What can a headstone tell you?

Thomas-and-Susan-Hughes

What can a headstone tell you? A surprising amount actually, and that doesn’t just include the inscription.

In older churchyards you might find skulls and crossed bones and dancing skeletons on headstones but you are unlikely to come across these symbols in Radnor Street Cemetery. There are angel monuments and angels carved in relief, but most of the iconography is more subdued.

The cemetery was established in response to several urgent needs. The rapid growth of the town saw diminishing space for burials in the existing churchyards (see Proposed Cemetery for Swindon) and a large and a growing congregation of Dissenters or Non-Conformists. This accounts for the non-denominational nature of the cemetery chapel (most municipal cemeteries have an Anglican and a Dissenters’ Chapel) and why the burial ground itself is unconsecrated ground.

So, what does the inscription on Thomas and Susannah Hughes’s headstone tell us?

To the memory of the late Thomas Hughes/Died October 27^th 1905/Aged 64 years/This memorial was erected by the family friends and workmen under his supervision/a token of respect and esteem/also of his wife/Susannah Hughes/died October 29^th 1905/aged 63 years/They were (illegible) and pleasant/(illegible) their lives and death/they were not divided

The headstone is in the shape of a scroll, which itself has various interpretations. It can signify a love of learning or a religious conviction. A scroll partially unfurled can indicate a premature death, although not in this case as both Thomas and his wife Susannah were in their 60s.

Acanthus leaves are a classical symbol dating from antiquity and represent both immortality and life’s prickly path. Ivy leaves represent friendship and immortality and oak leaves hospitality and endurance. The medallion shaped flower is most probably a sunflower, representing affection and remembrance while the Easter lily signifies resurrection.

The facts …

We regret to announce the death, on October 27^th, after a very short illness, of Mr Thomas Hughes, foreman of the Erecting Shops at Swindon.

Mr Hughes was born at Smethwick, Staffordshire in 1841, and in 1855 was apprenticed to Messrs. James Watt & Co., late Boulton & Watt, Engineers, Soho Foundry, Smethwick, near Birmingham, as general engineer, machinist, turner, fitter and erector. He left Soho Foundry in 1862, after the completion of his apprenticeship, and joined the service of the London and North Western Railway at Crewe, where he stayed for only a short time, returning to Soho Foundry and eventually entering the service of the Great Western Railway Company at Swindon in 1866, as an erector. He was appointed foreman in 1876, and his position was one of the most important at Swindon, as he had full control of the erection of new engines, also of the erecting work in connection with repairs.

He was a man of marked ability in his profession, and was held in high esteem by the officials, particularly by the Chief Superintendent, who, at the opening meeting of the Junior Engineering Society on October 31^st, alluded to the said incident in the following terms: – “This Society is unfortunate in a lost which we have sustained within the past few days. I allude to the death of poor Foreman Hughes. He was a member of our Committee, and I am sure I express your views when I say he was one of your most respected members. I am proud to say that Tom Hughes was a friend of mine for a great number of years, and I can scarcely express to you the shock it gave me when I heard of his death.”

For a number of years Mr Hughes held the position of First Engineer in the Company’s Fire Brigade, and in this direction exhibited characteristic energy and interest. He was also a Member of the Council of the Mechanics’ Institution, to which he was devotedly attached. The case is a peculiarly sad one, as within a day or two of Mr Hughes’s death, his wife, who had been ailing for some time, passed away.

Great Western Railway Magazine December 1905.

Death of Mr Hughes

We regret to announce the death, which took place on Friday morning, at his residence, 8 Faringdon Street, Swindon, of Mr T. Hughes, a foreman in the GWR works. Deceased, who had only been ailing a short time, passed away somewhat suddenly. He had been a foreman in the GWR works – over the A Shop (New Work & Erectors), B Shop (Erectors), and P Shop, for 30 years, having been employed in the GWR Works 40 years. He was well known as a member of the Council of the Mechanics’ Institute, in which he took an active interest, especially in the Library and Reading Room, having been a member of the council for seven years. Deceased leaves a widow and grown up family, for whom the deepest sympathy will be felt, especially as Mrs Hughes is lying seriously ill. Mr Hughes was also a prominent member of the GWR Fire Brigade.

Death of Mrs Hughes

An extremely pathetic sequel to the death of Mr T. Hughes, a GWR foreman, which took place on Friday last, is the fact that his wife passed away yesterday morning. She had been ill for some time, and was lying prostrate when her husband died. The funeral takes place tomorrow, when the bodies of Mr & Mrs Hughes will be buried in the same grave in the Swindon cemetery.

