The day Nellie Fitch came calling

Jane Tuckey — **Jane Helena Tuckey photograph courtesy of Peter Guggenheim**

The re-imagined story …

Mother went to Mrs Dicks funeral. It was a very quiet affair, she said. Not many at the church and even fewer at the graveside.

“I don’t know why she wasn’t buried at St Mary’s, along with all her family,” said mother. “There’s a long avenue of Tuckey graves in the churchyard there. Great big gravestones enclosed by iron railings. Of course, there was money in the family then.”

A familiar guilty twinge stabbed me.

I used to visit Mrs Dicks most weeks. Mother would send me round with a meat pie or a suet pudding.

“She doesn’t eat very well.”

Mrs Dicks lived opposite us in Hawkins Street. Her husband had died several years before.

“He was a fitter in the Works. Nice man, people said, although a bit of a come down for her. Her first husband had been a wealthy farmer from Chippenham.”

Mrs Dicks’ terrace house was crammed full of great big pieces of dark furniture.

“No doubt from her father’s house in Shaw.”

Sometimes she would open the drawer in the big, old dresser and hand me a tortoiseshell casket and together we would look at her ‘treasures’ as she called them.

Then one day Nellie Fitch came with me.

I usually went to Mrs Dicks on my own but this day Nellie was sitting on our front wall.

“She can smell the pie.”

Nellie Fitch wore shoes with holes in them and her winter coat was too small for her. Nothing unusual about that. During the war most of the kids in Rodbourne wore hand me downs. But then she told me she often didn’t eat.

We didn’t have much, but I always knew I would have a cooked dinner. Nothing fancy mind, but mother was a good, plain cook and she knew how to make a little go a long way.

Nellie’s dad was away fighting the Hun, she told me.

“Nellie’s father disappeared years ago,” said mother. “And so has the layabout she thinks is her father.”

Mrs Dicks opened her front door to a small hallway, just like the one in our house and all the other houses in Hawkins Street.

She was pleased to see me, but less so to see Nellie. I don’t think it was her dirty clothes and shabby shoes that bothered Mrs Dicks. I imagine it was more the fact that now Nellie would know she accepted food from neighbours. Mrs Dicks tried to keep up appearances. She had come down in the world and keenly felt her loss of status. But to me she was just another little old lady who wore old fashioned dresses and spoke in a posh voice.

“Good morning girls. How lovely Violet. Please thank your mother,” she said as she took the warm basin into the kitchen. “Tell her I will settle up with her at the end of the week.”

She always said the same thing. No money ever changed hands, my mother wouldn’t have expected any and Mrs Dicks had none to give.

“Come into the kitchen girls. I was just making a cup of tea.”

If Nellie was hoping for a piece of cake or a biscuit she would be out of luck.

Nellie probably wondered why I spent time with the posh old lady in her dark and dreary house where there was nothing nice to eat.

Mrs Dicks would tell me about the house in Shaw where she had grown up with her eight sisters and her brother. How they played in the orchard at the back of the house and on Sundays they would walk all the way to the church in Lydiard Millicent. She would bring out her photograph album and tell me about the people; bewhiskered old men and wasp waisted ladies.

And sometimes she would bring out the tortoiseshell box and show me the beaded bag she took to dances when she was a young woman, and the diamond tiara that became a pair of dangly earrings at the click of a pin at the back. There was an amethyst ring that had belonged to her grandmother and brooches and pins.

Please don’t bring out the tortoiseshell box today, I silently pleaded. But the atmosphere was awkward with Nellie there. We were probably the only two quiet children in Rodbourne that morning.

I watched Nellie’s eyes grow as wide as saucers as she peeped inside Mrs Dicks’ tortoiseshell box, and she looked at me and smiled. Not a big, open smile, but something sly.

I never wanted to visit Mrs Dicks after that.

“I don’t have time to go calling in on Mrs Dicks,” my mother complained when she had to deliver the meat pie.

Nellie got a new winter coat that year, and a new step father.

“They’re not married,” said my mother. “She’s never marries any of them.” And then they moved away from Rodbourne.

The facts …

Jane Helena Tuckey was born on March 15th 1848 at Langley Burrell, the fourth daughter of Robert and Ann Tuckey.

The 1841 census returns for Yatesbury record wealthy bachelor farmer Robert Tuckey living with Ann Trotman, an unmarried servant and her four year old daughter.

Perhaps Tuckey family opposition to this mismatched alliance delayed a wedding. By the time the couple did get around to walking up the aisle at St. Saviours in Bath they had two daughters and Ann was pregnant again.

But by 1851 Robert had come into his inheritance and the growing family moved into Shaw House along what is now called Old Shaw Lane in West Swindon.

In 1872, shortly after the death of her father, Jane married farmer John Clarke, thirty years her senior, and moved to nearby Kington St. Michael where John farmed 381 acres. With 20 farm and house servants on the payroll, this was a big establishment.

