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

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)

Charles Frederick Angell – marry in haste, repent at leisure

The re-imagined story …

Marry in haste, repent at leisure was one of my mum’s often repeated phrases. As an impressionable young girl with a tendency to fall in love, I was never sure if this maxim was a piece of warning advice for me or a comment on her own life. Turned out it was both!

But this story isn’t about me and my mum. It’s about Mr Charles Angell who worked in the stores with my dad. Mr Angell and his wife Mary lived just round the corner from us in Florence Street.

Dad knew him well – they had worked together for many years. ‘Unless he has come into a secret inheritance he can’t be worth a lot of money,’ my dad said.

You’ll understand what I’m getting at when I tell you the rest of the story.

Mary Angell died in August 1917. Mum didn’t even know she was ill. She would have helped out had she known. Dropped off a hot meal for the couple, done a bit of shopping for them, that kind of thing. Then just seven months after his wife died, Mr Angell upped and married again. People do funny things in grief, dad said but mum said he was old enough to know better.

His new wife was a Miss Neall. Dad said she was a nice looking woman, not young, but nice looking. That got a glare from mum.

“Well I hope he knows what he’s doing. Marry in haste, repent at leisure.”

The facts …

Charles Frederick Angell married Mary Tanner at St Mark’s Church on August 31, 1889. He worked as a labourer and she worked as a domestic servant. Two years later they were living at 21 Avenue Road, Old Town.

By 1901 they had left the leafy suburbs of Old Town for a more modest property in Beatrice Street, Gorse Hill where they lived with Mary’s widowed father Daniel and her sister Emma and nephew William.

At the time of the 1911 census they had moved just down the road to 28 Omdurman Street. They state on the census returns that they had been married for 21 years and had no children.

Mary died in August 1917 when the couple lived at 9 Florence Street. The funeral took place on August 20th when Mary was buried in grave plot A2534 in Radnor Street Cemetery.

Charles Frederick Neall was 61 years of age when he married Julia Elizabeth Neall 54, at St. John’s Church, Paddington on March 30, 1918 but less than a year later the marriage had obviously soured.

The following notice was published in the North Wilts Herald, Friday 10th January, 1919.

I, Charles Frederick Angell, late of 3 Florence Street, Swindon, will NOT BE RESPONSIBLE for any DEBTS incurred by my wife, JULIA ELIZABETH ANGELL, now residing at 7 Market Street, Swindon.

Julia eventually left Swindon and when she died in the September quarter of 1923 her death was registered in the Tonbridge area of Kent.

Within a year, Charles took the plunge again. He married Alice Pring Johnson on June 9, 1924 at St Mary’s church, Charlton Kings, Glos.

Charles died on January 1, 1930 at his home 28, Hunter’s Grove, Swindon. He was 72 years old. The death announcement published in the North Wilts Herald described him as ‘the loving husband of Alice Angell.’ His funeral took place on June 4, when he was buried with his first wife Mary.

The aspirational Percival Seymour Scott

The re-imagined story …

When I was growing up in Swindon there was a ‘can do’ atmosphere in the town. If you wanted to make something of your life you could, yes even those from disadvantaged families.

From the very early days Swindon was an ambitious town with a self belief that permeated all aspects of life. It was taught in the schools and colleges; preached in the churches and chapels and honed and forged in the Works.

It was said an apprenticeship in the Works was the hallmark of excellence and recognised across the world.

Take George and Eliza Scott’s boy. He grew up in Ashford Road, one of the many roads of ubiquitous red brick terrace houses that crept up Kingshill, but what an exciting life he led. They must have been so proud of him. I’m sure they would say it was worth all the sacrifices they made.

The facts …

George Albert Scott and Eliza Seymour were married in the Providence Baptist Chapel on July 9, 1892. George was 26 and worked as an Engine Fitter and Turner in the GWR Works. He was born in Bristol in 1866 and first appears in Swindon on the 1881 census living with his mother Caroline and stepfather Charles Jefferies at 10 Queen Street. Aged 15 years old, George had already begun an apprenticeship as an engine fitter.

Eliza was born in Lechlade in 1871. In 1891, the year before her marriage, Eliza was living with her parents at 124 Stafford Street. Her father John was a grocer and Eliza worked as a dressmaker.

The newlyweds set up home in Ashford Road where the family would live for more than 70 years. They had three children, Percival born in 1896, Ivy in 1898 and Gwendoline in 1906. The 1911 census records the couple’s only son Percival 15, was a part time student whilst working as an Office Boy in the Works.

In 1915 Percival joined the Royal Navy for the duration of hostilities (the First World War). His naval records describe him as 6ft ½ ins tall with black hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion. At the beginning of 1918 he transferred to the newly created RAF.

In 1920 Percival married Elsie Holbrow, the daughter of another railwayman Samuel Holbrow and his wife Minnie. The following year Percival’s name appears on the Ship’s Register of the SS Highland Glen bound for South America where Elsie would join him at their home in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The couple apparently made return visits to Swindon and are recorded as passengers on the Asturias in 1926, their destination 47 Deacon Street (the home of Elsie’s parents), their permanent residence Argentina. They were too late to see Percival’s mother Eliza who died in 1922.

