on Monday December 5, and why had he acted “in a passion” as he told prosector Mr J.C. Townsend.
Joseph Deacon married Eliza Wakefield in 1875 at the parish church in Dauntsey. Their daughter Sarah Jane was baptised at Christ Church, Swindon on July 25, 1877 and by the time of the 1881 census Joseph and Eliza with Sarah 3, Harry 2 and one month old William were living in Albion Street.
At the time of the 1891 census Joseph and Eliza’s family had increased with the birth of Julia, then aged 8 years old – but what had happened to little Harry, not mentioned on the census returns of that year.
On October 11, 1881, just weeks before Joseph’s cemetery crime, he had buried his 2 year old son in a pauper’s grave in the new cemetery. Could it be that Joseph was visiting the child’s grave that day when he discovered he had inadvertantly been locked in? Was this why he had acted “in a passion” still mourning the death of his little boy? We’ll never know, but it is worth a consideration.
Numbers 9 and 10 Albion Street
Eliza Deacon died in February 1917 aged 74 years and was buried in grave plot C3416 where Joseph joined her upon his death in 1925. Their daughter Julia was buried with her parents when she died in 1956.
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