The Order of the White Feather

The Order of the White Feather was founded at the outbreak of war in August 1914 by Admiral Charles Penrose Fitzgerald. The campaign encouraged women to present white feathers, a potent symbol of cowardice, to men not wearing uniform. The campaign was incredibly successful, even as the details of the death toll and casualties became widely known.

The practice seems to have carried on for the greater part of the war and in September 1916 the Silver War Badge was issued for men to wear who had been honourably discharged due to wounds or sickness.

Why did women subscribe to this propaganda? The writer Compton Mackenzie, who served with British Intelligence in the Eastern Mediterranean, said ‘idiotic young women were using white feathers to get rid of boyfriends of whom they were tired.’

For some it was no doubt misplaced patriotism. For those who had lost husbands and loved ones it might have been a reaction to their grief.

One such young woman who handed out white feathers on the streets of Swindon did so because her four brothers were all serving soldiers.

Alice Elizabeth Godwin grew up at 21 Redcliffe Street, the daughter of Charles Thomas Godwin, a furnaceman in the Works, and his wife Clara Annie. You can imagine the daily dread the family experienced with four sons in service and how a young, impressionable girl might have been coerced into joining the white feather campaign.

But it would be the experiences of one of her brothers which ultimately changed her mind.

She was at the station in Swindon seeing him off back to the front at the end of his leave, when he broke down, weeping and shaking uncontrollably. It was seeing him so terrified that made her cease her practise of handing out white feathers. Thankfully, all four brothers returned home.

Propaganda poster

Charles Thomas Godwin died on November 8, 1914 and was buried in grave plot B3265. His wife Clara Annie died in 1939 and was buried with him. Their son Albert Howell, who had served in WWI, died in 1940 and joined his parents. In 1985 Albert’s wife Clara Agnes was buried with her husband and his parents. In 1993 the ashes of their son Arnold William Godwin were interred in the family grave.

Guided Cemetery Walks

Looks like we might all see some rain today. But spring is just around the corner and our guided cemetery walks will begin again at the end of this month.

The Spring walks are scheduled for:

March 31, April 28 and May 26.

Summer walks are yet to be arranged but our Autumn walks are already in the diary.

September 1 and 29 and October 27.

Our Remembrance Day Service is Sunday November 10.

Well, what can you expect from a typical guided cemetery walk?

A gentle meander through 11½ acres of our picturesque Victorian cemetery. Our CWGC volunteers will tell you about their work to maintain the war graves and the incredible stories they have discovered. Learn about the people who made Swindon; from the boilermakers to the businessmen. Hear about the women who contributed to every aspect of life in Swindon from the home, the factory floor and the magistrates bench! This year we will have even more stories to tell.

We meet at the cemetery chapel for 2 p.m.

Jesse John Preater – brothers in arms

Three brothers died in the First World War, another returned with his health compromised. But what was it like for the two brothers who never went to war but stayed at home?

At the beginning of the 20^th century the busy Preater family were running two businesses. Charles Preater ran first a haulage business before becoming licensee at the New Inn in Cromwell Street with his wife Mary Jane.

Harry Charles Preater was born on April 25, 1880 and baptised at St. Mark’s Church on May 27. He was the eldest of Charles and Mary Jane Preater’s nine children. In old photographs of Swindon you will see H.C. Preater’s garage at the Whale Bridge close to where the Leonardo Hotel now stands. Harry became a prominent business man and a Freemason. During the Second World War Harry was Secretary of the Swindon Penny a Week Fund, which raised £16,500 towards supporting prisoners of war. Harry died in 1968 and is buried in grave plot D65A.

Second son Jesse John Preater was born on April 2, 1882 and baptised at St Paul’s Church on May 14. By 1901 Jesse, then aged 18, was working alongside his father in the haulage firm. Ten years later his younger brothers Charles and John had joined him in that side of the family business.

Arthur Benjamin Preater, Charles Lewis Preater and Herbert Frederick Preater were all killed in action, Arthur in 1916 and Charles and Herbert in 1918. John Edward Preater served and returned home.

Why did neither Harry nor Jesse go to war? I’m sure their parents were relieved to save these two sons, but what was life like for them during and in the aftermath of the war. They shared their fate with many other men, but that couldn’t have made it any easier. Today we have a name for this condition ‘survivor guilt.’

