I’m on a roll with women who have unusual names. Meet Lilium Lancifolium Warren. And whilst census enumerators might record her name as Lilian L. she always took pains to spell it correctly and in full.
This is a Lilium Lancifolium (also known as the Tiger Lily). It is a plant native to Asia and the Russian Far East. Unscented and with distinctive orange and black flowers, the Lilium Lancifolium flowers in July. I wonder if Lilium Lancifolium’s parents were keen gardeners.
Lilium Lancifolium Warren was baptised at St. Mark’s Church on July 3, 1881, the daughter of Albert Warren, a goods guard, and his wife Marcellina.
Lilium Lancifolium began work as a French polisher in the GWR Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Department on February 1, 1897 aged 17. During a long career in the Works she was recorded as Forewoman in 10A Shop in 1931. She never married, although her name occurs as a witness at several family weddings, spelt correctly and in full.
She appears on the 1939 List still working as a Forewoman Polisher in the GWR, living at 53 Princes Street with her niece Olive May Warren.
She died aged 85 in 1965 by which time she had moved out to the new suburb of Penhill where she lived in a bungalow in Somerford Close. Administration of her estate was left to her niece, Olive by then married, and her sister Catherine.
Lilium Lancifolium Warren was buried in grave plot C83 on January 31, 1965 where she joined her brother Herbert William who died in 1897 and her parents, Marcellina who died in 1921 and Albert who died in 1929.
The Warren family grave is somewhere in this area. It may be an unmarked grave or it could be a kerbstone memorial that has sunk and become overgrown.
I am intrigued by the two spinster sisters with names that could come straight out of a Thomas Hardy novel, Tryphena and Hephzibah Evenden.
Family historians researching the Evenden family have little information about these two unmarried sisters who left no descendants and apparently no photographs either.
As is so often the case these women lived within a close knit family but when they died their life’s work disappeared into the ether. No doubt there were nephews and nieces who retained fond memories of their two aunts, but more than a hundred years later nothing is left of these women except a handsome headstone in Christ Church graveyard.
The two sisters were born in Wrotham, Kent the daughters of John Evenden and his first wife Naomi Frances. Hephzibah was christened on March 26, 1820 and Tryphena on July 16, 1826 in St George’s Church, Wrotham.
They first appear in Swindon on the 1881 census returns living at Ightham Villa, (a property named after their childhood home) Bath Road, but how did they end up here?
You would think that with such distinctive names it would be easy to track them through the census returns. In 1841 Hephzibah is living with her sister Ruth and brother John in Wrotham where he works as a grocer. In 1851 she is visiting the Leney family in Bow Road, Wateringbury while Tryphena is at home in Greenhithe, Swanscombe with her father, his second wife Sophia Sarah, her grandmother Elizabeth Evenden and three servants.
I can’t discover what the women’s father did for a living as he describes himself variously as a ‘fund holder’ and a ‘gentleman’.
So, in 1881 the sisters are living in Bath Road where Tryphena died on August 1, 1889 and Hephzibah on July 21, 1905. Tryphena leaves effects valued at £5,398 2s 11d and Hephzibah £9,894 3s 1d. Both women leave their estates to the administration of Swindon bank manager William Wearing,
Tryphena is a Greek name meaning ‘delicate’.
Hephzibah is from the Hebrew ‘my delight is in her’
Most of us would extend a helping hand to a family member on hard times. Make sure they had food in the cupboard, perhaps lend them some money, maybe even put them up for awhile until they get back on their feet, but Sarah Daniels went way beyond this.
Sarah Bull married William Henry Daniels in 1855. By the time of the 1861 census they were living at 42 Westcott Place. William worked as an Engine Driver. They had a 4 year old daughter Dianah and living with them were Sarah’s elderly mother and William’s brother Samuel, an Iron Factory Labourer.
