Fanny Ireland Fletcher

In Britain in the 1950s, 60s and 70s young, unmarried mothers were coerced into giving up their babies for adoption, an estimated 185,000 of them. That this practise continued into the late 20^th century is now shocking and unforgiveable. Was this attitude a legacy of 19^th century social mores – all those myths about Victorian prudery and piano legs? In fact the Victorians were far more broad minded and accepting than we give them credit for.

In my work transcribing the diaries of Elliot Woolford, farmer at Hook Farm between 1899 and 1940, I have come across two examples where an illegitimate birth was no big deal, the child welcomed into the extended family.

William Woolford married Frances Ann Fletcher in the parish church at Purton in May 1849. The bride and groom signed the marriage register by making their mark, suggesting they were not proficient in writing their name. Both stated they were over the age of 21.

At the time of the 1851 census the young couple and their two year old daughter lived at a property in Poor Street, Purton. William’s occupation was given as labourer at stone quarry. Their eldest child had been born several months before the couple married. Ellen Woolford Fletcher was baptised at the church of All Saints, Lydiard Millicent on December 24, 1848, the daughter of Ann Fletcher – no father’s name was given. There is little doubt that William was her father but Ellen continued to use her mother’s maiden name. She never married and died at Hook Farm in 1904 aged 56.

William and Frances went on to have six more children, diarist Elliot George Woolford was born in 1867. The 1871 census reveals their six children (their youngest, 7th child Rowland was born in 1874) and a granddaughter Fanny Ireland Fletcher, just 5 months old. It would appear that like her mother, Ellen had produced a child out of wedlock, but unlike her mother there was no husband waiting in the wings. Fanny Ireland Fletcher was baptised in the parish of Purton on December 4, 1870, daughter of Ellen Walford [Woolford] Fletcher, single woman.

Fanny grew up in the large Woolford family and by the time of the 1881 census she was described as William and Frances’s daughter, because by then that was how she was regarded. Was she ever made aware of the circumstances of her birth? Did she know that Ellen was her mother or did she believe her to be her elder sister?

And what about Elliot who in his diaries recorded the facts of his life, work and those of the community who lived in Hook. What did he know of Fanny, four years his junior, the little sister with whom he grew up? Perhaps everyone knew the facts of Fanny’s birth and it really didn’t matter, which is how things are today.

Fanny married Edward Harry Matthews, a drilling machinist in the GWR Works, in the summer of 1898 and by 1901 they were living at 54 Exeter Street. They had two sons, Leslie and Edward.

On Friday March 10, 1911 Elliot makes his usual weekly visit to Swindon, selling eggs and butter at the market and buying his weekly provisions. He writes in his diary:

‘I went to 65 Ponting St and saw Mrs H. Matthews gave her a rabbit and some rhubarb.’

Fanny Ireland Matthews died at her home in Farnsby Street in December 1925. She was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery on December 22, in grave plot D621. Her husband Edward Harry Matthews died in December 1936 and was buried with Fanny on December 22, the anniversary of her funeral eleven years previously.

There are several volumes of Elliot Woolford’s diaries transcribed and available to read on the Friends of Lydiard Park website and I am working on a book about Elliot, Hook Farm and the parish of Lydiard Tregoze.

The continuing story of James George Merricks

Sometimes I get lucky. No, honestly, I get really lucky.

Last year I came across some details concerning James George Merricks while researching the Astill family. Catch up here with the information I discovered then about James https://radnorstreetcemetery.blog/2024/06/04/james-george-merricks/

James spent some 15 years in South Africa but why had he left England and why did he eventually come back. And even more intriguing, what was the story behind his romance with Alice Healey, born in Bath in 1861, whom he married in South Africa in 1891.

I put out a general enquiry on this blog, hardly thinking anyone would reply but this week James’s great-grandson David got in touch and filled in all the blanks.

David forwarded me several family photographs including a most beautiful one of Alice Sarah Merricks nee Healey born in 1861 the daughter of Edward Healey, a wire worker, and his wife Frances who grew up at 7 Southcot Place, Bath.