Jesse married May Wallis at St Mark’s Church on October 4, 1915. Their son Charles Wallis Jesse was born in 1922. They are buried together in grave plot B2693 close to the grave where Jesse’s parents, his sister Hilda and John Edward, the brother who survived the war, are buried. A separate memorial commemorates the three brothers who were killed in action.

A new headstone and a soldier remembered

Private George James Smith pictured with his mother and two sisters published courtesy of an Ancestry public family tree.

Radnor Street Cemetery closed to new burials in the 1970s but the occasional interment (usually cremated remains) does still take place where there is room in a family grave. More unusual is the installation of a new headstone, although in recent weeks this has also taken place.

The new headstone commemorates Frederick Smith and his wife Elizabeth who died in 1917 and 1918 respectively and their son-in-law William “Alf” Penney who died in 1960. The inscription on the headstone also commemorates Frederick and Elizabeth’s son Private George James Smith who was killed in action in Salonika during WWI.

George James Smith was born on March 7, 1895 one of the four surviving children of Frederick and Elizabeth Smith. Frederick worked as an Iron Dresser in the GWR Works and George grew up at 87 Linslade Street, Rodbourne. He too entered the Works and as a 15 year old worked first as a cleaner, then a call boy and by 1913 he was a time and storekeeper. The UK Railway Employment Records 1833-1956 include an added comment to George’s employment record “25 Apl ’17 Reported by War office as missing.”

George was serving in the 7^th Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment in Salonika when he was declared missing presumed dead. He is remembered on the Doiran Memorial, Greece. George has no known grave but this new headstone in the cemetery will be cared for by our team of CWGC Eyes On Hands On volunteers.

Friday Frederick Wright Roberts – physically unfit for military service

Friday Roberts joined the army in 1893. He was a little over 14 years old. His comprehensive records reveal he had a military career of almost 17 years spanning the South African war and the Great War, the effects of which eventually killed him.

Friday enlisted with the Royal Field Artillery for a period of 12 years on December 27, 1893. He was 14 years and 4 months old and stood 5ft 2½ inches. He weighed 93lbs and had a chest measurement of 29 inches – smaller than the average modern day 14 year old. He had a fresh complexion, grey eyes, brown hair and indistinct tattoo marks on both forearms.

Friday served as a gunner before passing professional examinations and promotion to bombardier (corporal) rank. However in November 1898 he reverted back to a gunner at his own request. Promotion to Sergeant followed in 1902.

Friday was posted to South Africa in 1897 where he served more than 4 years. He received the Queen’s South Africa Medal with clasps for Talana, Laing’s Nek, Relief of Ladysmith and Transvaal. He was then posted to India where he served a further 5 years.

In 1904 Friday re-engaged to complete 21 years service. It can only be assumed he liked the military lifestyle. But then everything changed. In 1907 Friday was discharged from the army at his own request after nearly 14 years service. Perhaps he’d had enough of the army life after all, seen enough of the world to last him a lifetime. Perhaps he just wanted to settle down to civilian life with Alice, the women he married on February 23, 1907 at St. John’s Church, Woolwich. Their daughter Winifred Maud was born a year later, but sadly Alice died soon after her birth.

In 1910 he was living in Oldham, Lancashire where he married Nellie Vaughan and where their daughter Aileen Vera was born in 1912.

By 1914 Friday had a job as an Officer for the RSPCA and was living with his wife and two daughters at 81 Stafford Street. He probably hoped that his days as a soldier were over, but he was still on the reservist list and so with the outbreak of war in 1914 he re-enlisted with his old regiment and joined the BEF in France.

He was wounded within weeks of his arrival and was invalided back to England, but not for long. He soon returned to France and served two more years.

RSM Friday Frederick Wright Roberts was discharged on October 6, 1917 as physically unfit for military service, suffering from Tuberculosis of the Larynx.

The Medical Board confirmed his illness was a result of active service and exposure to infection during November 1916 while fighting near Vimy Ridge. His condition was described as permanent and requiring further treatment.

He was awarded a pension; 48 weeks at 42/6 from October 24, 1917. Five months later he was dead.

Friday is buried in plot E7368 with his little daughter Winifred who died in 1916 aged 9. His details appear on the Commonwealth War Graves website.

Emma Flower’s boy Edwin

If you are of a certain age you may remember Turn, Turn, Turn, a song released by The Byrds in 1965. The lyrics were written in 1959 by Peter Seeger and are taken from the book of Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 verses 1-8.

