Pretty things for pretty women

Pretty things; pretty things for pretty clothes to be worn by pretty women. Can they have any idea how these buttons are made or the conditions under which they are produced?

Macassar and manila shells were sourced from exotic places for the iridescent pearl buttons; hoofs and horns for the more mundane, everyday buttons were collected from the slaughter houses, stinking and crawling with maggots.

Small workshops huddled around filthy court yards where entire families labour in the dust and dirt and noise. The men sort through the shells, sawing and shaping the raw materials, deciding where to make the best cut. Women’s work; a light but practised touch was required to polish the buttons as the materials were fragile and easily broken. And the girls, sewing the buttons on cards, 14 to each card. They were expected to sew more than 3,500 buttons each day. The button manufacturer paid one penny sometimes a penny ha’penny a card and for her labours the girl might earn 7 shillings for a long, hard working week.

Pretty things; pretty things for pretty clothes to be worn by pretty women.

The facts …

Emma Bradley was born in 1855 and Sarah in 1860, the younger daughters of James Bradley, a miller (a milling machine operator) and his wife Maria.

In 1861 the family lived at Poole Street, (3 Court 3 House) Erdington, Aston Manor, Birmingham. Eldest daughter Mary Theresa 17 worked as a Glass Button Cutter while second daughter Ann Maria 11 worked as a Pearl Button Carder. James 9 and Emma 6 were at school and youngest child Sarah was just 9 months old.

At the time of the 1871 census Emma was working as a general servant at the home of Charles Watson, a pearl button manufacturer, but by 1881 she was back home in Poole Street with her widowed father James and her sister Sarah. Emma worked as a button polisher and Sarah as a press worker.

What brought the Bradley sisters from Birmingham to Swindon? Sarah Bradley married William Stanley, a blacksmith, in 1888. By 1891 they were living in two rooms in 14 Princes Street, Swindon and William was employed in the railway factory.

Emma appears in Swindon on the 1911 census as boarding at 30 Fleet Street where she works in a clothing factory, most probably Compton’s who had a factory in Sheppard Street.

The two sisters lived together again at the end of their lives. Emma died on March 3, 1924 at 52 Deacon Street. Sarah died on November 18, 1936 and her husband William on December 10, 1939 both at 52 Deacon Street. The two sisters and Sarah’s husband William are buried together in plot E8124.

Fanny and Nellie Maud Harris

I try to remember to tread carefully when I am researching other people’s family histories. It is not always immediately obvious what the relationships might be nor what tragedy could be lying in wait.

When I first stopped at this headstone I suspected the two women buried here were mother and daughter, but their relationship was not as it might at first appear.

Fanny Dyer was born in about 1861 in Woodchester, Gloucestershire, the daughter of David Dyer, a train examiner, and his wife Emily. On December 26, 1881 she married William Henry Harris in All Saints Church, Gloucester. The couple had one son, William Henry David. Sadly, by the time of the 1891 census Fanny was widowed and living with her eight year old son William and her parents David and Emily Dyer at 47 Gooch Street. She was 29 and worked as a dressmaker.

On October 19, 1907 Fanny’s son William Harris married Nellie Maud Wakelin at the church of St. Mary & St John in Cowley, Oxford. Nellie’s father George Wakelin and Fanny Harris signed the register as witnesses. Some four weeks later the young couple’s daughter Nellie was born.

At the time of the 1911 census William and Nellie were living at 91 Cardiff Road, Reading. They had been married 3 years and had two children but only their son, William Henry aged 1 was living with them. Back in Swindon Fanny was living with her widowed father David at 4 Islington Street and little Nellie Harris aged 3 was living with her.

As we can see from this headstone Fanny died on March 2, 1936 when she was living at an address in Commercial Road, Swindon. Nellie would have been approximately 29 years old at the time of her grandmother’s death.

The next time I can find Nellie is on the 1939 List when she is a resident at the Wilton Certified Institution, Kingsway House, Wilton, Wiltshire classified as a Certified Mental Defective. One of the most shocking aspects of family history research is discovering the terminology once given to people with physical or mental disabilities.

Nellie Maud died on December 12, 1967. The burial registers record that she died at Cotshill Hospital, Chipping Norton, although a home address of 18 Northern Road, Swindon is also included. Formerly a workhouse, Cotshill Hospital had various classifications across the years and is described post 1948 as an Acute, Mental Hospital.