Then in 1882 John Clarke was found dead in one of his fields having suffered a fatal heart attack and Jane’s life was to change dramatically.

In 1884 Jane married Francis Dicks. Her second husband, seven years her junior, was a fitter employed in the GWR works. The couple with Jane’s girls moved into 37 Hawkins Street, Rodbourne where a further two children were born.

In the small terraced house Jane’s lifestyle was far removed from the comfortable childhood she had enjoyed, playing in the orchard at Shaw House.

Widowed for the second time in 1903 she survived on an income derived from taking in a lodger.

Mrs Dicks died on November 26, 1918. She was buried in plot B1494, a pauper’s grave in Radnor Street Cemetery.

Tuckey house

Shaw House, Old Shaw Lane, Swindon

Mary Bailey – of intemperate habits

There is a world of difference between enjoying a drink and taking a bottle of whiskey to bed and I wonder what propelled Mary Bailey from the one to the other.

Drunkenness was the scourge of the 19^th century working classes. Even in Swindon where the much lauded Great Western Railway Company provided wrap around care ‘from the cradle to the grave’ there was still want and destitution for those who fell through the cracks of society.

Temperance societies encouraged people to abstain from drink and to take the pledge of a lifetime of sobriety. By the end of the century Swindon numbered around 18 such organisations, including the GWR Temperance Union with around 3,000 members, however it is unlikely Mary joined their ranks.

A Fatal Taste for Alcohol

A sad case came from Coroner W.E.N. Browne, on Monday in an inquest concerning the death of Mary Baily, wife of a GWR fitter of 11 Hawkins Street, New Swindon.

The deceased who was 49 years of age, was stated by a neighbour to be of intemperate habits. Her husband on Friday night went to bed at 10 o’clock, and thinking his wife was asleep did not disturb her. He arose at five o’clock on Saturday morning and found his wife dead and quite cold. A whiskey bottle was found beneath the bed. Dr. Duffield stated that death was due to asphysxia, cause by the woman lying on her face in a helpless condition ensuing upon an over-dose of alcohol.

Gloucester Citizen Tuesday November 28, 1899.

Drinking fountain erected by the Swindon United Temperance Board in Regent Circus 1893

Mary Christianna Dance was born in Stratton, Gloucestershire and baptised on February 4, 1849, the eldest of John and Jane Dance’s eight children. She married Thomas Bailey in 1871 and by 1881 they were living at 11 Henry Street (later renamed Hawkins Street) with their 8 year old son Thomas, and Mary’s brother Charles. Both men worked as carriage fitters in the Works.

So what happened to Mary between 1881 and 1899, or had her problem with alcohol begun long before? Did she try to control her drinking, or was she aided and abetted by her husband Thomas, whose comments at the inquest appear ingenuous when compared with the neighbours observations.

Mary was buried on November 28, 1899 in grave plot C109, a privately purchased grave, which might come as some surprise. In 1908 she was joined by Tryphena Bailey, Thomas’s second wife and then in 1937 by Thomas himself.

Many thanks to David Lewis and his book Between the Bridges – The Early Days of Rodbourne.

What can a headstone tell you Pt 2?

There are 33,000 burials in Radnor Street Cemetery but rather fewer memorials. The spread of headstones vary in the different sections with E and D sections the most densely populated and dotted across the cemetery are 104 distinctive Commonwealth War Graves headstones.

When the Burial Board published a list of fees concerning interment in the new cemetery in 1881 it included the following statement:

All inscriptions and plans of monuments, tablets, and stones, to be erected in the Cemetery or chapels to be submitted to the Board for its approval.

The majority of the headstones in Radnor Street Cemetery are simple and stylish, but have a closer look and you will find some fascinating detail.

Victorian Swindon had strong links with Freemasonry and this headstone (see below) has examples of Freemasonry symbolism, including the Square and Compasses, which depict a builder’s square joined by a compass.

Ivy trailing across a headstone symbolises friendship and immortality.

Fruits in many varieties are symbolic of the fruit of life, while grapes and leaves represent Christ and Christian faith.

An anchor and/or chains have various meanings, apart from the obvious naval one, and include the severance of the body and soul. There is also a connection with the International Order of Odd Fellows, another popular organisation here in Swindon.

The Commonwealth War Graves headstones all carry the regimental insignia of the deceased service personnel. This is the badge of the Royal Army Medical Corps.

Flowers have various meanings for example the rose is symbolic of love and virtue. A rosebud can indicate the death of a young person. The problem is trying to identify what the variety of flower is on a weathered headstone.

The bird/dove has various meanings including that of eternal peace.

And the letters IHS seen on many headstones in the cemetery, come from the Greek spelling of Jesus and symbolise the first three letters – Iota, Eta, Sigma.

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