Ten years later Sarah and William had 3 children. Sarah’s mother died in 1867 but Samuel Daniels, now an Engine Driver, continued to live with them. Perhaps Samuel wasn’t down on his luck, perhaps he just liked living with his brother and enjoyed the home comforts.
In 1881 William and Sarah were living in Merton Street with their daughter Diana, now 24 years old and sons Mathew 19 and Frederick 16, both employed in the Carriage Works. Oh yes, and Samuel as well.
In 1891 the family were living just round the corner from the cemetery at 5 Clifton Street – they even employed a young servant girl to help Sarah with the housework. Only younger son Frederick continued to live with William and Sarah – and Samuel of course.
William Henry Daniels, Engine Driver, died aged 62 years old at 55 Farnsby Street in March 1895. In 1901 Sarah is living with Samuel at 22 Reading Street, where he is recorded as head of the household.
Sarah died in 1909 at Boxbush House, Brinkworth. She was buried on April 3 in grave plot B2414 with her husband William – but without Samuel!
At the end of our cemetery walk yesterday one of our regular followers donated an envelope of wild flower seeds. She explained she had no garden of her own and that she would like them used in the cemetery, so today I accompanied cemetery volunteer Bex to scatter the seeds. We had decided on dividing the small envelope between two of our favourite ladies – Minnie Price and Helene Celine Sawyer – two graves that Bex regularly attends to.
Thanks to readers of the Radnor Street Cemetery blog it seems that not only have we filled in the missing details of Olive Henry’s life, but the volunteers have revealed I was looking in the wrong place for her grave.
The portable (and therein lies the problem) grave marker had been rested against the wrong grave. When further investigations were made Olive’s grave was discovered to be completely hidden and further back from the path. Here she is buried with her baby son with the details of her husband’s burial in Lisbon, Portugal also recorded.
So, at last we have the complete story and the correct grave recorded.
Death of Mrs. Olive Henry
Swindon Conservative Party’s Loss
Funeral Tributes
The funeral of Mrs Olive Henry of 7, College-street, Swindon, who died on 20 May, took place on Saturday. The interment was at Radnor Street Cemetery, following a service at the Sanford Street Congregational Church, Swindon. The Rev. A.R. Smart officiated.
Mrs Henry, who was 69 years of age, was born in Swindon, but had spent most of her life abroad. When she was 12, her brother took her to Portugal, where she lived until the death of her husband, only a year after her marriage. She then returned to Swindon, and left again after the death of her infant son, to qualify as a nurse at the Brighton and Sussex Hospital. She was then appointed Matron to the Eastern Telegraph Co., at Durban, South Africa, retiring 14 years ago and returning to live with her sister, Mrs. Gabb, in College Street Swindon.
Sincer her retirement she had taken a keen interest in the affairs of the Conservative Association, being at one time secretary and later president of the Women’s Section, King’s Ward “A.”
Extract
Many thanks to Ken Gamston who sent me this newspaper obituary this morning.
I read a lot of newspaper reports as part of my cemetery research and I’ve noticed that both the style of writing and the content has changed considerably over the years.
Back in the 19th century local newspapers published at great length meetings of governing bodies in the town – the Local Board Meetings (precursor of Swindon Borough Council) for both Old and New Swindon, the Swindon School Board and the Mechanics’ Institute Council to mention just three. Columns and columns of tightly packed print recording who said what to and about whom! The Great Western Railway featured prominently as might be expected with reports of social events, the retirement of old railwaymen, accidents and inquests where all the gory details were reported.
And then there are the odd gossipy bits that creep in. In Arthur Jefferies Lewis White’s obituary there is a reference to his widow with the comment –
Mr White’s widow is a Swindon lady, formerly a Miss Sendell. She will be the fourth widow in the family of the Sendells – three other sisters having lost their husbands.
So, of course, that set me off on the search of these sisters.
