You might be surprised to know that women were employed in the GWR Works from as early as 1874. It was not only Swindon’s sons who could benefit from a father employed in the Works but so could Swindon’s daughters.
By the 1870s the GWR was finding it difficult to recruit skilled men to move to Swindon. The problem was caused by a shortage of jobs for young women, the railwaymen’s daughters. The men wouldn’t move their families to Swindon if there was no work for their daughters. Joseph Armstrong, Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent, addressed the problem by extending the Carriage Works onLondon Street and creating a separate upholstery department for the employment of girls only.
Women were probably most obvious in the Works during WWII when they were employed in engineering and other roles previously unavailable to them. Many were sorry to leave when servicemen returned to take up their jobs once again.
The employment of women as clerks, once traditionally a male role, began in about 1910 and by 1915 was increasing rapidly. In 1914 sixteen year old Florence Gladys Trehorne started work in the accounts department where her father Edwin also worked. Florence started work on April 6, 1914 joining others such as Winifred Sims, Grace Wright and Lilian Plaister, who went on to become supervisor.
After eight years Florence resigned from her job just two days before her wedding on July 5, 1922 (married women were then not allowed to continue working in the GWR) when she married Percival Stanley Richards at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Victoria Road. Perhaps Florence was looking forward to leaving her job and stepping off the 9-5 treadmill. Perhaps she was looking forward to being a housewife and all that cooking and cleaning!
Sadly, Florence died on July 26, 1928, aged 30 years. She was buried in grave plot D149 with her father Edwin Charles Trehorne who died in 1923. Her mother Amelia Ellen Trehorne died in 1940 and joined them both. Florence does not appear to have had any children. Percival never remarried. He moved back to Bath where he died in 1974.
It was a blustery Monday at the cemetery with a chill in the air and rain on the wind, but it didn’t prevent me from stopping at my favourite bench.
There are four benches (I’m honour bound to keep the 4th one secret) in the cemetery; but this is my favourite one with a view across what was previously known as New Swindon, a railway town.
Here the eye is drawn to the housing development built in the early 2000s on the site of the ‘A’ (Erecting) Shop. A Shop covered more than 11 acres (coincidentally the same size as Radnor Street Cemetery) and was one the largest covered workshops in the world. The red brick apartment blocks, clearly seen from the bench, and the surrounding houses are named in honour of George Jackson Churchward Locomotive Works Manager at the GWR Swindon Works 1902-1916 and Chief Mechanical Engineer from 1916 until his retirement in 1922.
From this bench you can see what remains of the 19th century railway works, more familiar to a younger generation as the McArthur Glen Designer Outlet Village and the railway village, the company houses once home to the early workforce. So many of those railway men and their families moved up the hill to rest in peace in this cemetery.
It was at this bench that I composed the ghostly story of Edie and her soldier son – a tribute to one Swindon family, yet typical of so many others.
This is my favourite bench. Perhaps we’ll meet here one day.
In December 1930 more than 200 men retired from the Great Western Railway Works, an event of such importance to warrant a detailed article in the first January edition of the North Wilts Herald published in 1931.
The names and addresses of those men forced to retire under the introduction of the 66 years age limit were recorded in appreciation of their long years employed in the Works. Men who had joined the company in the 1880s and 90s; men like Harry James Davis.
Harry James Davis was born in 1869, the eldest of Harry Edward and Louisa Elizabeth Davis’s 13 children. The family moved to Swindon when Harry was a baby and he grew up in the railway village.
Harry began a 7 year engine turning apprenticeship on his 14th birthday, October 16, 1883. Like all the apprentices at that time he started on a daily rate of 10d rising to 3/- in 1890 at the end of his apprenticeship.
He married Rose Ann Gibson at St. Mark’s Church on July 16, 1894 and the couple had two sons, Harry John and Cyril George. By the time of the 1901 census they were living at 118 Dean Street, which would remain their home until Harry’s retirement in 1931. By 1939 he was living at 94 Manchester Road and at the time of his death in 1954 he was living at 64 Beckhampton Street.
