William Dicks and the tunnel

The GWR Works was a dangerous place in which to work and until the construction of the main entrance tunnel it was even a dangerous place to get inside.

The original Workmen’s East Gate Works entrance was a route that involved crossing the mainline track and was the scene of numerous fatal accidents. There were 3 deaths in a single month in 1869, the year before the tunnel opened.

Joseph Armstrong, the first Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent ushered in a period of rapid expansion during the 1870s which included the construction of the Carriage Works and a new, safer route into the railway factory. The main entrance into the Works was built on Bristol Street, opposite the Mechanics’ Institution and consisted of a tunnel measuring approximately 100 yards [91.4m] that ran northwards beneath the mainline track.

Contemporary photographs record the hundreds of men streaming out of the tunnel at the end of the working day, however, even after the tunnel opened on February 5, 1870 accidents continued to occur as men still cut across the railway line to work.

In 1905 William Dicks was struck down and killed going back to work on Saturday January 14. The report of the inquest published in the Wiltshire Times makes for gruesome reading.

Fatal Accident

Man Killed at the Works

A shocking fatality occurred on the Great Western Railway at Swindon on Saturday. William Dicks, an employe in the locomotive works had just returned from breakfast and crossed the rails in order to reach the check office. He failed to notice the approach of an engine which was out on its trial trip, and though his workmates tried to warn him of his danger, it was without avail, and he was knocked down by the locomotive and injured so terribly that he died on his removal to the hospital. Both his legs were severed, and his head was frightfully battered. Deceased, who was 52 years of age, was well known as a clarionist. [clarinetist].

At the inquest on Monday it was stated that deceased had no business to cross the line, a tunnel being provided for the men. – Dr Swinhoe said the man was practically cut in half.

The Coroner said he thought they could only return a verdict of “Accidental death” but they might add a rider to the effect that notice boards should be fixed in prominent places to warn the men not to cross the line. The Company certainly took every precaution in protecting employes, and the men should use the tunnels which had been provided for their express use.

The jury concurred, and returned a verdict accordingly.

The Wiltshire Times, Saturday January 21, 1905.

William Dicks was buried on January 18, 1905 in grave plot C1445, a public grave, which he shares with his wife Jane who died in 1909, and one other person

Today the Grade II listed former Carriage Works is the subject of a Heritage Action Zone project. Work has included improvements to the Sheppard Street underpass, London Street and the Bristol Street tunnel has also received a makeover. New interpretation boards at the entrance tell the story of the railway factory and the railway families who made New Swindon.

Image dated c1905 published courtesy of Kevin Leakey

Image dated c1950 published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.

Ghostly railway workers superimposed on a photo of the tunnel – see new interpretation boards at the tunnel entrance

Alice Kate Richards – smile please!

When you have a professional photographer in the family you can be guaranteed some super snaps – and Alice Kate Stroud had one of Swindon’s best.

Alice Kate Stroud was born in Hereford on February 27, 1870 the younger of James and Ellen’s (Eleanor) two daughters. The family lived at 49 Portland Street, Hereford where James worked as a railway guard. It was probably inevitable that they would eventually end up in Swindon and in 1881 they were living at 22 Merton Street, a property they shared with Edwin and Louisa Brittain.

In 1892 Alice married railway clerk Thomas Richards and by 1901 Alice, Thomas and their two sons Leslie & Stanley were living at 15 Medgbury Road, next door to Alice’s in-laws. But by 1911 they were living at 10 London Street where they would remain for the rest of their lives.

So, who was this talented photographer of whom you speak, I hear you ask?

Well, in 1890 Alice’s elder sister Mary Jane Stroud married William Hooper.

Ah, now you understand.

Alice was photographed by Hooper as a young woman and appears frequently in many Hooper family photographs. We see her with her sister on a boat on Coate Water; with her husband and two sons; cradling her little granddaughter Mary and we watch her grow old alongside Mary Jane and William Hooper.

Alice died in 1958 at Kingsdown Nursing Home and was buried in grave plot D1030 which she shares with her in-laws Maria and Richard Nathaniel Richards. Thomas Richards died at 10 London Street and was buried with his parents and his wife on October 14, 1959.

Images are published courtesy of P.A. Williams and Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.

The Death of Mrs Swinhoe

The re-imagined story …

I stood across the road from Park House, amongst a group of women, all of whom had been in receipt of an act of kindness performed by Mrs Swinhoe.

She wasn’t a demonstratively affectionate person, not a woman to place an arm around your shoulder, or take your hand in hers. She wasn’t one for displays of emotion, but Mrs Swinhoe was one of the kindest women I have ever met.