The first of the three sisters to marry was the eldest Ellen who married Herbert Henry Llewellyn a railway clerk. The couple lived at 23 Dixon Street where Herbert died in 1898 aged just 27. Ellen returned to the family home where she can be found on the 1911 census. She died at St. Margaret’s Hospital on May 23, 1943 and was buried with her husband.
The next sister to marry was Kate and her story requires more research. Kate married George Astill a draper in 1904 at St. Saviour’s Church, Brixton Hill, South London. Their son Reginald was born in Otago, New Zealand but baptised in the UK in June of that year before George and Kate returned to New Zealand. On April 6, 1912 Kate and her 3 year old son arrived in London without her husband George. Was this just a holiday; a family visit? Did she plan to return? George died the following year in New Zealand. Kate’s last home was 344 Western Avenue, Acton. She died in the Central Middlesex Hospital in 1956.
Youngest daughter Margaret married Charles Robert Tippetts in the Wesley Chapel, Faringdon Street on April 19, 1915. He died in 1928 and Margaret died two years later. They are buried together in grave plot E8204, next to Margaret’s parents.
Emily Sendell was born in 1876, the third of four surviving daughters. Her parents Henry and Lucy married in Chipping Norton in 1870. They can be found living in Bristol at the time of the 1881 census with 5 of their 8 children. By 1891 they had moved to 15 Theobald Street where the family would remain for more than 55 years until Lucy’s death in 1933. Emily was the last sister to marry. She was 42 years old when she married Arthur Jefferies Lewis White in 1917 at Christ Church. Arthur died in 1919. Emily outlived him by some 40 years. She died in the Cheriton Nursing Home in 1968 aged 92 years. She was buried in plot E8134A next to Arthur.
Perhaps it’s a shame that journalism has changed so much over the years! I might never have discovered these family stories without the gossipy bit in the newspaper.
This is the grave of Lucy and Henry Sendell who died in 1933 and 1935 respectively. Their daughter Margaret Tippetts and her husband are buried in the neighbouring grave.
The grave of Herbert Henry Llewellyn and Nellie (Ellen nee Sendell).
Mam would take flowers up to the cemetery every week. People did in those days, but what I thought was odd was that Mrs Adlam always went with her.
Mam would knock on her door at number 18 and they would walk together up Cambria Bridge Road to the cemetery in Radnor Street.
Mam looked after a few graves in the cemetery, alternating the flowers each week. She’d tidy up Pop and Nanny Williams grave, then she would move on to Gramps and Grandma Griffiths and then Auntie Hilda and Uncle Len. Dad grew the flowers in his greenhouse otherwise it would have cost her a small fortune, he used to say.
But quite why Mrs Adlam joined her, I could never understand. Well, not then I couldn’t.
Mrs Adlam was from Somerset originally and had spent the first years of her married life living in Frome. The Adlam’s were a big family, more than ten children she had. Two of the sons went to America but most of the others lived around and about in Swindon.
She lost two babies when they lived away, Mam told me, and another child buried in the churchyard at Rodbourne Cheney. One little boy was only 12 days old. That wasn’t unusual either in those days. All those dreadful diseases that swept through families. Our mam was one of the fortunate ones. Tidy little family we were, just the four of us, all grown up with families of our own.
Two babies left behind, buried in Frome. I wonder if anyone looked after their little graves. Now I understood why Mrs Adlam visited the cemetery in Radnor Street with our mam. It was her way of being close to her babies.
Of course she is long dead herself now and buried with her husband. But recently another burial was made in the family plot. A little baby just three weeks old, Mrs Adlam’s great-grandson. At last she has a baby she can watch over.
The facts …
Sarah Elizabeth Smith was baptised on May 4, 1856 at the parish church in Marston Bigott, Somerset, the illegitimate daughter of Mercy Smith.
She married Thomas Adlam at the same church on April 19, 1877. Thomas states his occupation as a Rivetter and that he was the son of Thomas Adlam, a gardener. Sarah Elizabeth was of full age and written across the space where father’s name and occupation is required is written ‘illegitimate.’