David was also kind enough to send me a typed transcript of James George Merricks’ diary 1876-1896.

James Merricks was born February 24, 1860 in Chichester, Sussex. He left school in 1876 and began work as first an auctioneers clerk then later becoming apprenticed to draper Alfred Dunn of West Street, Chichester.

His apprenticeship completed in 1880 James began working for Stokes and Sons of Cheap Street, Bath which he describes as a “high class drapers etc easy berth, think I shall get on allright.”

The first mention of Alice comes in a diary entry dated June 4, 1880.

Have been impressed considerably by a young lady I met at Mr. Philpot’s and find her to be the daughter of Mr Healey, Stall Street, shall look forward to a closer acquaintance if possible.

By July 1 James writes.

Have managed to meet Miss H. several times and like her even better than I expected, suppose in my position tis foolish to look so far forward but should feel upset I am sure if I saw anyone else with her.

And after attending Mr Philpot’s New Year’s Eve party James writes: Believe Miss H. has some liking for me and I am quite sure I never knew anyone I liked as well.

However, the course of true love never did run smooth.

March 1881 and James had become disenchanted with his job in Bath. A chance meeting with Mr Burnet-Stoakes from South Africa convinced him his future lie there where he could easily earn £120 a year, a vast improvement on the £30 he was earning in Bath.

A mere three days later, his berth to Hong Kong booked, James wrote to his parents and Alice.

By this time Alice was employed as a governess working for Walter G. Cloke at Wiltshire Farm in Wokingham, Surrey where she had responsibility for his 5 school age children (and most probably the two babies in the nursery as well).

At home in Chichester for 10 days prior to his departure, James cycled across country to visit Alice before he left England.

May 9 – Slept or rather passed the night at “The Bush” and met Alice soon after sunrise for another hours talk, she was most kind and promised if I could make her a home in S. Africa she would be mine.

On May 19, 1881 James embarked for South Africa at Southampton, arriving in Cape Town on June 9.

After two low paid, short term jobs James began work for T. Copelands at £11 per month. He writes home to his parents and Alice, but she fails to reply.

James leads a busy life with work, church and an active social round. He joins the Baptist choir, the Choral Society and assists the Desalins Sisters Opera Company.

Eventually he writes on January 1, 1882 …also generally have enjoyed this Christmas and New Year day exceedingly, but although accompanied by some of the jolliest and prettiest girls have not lost my heart to any of them, cannot understand the underlying motive (if any) which prompted Alice’s letter received Oct 11^th last finally deciding that she could never leave England for me – well perhaps I may go home someday and then – but its no good guessing the future.

More than 18 months passes and James writes … as I have not heard directly from Alice since October 11^th 1882 can now decide that I must think no more of the matter.

Although, of course, we know differently!

During the intervening years James set up his own store in the area that was soon to become Johannesburg. This was probably precipitated by the opportunities presented by the Witwatersrand Gold Rush, which really got under way with the 1886 discovery of gold at Langlaagte, where it is believed the stores were situated.

After six long years the mystery is solved… my Alice was true to me after all and that her long silence was only the result of her having misunderstood my careless conduct with regard to another in her absence for my heart was not in least affected by Miss M.P. though she (the latter) might have imagined she had fascinated me, but I always took her for an accomplished flirt, however “Alls well that ends well”…

Alice arrived in South Africa on October 15, 1890. The couple signed an ante nuptial contract the following day and were married on October 17 by Landrost Von Blommestein at his house Doornfontein with a religious service at Mrs. Jones by Rev. Ecclestone. Their first son, Eric George was born on August 9, 1891, their second Edward Alfred on November 30, 1893 and a third Lionel Marten on January 7, 1896.

In 1896 the volatile political situation, the threat of war and the Jameson Raid with the subsequent commotion probably caused James to reassess the family’s situation.

Alice and their three young boys accompanied by James’s brother Alfred sailed for England on April 24. By the end of 1896 James had joined them. There were no further entries in the diary.