This is only a snapshot of Fanny and Nellie’s life, the reality was probably more nuanced. Perhaps Nellie spent long periods living with her family. Perhaps it was only the death of Fanny that necessitated her move into an institution.

This stylish headstone memorialises these two women, and so do I.

James Henry Thomas – he knew his place.

The re-imagined story …

Now I don’t know your political persuasion, and to be quite honest, neither do I want to know it. Nothing starts a row quicker than a political argument. I can rub along with most people, but politics – bah – I keep my opinion to myself and I’d ask you to do the same.

My old man always said only ever trust the pound in your pocket. But it was the pound in his pocket that saw the end of Jimmy Thomas’s political career, so to speak.

Jimmy and I worked together. Well, I say ‘worked together’ we both worked for the GWR, but then so did most of Swindon. I worked as a boiler smith while Jimmy was an engine driver, so our paths seldom crossed, but everyone knew Jimmy.

His political career took off in Swindon, but my memory of him was always as a working man and a trade unionist, but mostly a working man. He had come up the hard way, he knew what it was like for us.

When the scandal broke there were some who found it difficult to believe what we were reading in the newspapers. But there were many who said his head had been turned hobnobbing with all those fine folk; that he had become a ‘Champagne Socialist’ and that he’d lost touch with his roots.

I kept my opinions to myself, but I tell you what convinced me that whatever he had done or not done, Jimmy was still that working class man who had pulled himself up by his bootstraps. Just five days after his death his ashes were returned to Swindon and buried in Radnor Street Cemetery. It must have been his wishes, to return to the place where his political career had taken off. Buried with the old railwaymen he had worked alongside. He knew his place.

The facts …

Born in Newport, Monmouthshire in 1874, the illegitimate son of Elizabeth, a domestic servant, James Henry Thomas was raised by his grandmother Ann. In 1881 the six year old boy lived at 40 George Street, Newport with his mother’s three siblings and his grandmother, who supported the family by taking in washing.

Nine year old Thomas began part time work as an errand boy, leaving school at the age of 12. After a succession of jobs he joined the GWR, beginning his railway career as an engine cleaner, then a fireman eventually becoming an engine driver and transferring to Swindon at the end of the 19th century.

His trade union career began when he joined the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants in South Wales as a 15 year old, becoming chairman of the local union branch in 1897. His political career began in Swindon when he took W.H. Stainer’s Queens Ward seat in the 1901 local elections.

Thomas went on to become chairman of the Finance and Law committee in 1904/5 and the Electricity and Tramways committee in 1905/6.

Elected onto the national executive committee of the ASRS in 1902, Thomas became the youngest ever president just three years later. In 1906 he became organising secretary, a full time post, which saw him leave the GWR and Swindon.

He stood for parliament as Labour candidate for Derby in the 1910 general election, a constituency he represented until the devastating events of 1936.

In what had previously been an unblemished political career, Thomas was found guilty by a Tribunal of Inquiry of leaking budget secrets to his stockbroker son Leslie and Sir Alfred Butt, Conservative MP for Balham & Tooting.

And a £15,000 handout paid by wealthy businessman Alfred ‘Cosher’ Bates was claimed to be an advance for Thomas’s as then unwritten autobiography.

Despite the guilty verdict, Thomas continued to protest his innocence. In an emotional statement made to the House of Commons on June 11, 1936 he declared he never ‘consciously gave a Budget secret away,’ and that he had now only his wife who still trusted him and loved him.

Thomas’s period of public service included a world war and a national depression. A champion for the working man, he also enjoyed the trappings of public life which earned him the title of ‘Champagne Socialist.’

In retirement Thomas eventually wrote ‘My Story’ the previously untold autobiography whose so say ‘advance’ had contributed towards his downfall.

He died at his London home on Friday January 21, 1949 aged 74 years. His ashes were later returned to Swindon where he is buried in Radnor Street Cemetery.

‘Jimmy’ Thomas left £15,000

In his will, published yesterday, the Right Hon. James Henry Thomas, P.C., former Cabinet Minister and ex-engine driver, who died last January, left £15,032 (net £10,949).

He left all diaries and documents of a political or historical nature and his collection of cartoons to his trustees to dispose of “as they shall think fit.” He made similar directions about articles presented to him by heads of States Ministers of the Crown, and public bodies.