At the time of the 1881 census Thomas and Elizabeth were living at 2 Cottages, Nunnery Lane, Frome. They already had three children, William Henry aged 3, Eleanor Sarah 2 and Ernest Thomas five months old. Eleanor died later that year and was buried at Holy Trinity church, Frome on July 6. Oswell Joseph Adlam was buried in the same churchyard on October 16, 1888. He was just 12 days old.
By the 1890s the family had moved to Swindon where Thomas had a job in the Works. On February 2, 1893 Mercy Alice was baptised at St Augustine’s and on July 29 1896 their youngest daughter and last child, Dora May was baptised at St Barnabas Church when they lived at 51 Ferndale Road.
By 1911 Thomas and Sarah had moved to 18 Cambria Place where they lived with their three youngest children. Alice Mercy 20 who worked as a shop assistant in a drapers, Reginald Frank 18, an apprentice brass finisher in the works (and part time student) and fourteen year old Dora. Sarah declares that she and Thomas have been married 34 years and that they had 11 children, seven of whom are living and four who have died by 1911. The fourth child could be son Gilbert who left for the USA and about whose date of death there seems to be some confusion.
Sarah died on March 7, 1920 and was buried in plot E8190. Her son Ernest Thomas died in Southmead Hospital Bristol and was buried with her on May 29, 1936. Husband Thomas spent his last years living with his married daughter Dora M. Baker at 38 Osborne Street. He died in May 1946 aged 93 years old and was buried in the same plot on May 20. The last burial in the grave was that of Peter William Graville the three week old son of Marie Helena, Thomas and Sarah’s granddaughter.
Percy Adlam was born in Frome in 1883 and died in 1890 aged 6 and a half years old. He was buried on January 7, 1890 at Rodbourne Cheney.
Adlam, Sarah Elizabeth of 18 Cambria Place Swindon Wiltshire died 7 March 1920 Administration Salisbury 26 April to Thomas Adlam boilersmith Effects £382 0s 10d.
Every cemetery story is a recognition, a celebration of a life, but sometimes that story is one so sad it is difficult to write and to read. Such is the story of Minnie Louisa Roach whose future looked promising when she was born in 1874. Her father John Roach was an erector employed in the Works, her mother was Louisa Roach and she had a brother William born in 1873. By the turn of the new century the family were living in Avenue Road.
Minnie married Frederick William Gilchrist, a railway clerk, at the Wesleyan Chapel Bath Road on March 23, 1901. He was 38 years old and she was 26. They began married life at 39 Dean Street, but sadly less than 3 years later Frederick died.
A Well Known Volunteer
For 7 Years Bugle-Major
The death took place on Thursday, Dec. 31st at his residence, 4 Lethbridge-road, Swindon, of Mr F.W. Gilchrist, a well-known Swindonian, who has been a great sufferer for the past two years or more, his illness being induced by the after effects of influenza. He has been taken in the prime of life – he was only 40 years of age, – and leaves a sorrowing widow, but no children. Deceased, who was the son of Capt. G. Gilchrist, of the Royal Artillery, was for many years employed in the Drawing Office, GWR Works, Swindon. But he was best known to the public as a prominent member of the Wilts Rifle Volunteers. He was a man of fine physique and good soldierly bearing. He was a member of the F and G Companies for 27 years, during 7 of which he held the position of bugle-major.
Extracts from The Swindon Advertiser, Friday, January 8, 1904.
Minnie moved back into 45 Avenue Road where she lived with her widowed mother. In 1913 she married again. Her second husband was Frederick Charles James Perry Day, the illegitimate son of Kate Day. Frederick was a coach body maker in the GWR Works and had spent most of his life living with Charles and Elizabeth Davies, presumably relatives, at 101 Stafford Street. At the time of her second marriage Minnie was 39 and Frederick 34. They should have been looking forward to a long and financially secure marriage, but of course a war was just around the corner and Frederick enlisted.