By the time of the 1901 census James and Alice were living at 42 St. Margarets Road, Swindon where a fourth son, John Gordon was born on June 14, 1900.

James George Merricks died aged 75 years at his home 38 Devizes Road. He was buried on April 20, 1935 in Radnor Street Cemetery in grave plot E7574, joining his beloved wife Alice who died in November 1923.

published with thanks to David Merricks

Alice Sarah Merricks nee Healey

James Merricks’ store

Alice and James with one of their grandchildren

Spitalfields Life and Gillian Tindall

I am sure I have told you before about my great admiration for a blog entitled Spitalfields Life. For more than 15 years the Gentle Author has been publishing a daily post about the history, past and present, of Spitalfields in the east end of London, and the people who live and have lived there.

Among the contributors to this blog has been writer and historian Gillian Tindall and it was with sorrow that the Gentle Author informed his readers of his friend’s death this week.

The first book of Gillian’s I read was The House by the Thames and I quickly became a great admirer.

I am copying here the Gentle Author’s text from Spitalfields Life – I’m sure he won’t mind! I can recommend following the blog – just have a quick browse first, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. Read some of Gillian’s articles and perhaps pre-order the novel.

‘It is with a heart full of emotion that I write to you today. I have two announcements. The first piece of news I have to impart is that my good friend the historian Gillian Tindall died on Wednesday aged eighty-six. The second disclosure is that Gillian came to see me in February and asked me to publish her final work, Journal of a Man Unknown, which comes out on 6th November.

When Gillian and I met for a drink in the Great Eastern Hotel at Liverpool St Station on that cold night early in the year, she revealed she was terminally ill and that she had written a novel which she would like me to publish. Gillian was a talented writer, celebrated both for the quality of her writing and scrupulousness of her research. She had a distinguished record of more than sixty years publishing books and was a contributing writer to Spitalfields Life. So, of course, I said yes.

I was fascinated that, culminating her career as a historian, Gillian had chosen to write a piece of fiction as her final statement. In an astonishing feat of literary imagination, she projects herself back onto one of her forebears to conjure a compelling vision of seventeenth century England.

Journal of a Man Unknown is an eloquent first person narrative. The protagonist is a Huguenot iron worker, an occupation that leads him from the Sussex Weald to the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, and beyond to the North Country. While in London, he lives above a coffee house in Brick Lane and the book conjures a vivid evocation of Spitalfields at the time of the Huguenots.

Gillian’s novel serves as a personal manifesto expressing her belief in the true nature of history as composed of the lives of working people, those who pass through life not leaving a trace, except in the hearts of those into whose lives they have been cast. It is a sentiment with which I am fully in sympathy and makes Journal of a Man Unknown a poignant and heartfelt final statement.

All summer, as Gillian’s health declined, I worked with designer David Pearson to prepare a beautiful edition of her novel in the hope and expectation that she would be here to see it published. But it was not to be. My last contact with Gillian was when she approved David’s splendid cover design above and selected this blue and yellow version from the different options that David proposed.

It was a shock to learn of Gillian’s death this week just as her book was at the printers, but on reflection I think there is also a certain poetry in the notion of an author passing from this world knowing that her final work is to be published within weeks. In this sense, we never truly lose writers because they stay with us through their books.

We will be announcing a book launch presently, but in the meantime you can preorder a copy of Journal of a Man Unknown which we will send out at the end of this month.’

The Gentle Author, Spitalfields Life

https://spitalfieldslife.com/

Amy Edna Riddick – lifelong member of the Primitive Methodist Church

Amy Edna Riddick was a member of Primitive Methodism royalty. Born in 1852 in Stratton St Margaret, Amy was the second daughter of Charles Morse and his second wife Rebecca Lapper.

Charles Morse was a legendary figure and pioneer of Primitive Methodism in not only North Wiltshire but neighbouring Berkshire and Hampshire. He was born in Purton in 1811 and converted to Primitive Methodism as a young man. He was soon engaged in preaching at open air meetings where he was frequently arrested and escorted away in handcuffs. He became a Sunday School teacher and conducted a Bible class. He was also an organist and became both a superintendent and Circuit Steward. A local business man who ran a grocer’s and draper’s shop in the village, Charles devoted his life to the cause of Primitive Methodism, as did his family.