So, what do you think? Is there a time to be born and a time to die.

Emma Flower died in March 1912. She had lived to see her only surviving child, Edwin Brian Flower, marry. She was 49 years old. A tragedy to die at that age both now and then. Had she suffered a long, painful illness, in which case it might have been a time to die?

Emma Head was born in 1861 the daughter of John Head and his wife Hannah. She married Edwin Flower at the church in South Marston on Christmas Eve 1888. At the time of the 1891 census the young couple and their baby son were living at 36 Avening Street, Gorse Hill. By 1911 the family had moved to 23 Florence Street where their son Edwin Brian was married from on October 21, 1911 and where Emma would die five months later. She was buried on March 14, 1912 in grave plot B3209 where she lies alone. Her husband Edwin married again in 1913 to widow Jane Martha Stone (nee Head) most probably Emma’s elder sister.

Edwin Brian Flower was the only one of Emma’s three children to survive childhood. He was born on September 23, 1889 and lived in Gorse Hill all his life. At the age of 13 he started work as an office boy/messenger in the Carriage Works, later transferring to the Wheelwright Shop. He married Ethel Woodman in 1911 and they had a daughter Iris Minnie born the following year. By 1917 Edwin was serving with the 9^th Light Railway Operating Company as a Sapper in the Royal Engineers. He was killed in action on October 4, 1917 aged 28 and is buried in the Rocquingny-Equancourt Road, British Cemetery, Manancourt. Was it his time to die?

This is Emma Flower’s boy, Edwin.

Majorie Olive – the beloved child of Jack and Frances Warren

Marjorie Olive was a precious baby, as every baby should be. The fact that she only lived 5 months did not diminish the joy and bewilderment her parents experienced at her birth and her death.

Short was the little strangers stay

She came but as our guest

She tasted life then fled away

To her eternal rest

John Oliver Warren and Frances Alice Iles were married at St. Paul’s Church, Swindon on April 10, 1915. John was working as a clerk in the GWR Loco Department Offices – but not for much longer. The First World War was raging; conscription was introduced in January 1916. Perhaps John was already serving by the time of Marjorie Olive’s birth and death.

Unfortunately, John’s Attestation Papers (the documents drawn up at the time of enlistment) have not survived. However, his discharge papers are accessible and we know he was serving as an Acting Sergeant in the Royal Army Medical Corps when he was discharged on June 11, 1919 at the end of the war.

John returned to his former life; to Frances and his home in Swindon; to his job as a clerk in the railway works. But life would never be the same again – how could it?

Frances died in 1926 and John in 1930. They are buried together with their little daughter Marjorie Olive. Their grave has recently been re-discovered and cleared by the Radnor Street Cemetery volunteers.

Herbert Marfleet – CWGC official recognition in 2015.

The re-imagined story …

There are two surviving photographs taken that day and in each of them our Elsie looks so sad. You shouldn’t look sad in your wedding photographs – I keep thinking. People say it’s the happiest day of your life. And she looked so beautiful as well.

It was a proper family wedding. All the aunts and uncles were there and three little babies. My was little Joyce noisy, and would she keep her bonnet on? Granny’s dog was better behaved!

Six men in uniform were there that day, including the two grooms. Bert came home, but Elsie lost him anyway. Perhaps she already knew that then, on the happiest day of her life.

The facts …

Herbert Frederick Marfleet, the son of Benjamin James Marfleet a sergeant in the 2nd Dragoon Guards, was born in the Punjab in 1891. By 1901 the family had returned to England and Benjamin was working as a Railway Shop clerk in the GWR Works. On leaving school Herbert followed his father into the railway factory as an apprentice coach finisher.

In 1915 Herbert joined the Royal Army Service Corps serving first in Egypt. In 1917 he briefly returned home to Swindon to marry his sweetheart Elsie Morse. Elsie was the eldest of William and Agnes Morse’s seven children. By 1911 Elsie’s father had died and Elsie, aged 18, was working as a finisher in a clothing factory. This could have been either Cellular Clothing in Rodbourne or John Compton’s in Sheppard Street. The family lived at 4 Albion Street where these wedding photographs were taken in the back garden in 1918 when Elsie and her sister Agnes married in a double wedding. Agnes’ bridegroom was a Canadian by the name of Hooper Gates. Hooper survived the war.