Swindon Advertiser November, 1905

In 1871 Thomas and Susannah lived in a shared property at 24 Oxford Street. By the time of the 1881 census they had moved with their six children into one of the larger, foreman’s houses at 8 Faringdon Street where they remained for the rest of their married life.

They were buried on the same day, October 31, 1905 in plot D141. They share their grave with their eldest son Charles Thomas, who died in 1907 and their son in law, Ernest James John Tarrant, the husband of their daughter Alma Susan, who died in 1914.

Thomas-Hughes

Mr Thomas Hughes

James Hill and the case of the stolen flowers

This is the case of a man who placed a few stolen flowers on a grave where he would later lie himself.

Helen Hill died on January 31, 1885. She was 84 years of age and a widow. The Hill family were originally from Scotland where her husband Mathew worked as a Flax Mill Spinner in Leven, Fife. By 1861 Helen, and her son James, a turner in the Works, and her daughter Henrietta, were living in Faringdon Street.

This wasn’t exactly the crime of the century, more the act of a grieving son. Even Mr. H. Kinneir, Clerk to the Local Board, emphasised that this was a trivial case but the theft of flowers on existing graves was taking place all over the cemetery. Standards had to be unheld and such petty thieving would not be tolerated! (I detect here the opinion of cemetery caretaker Charles Brown.)

Charge of stealing flowers from a grave – James Hill, 51, fitter, of Faringdon street, New Swindon, was summoned at the instance of the Swindon Local Board and Burial Board, charged with stealing some flowers – daisies – from a certain grave in the Swindon Cemetery and placing them on that of his mother – Mr. H. Kinneir, Clerk to the Local Board, appeared to prosecute, and in opening the case stated that the action was taken at the instance of the New Swindon Local Board and the Cemetery Committee. The case, although not a serious one – possibly a trivial one to many – was one of importance to the Cemetery Authority, and people interested in the cemetery. It was well known that persons who had relatives lying buried therein took pains with the graves, and planted flowers thereon. The present action arose through defendant, who was a man well known and highly respected, going through the cemetery on a Sunday and plucking several flowers from a certain grave and placing them on his mother’s grave. It was to point out the seriousness of the case that the present action was taken. Mr Kinneir said the Board did not wish to press the case, but wished for a small fine to be imposed, to let the public know that they must not gather flowers from a churchyard or cemetery. This proceeding of gathering flowers was going on all over the cemetery, and the Board wished to put a stop to it. The maximum penalty for the offence was £5. Without hearing any witness the bench imposed a fine of 2s 6d, and ordered payment of court fees.

James died in 1897 and was buried with his mother in grave plot A631, a public grave. They share the grave with 23 years old Lily Palmer who died in 1928 and is unlikely to be any relation.

Radnor Street Cemetery Chapel

For more than 15 years a small group of volunteers have been working to bring the history of the cemetery alive again and the cemetery chapel has been central to our work.

The chapel was designed in 1881 in the Gothic Revivalist style by popular local architect William Henry Read (who is buried in the cemetery). The cemetery chapel was non denominational and the burial plots in the cemetery were unconsecrated, at last the non-conformist residents of Swindon could be buried according to their own beliefs. Built to seat 100 people the chapel is austere and unfussy and painted white throughout, but this was not the original colour scheme. During repair and restoration work undertaken in 2013 we discovered that the upper walls were painted dark blue with the lower section a dark red, another fascinating aspect of the history of the building.

The cemetery chapel is central to the activities we hold, especially the Service of Remembrance. However, in recent years the numbers who attend this service have increased to such an extent that we are no longer able to meet in the chapel. Instead we gather round the Cross of Sacrifice, the Commonwealth War Graves memorial. At the end of the service the scouts place a cross on each of the 104 Commonwealth War Graves.

In 2014 we hosted the launch of Swindon in the Great War, a four year project to commemorate the events of the First World War. An exhibition of First World War artefacts and photographs at the end of the commemoration period was a great success.

And in 2015 the Duke of Gloucester was guest of honour at a Battle of Britain 75th anniversary commemorative event held at the cemetery. The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flew over Radnor Street Cemetery and the grave of Squadron Leader Harold Morley Starr, a Swindon born pilot who was shot down by enemy aircraft above Kent on August 31, 1940.

*Launch of Swindon in the Great War commemorations 201*4

restoration and redecoration work in 2013

*Remembrance Day 2015 and the Trinity Wesleyan Methodist War memorial rescued from a garden in Gorse Hill*

*The Sanford Street School Roll of Honour was placed in the cemetery chapel for safekeeping*

*This commemorative plaque was placed in the cemetery chapel for safekeeping*

311 - An outstanding 'Battle of Britain' Squadron C.O.'s campaign grou...