She was a stalwart of St Mark’s Church, a member of several committees, a fund raiser and a generous benefactor. She would be greatly missed in the railway community.

Everyone in the railway village had been in receipt of her kindness at some time yet she had never sought comfort from a stranger, except on one occasion.

I was employed as a housemaid in the doctor’s residence when the Swinhoe family lived in London Street. It was a busy household as the property served as the doctor’s consulting room and the Swinhoe family was quickly growing, three little daughters and another child on the way when I joined the establishment in 1864.

Mrs Swinhoe’s confinement proved difficult when on May 19 two little girls were born and quickly named Eliphalette and Etheldreda. On June 20 the babes were baptised by their grandfather at St Michael’s Church in Cornhill in London, but the event was quite subdued; all was not well with the smaller baby Etheldreda.

I was with Mrs Swinhoe the day her baby died. I’d never seen sorrow like that before. I was fifteen years old. I didn’t know what to do or what to say. What words of comfort can you offer to a woman who has just held her baby while it died? I put my arms about her as she sobbed and sat with her until her husband returned from the Works where he had been attending an accident. I left them to their grief.

Mrs Swinhoe is to be laid to rest in Swindon’s cemetery on Kingshill. Her little daughter was buried in the churchyard at St Mark’s, but that is closed to burials now.

It must have been a dreadful thing – to be a doctor and unable to save your child.

The facts …

Diana Maria Matilda Wrench was born on June 17 1836 at St Michael’s Rectory, Cornhill in the City of London the daughter of Rev. Thomas William Wrench and his wife Diana Maria. She married George Money Swinhoe, a Practitioner Surgeon at the church where her father officiated on August 13, 1859 and by the time of the 1861 census, they were living at 4 London Street, Swindon.

The couple went on to have a large family, seven daughters and five sons survived to adulthood. Diana died after a short illness and was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery on April 25, 1894. She was the first of six members of the Swinhoe family to be buried in the large family plot numbered E8228/29/30.

Death of Mrs Swinhoe

We regret to announce the death of Mrs Swinhoe, wife of Dr G.M. Swinhoe, of Park House, New Swindon. The deceased lady had been ailing only a day or two, and died somewhat suddenly on Sunday morning. Her death will be a great loss in St Mark’s parish, where she has been such an excellent worker for many years past. The circumstances are rendered still more sad by the fact that deceased’s son Dr. G.R. Swinhoe, returned with his bride from his honeymoon trip only a day or two previously.

On Sunday at St Mark’s church (where Dr Swinhoe is vicar’s warden), the organist, Mr Geo. Burrows, played the “Dead March in Saul” at each service.

In consequence of the sad event, a concert and operetta which was to have been rendered on Monday evening in the Mechanics’ Institute, New Swindon, and in which the Misses Swinhoe were to have taken part, was postponed.

It would be altogether superfluous for us to enter into panegyrics respecting the deceased lady, the long period Dr Swinhoe has been the friend in need to the great majority of the inhabitants of New Swindon, and the “right hand” Mrs Swinhoe has been to him, are too well known and appreciated to make the telling necessary. Suffice it, that the sad intelligence was received with profound and genuine regret throughout the neighbourhood. The deceased leaves in addition to her stricken husband seven daughters and five sons to mourn their irreparable loss.

The Funeral

Took place on Wednesday morning and was of a quiet and private character. The funeral cortege left the late residence of the deceased lady, Park House, about 11.15 am. The first part of the most solemn service was read at St Mark’s Church, by the Hon and Rev Canon Ponsonby, and there was a crowded congregation, a large number being unable to gain admission.

At the grave side this number was still further increased. The first part of the service being over, the procession wended its way towards the cemetery where the Rev Canon Ponsonby read the remaining portion of the burial services. The remains were buried in a bricked grave, lined with moss, primroses and other flowers. The coffin, which was of oak, with very massive brass fittings and a large Latin cross on the lid, born the following inscription: – “Diana Maria Matilda Swinhoe, Died 22^nd April, 1894, Aged 56 years.” It was conveyed in a hearse, and completely covered with beautiful wreaths.

Long list of mourners …

Messrs Chandler Bros. were the undertakers, and discharged the funeral arrangements in a most satisfactory manner. The coffin was made by Mr. T. Barrett.

Swinhoe Diana Maria Matilda wife of George Money Swinhoe 56 years Park House New Swindon 25^th April 1894 plot E8229.