Yorkshire Observer Bradford, Wednesday, 23 November 1949.

James Henry Thomas PC (Casket Ashes) 74 years Dulwich (place of death) 107A Thurlow Park Road (address) 26th January 1949 (burial) plot number E7807

1901 census

6 Salisbury Street,

James H. Thomas 27 Railway Engine Driver born Mon. Newport

Agnes Thomas wife 28 born Mon. Newport

Anthony J. Thomas son 1 year old born Mon. Newport

Elizabeth Hill widow visitor 67 born Mon. Newport

George House – a Swindon veteran

It is seldom we have the opportunity to read the words of an ordinary railwayman. When George House died in 1903 the Advertiser republished extracts from an earlier interview made in 1899.

The facts …

The Oldest GWR Employee

Reminiscences of Early Days in Swindon

As showing what a contrast there is between Swindon of today and of Mr House’s youth, we cannot do better than reproduce an interview with Mr House, which was published in the “Advertiser” in April 1899. A representative of this paper called upon Mr House in the latter part of April of that year, and found him reading his “Evening Advertiser,” and quite delighted to have a chat about his early days in Swindon. The interviewer commenced the conversation:-

“Good evening, Mr House; and is it true that I behold in you the oldest railway servant in the United Kingdom? A correspondent, in answer to a request in the ‘Advertiser’ so informs me?” I said when Mr House had assured himself that I was comfortably seated in his cosy room.

“Yes; I think so,” was his ready response. “I have a record of over 60 years’ service with the GWR Company. I started work with them in the construction of the line there under the supervision of Brunel.”

“When did you come to Swindon?” I queried.

“In 1838” was the reply, “there was no railway station here then, and no factory. When the coaches began to run from Bristol to Swindon the only place where passengers could alight was at Hay Lane.”

“You almost remember the open carriages then?”

“Yes, very well. And the coaches used to leave here at eight o’clock at night, and get to London some time in the morning. It was travelling in those days and no mistake. The ladies’ dresses used to be entirely spoilt by the smoke and dirt in one journey.”

“Now as to the GWR Works at Swindon, which was the first shop built?”

“Well, when I came here there was no factory at all. Not a stick nor stone. I assisted to fix up the first machinery. The D Shop, F Shop, and G Shop were the first shops that were erected.”

“How many men were employed here when you first came to Swindon?”

“Well, there were practically no men employed here till I and others came from Maidenhead, and Messrs Whitworth, of Manchester, fitted up some machinery. Then, for a start, there were not so many men employed as there are clerks now.”

“What a number of dead and gone faces such remembrances must bring before you. The chiefs of the Works, foremen and others, for instance.”

“Yes, I think I have a record in that direction, for I have worked under no less than five managers and eight foremen at the Swindon Works. I can tell you their names in a moment.”

“Who were the managers?”

“Well, first, there was Mr Sturrock, then Mr Rae, and Mr William Gooch (brother to Sir Daniel Gooch). And in more recent times the late Mr Samuel Carlton, and Mr G.J. Churchward.”

“You say you have worked under eight different foremen: who were they?”

Yes, there was Charles Hurt, Alf. Cootes, Peter Bremner, Dodson, Robinson, E. Dingley, William Booth, and A. Nash.”

“Of course, in those early days there was no Mechanics’ Institute. What recreation was provided for the workmen?”

“Oh, there used to be a small theatre in the Works – in the O Shop. Here a dancing class was held, and amateur theatricals were performed there. The Mechanics’ Institute was not built till several years later. Lord Methuen came down and laid the first stone, and a fete was held to celebrate the event. I remember well the Great Exhibition of 1851. All of us workmen who had joined the Mechanics’ Institution – in fact, every one of the employees of the Company who were working here then – were given an free railway pass to London to go and see the Exhibition. On another occasion when we were give a free trip to London, I took my wife and family of ten children. And when we arrived at Paddington, I hailed a cabby, who stared at my family, and remarked, “What’s this, sir, a whole school!”