Amy too spent a lifetime worshipping and working for the Primitive Methodist Church, associated with the first Regent Street Church in Swindon built in 1848 (rebuilt a further two times) and then as a married woman where she worshipped at the Prospect Place Church.

As a young woman still living at home in Stratton St Margaret Amy worked as an assistant in her father’s shop, alongside her brother Levi Lapper Morse. In 1875 she married Henry Raggett, tailor and grocer and Primitive Methodist. The newly married couple lived above the family business at 29 Eastcott Hill, as Amy’s own parents had done in Stratton St. Margaret. By 1891 they were living at 35 Rolleston Street with their four children, Milinda, Beatrice, Henry and Wilfred. Living next door at No. 36 was Primitive Methodist Minister Thomas Whitehead and his family.

Sadly, the beginning of the 20th century saw three deaths in Amy’s immediate family. In 1903 her son Henry Charles Edgar died at the age of 21. The following year her husband Henry died and then in 1905 her eldest child, Milinda died aged 28.

Amy, however, continued to work at a myriad of activities within the church and was appointed the first Treasurer of the Women’s Missionary Federation formed at a meeting convened by her sister-in-law, Winifred wife of Levi Lapper Morse, on October 22, 1910. The census taken the following year records her living alone at 77 Goddard Avenue, a 58 year old widow living on ‘Private Means’.

In the March quarter 1912 Amy married again. Her second husband, Silas Riddick, was also a stalwart Primitive Methodist.

Amy died at her home on August 14, 1931. Her funeral took place at Radnor Street Cemetery on August 18 where she was buried in grave plot D158 with her first husband Henry Raggett and their two children, Henry and Milinda.

The Primitive Methodist records include numerous references to the Morse, Raggett and Riddick families. And Amy was a member of all three.

For more information about the history of Primitive Methodism visit the excellent website My Primitive Methodists.

Mrs S. Riddick

Death of a Well Known Swindon Methodist

Mrs Amy E. Riddick, of 77, Goddard Avenue, Swindon, passed away at the residence on Friday, after a long and trying illness, at the age of 79.

Mrs Riddick was the daughter of the late Mr Charles Morse, of Stratton, one of the pioneers of the Primitive Methodist Church in the district, and was the sister of the late Mr L.L. Morse, of The Croft, and of Mr E. Morse, of Blunsdon. She was twice married, her first husband being Mr. H. Raggett, who was well known in Primitive Methodist circles. He was an ardent worker in the Liberal cause, and at the time of his death was a member of the Swindon Town Council, the Wilts County Council and the Swindon and Highworth Board of Guardians. Her second husband was Mr S. Riddick, who had, previous to his second marriage, lived at Wootton Bassett. Mrs Riddick had four children by her first husband, two of whom had predeceased her. The remaining children are Mr W.L. Raggett of Bristol, and Mrs R.G. Cripps, of Swindon.

The funeral took place on Tuesday, and a service at the Prospect Place Primitive Methodist Church was conducted by the Revs. W.C. Russell and T. Sutcliffe. A large number of friends were present, Mr Arthur Button was at the organ. The Rev. W.C. Russell performed the last rites at the cemetery.

The chief mourners were Mr W.L. Raggett (son), Mrs R.G. Cripps (daughter), Mr R.G. Cripps (son-in-law), Mr Cyril Cripps (grandson), Mr W.E. Morse (nephew) Mrs W.A. Stanier and Mrs Le Sueur (nieces), Mr S. Payne (brother-in-law), Mr J. Riddick, Mr. W. Riddick, Mr F. Riddick, Mrs N. Riddick, Mrs T. Riddick, Mrs G.H. Matthews, Nurse L. Davis, and Mr W. Davis.

North Wilts Herald, Friday, August 21, 1931.