Mr Harry James Davis: Chargeman fitter of 118, Dean Street, served practically the whole of his 48 years in G Shop. He had charge of the work in connection with Didcot Provender Stores, and also hydraulic work from Swansea and Cardiff Docks.
For the last seven years he was in charge of the Central Boiler Station, and during that period he saw the whole of the loco type boilers for stationary purposes done away with and the latest mechanical chain grates and pulverised coal plants substituted.
Mr Davis belongs to a well known musical family and in his young days helped to start the Blue Band, now defunct. He began his schooling in one of the GWR cottages in Bath street. The central boiler staff presented him with a wallet of notes and a box of cigars.
Swindon Veterans of Industry – North Wilts Herald, Friday, January 2, 1931.
The grave of Harry James Davis and his wife, son and daughter-in-law.
Harry James Davis’s grave in the foreground. His parents are buried in the plot with the pink granite kerbstone surround close to the path.
Harry James Davis died in 1954 and was buried in grave plot D75A, just a stone’s throw from his parents. He is buried with his wife Rose Ann who died in 1930, his son Harry John Davis who died in 1961 and his wife Gwendoline Sarah Katherine Davis who died in 1972.
If you worked for the Great Western Railway in the Swindon Works, you joined the Mechanics’ Institution. The requirement was pretty much essential and the benefits extensive and if you weren’t a member you could not go on TRIP. Not a trip or the trip but TRIP.
TRIP began with a day’s outing to Oxford in 1848 for some 500 members of the Mechanics’ Institution. At its peak in 1924 29,000 people travelled in 31 trains numbering 520 coaches to seaside (and other) destinations across the UK.
It’s fair to say Swindon pretty much emptied during TRIP. With the Works closed, some shops cut their prices, others cut their opening hours. But who would have guessed that TRIP would impact upon a funeral.
Robert Dibbs, the landlord of the Red Cow Inn in Princes Street, died suddenly during the night of 11/12 July 1888 and was found by his daughter sitting in his armchair in the bar-parlour ‘quite dead.’ An inquest returned a verdict of ‘death from heart disease’.
Before moving to Swindon Robert Dibbs had previously served in the Mounted Police in London. He had subsequently joined the Swindon Troop of the Wilts Yeomanry where he held the rank of sergeant and as such was accorded a military funeral. However, there was a problem – it was TRIP week.
The Swindon Advertiser reported in the Saturday edition July 21, 1888:-
The mortal remains of the late Mr Robert Dibbs were interred with military honours on Monday afternoon. Deceased had been a member of the Swindon Troop of the Wilts Yeomanry ever since its re-establishment, five years since, having been promoted to the rank of sergeant. Previous to his coming to Swindon, Mr Dibbs had been in the Mounted Police in London for several years. Not only did the members of the Swindon Troop of Yeomanry attend the funeral, but also as many members whose service could be enlisted of the Swindon Companies of Rifle Volunteers. And it was most unfortunate, from more than one point of view, that the funeral should have occurred during the Great Western “Trip” week, seeing that the greater part of the Volunteers were away from the town, and were thus prevented from attending. Every endeavour was made to obtain the services of a band, but without success, for only portions of the various bands of the town were available, and the consequence was that the musical part of the military funeral service had to be dispensed with. Notwithstanding that the circumstances were against a good muster turning out to pay respect to their late brother in arms, yet the numbers, both of the Yeomanry Cavalry and the Volunteers, were far in excess of what might have been expected.
Image published courtesy ofLocal Studies,Swindon Central Library.
Robert Dibbs was buried on July 16, 1888 in grave plot E8312 which he shares with his son George Dibbs who died in 1895.
There can’t be many people who have received a portrait of themselves when they leave a job – but what I want to know is what happened to those two paintings presented to Thomas Simpson in 1885.
Death of Mr Thos Simpson
50 Years in the Railway Service
We regret to announce the death of Mr. Thomas Simpson, which occurred at his residence, Summerville, The Sands, Swindon, on Sunday last.