Perhaps the fear and anxiety proved too much for Minnie. She died in 1917, a patient in the Devizes Asylum.
A Soldier’s Wife’s Death – The death took place on Tuesday, at the age of 42 years, of Minnie Louisa Day, wife of Corporal Day, RFA now on active service at Salonika.
Deceased was the only daughter of the late Mr John Roach, of 45, Avenue Road, Swindon, and leaves her husband, an only brother, and a widowed mother to mourn a heavy loss.
The funeral took place on Saturday at Swindon Cemetery amid many tokens of respect on the part of friends and neighbours.
Amongst the beautiful wreaths was the following – “With deep sympathy and in grateful remembrance of much kindness shown in 1907 – from Mrs L.A. Baugh – ‘Thy will be done.’”
The relatives of deceased desire to return sincere thanks for the many kind expressions of sympathy received in their sad bereavement.
North Wilts Herald, Friday, May 25, 1917.
Stafford Street
Minnie was buried in grave plot E7888 on May 19, 1917. The burial registers record her address as 101 Stafford Street, the home where Frederick grew up. She was buried with Charles Henry Davies who had died in 1904 and was later joined in 1919 by Elizabeth, his wife, the couple who had raised Frederick.
When I begin my research I never know how much I can actually find out about any given person. This time I found an obituary, a career profile and several family photographs, although unfortunately none of Sarah Annie Witcomb.
Sarah Annie Witcomb was born in Trevethin, Monmouthshire in about 1863. She was the second of Alfred and Sarah Witcomb’s seven children. By 1864 the family had moved to Swindon and in 1871 they were living at 3 Brunel Street where Alfred worked as a Forgeman in the Works. By 1881 they had moved to 31 Carfax Street where they would remain for more than 35 years until Alfred’s death in 1916.
As you can read in the obituary, Sarah became a teacher and eventually moved away from Swindon. She was one of four siblings who all entered the teaching profession.
The Late Miss Witcomb – The remains of Miss Sarah A. Witcomb, eldest daughter of the late Mr Alfred Witcomb, were laid to rest in Swindon Cemetery on Wednesday. Miss Witcomb’s end came with unexpected suddenness. She felt very deeply the recent death of her father, and an attack of influenza, resulting in heart failure, caused her death. As a young teacher in Swindon, there are many who will remember her, from when a pupil teacher she worked under Mrs Watson at College Street School. After leaving Southlands Training College she worked for a few years at Peckham, leaving there to take up a headship at Barking, Essex. Here the last 26 years of her active life have been spent as head mistress of a girls’ school of over 500 scholars.
The first portion of the burial service was held in the Wesleyan Chapel, Faringdon Street of which in her early days the deceased had been a member. The Rev. John Hall and Mr Godber were the officiating ministers. As the mourners entered the building the hymn, “Now the labourer’s task is o’er,” was sung. The hymn during the service was “Rock of Ages,” and as the procession left the chapel “O Rest in the Lord” was played by the Organist (Mr. H.C. Reynolds). The committal at the graveside was impressively performed by the Rev. John Hall.
Amongst those who attended to pay a last tribute to Miss Witcomb were Mr. G. Jackson (Essex County Council), representing the Barking Education Committee, and Mr W. Weston, an old and esteemed associate in former Sunday School work in Swindon.
Extract from the North Wilts Herald, Friday, October 13, 1916.
Family historians on Ancestry have shared photographs of Alfred, Sarah and another daughter Mary Jane.
Alfred Witcomb
Sarah Witcomb
Mary Jane (teacher)
Alfred died in July 1916 aged 75 years and was buried in grave plot E8161. Sarah Anne died just three months later, aged 53 and was buried with her father. Alfred’s wife Sarah died in April 1918 aged 77 years and was buried with her husband and daughter.