Sarah Peaple – a grand old lady

The re-imagined story …

When I was a little girl I could never understand why we had so many grandmothers in our family. The lady my cousin Joyce called Nan wasn’t my Nan and neither was the lady Mollie called Nan.

I once asked Elsie why we all had different Nans but she just smiled at me in the way adults do when children ask tiresome questions.

But we all called the same woman Granny and one thing I could understand was that she was by far the oldest lady in the whole family.

I once tried to work out how many dozens of children she must have had, not understanding that the aunts, uncles and numerous cousins who all called her Granny were sons and daughters, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, grandchildren and even great grandchildren. It was all too complicated for me to grasp.

And then suddenly, one day, she was gone. You look back and wish you’d paid more attention, listened to her stories, asked a few, sensible questions.

The facts …

Sarah Ralphs was born in Rodbourne Cheney in 1838, the daughter of agricultural labourer William Ralphs and his wife Mary Ann. At the time of the 1851 census, she was living with her parents and four siblings, Elizabeth 15, Richard 8, Rhoda 5 and two-year-old Rosanna in Haydon Wick.

Sarah married John Peaple in the church at Rodbourne Cheney in November 1862. They were both described as being of full age with John stating he was an ‘Artisan’ [a skilled manual worker or craftsman.]

Their first child, a daughter named Rosanna, was baptised on November 8, 1863. The couple were then living in Moredon and John described his occupation as Factory Operative. By the time of the 1871 census the family were living in a house close to the Independent Chapel in Rodbourne Cheney with their four young children – Rosannah 7, Esrom 5, Mary J. 3 and one-year old William.

Ten years later and the family had moved to 3 Linslade Street in Rodbourne, closer to John’s place of work in the GWR Works. The family lived here for more 20 years and it was here that they sadly lost two of their sons. William died in December 1883 aged 14 years and Charles in May 1889 aged 13.

By 1911 John and Sarah were living at 174 Redcliffe Street. John was 72 and Sarah 73 and they declared they were both Old Age Pensioners. The couple had been married for 48 years and had had 9 children, six of whom were still living. Living with them was their long-term lodger, Sidney Stapleford.

John died in 1915 when he was living at 5 Hawkins Street. His funeral took place on March 20 and he was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery in grave plot A532 with the couples two young sons who had died more than 25 years earlier.

Sarah died in 1933 at 131 Kingshill Road. Her funeral took place on February 22 and she is buried with four others in Radnor Street Cemetery in grave plot C1193, an unmarked public grave.

Death announcement

The oldest member of the Salvation Army in Swindon has died in the person of Mrs Sarah Peaple of 131 Kingshill Road, Swindon, at the age of 94.

Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser, Saturday February 25, 1933.

Sarah Peaple was the grandmother of Elsie Morse.

She was also the great grandmother of Joyce Murgatroyd and Mollie Tanner.

Mrs Annie Brooks – a remarkable family longevity

When Annie Brooks died in 1907 The Gloucester Citizen published some interesting facts and figures and it would appear that Annie came from a line of long lived ladies. Her mother died at the age of 98 and her grandmother at 105. Now of course, I wanted to know more about these women and it would have helped me enormously if someone had thought to insert a few names, but I was up for the challenge!

First I began to pin down Annie’s son George. George had been resident in Swindon since at least 1871 when he appears on the census returns as living at 20 Fleet Street with his first wife Elizabeth and their baby daughter Adelaide.

George was born in Bristol in 1846 the son of Joseph and Annie Brooks. In 1851 the Brooks family were living in Berkley Square, Bedminster and continued to live at various addresses in Bedminster through the 1850s, to the 90s when Joseph died. Annie moved to Swindon to live with George and his family and appears with them on the 1901 census returns. So now I needed to find Annie and Joseph’s marriage to discover her maiden name and possibly access her mother’s name.

Joseph and Annie were married in Bristol at the church of St. Philip and St. Jacob on September 4, 1842. Annie’s maiden name was Stock and when George gave her details to the enumerator at the time of the 1901 census he said his mother’s birthplace was Tidenham, Gloucester. It was here that I found her baptismal record on 29th December 1811. Her parents were Nicholas and Joan Stock so now I needed to find their marriage. This took place on April 4, 1795 at Kenn Juxta Yatton when Nicholas Stock married Joan Taylor.