Deceased, who was 67 years of age, had been ill for the past four years, and his end was not unexpected. Up to two years ago he held for some years the responsible position of outdoor locomotive and carriage superintendent in the GWR Company’s employ, and it was only owing to his continued ill-health that he retired from harness, the kindness and sympathy always exhibited by the deceased towards his men won for him the respect and esteem of all who knew him, so much so that on his retirement he was presented with a very handsomely illuminated album and a Bank note.
Mr Simpson started his long railway career on the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway in 1851. Three years later he was transferred to the Great Western Railway. On being offered the post of foreman on the Vale of Clwydd Railway (now part of the L. and N.W. system), Mr Simpson left the GWR in 1859 to fill the post at Denbigh. After spending six years there he returned to the GWR Company as foreman of their Wolverhampton Works. In 1868 he was appointed manager of the Locomotive Works at that station, a position which he held to the satisfaction of all, and the news of his promotion of the important post, in 1885, of outdoor superintendent of the locomotive and carriage department at Swindon gave general pleasure to his many friends. This post he retained until his retirement in the September of 1897.
Whilst at Wolverhampton he gained great favour amongst the employees, and on his removal toSwindon he was the recipients of an illuminated address, accompanied by two valuable oil paintings of himself and Mrs. Simpson, a fine marble clock and ornaments, and a very fine silver tea and coffee service. This alone is quite sufficient to show how faithfully deceased discharged his duties.
The Evening Swindon Advertiser, Tuesday, October 10, 1899.
Sometimes there is little I can add to the words written in an obituary. This is a lengthy report but well worth reading.
Death of Mr W.H. Waister
Interesting Career Recalled
Honoured by the German Emperor
Many Swindonians will hear with regret of the death of Mr William Henry Waister, of Clifton House, Swindon, which occurred on Saturday, after a long illness.
Mr Waister, who was 66, had been in failing health for the last five years, and during that time his sister-in-law, Mrs Clarke, had resided with him. Three weeks ago he went to Weston-Super-Mare, in the hope that the change would be beneficial, but when he returned home on Thursday his state of health was about the same, and he passed away as stated. Deceased leaves two sons and two daughters. The elder son is in the service of the GWR and occupies the position of Assistant Divisional Locomotive Superintendent at Newport, while the younger son is in Canada. Of the two daughters one is married and resides in London. Mr Waister’s wife, who was a daughter of Mr. William Elliott, of Wolverhampton, pre-deceased him 11 years ago.
Mr Waister’s association with the GWR was a long and honourable one, and was marked by the bestowal of many more honours than fall to the lot of the average railway official. Under the age limit he retired from the Company’s service at the end of 1912, and was succeeded by Mr W.H. Williams, who for some years had acted as his assistant. For 15 of the 48 years he was connected with the GWR he occupied the position of Chief Outdoor Assistant to the Locomotive, Carriage and Waggon Superintendent, and when he retired into private life he took with him several tokens of the high regard in which he was held, opportunity being taken of the occasion by the members of his own personal staff, over 60 in number, to present him with a handsome silver salver. The presentation was made, in felicitous terms, by Mr T. Piggott (chief clerk in Mr Waister’s department) and many tributes were then paid to Mr Waister’s services and high personal qualities.
Mr. Waister was a Tynesider, and, following some experience in the Marchioness of Londonderry’s workshops at Seaham Harbour, he was in 1865 apprenticed to the mechanical engineering in the GWR Works at Wolverhampton. As time went on he made satisfactory progress in his passage through the various departments, and after having acted as relieving foreman he eventually became Chief Draughtsman. In 1885 Mr Waister was transferred to Swindon to take charge of the Drawing Office, and a year later he became Locomotive Superintendent of the Swindon Division. In 1888 he returned to Wolverhampton in the capacity of assistant to Mr. George Armstrong (the Superintendent of the Northern Division) and as manager of the Stafford Road Works. His second stay at Wolverhampton extended over a period of nine years. In February, 1897, on the retirement of Mr. Armstrong, he became superintendent of the Northern Division, and the following October witnessed his return to Swindon as Chief Running Superintendent, under the late Mr. W. Dean, and from June, 1902, until the date of his retirement he was under the Chief Locomotive and Carriage Superintendent (Mr G.J. Churchward).