Immediately after the wedding Herbert returned to his regiment in Salonika where he contracted malaria. He was discharged from the army and returned to Swindon in the spring of 1919 but died just a few weeks later.

It was at first thought that he lie in an unmarked grave in the cemetery but it was later discovered that he was buried with his aunt and uncle, Matilda Hammett and Edward Johnson. He was, however, entitled to a Commonwealth War Graves official headstone as his death was a direct cause of his military service. The official application process began in May 2011 and the headstone was erected in June 2015. Guest of honour at the dedication ceremony was 98 year old Joyce Murgatroyd, his only known living relative, who as a baby is pictured in the wedding photograph.

First published on April 20, 2022.

Sidney William T. Chambers – Army Cycle Corps

The re-imagined story …

In 1911 three of the Chambers uncles lived in Stafford Street; people used to jokingly call it Chambers Street. Actually, there is no Chambers Street in Swindon. Funny that really when you think how many other builders had streets named after them.

William Chambers lived and worked as builder and funeral director in the end house in Ashford Road, the one with the Calvary cross in the brickwork. You can still see it now, and the silhouette of the shop sign.

Sam, William’s youngest son took over the business when his father died. I suppose that’s pretty unusual when you think about it. You’d expect the eldest son to take over usually. After the war there were few elder sons left to carry on the family businesses.

Sidney was working in the business as a 15-year-old polisher. We all ended up working for one of the uncles. As kids there were always errands to run, materials to move, digging, sweeping. Uncle Sam could always find you a job to do although none of us liked helping in the funeral parlour.

My dad talked a lot about Sidney. They had grown up together, worked together, served together. They both came home. Dad unscathed, that is if you didn’t count the nightmares and the terrifying rages that so frightened us kids. Sidney only got as far as Devonport Hospital where he died on October 14, 1918.

Uncle Robert and Aunt Kate never got over his death. Some parents blamed the Hun, some blamed the government. Others blamed themselves.

It’s barely ten years since the war ended and sometimes it seems like yesterday. Some scars never heal. But those who died will always be remembered, well by my generation at least they will. It remains to be seen if those that follow will. Will anyone remember Sidney a hundred years from now?

The facts …

Sidney William T. Chambers was born in Swindon in 1895, the eldest of Robert and Kate Chambers’ four children.

He served first in the Cyclist Corps, later transferring to the Labour Corps. His military records do not survive.

Sidney died at Devonport Hospital on October 14, 1918. He was 23 years old. His funeral took place at Radnor Street Cemetery on October 19 and he is buried with his father and three other family members in plot C1052.

The inscription on the Commonwealth War Graves headstone reads:

Here lies our dear son sleeping

His life we could not save

First published January 15, 2022.

Air Mechanic Frederick Clarence Whatley

Continuing a series of articles in remembrance of Swindon’s sons who served in two world wars.

Frederick Clarence Whatley was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery on October 16, 1918 but when I discovered his cause of death it raised many questions.

Frederick was born on February 8, 1899, the second son of William George Whatley, a cost clerk in the GWR Works, and his wife Emily, and grew up in the Broad Green area of Swindon. Frederick started work as a Machine Operator in the Locomotive Department of the Works on April 30, 1913, transferring to the Carriage and Wagon Works on February 21, 1914.

Frederick joined the Royal Navy in July 1917 and was assigned to HMS Campania, a seaplane training and balloon depot ship. In March 1918 he was transferred to the RAF and served at No 1 School of Navigation and Bomb Dropping (Stonehenge) as a 3^rd Class Air Mechanic.

Frederick died in a diabetic coma on October 12, 1918 at the Fargo Military Hospital. He was 19 years old.

Although diabetes was identified in the 17^th century, no effective form of treatment was available until the discovery of insulin in the 1920s. Two Canadian scientists, Frederick Banting and John Macleod, were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1923 and there were many others experimenting on a treatment around the same date. Diabetes is a condition that remains a bar to military service today.

Did Frederick know he had diabetes? Was his condition recognised in 1917 and if so how did he pass a medical? Unfortunately his military records do not survive. The CWGC records state that he died from a chill and family history researchers once believed he died in a flying accident, however, his death certificate tells the true story.

Frederick is remembered on a memorial plaque that was once displayed in the Carriage and Wagon Works and now hangs in Steam Museum.

He is buried in a family grave in Radnor Street Cemetery.

#TellThemofUs

#MarkSutton

First published on July 27, 2022.