Now you’d be surprised at just how many Joan [Joanna] Taylors there were living in Somerset/Gloucestershire in the second half of the 18th century (and we know this family moved about a bit) which rather put the kibosh on tracing the last lady in this trio of long lived lovelies. And I was beginning to wonder about the great ages too.

On May 24, 1841 the widowed Joan Stock (Annie’s mother) married William Rawling at Kenn. Widowed for a second time, Joan Rawling formerly Stock nee Taylor was living with Annie and Joseph Brooks in Bedminster at the time of the 1851 census when she was 85 years old. She died six years later, which would have made her 91 so not quite the legendary 98, but an impressive age nonetheless, don’t you think? And as to her mother, well I’ve had to give up on that lady for the time being, but I’d like to think she did make it to her 105th birthday!

Remarkable Family Longevity

There were laid to rest in Swindon Cemetery this week the mortal remains of the late Mrs Anne Brooks, mother of Mr George Brooks, a Great Western Railway official, of Park-lane, Swindon, who passed away at her son’s residence at the ripe age of 96 years. It is interesting to recall the fact that the deceased old lady’s mother died at the advanced age of 98 years, that that lady’s mother, Mrs. Brooks’s grandmother, lived to be 105 years old, so that the united ages of mother, daughter, and granddaughter totalled 298 years.

The Citizen, Friday April 5, 1907.

Burial Registers

Brooks, Annie 97 years 22 Park Lane burial 30^th March 1907 grave plot E8522

Mary Gibbs – A Swindon Octogenarian

The re-imagined story …

Do you believe that a house can retain memories? Have you ever visited a house and felt it had an atmosphere?

“Can’t you feel it?”

“All I can feel is damp. I bet this place hasn’t got a damp course.”

The row of stone-built cottages had once overlooked the canal before it was filled in, but it wasn’t damp that I was feeling.

“This could be a happy home,” I suddenly blurted out, but that wasn’t the plan. We were looking for a cheap property to renovate and sell on. “I could happily live here.”

“Really! Have you seen the bathroom?”

I wondered who had once lived here. Not recently, we knew who the vendors were, I mean in the past. Who had lived here when it was a brand-new property? How many children had squeezed into the bedroom upstairs, one of only two in the beginning? I bet there was a clothes line running the length of that long garden, full of washing every Monday; pinafore dresses and shirts, lots of shirts and overalls. I wondered how many meals had been eaten around the kitchen table? How many prayers had been said in this house?

I wasn’t quite sure what I was feeling – well, I did but if I blurted it out Darren would think I’d lost the plot. Ha, I know he sometimes has his doubts about me anyway.

This had been a busy house, but there was something else about the place, a sense of serenity. This was a house of God, a house where God had resided. I could just imagine telling Darren that.

“Let’s get back to the estate agent. See if there’s any movement on the price. Personally, I think they’re asking too much for it. And I bet it hasn’t got a damp course.”

The facts …

Death of Mrs Gibbs

Interesting Reminiscences

Rode on a Stage Coach and Electric Trams

There was laid to rest in Swindon Cemetery on Thursday in last week the mortal remains of Mrs Mary Gibbs, late of 120 Broad Street, and widow of the late Mr William Gibbs, who resided for many years at 46, Cambria Place, Swindon. The deceased lady, who had attained to the great age of 88 years, and retained all her faculties to the end, was an interesting personality. She was probably the oldest member of the Baptist community in Swindon, and was in the service of the Rev. Richard Breeze, before he came to Swindon and opened a Baptist Church here at the corner of Fleet Street and Bridge Street. Her late husband, who died 17 years ago, was one of the pioneers of the Ancient Order of Foresters in Swindon, and assisted at the opening of Court “Briton’s Pride,” A.O.F., and also the “Vale of White Horse” Court, Shrivenham. He was himself initiated a member of the Order at Abingdon, when he was residing at Sutton Courtenay, and remained a Forester until his death, having been a member for over fifty years.