The Late Mr George House

Funeral Last Saturday

The funeral of the late Mr George House, of Taunton street, took place on Saturday afternoon amidst every sign of mourning. The cortege left deceased’s late residence shortly after 2.30 pm for St. Mark’s Church, where the first part of the sad service was impressively read by Canon, the Hon Maurice Ponsonby, vicar and rural dean, who also officiated at the graveside in the Cemetery, where a goodly number of persons had assembled to pay their last mark of respect to one who chief aim in life was the care of his less fortunate brethren. The body was enclosed in a beautiful casket of polished elm, with heavy brass furniture, the breast plate bearing the following inscription:-

George House

Died January, 1903,

The funeral arrangements were carried out by Mr H. Smith, of Gordon Road.

Extracts from The Swindon Advertiser, Friday, January 16, 1903

Charles Lavery – Swindon’s oldest doctor

The re-imagined story …

When Dr Lavery told me I needed to have my tonsils removed I had nightmares for weeks and it was all my granddad’s fault.

My tonsils were repeatedly getting infected and Dr Lavery said it was affecting my general health and they need to come out. No one could understand why I was so frightened. Dr Lavery even arranged for me to visit the Victoria Hospital and talked me through what he said was a very simple operation, but I wasn’t having any of it – the explanation or the operation. In the end dad said everyone should stop pandering to me and a date was arranged.

When it was all over and I had recovered, mum asked me why I had been so frightened.

“Granddad told me when he had to have his tonsils out the doctor did it on the kitchen table with his mother’s carving knife.”

I won’t repeat here what my mum said to my granddad.

VLUU L100, M100 / Samsung L100, M100

The facts …

Swindon’s Oldest Doctor

Solemn Requiem Mass Sung by Bishop

Solemn requiem Mass was sung by the Bishop of Clifton, at Holy Rood Roman Catholic Church, Swindon, on Saturday for Swindon’s oldest medical man, Dr Charles Lavery (72) MB., Ch.B.

Dr Lavery, who was a cousin of the Bishop, had been a medical practitioner in Swindon for 46 years.

He was a member of the British Medical Association, and was a prominent member of the Holy Rood Roman Catholic Church. He was married in 1901, and his wife died in 1924. He leaves four sons, one of whom, Dr Anthony Lavery, carries on his father’s practice.

At the Mass those assisting the Bishop were Canon Noonan (Swindon), Father Louis Valluet (Devizes), Father Sweeney (Fairford), and Father Meynet (Malmesbury). Other priests attending were Dr Staunton (Cirencester), Dr Grimshaw (St Joseph’s, Fishponds, Bristol). Father Judge (Weston Super Mare, and formerly of Swindon), Canon Cashman (Bristol), and Father Chamonin (Malmesbury).

The chief mourners were deceased’s four sons, and others included the Rev. Ronald Royal (vicar of St Mark’s Church, Swindon) and the Rev. J. Tickner (curate at St Mark’s). Dr Dunstan Brewer, M.O.H. of Swindon (representing the British Medical Association) and many local doctors.

The Bishop afterwards officiated at the graveside.

Extracts taken from the Western Daily Press Monday 19^th December 1938

Dr Lavery is mentioned in many of the stories in the Radnor Street Cemetery archives. You might like to read the following:

Poor Little Freddy Whitby

Joseph and Charles Williams – busy building Swindon

Swindon Tram Disaster

Drowning Fatality at New Swindon

Elizabeth Lyall Embling – the first woman to be buried in Radnor Street Cemetery

Elizabeth Lyall Embling was the first woman to be buried in Radnor Street Cemetery.

Elizabeth’s funeral took place on September 21, 1881 – the cemetery had been open 6 weeks and 5 days. She is entry number 25 in the chronological registers. In the preceding 47 days there had been the burials of 6 adults – a house painter, an undertaker, an auctioneers clerk, a labourer, a medical student and a baker – and 18 children. The details in the register tell us that she was married and worked as a confectioner. Her husband Benjamin provided the death certificate and the committal was attended by the Rev Godfrey A. Littledale. Elizabeth was 41 years old at the time of her death. She was buried in a public grave plot number A179.

Section A was the first area of the cemetery to receive burials when the cemetery opened. It stretches up the hill as you enter at the Dixon Street gate and turn left and continues to the Kent Road gate and down to the chapel. Today it is an area with numerous trees and shrubs but probably fewer headstones than in other sections of the cemetery. This is an area where many of the early settlers in the railway town of New Swindon are buried. Elizabeth herself was the daughter of one such man.