Mr Waister had a very interesting career. He served under no fewer than six General Managers, and it worthy of note that from 1886 onwards he accompanied practically every royal train running over the GWR system. He was with the train in which the German Emperor and Empress and their suite travelled over the line in 1907, and the Kaiser then conferred upon him the Order of the Red Eagle. He also accompanied the Czar and Czarina on their journey from Wolverhampton to Basingstoke in October, 1896. For the services he rendered in arranging accommodation for Royal personages he several times received the thanks of the General Manager and Chief Superintendent, and it is also interesting to note that he was one of the recipients of a medal from the Company commemorating the reign of the late Queen Victoria.
Mr Waister’s organising and administrative abilities were little short of remarkable, and for the services he rendered in connection with the removal of troops from one part of the system to another for the purposes of manoeuvres and mobilisation he received the thanks of the War Office on more than one occasion.
Funeral
The remains were laid to rest in Swindon Cemetery on Tuesday afternoon the funeral being attended by several of the deceased gentleman’s old colleagues and representatives of the Great Western Railway Company. The Vicar of Swindon (the Rev. C.A. Mayall) conducted the service in the Cemetery chapel and also performed the last rites at the graveside. The coffin, which was of polished elm with brass furnishings, was covered with beautiful wreaths, and the inscription on the breast plate was as follows:-
William Henry Waister
Died October 3, 1914.
Aged 66
Extracts from the North Wilts Herald, Friday, October 9, 1914.
William Henry Waister was buried on October 6, 1914 in grave plot E7949, a plot he shares with his wife Annie Maria who died in 1902. Their daughter, Lilian Waister, died in Newport in July 1950 and was buried with her parents here in Swindon.
This is all that remains of the Waister family memorial.
The national news this weekend has been dominated by the announced closure of the Tata Steelworks in Port Talbot, South Wales with the loss of more than 4,000 jobs, half that number going within the next 18 months. Steel production in Port Talbot dates back more than a century with 20,000 employed there during the peak of production in the 1960s. The people of Port Talbot are fearful for the future of their town and the prospects for their young people.
Does all this sound rather familiar? Here in Swindon, where the railway factory closed in 1986, we now have a whole generation who never knew Swindon when it was a railway town.
For the children of Rodbourne who attend Even Swindon School the history of the railway works is kept alive, but is this the same for other schools in the town where local history has a low priority on the national curriculum.
Once upon a time (and yes, this is beginning to sound like a fairy tale) whole families were employed in the Works. Take the Griffin family for example.
Phillip James Griffin was employed as a clerk in the railway factory and all four of his sons followed him ‘inside.’ Eldest son Frank Aldworth Griffin entered service in the Works as a clerk, passing his probationary period satisfactorily along with the Paddington examination on May 17, 1898. He was followed by Phillip William Griffin who embarked upon a 7 year Fitting and Turning Apprenticeship on his 14th birthday in 1899. Ralph Ernest Griffin was 15 years old when he began a Fitting and Turning Apprenticeship on April 16, 1903 and youngest brother Cyril Arthur started work on September 8, 1908 as an office boy aged 14.
The four brothers never married; Frank, Ralph and Cyril lived with their widowed mother Caroline in Clifton Street. Only Phillip William Griffin moved away, and when the time came he returned home to be buried with the family in Radnor Street Cemetery, the last resting place for so many of the railway men and their families.
Cyril died in 1934 and was buried with his parents in grave plot A742.
Frank, Ralph and Phillip Griffin are buried together in grave plot D440.
For a certain generation of Swindonians the name Wise will be synonymous with the bakery at Headlands Grove, established in 1938 and which went out of business in 2001. However, this Wise family are railway through and through.
Charles Wise was a Railway Signal Inspector. In 1903 he is recorded in the UK Railway Employment records as having been employed by the GWR for 30 years.