The Duke of Gloucester at the grave of Squadron Leader Harold Morley Starr

*Local schoolchildren designed stained glass windows for the chapel as part of the 2015* *Battle of Britain 75th anniversary commemorations.*

Join us for a guided cemetery walk on September 15, 2024 to celebrate Heritage Open Days. Meet at the chapel at 1.45. Walk begins at 2 p.m.

James Munro – Swindon Town football legend

*Swindon Town 1898-1899 – James Munro is pictured 5th from right in the back row*

James Munro was born on January 23, 1870 in Dundee, the youngest of Betsy and James Munro’s five children. He began his football career at Dundee Our Boys team, joining Swindon Town F.C. in 1895 after playing for Bolton and Burton Swifts. A good allrounder, captain Munro played as inside forward, half back, centre half, full back and even in goal.

On New Year’s Eve Munro led his team out onto a rain sodden County Ground pitch to play Tottenham Hotspur in a Southern League Division One match. Swindon Town picked up a 4-3 win in a hard fought game in difficult conditions. It is thought Munro caught a cold during this match, although he was seen out and about in town later that day. Sadly, he died a few days later, the cause of death being spinal meningitis.

Many thousands of people attended the commital of the young footballer into plot E7375 on January 7, 1899. A magnificent memorial was later erected on the grave but in recent years this itself has become weather damaged and in March 2021 Swindon fan James Turner and members of the Swindon Town’s Official Supporter’s Club raised £1,505 to restore the Munro memorial.

*The James Munro memorial before restoration*

Death of a Footballer

James Munro, captain of the Swindon Town Football Club, died rather suddenly on Wednesday. He played against Tottenham Hotspur in the Southern League last Saturday, and contracted a chill. The deceased, who had captained the Swindon Club for the past four seasons, was 29 years old, and had only been married five months. He came from Dundee, and first played for the Bolton Wanderers and afterwards for the Burton Swifts, from which team he came to Swindon.

The Derby Daily Telegraph, Thursday, January 5, 1899.

The Late Mr James Munro

In Memoriam – The Last Goal

A goal! Ah, now the cheers burst forth

When through our Captain’s play,

Another goal was gained for us,

And we had won the day.

A goal! Ah, yes, another goal,

A goal, for him to-day,

And Swindon mourns their Captain brave,

Whom death has called away.

L Maberly, Lambourn, Jan 16

The Swindon Advertiser, Friday, January 20, 1899.

The Funeral of Mr James Munro

The funeral of the late Mr James Munro for the past four seasons captain of the Swindon Town Football Club, who died almost suddenly last Wednesday, took place on Saturday afternoon amidst every token of respect for the deceased and sympathy for the family. In dismal weather the funeral cortege left deceased’s late residence in Kent Road, Swindon, at three o’clock, and proceeded to the Trinity Presbyterian Church, where the first portion of the service was conducted by the pastor, the Rev. J.H. Gavin. The Rev. W. Llewelyn Williams (Baptist) gave a short address. The former gentleman conducted the service at the graveside in the Cemetery, where several thousand people had assembled to pay their last tribute of respect to the ever popular “Jimmy.” The solemn procession was headed by the New Swindon Town Military Band (without instruments), and the coffin, on a hand bier, was covered with beautiful wreaths, besides which a carriage was laden with floral tributes. The members of the team acted as bearers, and amongst those present were the directors of the Swindon Town Football Co. (Limited), with the secretary and treasurer, and representatives from the Reading Football Club, the Tottenham Hotspur club, the Western League, the Southern League, etc. Amongst the floral tributes was an everlasting one from deceased’s comrades of the Swindon Town team, which bore the inscription, “Manfully he did his duty,” and the verse, “A star from out our tanks is gone; a light which shone the best; no more will he play the manly game, for Jimmy has gone to rest.” There were also wreaths from St. Mark’s F.C., Tottenham Hotspur players, directors of the Reading F.C., Swindon Amateur Swimming Club, Bedminster F.C., the directors, treasurer, and secretary of the Swindon Town F.C., and the Southern League.

The Western Daily Press, Bristol, Monday, January 9, 1899.

*The newly restored James Munro memorial*

With thanks to James Turner, Paul Plowman and Dick Mattick.

William Crook – charged with damaging the cemetery fence

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 17^th 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

Frederick Gee – platelayer

The re-imagined story …

‘Mother always said there was nothing I could have done to help, but I never believed her. Today I can still hear the cries of the men, although mother said that wasn’t possible, they were too deep in the tunnel and I was too far away.
But I wasn’t.