Elizabeth Lyall Watson was born in Scotland, the eldest daughter of David Watson, a fitter, one of the early railwaymen to arrive in Swindon in the 1840s. Elizabeth appears on the 1851 census living at 7 Reading Street with her parents David and Elizabeth and her four younger sisters. They share the property with Eliza Eames, a 47 year old widow from Ireland, a retired needlewoman, and her two sons Edward 18 and Homan 13. Just these few details tell us a lot about the early days of New Swindon. People had come from all corners of the UK to work at in the Great Western Railway Works and that accommodation was hard to come by causing overcrowding in the company houses.

Elizabeth married Benjamin Embling in the September quarter of 1863. We find the family on the 1871 census living at 23 Queen Street where Benjamin worked as a labourer in the GWR Iron Works. The couple had three children, William 6, David 3 and two year old Elizabeth. Lodging with them was John Beckett, a 22 year old labourer, who worked in the nearby gas works.

And then sometimes the official records reveal inexplicable details. The 1881 census taken on the night of Sunday April 3, 1881 records the Embling family living at No. 9 Mill Street in New Swindon, described as a General Shop. Benjamin occupation is that of shop keeper and he states that he is a widower (this is somewhat difficult to understand as Elizabeth did not die until September of that year). The family number six children – William 16, David 13, Elizabeth 11, Benjamin 8, James 6 and 3 year old Jessie. Benjamin employed 13 year old Margaret Morgan as a domestic servant.

Elizabeth’s death certificate might provide clarification but unfortunately we cannot afford to purchase certificates for the numerous burials we research. So, is this all we can retrieve about the life of this working class woman. There are no surviving letters (if she ever wrote any), no last will and testament, no diary. Perhaps there is a carte de visite photograph somewhere taken in one of the town’s numerous photographic studios. These small photographs survive in great numbers but unfortunately can seldom be identified.

This is a very brief account of one working class woman’s life – the first woman to be buried in Radnor Street Cemetery.

James Amos – member of the Boilermakers Society

amos The re-imagined story …

A report in yesterday’s Advertiser both shocked and saddened me. It began – An old man named James Amos, aged 75, a boiler maker at the GWR works, committed suicide…

Mr Amos was one of the first members of the Boilermakers Society. He joined at Bristol in 1836 before moving to Swindon.

He was one of the first practising trade unionists in our town, campaigning for better and safer working conditions for men in the railway factory.

As a young apprentice in V Shop, Mr Amos took me under his wing. Management was not much impressed by the trade unionist members and we have a lot for which to thank those early, pioneering members. The example of Mr Amos encouraged me to join the union and I remain a member to this day.

James Amos had a tragic and lonely end; and he was so much more than just ‘an old man.’

James Amos

The facts …

Suicide – An old man named James Amos, aged 75, a boiler maker at the GWR works, committed suicide, on Thursday morning, at 41 Regent-street. He had been in ill health during the past two months, and never seemed to have recovered from the effects of the death of his wife several years since. He lived alone, but was attended to by Mrs Poole, a niece who lived next door. She went into the house that morning, and was shocked to find Amos hanging from the bannisters. P.C. Crook was immediately called in, and the body was cut down, but life was found to be extinct. Dr Johnson was also in attendance, and gave it as his opinion that deceased had been dead some time.

Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard, Saturday, November 17, 1888

William Y. Stock – friend and neighbour

Image of Milton Road published courtesy of P.A. Williams and Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.

The re-imagined story …

My wife says she sees less of me now I’ve retired than she did when I was working – not that I think she’s complaining, mind you.

I like to take a brisk walk around the park each morning and I get down to the allotments most days. There’s always some of my pals down there. We have a brew and a natter and put the world to rights. I’ve recently taken up swimming again after more than twenty years. I go to the Medical Fund Baths a couple of times a week and swim a leisurely length or two.

It’s important to look after yourself, no matter what age you are – I learnt how precious and how fragile life is when my friend Bill passed away.

Bill and I grew up as neighbours in Farnsby Street. We went to the same school, joined the same clubs, played football in the winter and cricket in the summer. We started work together as clerks in Works. Then in March 1904 he left – too ill to continue work. Six months later he was gone, aged just 21 years old.

I’ve never taken my life for granted, the Great War taught me that, and losing Bill. I’ve had a good life, a smashing wife and four healthy children and a family that grows and grows, fifteen grandchildren and now the great grandchildren are coming along. I count my blessings every day and I remember my pal Bill.