Elsie died in Buenos Aires just three years later on January 29, 1929 aged 32. Her details are recorded on her parents’ headstone.

George Scott married for a second time in 1924. He died in 1928 aged 62 years and was buried with his first wife Eliza in Radnor Street Cemetery plot E7492. His second wife Margaret died in 1973 and was buried in the same grave.

Percival remained in South America until at least the 1960s when he is recorded as living in Peru but he died closer to Swindon at his home The Hermitage, Combeland Road in Minehead on November 5, 1979.

Charles Edward Hall of 75 Morris Street, Rodbourne.

The re-imagined story …

When I was a child I used to think Mr Hall was just an old man who tottered about in front of his house in Morris Street before turning round and going back inside. I used to wonder what the point of this all was as he went nowhere and saw nothing new. Occasionally someone would pass by and stop to talk to him, but that was about it.

How pointless, I thought as I kicked my football on the way to the Rec. Or sped past on an errand up the Lane for my mother, keen to get it done and to be off with my mates. Always in a hurry, well kids are, aren’t they? Mr Hall was just another old man who tottered about in front of his house. As children we give little thought to the old people we see shuffling about the streets, or the life they might have lived.

Now I’m an old man who totters about in front of my house. Of course, Morris Street is a bit different these days, but someone usually stops and has a few words with me. Helps pass the day. I suppose that’s what it was all about for Mr Hall.

The facts …

Swindon J.P. Dead

Mr C.E. Hall’s Services to Methodism

Former Councillor

Mr Charles Edward Hall, J.P., of 75 Morris street, Swindon, died early on Friday morning, aged 75 years.

Heart trouble had confined him to his home for the past eight years, and except for an occasional walk outside his home, Mr Hall had never been out in the town during this time. He had been bedridden for the past few months.

Many years ago Mr Hall took an active interest in the affairs of Swindon, and among other things was a town councillor. He only served for three years, however, and did not seek re-election, as the council work interfered with his church activities.

He was an ardent Methodist, and took a prominent part in the affairs of the Regent street Clifton street and Butterworth street churches. He had been a steward on the Swindon circuit, while he was twice elected president of the Swindon and district Sunday School Union.

50 Years with the GWR

He was appointed a J.P. to the Borough bench in 1912.

A native of Hook, Mr Hall came to Swindon in his youth, and worked in the Great Western Railway factory as a boilermaker. At the time of his retirement 12 years ago, he was a foreman, and had completed 50 continuous years of service. He was an enthusiastic trade unionist, and became a member of the Boilermakers’ Iron and Steel Ship Building Society in 1880.

In his younger days Mr Hall took a keen interest in politics, and was a staunch worker for the Liberal cause.

He leaves a widow and one son.

The Funeral

The funeral took place at Radnor street Cemetery on Monday afternoon. The service at the house and the committal at the grave were conducted by the Rev. Allison Brown. There were no flowers by special request.

The chief mourners included Mrs C.E. Hall (widow), Captain and Mrs. A.E. Hall, Mrs Rees, Mrs Barrett, Mrs Richardson, Mrs Winter, Mr H.W. Watkins Mr W. Watkins, Mr A.W. Head, and Mr Turk.

The funeral arrangements were carried out by Messrs. A.E. Smith and Son, 24 Gordon road, Swindon.

Magisterial Tribute

When the Swindon Borough police court magistrates met on Monday afternoon the chairman (Mr. A.W. Haynes), addressing the court, said that within the last few days the magistrates had lost a colleague in the person of Mr C.E. Hall better known as “Charlie.” He had been ill for a very long period but previous to his illness he was a regular attendant at the court.

“I have known him personally for a long period and he was very active in former days in many ways of life. He was very conscientious in everything he did and very much respected by all who met him. The Justices and their Clerk deeply sympathise with the widow and family in their bereavement,” said Mr. Haynes.

North Wilts Herald, Friday, 8 March, 1935

Charles Edward Hall was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery on March 4, 1935 in plot D951 which he shares with his first wife Emma Jane.

Photographs published courtesy of Cathy Moseley and the Hall Family Tree, Ancestry.

Miss S.A. Wright – Headmistress of Clifton Street Girls’ School

In the mid-Victorian period there were few career opportunities for an ambitious, working class girl. But perhaps attitudes were different in the Wright family home.

Susan Ann Wright was born on November 10, 1858 the second child and eldest daughter of Joseph Fletcher Wright and his wife Elizabeth. The family appear on the 1861 census living at 41, Exeter Street. Joseph was a Turner in the GWR Works, a skilled, well paid job. Perhaps he had a progressive attitude towards education and was pleased to see his daughter advance in her chosen career.

By 1891 Susan, 32 was living with her widowed father and her sister Emily, 30 and brother Alfred, 25 at 35 Wellington Street, which would be her home for the rest of her life.

Susan died on February 18, 1940 aged 81. She was buried in plot E8178 on February 23, a grave she shares with her brother Alfred who died in 1897 and his wife Esther Goodship (remarried surname) who died in 1932.