What she didn’t know was that I was there, by the mouth of the tunnel as the ballast train screeched through. I was the first person on the scene, a 10-year-old boy walking home from school across the railway line.

platelayers

A gang of platelayers image published courtesy of Newton Abbot Railway Studies.

I knew the platelayers were at work in the Sapperton tunnel that day in April 1896. I had seen them arrive with their truck and their tools while I was about my early morning tasks on the farm. A section of the tunnel was under repair and I wished I could see inside.

The tunnel was a feat of engineering carved beneath the Cotswold escarpment and a source of wonderment to this 10-year-old boy. By the end of that day in April 1896 the Sapperton tunnel would be the stuff of nightmares, a scene that would haunt me for years.

For weeks afterwards it was all anyone talked about in the village. How the gang of five men had been warned of the approach of a down train and had stepped out of the way on to the other set of metals. They did not notice that an up ballast train had entered the tunnel. Two men were killed instantly, their bodies mutilated in a shocking manner.

And I saw it all. At first I thought all were dead, but then came the moaning and the cries as the two who were less severely injured began to move.

I crept closer. In the light of their lantern I could see a man still lying on the track, his arm wrenched from his body, blood seeping from his head.

Sapperton

Sapperton Railway Tunnel

Help was slow in coming. The three surviving men were eventually picked up by a passenger train passing through the tunnel half an hour after the accident. At Stroud they were taken from the railway station to the hospital, causing a painful sensation in the town.

The men who died were named as H. Ballard and E. Greenaway. Another, J. Hillsley sustained concussion of the brain, scalp wounds and bruised limbs while W. Pointer was sent home from hospital during the course of that evening. The man with the severed arm died on the way to hospital. His name was Frederick Gee.

Mother said there was nothing I could have done to help, but I never believed her.’

The facts …

Platelayer – a man employed in laying and maintaining the railway track. The poorest of any railway employee with little or no opportunity for promotion or advancement. ‘The most neglected man in the service.’ (Will Thorne, Victorian platelayer).

Ganger Frederick Gee 47 was married to Mary Ann nee Willis and left seven children, five under the age of 10 years including a baby son just a few months old, when he died working in the Sapperton tunnel in April 1896.
Frederick was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery where in 1900 the couple’s sixteen-year-old daughter Rosa Ethel was buried alongside him and four years later their son Harry Howard, aged 21.

In just a few short years Mary Ann lost her husband and two of her children, but she was made of stern stuff.

On March 14, 1907 Mary Ann set sail from Liverpool on board the SS Cymric with her four youngest sons Sidney 17, Ernest 15, Frank 13 and eleven-year-old Wilfred, to begin a new life in the United States of America.

The family arrived in Boston, Massachusetts on March 25 and in the 1910 US census they can be found living in Forest Dale, Salt Lake City, Utah.

In 1917 Mary Ann, then aged 62, married William A. Tolman. William Augustus Tolman was 69, a widower and a member of a prominent pioneering family in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons). William’s father Cyrus had arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1848 with Brigham Young’s second company.

Theirs was a brief marriage. William died from smallpox in 1920. He was buried in the family plot at Oakley Cemetery, Cassia County, Idaho with his first wife Marintha.

Mary Ann died in 1929 aged 71. She had survived the death of two husbands, two sons and a daughter.

Frank Crossley – a safe pair of hands

The re-imagined story…

Swindon Town Football Club had been founded less than ten years when Frank joined the team. This was before the team turned professional in 1894, when they played at the Croft and changed into their kit at The Fountain public house. Football was a different game in 1887.

The players may have been amateurs but there was nothing amateurish about their game. Take Frank Crossley for example, a fitter in the Works who played in the late 1880s.

Frank Crossley was an intelligent player and a safe pair of hands. Fans wondered why he didn’t play more regularly for the Town. Frank played just seven games in a career that spanned five seasons from 1887 to 1892.

He then went on to referee matches and he didn’t mince his words.

I suppose the war will change football in the same way it has changed everything else. So many good players lost. Our own Freddie Wheatcroft lost, killed in action in 1917. Freddie notched up more than 90 goals in six seasons at Swindon. We won’t see the likes of him again.

And what about Frank? Will he be forgotten too?

The facts …

This headstone marks the burial place of William and Elizabeth Crossley and their son William. The kerbstone surround has sunk into the ground and it is no longer possible to see an inscription, if there is one. It is likely the names of two further sons both buried here, Frank and George, are mentioned.

William senior was a steam engine maker and fitter. He was born in Yorkshire in about 1827. By 1860 he and Elizabeth had moved to Stratton St Margaret and later a home in the railway village where they raised their five children, William, Frank, Emma, Sarah and George. All three sons followed William into the Works and jobs as fitters.