The deceased lady was born at Lechlade, and her earliest recollections of Swindon was riding through this part of the country on a stage coach. What is now known as New Swindon then comprised only green fields. She lived to see the whole of the land built on, the electricity works opened in the neighbourhood where she resided, and more than once rode on the electric trams, notwithstanding her great age.

Her husband worked on the GWR during the construction of the line between Didcot and Swindon. He was connected with the Baptist Church, and took a leading part in the opening of the Rehoboth Baptist Chapel at the top of Rolleston Street, Swindon.

At the funeral of the deceased lady the burial service was conducted by Mr. S. Chappell, of the Rehoboth Baptist Church. The mourners included deceased’s five sons, Charles, William, Harry, George and John Gibbs, a grand-daughter, two grand-sons, and other relatives and friends.

There were many beautiful wreaths and other floral tributes placed on the grave.

The Swindon Advertiser, Friday, July 16, 1909.

Mary Gibbs 88 years 120 Broad Street burial 8^th July 1909 plot number B2073

1871 census

Cambria Place

William Gibbs Head of household 47 Platelayer born Swindon

Mary Gibbs wife 49 born Berks Coleshill

Charles H. Gibbs son 21 Boiler Smith born Berks. Sutton

William J. Gibbs son 19 Boiler Smith born Stratton

Henry H. Gibbs son 17 Moulder born Stratton

Mary J. Gibbs daughter 15 Domestic Servant born Stratton

Edward J. Gibbs son 12 Scholar born Stratton

George Gibbs son 9 Scholar born Stratton

John Gibbs son 6 Scholar born Stratton

Celia Morkot – the first woman employed in the Works

The re-imagined story …

I started in the Works in the polishing department in 1937 and stayed for two years. I hated every day I was there.

French polishing sounds as if it might be a delicate, artistic occupation. I suppose there was an element of artistry about, it but it certainly wasn’t delicate. French polishing involved stripping back to the basic wood, making good any damage and then building up the polish again, brushing and sanding, brushing and sanding. A door could take you five days, on and off. We worked on anything made of wood, everything from panels and partitions to toilet seats.

12A Shop was in the Carriage Works along London Street and it was cold and filthy. We were quite separate from the men in the railway factory and had our own facilities. That’s a laugh, one toilet with two washbasins and some disinfectant soap useless at getting all the muck off our hands. Methylated spirits worked much better but it was hard on your hands and left them red and raw.

The mess room was under the workshop but no one wanted to spend their lunchtime there. When the weather was good me and Ivy used to walk to the GWR Park and eat our sandwiches on a bench. It got you out of the dirt and fumes for a bit.

In those days, just before the Second World War, jobs in the Works were few and far between for women. In fact, the polishing department was the first to employ women back in the 1870s. A big deal had been made about ‘the comfort of the women.’ Ha, well by 1937 that had all gone by the board.

My dad used to keep on about getting a trade and being set up for life, as if I were a man, but I couldn’t wait to get out of that place. All I wanted was a nice, clean little job before Ted and me got married. I looked forward to polishing my own furniture and it would be a sight easier than French polishing railway carriage doors, I can tell you.

London Street

The Carriage and Wagon Works, London Street published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.

The facts …

By the 1870s the railway factory had been in operation for some 30 years but the GWR were finding it difficult to recruit skilled men. The problem was a shortage of jobs in Swindon 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, the Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent, the top man, addressed the problem by extending the Carriage Works on London Street and creating a separate upholstery department for the employment of girls only. By the end of 1874 five women were employed in the new trimming department.

Celia Folland was born in Tredegar, Monmouthshire in 1857, the daughter of Richard Folland, a rail sawer, and his wife Margaret. By 1871 the family had moved to Swindon and were living at 1 Reading Street in the railway village.

Celia Folland was the first woman to be employed in a GWR workshop where she worked as a French polisher, checking in for the first time on July 18, 1874.

