Sometimes a family leaves a very small footprint in this world and the Bentley family seems to be just such a one. But there is a lot to say about their stylish headstone full of symbolism. The fluted columns represent the entrance to heaven while the furled scroll indicates a life that had more to be lived. The bouquet of flowers express condolences and grief.
This is the last resting place of Pelham Bentley who is buried with his parents. It is likely their names are mentioned on the kerbstone edging.
William Charles Bentley married Sarah Wynn Malley at St. George’s Church, Wolverton in 1877. Like Swindon, Wolverton was established as a locomotive repair shop for a railway line under construction, situated at the midpoint of the London & Birmingham Railway in 1838.
William and Sarah both hailed from Lancashire, William from Bury and Sarah from Lancaster. In 1878 Sarah gave birth to twins, a boy Pelham and a girl Lily. By 1881 they had moved to Swindon where William worked as a Coach Trimmer and the family lived at 11 Harding Street.
By 1901 Pelham was lodging in North Manchester where he was was also working as a Coach Trimmer but by 1911 he was back in Swindon. Aged 32 he was living at 129 Broad Street with his parents and his sister Lily who was an Elementary School Teacher.
Lily married John Wells in Swindon during the December quarter of 1912 but at the moment I can find nothing more about him or them. William died in 1937 and by 1939 both Lily and her mother Sarah are widowed and living at 21 York Road.
The Bentley family were obviously a small, close knit family, the type of ordinary people who worked hard and contributed to the building of Swindon. They do not seem to have left us much to remember them by, except this rather beautiful headstone.
Radnor Street Cemetery 