As the headstone reveals William died in 1895, Elizabeth in 1910 and their son William in 1899. William and Elizabeth are buried in plot A990, their son William is actually in the neighbouring plot A991. There is no obvious mention of the two sons who share the grave with their parents.

After William senior died, Elizabeth, Frank and George left their long-time family home at 15 Oxford Street and moved to 126 Broad Street. Following Elizabeth’s death Frank and George continued to live together.

Research has revealed that Frank played for Swindon Town Football Club from 1887 to 1892 and later went on to be a football referee.

In the last months of the Great War George was called up; he was 44 years old. As a skilled man he enlisted with the Royal Engineers, serving as a Sapper in the Royal Engineers and the Inland Waterways and Dock Companies. He served his time in Britain, returning to his job in the Works at the end of the war.

Frank died in 1947 aged 82 and George died in 1959 aged 85. Neither men married and left no descendants. Their lives forgotten, their amazing stories untold.

Frank Crossley of 126 Broad Street Swindon, died aged 82 years old. Burial took place in plot A990 on February 24, 1947.

Some sporting stories

Frank also played for the county team.

Football Gloucestershire v. Wiltshire

The most important match on Saturday in and about Bristol was the one between the representatives of the above counties, which was played on the St George’s ground, in the presence of about 2000 spectators. Although the Wiltshire men had to travel some distances, they were the first to take possession of the battlefield, but they had not to wait long before the home defenders jumped over the roses and took up their different positions ready for the attack.

From the throw in a combined rush was made by the visitors, who worked the leather in close proximity to the home territory, but Percy Newnham was not found wanting, and, with the help of Russell, stopped the attacking party, and the former player, with a clever kick, placed the globe half way down the ground, where, unfortunately, the ball was handled, and on the appeal being made a free kick was awarded the visitors…

From the kick off, Francis and Perrin sent in a stinger which puzzled Crossley, and matters were made equal admist the vociferous cheering of the spectators. The ball was kicked from the centre, and the home men, encouraged by their success, made another heavy attack upon the visitors’ territory, Noble, Taylor, and Francis sending in shot after shot, which were all well stopped by Crossley…

Poole next had a try with the leather, got from Francis; he sent in a clinking shot to Crossley, who saved in splendid style by falling with the ball and putting it behind…

Some very pretty passing play was witnessed between Perrin and Francis, who were loudly cheered by the spectators; the former headed the ball in front of the goal, but Crossley saved. The home forwards pressed the game, and Thompson getting the leather from C. Newnham had a chance of scoring, but he misjudged his shot and the ball went behind.

For five or ten minutes the visitors were penned in, Francis, Poole, and Perrin sending in some sharp shots, but Crossley was equal to the work, and his fisting out was remarkably clever.

Eventually the scene of action changed, and the visitors working together the ball was driven up the field and was placed between the sticks for the third time.

Up to half time the play was of a give and take nature, neither side being able to notch any further point. Immediately after the change of ends an appeal for hands was allowed the visitors, the leather being near the back division of the home quarters, but from the free kick the ball was sent out of play.

Directly after the ball was restarted it was kicked into touch, and from the throw in Taylor got it, and passing it to Poole, that player put in a shot, but Crossley cleared the goal.

Stancomb drove the leather down the ground, and Thomas tried a shot which Phipps hit over the crossbar, thus giving a corner, from which nothing resulted. Shortly afterwards W.H. Williams scored another goal for the visitors by heading the leather between the uprights. Up to the call of time no further point was scored. The game stood Wiltshire, five goals; Gloucestershire, two.

Extracts from The Wiltshire Times, published Saturday December 7, 1889

Football: Prospects of the Coming Season

“Can you manage to write something for us about the coming football season, and what we may expect to see the Town Club doing?” queried our Editor the other day.” What, football already? Why its only a few weeks since when we took up the willow for the first time this year! You might at least wait until the first-class cricket teams have made up their averages.”

It was not to be, however, for the “season” is already upon us, and almost before we could get a talk with some of the knowing ones of the local teams Swindon Town are hard at it – and at first-class matches, too.

Our first wail must be over the retirement of the popular captain of the past few years, for who can doubt that during the time Frank Crossley has held the exalted, but not at all time enviable, position of captain, Swindon has, under his care, and by plucky challenges well sustained, worked its way to a prominent position amongst southern teams. Le roi est mort; vive le roi! Frank Crossley retires, but Gordon Wainwright takes his stead, and in their new captain the Swindon eleven have not only a most firm commander, but also a thorough-going athlete. So after all, Crossley’s “stiffness” did not develop at a most critical time in the club’s history; he has assisted mightily his team’s accession to an exalted place in the football world, and does but leave other hands (and feet) to continue the work.