Celia married George Morkot at St Mark’s Church, Swindon on July 19, 1883 and by 1891 they were living at 31 Chester Street with their three children, Charles 6, Nellie 4 and George 2. Celia would go on to have another four children.

Celia died aged 65 years old in February 1922 at 31 Chester Street where the family had lived for more than 30 years. Her funeral took place at Radnor Street Cemetery on February 15 and she is buried in plot D1613.

Celia Morkot

International Women’s Day

On International Women’s Day we remember some of the remarkable women who have contributed to Swindon’s history and now lie buried in Radnor Street Cemetery.

Read all about – Edith Whitworth – Mrs Great Heart

Read all about – Harriett Annie Veness – political activist

Read all about – Alice Arman

Read all about – Lydia Fry – For Services Rendered

Read all about – Joanna C. Lay – silent, quiet and faithful worker

Read all about – Elsie Wootten White – Wartime Volunteer

Myra Nash – mother of STFC goalkeeper

Throughout history women are invariably identified by their father’s occupation and status, then their husband’s and eventually their children’s and such was the case of Myra Nash.

Born in 1867 Myra was one of Matthew Beasant’s large family of children. Myra was baptised at All Saints Church, Lydiard Millicent on October 6, 1867 and grew up at The Green, Lydiard Millicent. Matthew was a labourer in the GWR Works, making the four mile journey from his home in Lydiard Millicent to the railway factory in Swindon every day.

At the age of 13 Myra was already out at work, employed as a domestic servant for George Seward Prentice and his wife Eliza at Grove House, Lydiard Millicent. However, sometime after 1881 she moved into Swindon and a job as a domestic servant for the Nash family at their new confectionery business premises at 32 Bridge Street. It was obviously while working here that she fell in love with the eldest son Edmund William Nash whom she married at St. Mark’s Church on January 9, 1887.

By 1891, with the confectionery business doing well, Edmund had left his job in the Works to concentrate on the family business, and in the census of that year describes himself as a ‘sugar boiler.’ The couple have one child, Rose. By 1901 they had left 32 Regent Street and were living at 243 Cricklade Road where Edmund describes himself as a ‘confectioner.’ By now the couple have a second daughter, Winnifred, and despite having two children and a family business, the census enumerator does not see fit to record any occupation for Myra. At the time of the 1911 census the family are now living at 104 Cricklade Road, their long time home. Edmund describes himself once again as a ‘sugar boiler,’ the couple’s 19 year old daughter Winifred is employed as a Shop Assistant in the family’s confectionery business and now the couple have a young son, born in 1902 – Edward Montague Nash.

Edward Montague Nash (Teddy) went on to be a talented sportsman, playing county cricket for Wiltshire, but he is probably best remembered as Swindon Town F.C. goalkeeper. As a young footballer he played for Gorse Hill Boys and North End Albion before signing a youth contract with Swindon Town in 1916. He signed a professional contract in 1920, playing in the 1919/20 season until the 1929/30 season when he transferred to Brentford.

Teddy Nash pictured in his last season with Swindon Town F.C.

He even gets first mention when Myra’s death is reported in the North Wilts Herald, April 11, 1930.

Myra died aged 63, but despite a reasonably well documented life, we really know little about her.

When Myra died in 1930 there is a reference that she had seldom watched her son play of late ‘owing to nerves’ and I am left wondering what Myra’s story really was.

Death of Mrs Nash

Mother of Swindon Town’s Goalkeeper

“Teddy” Nash, the well known Swindon Town goalkeeper, has sustained a sad loss through the death on Sunday night, of his mother, Mrs Myra Nash.

Both the late Mrs Nash, and her husband, Mr Edmund William Nash, are well known in Swindon as tradespeople, and for the last 30 years have carried on a confectionery’s business at 104, Cricklade Street, Gorse Hill, Swindon. Mrs Nash was 63 years of age, and early last night appeared in the best of health.

She very seldom saw her son play for the Town of late owing to nerves.

North Wilts Herald, Friday, April 11, 1930.

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