Tag: Beatrice Street

Jane Elizabeth Hobbs – killed in WWII air raid

A lone raider on a bombing mission came dangerously close to the Great Western Railway factory during the night of Thursday December 19, 1940. But instead of hitting the Works the high explosive bomb fell on Beatrice Street, Gorse Hill.

There were several casualties and some miraculous rescues, but sadly Jane Elizabeth Hobbs died the following day in the Victoria Hospital.

Jane Elizabeth Miles was the daughter of a railway man; she married another railway man like so many women of her generation did. William John Hobbs had begun his working life as a cattleman on a farm in Calne but by the time of his marriage to Jane in 1907 he was working as a machineman in the GWR.

The couple lived their entire married life in Gorse Hill where they raised three children. William died in 1933 at 167 Beatrice Street; the house that was later destroyed by a bomb on the night of Thursday December 19, 1940.

Five houses were demolished and others damaged, but there were few casualties when a lone raider dropped bombs on a town in the South of England last Thursday night.

In one street where three houses were wrecked, the rescuers, who were on the scene within two or three minutes, were astonished to hear cries for aid.

Gaining a way through the debris from the back of the house they saw three or four heads protruding from beneath the collapsed stairway. These were the occupants of the house, who had rushed under the staircase as the building collapsed upon them and were thrown flat on the floor. They were all pulled out suffering from slight injuries.

Mrs Jane Hobbs, a widow, was the most seriously injured, and she died in hospital on Friday evening. Her 24-year-old daughter Jane, who was also seriously injured is still in hospital.

A Mr. Crook, who was on a visit from another part of the town, was also taken to hospital.

In another nearby street a bomb dropped in the middle of a small backyard at the rear of two houses. All the outbuildings were demolished and the walls at the back of the houses were fractured. Here again there were lucky escapes. Five or six occupants in the kitchen included a married couple who had twice previously been bombed in London.

Scores of houses in the neighbourhood were hit by flying masonry, and in this way, as well as through blast, many windows were broken.

Praise for ARP Squads.

Everyone was loud in praise of the magnificent way in which the wardens, the rescue and demolition squads. First-aid workers and firemen discharged their duties.

One resident observed: “They were here and hard at work almost before we could get out. Not a second was wasted, and I can tell you this fact was a great relief to us all.”

Extracts from North Wilts Herald, Friday, 27 December, 1940.

Gorse Hill

Jane was buried on December 26 in grave plot C3831 which she shares with her husband William and her parents Henry John and Fanny Miles.

Nellie and William James Bacon – a Gorse Hill story

In the 1970s and 80s West Swindon was built as a cluster of village centres – it seemed to be a plan particularly favoured by Swindonians. In the 1840s there was the Railway Village followed by development in Even Swindon and then a satellite suburb Gorse Hill built in the late 1890s and 1900s. And it seemed that once people put down roots they seldom moved away. Take, for example, Nellie Bull, daughter of George and Maria Bull.

This image of Beatrice Street taken in around 1910 is available to view with a selection of Gorse Hill photos at Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.

Nellie and her brother George grew up in spanking, brand new Gorse Hill in the 1890s. In 1891 they lived at 70 Hinton Street, built in 1890 by entrepreneur James Hinton, Swindon Mayor in 1903/4 who also once owned the land on which the cemetery was built. By 1901 the family had moved to 119 Beatrice Street, another new build, and it was here that William George Bacon came to lodge with them. On Christmas Day that same year he and Nellie were married at St. Mark’s Church.

The young couple continued to live with Nellie’s parents in Beatrice Street where their baby daughter Nellie Gladys was baptised at St. Barnabas’ Church in 1902. They were still living at 119 Beatrice Street when Berty was born two years later, although he was baptised at St. Luke’s Church, Barton Hill, Bristol. By 1909 the family were at 7 Suffolk Street, just around the corner, when George Stanley was baptised at St. John’s the Evangelist. In 1939 William and Nellie were living at 33 Beatrice Street with their daughter Nellie and her husband Percival and Anna (Maria) Bull.

This stylish headstone with discreet art deco features marks Nellie and William’s last resting place, the only time they left Gorse Hill. William James Bacon died on June 18, 1948 at his home, 33 Beatrice Street. Nellie died March 2, 1956 at 33 Beatrice Street.

If you’d like to know more about Swindon’s 1980s West Swindon development – West Swindon – What the eye doesn’t see by Angela Atkinson, Roger Ogle and me is available from Hobnob Press, Bert’s Books, Amazon and other Swindon bookstores.