Extracts from The Swindon Advertiser published Saturday September 10, 1892

Swindon Tram Disaster

The re-imagined story …

We could all see that the tram was travelling too fast and people on the street began to move, clearing a path. When the accident happened, it was as if in slow motion; until the screech of metal on metal and the screams of the passengers plunged the scene into sharp and noisy relief.

As the tram swerved and toppled over some of those travelling on the open top were thrown to the ground. Surely, they could not hope to survive.

The visitors to the Bath and West Show who thronged down Victoria Road stood in shocked disbelief. For a split second there was a silence, a nothingness and then onlookers surged forward to help.

I was just returning to the studio from an assignment and had my camera with me. I briefly considered taking photographs of the scene, but just as quickly decided against it. I left my equipment in the foyer at the Empire Theatre and joined those helping to rescue the trapped and injured passengers.

Local photographer William Hooper published a postcard photograph of the crash scene that same day. I knew then that I didn’t have what it took to be a commercial photographer and I resigned from my position before my employer had an opportunity to dismiss me.

I took up a clerical job in the Works soon after. When I retired forty years later my colleagues presented me with a camera!

cemetery views (26)

The facts …

Runaway Tram Car

Dashes Down a Swindon Hill and Overturns

Four Passengers Killed and 30 injured

Somerset Farmer loses his life

Dorchester People Injured

A serious tram accident occurred at Swindon on Thursday evening. In consequence of the Bath and West of England Agricultural Show, the electric cars, which are Corporation property, were very heavily laden, and No 11 car, which is registered to carry 56 passengers, was descending Victoria road, a steep decline connecting the old and new parts of Swindon, with a load of between seventy and eighty people. Midway down the hill, the car got beyond control and at the foot of the hill ran on to the uprails at a crossing, and overturned.

The passengers on the top were precipitated into the road like stones out of a catapult, some being thrown a considerable distance. There were a great many people about at the time, and for some moments the greatest consternation prevailed. A few cool heads were soon on the spot to render assistance. The shrieks and groans of the injured filled the air, and one spectator says that blood ran into the gutter in streams. Scarcely a single passenger escaped without injury, although one or two who saw their danger had jumped off before it was too late.

Dr. Lavery, who lives close by, came on the scene, and was soon followed by Drs. Waiters. Dalea Gordon, Ducane, and the officials from the Great Western Surgery. Dazed and unconscious, the victims lay strewn about the roadway for many yards. The doctors and ambulance men rendered first aid to the more serious cases, and conveyances were summoned and the victims conveyed to the Victoria Hospital.

All the injured were transferred to the Victoria Hospital where they were given further treatment. Unhappily, the injuries in two cases proved fatal. Mr Edwin H. Croad, proprietor of the Railway Hotel, Swindon died on the way to the hospital while Mr Harry Dyke, brewer’s agent, of Swindon succumbed to his injuries shortly after admission. Two other victims died later. The roll of injured contains the names of about 30 persons, and others who were merely bruised or shaken went direct to their homes.

William Hooper photograph published courtesy of P.A. Williams and Local Studies, Swindon Central Library

The Dead

Harry Dyke, brewer’s agent, Goddard-avenue, Swindon.

E.H. Croad, Railway Inn, Newport Street, Swindon.

Rowland J. Dunford, Nables’ Farm, Draycot Cerne, Chippenham.

Charles Phippen, farmer, Weston Bampfylde, Sparkford Bath.

The two first names died soon after admission. In all cases death is supposed to be due to fracture of the skull.

How the Accident happened

General comment is that the car was carrying far too many passengers; indeed, eye witnesses and many of the passengers declare that it was grossly overcrowded. In descending Victoria road, the brakes either did not act, or were overpowered, and the momentum acquired in descending this steep thoroughfare hurried it along at a pace which convinced passing pedestrians, and even the passengers themselves, that an accident was inevitable. Whatever the feelings of the passengers were, no panic was displayed.

There was an absence of screaming, one and all awaiting with a grim quietness the denouement which all felt was bound to come. The car kept to the rails going down the hill. At the bottom is a sharp curve into Regent circus. On reaching the bend, it ran on to the up line, rocked heavily, and then fell over on its side with great force. It was exceedingly fortunate that there was no car on the up line or the loss of life must have been much great.

Lyons, the driver, stuck to his car to the last. He is said to have been an experienced motor man. He received some slight injuries to his side, but soon recovered. The conductor, who was on top of the car, was picked up in a dazed condition, but he pulled himself together in a few minutes. Lyons declares that he put on his brakes on reaching the hill, and applied them as hard as he could. He never let go of these until the car toppled over, and did all that he could to avert the disaster.