Born in Ufton, Berkshire in about 1848 he married Jane Smith at St Mary’s Church, Reading on December 29, 1874. Their first child Charles was born in Wargrave and their second Thomas in Devizes. By 1879 they had arrived in Swindon where they were living at 14 Sanford Street, their home for more than 10 years.
A daughter Alice Mary who died aged just a year old in 1880, before the cemetery opened, was buried in St Mark’s churchyard and is remembered on this headstone.
Their youngest daughter Gertrude Grace trained as a teacher before marrying in 1917. Her husband was architect Granville Walter Henry George the son of local politician Reuben George.
Jane Wise died at her home 62 Eastcott Hill in August 1920. She was buried in grave plot A238 which she shares with her small son Sydney George who died in 1886 aged 3 years 4 months and her husband Charles who died in 1933 aged 85. Their fallen headstone has been cleared and cleaned by our volunteers.
Do you know where Carr Street is? If someone asked you for directions, would you be able to help them? Today Carr Street runs behind the Waiting Room pub, an access road with parking for several businesses including Da Vinci’s Restaurant.
However, it wasn’t always so. Carr Street was built in around 1878/9 by the United Kingdom Land and Building Society along with Catherine Street and Farnsby Street. In 1881 Carr Street comprised 27 houses and cottages and was built in a most convenient situation.
In 1885 numbers 2-10 came on the market when they were described as four roomed cottages, ‘yielding the sum of £128 14s per annum.’ As today, investors bought property to rent and Carr Street was an attractive proposition. The advertising blurb stated ‘The Houses are only a short distance from the Great Western Railway Works, and therefore let readily.’
In 1888 numbers 11 and 12 Carr Street were also on the market when they were described as follows – ‘Each house contains Passage, Parlor, Kitchen with Cupboards, 3 Bed-Rooms, back kitchen, with fire-place and copper, coal house and, outside, a closet. The Houses have Gardens, and water is laid on.’
New-build number 13 Carr Street was probably of a similar design when Thomas & Eliza Wells moved there in 1879. Edith Mary was born that same year and Frederick James in 1883. Thomas was employed as a carpenter in the Works and by 1881 his two elder sons had already joined him there – George William 16 worked as a carpenter and 14 year old John as a railway clerk.
The Wells family lived at 13 Carr Street for more than 15 years. By 1900 they had moved to 5 Dean Street where Thomas died in March 1901. He was buried on April 3 in one of three Wells’ family graves, E7644, E7645 and E7646. He was buried with his wife Elizabeth who died in May 1924.
Death Notice – Swindon Advertiser Friday, December 31, 1909.
Long, Dec 24, at the residence of his daughter, 16 Curtis St. Swindon, William Thomas Long, aged 73 years.
When William Thomas Long died in 1909 his personal effects were valued at more than £900 – worth around £100k today. He had spent a lifetime working as a boilersmith, most of that in the Great Western Railway Swindon Works.
William Thomas Long was baptised at Holy Rood, the old parish church in Swindon, on July 31, 1836, the son of baker John Long and his wife Louisa. He grew up in Newport Street where his mother took over the business as Pastry Cook following the death of his father.
By 1861 William was a married man with two young daughters living in Newton Abbot where he worked as a boilersmith. William and Ann would complete their family with another five daughters plus Margaret born in 1879 who is first described as ‘granddaughter’ and later as ‘daughter.’
Yet, there is still so much we don’t know about Ann and William.
Looking down Eastcott Hill
For more than 20 years they lived at No. 8 Eastcott Hill – they may even have owned the property; Swindonians were renowned for investing in bricks and mortar.
Ann died in September 1884 aged 48. When his wife died William had been able to purchase a grave plot in Radnor Street Cemetery where an impressive headstone was later installed; not everyone could afford to do this. He didn’t remarry after Ann’s death, which was is also quite unusual. He still had young daughters at home but presumably the elder ones took over the household duties and childcare; perhaps he could afford to employ a maid-of-all-work.
Ann was buried in grave plot E8306 on September 12, 1884 where William joined her in 1909. The cremated remains of their grandson William Clarence Heath and his wife Alice Ruth were interred in the same plot some 60 years later.
Radnor Street Cemetery 