Easter Gadd is an obvious character to research this Easter weekend.
I’ve often paused at this headstone and wondered what the upstanding Mr Gadd might have looked like and what his profession might have been. Something in the legal profession I imagined, or possibly a vicar with such an appropriate name, a character stepped straight out of a Dickens novel.
But Easter Gadd was not a man but a woman.
Easter was born on August 27, 1811, the daughter of Henry and Mary Pascall and baptised at George Street Independent Church, Croydon, Surrey in October.
She married Richard Gadd at St John’s Church, Croydon by licence on April 5, 1833 (which just so happened to be Good Friday that year) and most clearly signed her name as Easter. I mention this as there appears to be a certain amount of confusion as to the spelling of her name on official documents, especially census returns, when she is frequently recorded as Easther or Esther.
But when she was baptised, married and died her name was most definitely recorded as Easter.
Richard and Ophelia Gadd and their five children
When Easter died in 1886, she was living with her son Richard and his family. Richard, it can be assumed, arranged for his mother’s headstone to be erected and had overseen the spelling of her name. Now I have the utmost faith in the accuracy of the spelling on the gravestone and I’ll tell you why – Richard’s immaculate attention to detail.
Richard Gadd was born in Croydon on July 1, 1834. His father died on May 17, 1835 and at the time of the 1841 census Easter was living with her brother-in-law Charles Gadd and his family in Lambeth, South London.
By 1851 she had moved to Hulme, Manchester and was living with her widowed brother William Pascall and his daughter where she is described as ‘housekeeper.’ The enumerator records her name as Esther (because he obviously knew better!)
Easter remains living with William for more than ten years and after that with various nephews and nieces until the census of 1881 when she is living at Lima Terrace, Ashton upon Mersey (today a part of Greater Manchester) with Henry Pascall who is confusingly described as her son (like we need any more confusion in this story). By the way, the census enumerator spells her name as Esther. I’m beginning to wonder if Easter was a bit of a chatterbox and confused these men as they recorded her details.
Sometime after this date Easter moved to Swindon to live with her son Richard and his family. Richard had settled in Swindon in 1853 when he started work as a clerk in the GWR Works.
Richard left the employ of the GWR sometime in the 1860s when he is recorded in Harrod’s Directory as an architectural & mechanical draughtsman living in Prospect Place. However, by 1891 he was back at the Works working as an accountant where he remained until he retired in 1899.
At the time of the 1881 census Richard lived at 35 Prospect with his wife Ophelia, their son William, who was a railway draughtsman, and their two daughters Annie Ophelia and Edna Mary.
Easter died shortly after moving to Swindon. Her funeral took place on March 10, 1886 when she was buried in plot E8427 where she was later joined by Richard and Ophelia.
Now why am I so certain Richard has spelled his mother’s name correctly? Well, it is because of the 1911 census returns. On this document the head of the household completed the form themselves unlike in previous censuses when an enumerator did it for them.
Richard and Ophelia Gadd in old age with their two daughters
As you would hopefully expect of an accountant, Richard completes the form with meticulous accuracy. He states that his age is 76 9/12 (that is 76 years and 9 months). Ophelia was 80 8/12 and their daughter Edna Mary 47 4/12. (The young domestic servant Mary Coxhead is recorded as 15 years old. Perhaps he didn’t know her date of birth or maybe he didn’t ask!) He declared that he and Ophelia have had 5 children, all of whom are living, and that they have been married 56 3/12 years.
Now a man like that will definitely get the spelling of his mother’s name correct on her gravestone.
Three of Richard and Ophelia’s children are buried in the neighbouring grave plot E8428. William who died in 1944 aged 85; Annie Ophelia who died in 1955 aged 86 and Edna Mary who died in 1958 aged 94.
Images of Richard and Ophelia Gadd and their family are published courtesy of an Ancestry public family tree.
Radnor Street Cemetery 