The trams belong to the Corporation of Swindon, and there is no doubt that the matter of compensation will have to be faced by the town authorities. The overcrowding allegations give a further serious aspect to the matters. Passengers are booked on a way bill, similar to the system followed in Bristol, the deviation being that the bill, instead of being placed in a prominent position within the car, is kept in portfolio form, and checked by the inspector whenever he mounts the platform. This way bill doubtless will be produced when required at the official enquiries which will be held, and, if accurately entered up, should show the exact number of persons who were riding. This can be further checked by the number of punched tickets issued.

This is not the first mishap which has occurred at the foot of Victoria road, although, fortunately, the previous accident was not attended with serious consequences. Warnings have more than once been uttered emphasising the necessity for special care being exercised in the descent of the hill, and at the annual dinner of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr A.E. Withey, a prominent local solicitor, expressed strong views on the question.

Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser 6^th June 1906 (extracts)

Edwin Herbert Croad, the 60-year-old proprietor at the Railway Hotel, Newport Street, Swindon was buried in plot E8374 in Radnor Street Cemetery on June 6. William Hooper got a photo of the funeral as well.

Swindon Corporation was found liable for more than £7,000 compensation and costs and was forced to increase the rates for three years to pay the bill.

5492314454_778d094bbc_b — William Hooper photograph published courtesy of P.A. Williams and Local StudiesSwindon Central Library.

William and Mary Hooper rock up at Stonehenge

The re-imagined story …

I have Swindon photographer William Hooper to thank for my appearance on Time Team.

As a nerdy little kid, I was already interested in archaeology (in particular the Neolithic period) and the inspiration for my obsession was all down to a photograph that hung in my grandpa’s study.

William Hooper has become famous for his Edwardian Swindon street scenes, but William and his wife Mary were not averse to getting on their bikes and venturing beyond Swindon. In the early days they travelled quite literally by push bike, graduating to a motor bike and sidecar as they travelled the Wiltshire countryside and beyond. Between 1905 and 1910 they took a series of stunning photographs of Avebury and Stonehenge.

The photograph in my grandpa’s study was of an ethereal woman dressed in white, sitting on a fallen boulder within the stone circle. These days you have to have permission and a very special reason for being allowed access to the stone circle but in 1910 the historic monument was still in private ownership, the property of Sir Edmund Antrobus 4th Baronet. Perhaps anyone could rock up and take a few photographs.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is stonehenge-4.jpg — *Image published courtesy of P.A. Williams and Local Studies, Swindon Central Library*

Skip on twenty years or so and with my degree in archaeology under my belt, I volunteered for a brand-new television programme that was thought by many to be doomed before it even made it to the screen. Television producer Tim Taylor had the crazy idea of making a programme featuring scruffy, hippy looking student types digging trenches in muddy fields. The premise of the programme was that the team would turn up at a site of archaeological interest, dig for three days and then reveal the history of that site. For twenty years Time Team brought archaeology to the masses and achieved viewing figures in excess of 2 million per episode.

I was a regular participant on the show, taking part on a number of digs, working alongside my university professor Mick Aston and national treasure Phil Harding. There are photographs of us in trenches and in various pubs mulling over the findings of the day’s dig.

I’ve recently moved to a cottage in Avebury (the magnetism of those stones still draws me) and it has long been my intention to pay my respects at the grave of William Hooper, the man who sparked my interest and gave me a lifelong love of history.

I’ve been told his grave in Radnor Street Cemetery is difficult to find. Now, where is John Gater and his geophysical wizardry when you need him?

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is william-and-mary-hooper-2.jpg — *Image published courtesy of P.A. Williams and Local Studies, Central Library*

The facts …

William Hooper was born in Windrush near Burford in 1865 and moved to Swindon and a job in the Works in 1882. In 1886 he was involved in a serious accident during which his leg was so badly crushed that he would eventually have it amputated at the knee.

William returned to his job in the railway factory where in 1891 he worked as a labourer and ten years later as a stationary engine driver. However, the work became too difficult for him and it was then that he decided to turn what had previously been a hobby into a business.

He opened his first photographic studio at 2 Market Street in around 1902, later moving to 6 Cromwell Street where he and his wife Mary remained until they retired in 1921.

Mary Stroud was born in Hereford where he father James worked as a Railway Guard. The family later moved to 22 Merton Street in Swindon. Mary and William married in 1890.

At the time of the 1911 census William, then aged 47, describes himself as a Photographer – Portrait and Landscape, his wife Mary as assisting in the business, but Mary did more than just ‘assist.’