A snowy cemetery view

Swindon Funeral of Miss S.A. Wright

The funeral service took place on Friday at Wesley Church, Faringdon road, Swindon, of Miss Susan Ann Wright of Wellington street, Swindon, who for many years was a prominent figure in the educational and religious life of Swindon. Born in 1858, the eldest daughter of the late Joseph Fletcher Wright, she commenced her teaching career in the Wesleyan Day School at Eastbury. Later she took appointments in the Swindon schools, and for upwards of thirty years was headmistress of the Clifton Street Girls’ School. Her retirement in 1923 was made the occasion of a tribute of appreciation in which hundreds of pupils past and present took part.

For more than sixty years she was a valued and honoured member of Wesley Church, Faringdon Road, where she exercised an active ministry in many spheres, particularly among the young. Her intimate friends were few, but many will remember her generosity to the needy and her thoughtfulness for others.

Extract from North Wilts Herald, Friday, 1 March, 1940

Image published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library

Clifton Street, of three departments, built at a cost of about £6,457, & opened in January, 1885; for 300 boys, 220 girls & 315 infants; average attendance, 282 boys, 211 girls & 302 infants; J. Dutton, headmaster; Miss S. Wright, headmistress; Mrs Le Manquais, infants’ headmistress.

Kelly’s Directory 1903.

Mary Ann Krempowiecki – remembered

The re-imagined story …

Today we buried Mary Ann Krempowiecki. I would not have known who she was had Mr. Bremner not been at the funeral.

I had worked for many years under Mr Bremner, one of the senior foremen in the Works, before I took the job of gravedigger. Maybe you think it a macabre occupation and an unusual one to choose, but I think it is an occupation that chooses the person – not everyone has the character to be a gravedigger. A man has to be physically strong, but more then that a man has to be respectful.

It was a bitterly cold day with a keening north easterly wind and dark clouds closing in, threatening snow. Not for the first time that day I reflected on the bleak situation of the cemetery high on Kingshill, quite forgetting its beauty during the other three seasons of the year.

There had been four burials in the cemetery that day. John Cottle, a machineman whose wife had chosen a grave plot in Section E close to the Kent Road gate. Amelia Schofield, a young mother who had died in the Royal United Hospital in Bath. And then there was an infant, there was always a child. This morning it had been a little girl barely eight weeks old.

There had been little enough labour to ward off the cold that late December day. I eagerly looked forward to the warm fire and cooked meal that awaited me at home. At least this last funeral of the day was close to the chapel affording some shelter for the mourners and the gravedigger.

And then I saw Mr Bremner and the young woman who stood at his arm and supported him. The funeral party was small, the elderly man and the young woman stood apart from the other mourners. It was obvious that Mary Ann Krempowiecki, daughter to one, mother to the other, was greatly mourned. I would not have known who she was had I not seen Mr Bremner at the graveside.

The facts …

The lengthy inscription on this headstone is all about William David James, but there is a brief mention of his wife and mother-in-law on the surrounding kerbstone. So, what do we know about Mary Ann Krempowiecki and her daughter Anne Bremner James?

Mary Ann Bremner was born in 1841 in Hawkhill Dundee, the eldest daughter of railwayman Peter Bremner and his wife Ann. The family arrived in New Swindon in about 1848 and a home at 5 Taunton Street, one of the properties demolished in the 1970s.

Mary Ann Bremner was just 18 years old when she married James Thomas Atkinson, a fitter in the GWR Works. The wedding took place on September 4, 1858 at St. Mark’s Church. At the time of the 1861 census Mary Ann is living at her parents home in Taunton Street with her one year old son Henry. A daughter was born later that year and baptised Annie Bremner Atkinson at St Mark’s Church on October 20th.

By 1871 James Thomas Atkinson was dead. Eleven year old Henry and Annie aged 9 are living with their grandparents in Taunton Street. Their mother was living in London where on August 21, 1868 she had married Charles Stanislas Krempowiecki, the son of a Polish refugee. Mary Ann’s father-in-law Thaddeus Krempowiecki had stated that his occupation was Commission of Police in Poland, on his own marriage certificate, but was dead by the time of his son’s wedding.

Mary Ann Krempowiecki was back in Swindon and living with her parents at 5 Taunton Street when she died in December 1883. She was just 43 years old. Her funeral took place on December 29, 1883 when she was buried in plot A1091.

Annie Bremner Atkinson married William David James at St. Mark’s Church, Swindon on September 5, 1881. Ten years later, at the time of the 1891 census she is recorded as living at 27 Read Street with her husband and two sons William, 7 and Frank 1 years old. Another son Frederick was born in 1894 and a daughter Amy was born in 1896.

Annie died in St. Thomas’ Hospital London aged 37 in March 1899, following the birth of her son Wilfred. She was buried with her mother on March 13, 1899 in plot A1091.

William David James died on June 19, 1914 and was buried in plot A1091 with his wife and her mother. When his family erected the headstone they chose to mention their father in great detail, and rather less about their mother and grandmother.