***Image published courteys of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.***

The facts …

This impressive memorial surrounds two plots D152 and D153. Buried in plot D152 are Walter George Stock and his wife Mary Anne. In the second plot D153 lies their eldest son William Y. Stock.

Walter George Stock and Mary Ann Thomas were married on July 24, 1882 at St. Luke’s Church, Paddington. By the time of the birth of their first child they were living at 4 High Street, New Swindon (later renamed Emlyn Square). By 1891 the couple were living at 48 Farnsby Street and ten years later they were living at No 5 Milton Road with their three sons, a boarder by the name of Francis Shebbeare who was an Engineer’s Pupil, and Elizabeth Williams, a general servant.

The 1911 census provides more information about the Stock family’s circumstances.

5 Milton Road

Walter George Stock 54 Engineer in Testing House born London, Bayswater.

Mary Anne Stock 56 married 28 years 3 children 2 living 1 had previously died Tobacconist Shopkeeper born Coatbridge, Lanark.

Walter Harry Stock 26 Civil Engineer Rly construction born Swindon

Victor Arthur Stock 15 School born Swindon.

Eldest son William Youri was born on September 17, 1883. The UK, Railway Employment Records 1833-1956 state that he entered employment in the Stores Dept at Swindon Works on October 23, 1899. He is recorded as being ‘absent ill’ from March 1904 and died September 19, 1904. A further addition is made that he was previously employed from July 12, 1897.

Walter Harry Stock trained as a draughtsman in the Loco & Carr Drawing Office. He left the Swindon Works in 1909 and died in Belfast, Northern Ireland in April, 1944.

Youngest son Victor Arthur Stock followed his father into the Works. He later trained as an Analytical Chemist and worked for the Buenos Aires Western Railway. He died in La Pampa, Argentine on June 5, 1929.

Walter George Stock of 5 Milton Road died on January 15, 1922. He left effects valued at £610 to his wife Mary Ann. Mary Ann died on October 5, 1930. Her last home was 11 Stourcliffe Street, St Marylebone, Middx. Mary Ann left administration of her estate to Lloyds Bank Limited. Her funeral in Radnor Street Cemetery took place on October 8.

Stock brothers Stock brothers (2)

Bessie Symons Sparkes and the restored headstone

After more than fifteen years of research at the cemetery, I had never before seen this headstone, dumped in one of the cemetery’s peripheral verges.

In Loving Memory of Bessie Symons the beloved wife of Albert Sparkes died April 23rd 1920 aged 53 years. The rest of the inscription is difficult to read. The headstone was not far from its original site on plot E8516, removed for who knows what reason.

The Sparkes family were well known Swindon butchers at the turn of the 20th century. Frederick Sparkes had a shop at 47 Regent Street while his cousin Albert’s shop was at 60 Fleet Street.

The census returns reveal a large household living over the Fleet Street shop in 1911. Albert and Bessie with their three daughters – Gladys Delia Alberta 19, a student teacher, Elsie Muriel Bessie 17, still at school part time while working as a book keeper for her father’s business and nine year old Dorothy Irene Audrey, still at school.

George Howard, a butcher’s apprentice, Ernest Salter, an assistant in the shop and May Beard, butcher’s book keeper, all lodged with the family along with Winifred Hunt, a domestic servant. The property comprised nine rooms, not including the scullery, warehouse, shop and office, so quite a squeeze to accommodate eight adults and a child.

According to the headstone and burial registers Bessie died at her home at 15 Okus Road, Swindon on April 23, 1920 aged 53 and was buried four days later on April 27. However, confusingly the entry in England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Will and Administrations) 1858-1995 states that she died on 19 May 1919 and that administration was awarded to ‘Albert Sparkes butcher’ on 30 December 1926 when her effects were valued at £45 2s 6d.

Bessie was buried in plot E8516 with her husband Albert who died in 1937 and their daughter Gladys Delia Alberta who died in 1970. Is it possible the headstone was never replaced on the grave after the burial of Gladys?

And then I came across the Sparkes family tree published on the Ancestry website by philipacore and some fab photos.

The Radnor Street Cemetery volunteers have rescued Bessie’s headstone and it now sits on her grave.

Merry Christmas from Radnor Street Cemetery