In the extensive Hooper archive available online courtesy of P.A. Williams on the Swindon Local Studies flickr account, we glimpse Mary ‘assisting’ not only in the studio, but out on the road, travelling with her husband across Wiltshire on a variety of vehicles from a tandem to a motorbike and sidecar.

The couple never had any children of their own but were very close to Mary’s two nephews who also worked in the business with them from time to time.

William died in 1955 followed by Mary a short while later. They are buried here with Mary’s parents James and Ellen Stroud.

The modest memorial is a small cross on a plinth, sadly broken and difficult to find when the grass grows long. But the Hooper name lives on in the many photographs of Swindon William left us – with Mary’s assistance.

The Radnor Street Cemetery volunteers have revealed the battered William Hooper memorial and cleared the area around it. Unfortunately the cross is now badly broken.

Howse’s Coppice

aerial-photo

For nearly a hundred years the cemetery was well maintained, the graves cared for by families, the gardens by groundsmen. And then the cemetery closed to new burials and families did not visit so often and nature began to reclaim the ancient Howse’s Coppice.

In 2005 the cemetery was designated a Local Nature Reserve. Areas of grass were left to grow long, providing habitat for insects. Hedgerows, corridors for wild life to move across the site, were maintained and bird and bat boxes were installed in the mature trees.

Following the financial crash of 2008 and subsequent local government spending cutbacks the cemetery was left to rest in peace. Today the plane trees are broad and lush, the grasses grow tall and some think it is a disgrace that the cemetery is so neglected, but there is a small group of volunteers who keep the history of the cemetery alive. Regular guided cemetery walks are attended by a growing number of people who come to listen to the story of Swindon’s history.

Documents held in the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, Chippenham trace the history of Howse’s Coppice back forty years before the cemetery was laid out. The land then belonged to James Bradford and appears on the Tithe Map details of 1840 where it is described as a coppice ground (an area of managed woodland) formerly called Wibley’s but later known as Howse’s Coppice.

James Bradford was a solicitor who lived and worked at a property in the High Street, Old Swindon, close to what was then the King of Prussia public house. His wife, Annica Werden Bradford, was a member of the Goddard family. James died in August 1861 and the following year Annica sold the coppice ground to John Harding Sheppard for £559 14s.

John Harding Sheppard was a farmer and brewer and owned large tracts of land across both New and Old Swindon, including the Kingshill area where Howse’s Coppice stood.

In 1871 the executors of Sheppard’s will, his sons John and William, sold Howse’s Coppice, by then described as a close of land, to James Edward Goddard Bradford, bringing it back into the possession of the Bradford family.

In 1878 James Hinton bought Howse’s Coppice, which formed part of the plot he would eventually sell to the Cemetery Committee two years later.

Howses-Coppice-Ground

Howse’s Coppice was all that remained of ancient woodland that had once stood on Swindon’s doorstep before the arrival of industrialisation and the railways.

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Sale of Property – Pursuant to advertisement in our paper, Mr. Dore submitted for sale the landed estate of the late John Harding Sheppard, Esq., This estate being situated on the Sands, and to the West between Old and New Swindon, has been considerably enhanced in value of late years, and a brisk competition for the various lots was anticipated. Some of the lots were not sold, consequent upon the reserved price not being reached. Though every lot obtained bidders. A piece of pasture land near Kingshill, and known as “Howse’s Coppice Ground,” 4a 3r 38s was knocked down to Mr J.E.G. Bradford for £490. Two pieces of land situate on the Sands, at Swindon – one having a frontage of 83 feet, and an average depth of 360 feet, and containing 2r 27p the other with a frontage of 80 feet, and containing 2r 18p, were sold to Mr Kinneir and Mr Lansdown, respectively for £220 and £235. The spacious premises occupied by Mr Matthews, draper, High-street, realised £1160, Mr Bradford being the purchaser. The house in the Square occupied by the late Mr J.H. Sheppard, was sold to Mr Kinneir for £1220, and, after a spirited competition, Mr Kinneir was declared the purchaser of the premises lately held By Mr Kimberley, for £400. The White Hart Inn, Newport-street, and six cottages adjoining, fell to Mr R. Bowly, at £1070; a dwelling house near to this lot, producing £13 a year, was purchased by Mr Jason Hutt, at £185. The Running Horse Inn, mill, land, and cottages, were purchased by Mr John Jacobs, for £680; two cottages near fetched £180 from the same purchaser. The house occupied by Mr. Oakford, in Wood street was bought by Mr Westmacott, for £420.

Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, Saturday, October 8, 1870

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