Radnor Street Cemetery Registers

Have you seen the doctor?

albert ramsden surgeon (2)

The re-imagined story …

Every Saturday Nan and me would come into town on the bus. We’d buy a bunch of flowers from a stall in the market and then walk up Deacon Street to the cemetery.

After we had spent a few moments looking at the wonky little headstone we would lay the flowers on the grave. Then I’d skip off down the steep path and out of the gate to Grandma’s house in Dixon Street, arriving at the front door ahead of Nan.

“Have you seen the doctor?” was the first thing she always said. Before “hello Marilyn, why aren’t you wearing a coat?” or “hello Marilyn I’ve got some chocolate cake in the pantry.”

Grandma was a wizen, little, ancient lady, who always dressed in black, I assumed in perpetual mourning for my dead Grandpa. Old ladies did that in my childhood. Of course, you don’t see that now. These days they get a tattoo and move on to a 50-year-old boyfriend. Grandma was my great-grandmother, someone to be revered and obeyed. That’s all changed as well.

When I was very young, I thought ‘the doctor’ was a relative of ours, but when I came to understand social politics I realised that’s wasn’t very likely; all the men in our family had been railwaymen.

Then one day Nan mentioned that the doctor was a surgeon, one of the GWR doctors employed at the Medical Fund Hospital. Perhaps he had performed some life saving operation on a family member. Perhaps that was why Grandma had been leaving flowers on the grave for more than 60 years.

Suddenly, as happens, life passed by. Grandma died and my much loved Nan took her place as the little old lady I took my children to visit on a Saturday afternoon. We didn’t call in at the cemetery first though as Nan lived just around the corner from us in Gorse Hill.

We talked about the past a lot, same as I find I do now, and then one day I asked her who the doctor was we used to visit in the cemetery.

She took her time replying and I wondered if she might have forgotten.

“When my mother, your Grandma, was young she worked for the railway doctors. The surgery was at Park House where Dr. Swinhoe lived, but the younger doctors lived in a house in London Street.” She paused for a moment and I sensed she was about to share a confidence that had not be spoken of for many years.

“My mother used to do the washing for the young doctors, keep the house tidy and cook them a midday meal, returning in the afternoon to finish her duties. Remember mind, she was only 15 or 16. That was a lot of work for a young girl to be doing. This particular day, she left the meal for the doctors and went home for her own dinner.

“Just as she was about to leave the house a young boy knocked on the door with a note for her telling her not to return to work as one of the doctor’s had suddenly died. She would be expected at work the following morning. She never went back to her job or the house in London Street.”

It was a sad story. “Grandma must have been very fond of that doctor,” I said.

Nan sipped her tea and I could sense that wasn’t the end.

“It wasn’t that Marilyn. No one explained to her what had happened, or why he had died. She thought she had killed him.”

“Killed him?”

“She wasn’t a very good cook. Her family used to tease her and say one day she’d kill someone. That day she thought she had killed the doctor.”

Views of London Street taken in 2019

The facts …

Albert Ramsden was born in 1852 the son of Charles Ramsden and his wife Ann. At the time of the 1851 census, the year before Albert’s birth, the family was living at an address in the Beast Market, Huddersfield where Charles worked as a dry-salter. A dry-salter was a dealer in dry chemicals and dyes and in the 1857 Post Office Directory Charles is listed as living at 9 Beast Market, a dry-salter and oil merchant. By 1861 he was employing five men and two boys and obviously earning enough to pay for his son’s education. That same year Albert was a boarder at a school in Ramsden Street, Huddersfield, run by John Tattersfield.

Albert moved to Swindon in 1881. At the time of the census earlier that year he had been lodging at 35 Bromfelde Road, Clapham where he was described as a medical student. He had previously worked for Dr John Sloane at his large practise in Leicester.

Sudden Death of a Medical Man – An inquest was held at Swindon on Wednesday, August 31^st on the body of Albert Ramsden, aged 29, who died suddenly on the previous Monday afternoon, at his lodgings No 5 London-street, Swindon, where he resided with four or five other gentlemen of the medical staff. It appears that deceased, when at dinner, rose suddenly and went into the drawing room where he stayed two or three seconds, and then upstairs. On entering his room shortly afterwards his body was found lying across the bed with the head on the floor. The four medical gentlemen present did what they could for him, but to no effect. Deceased it seemed had fallen in a fit, death resulting from a flow of blood to the head. A verdict was returned in accordance with the evidence. The deceased had only resided at Swindon three weeks, having been an assistant to Dr Sloane, of Leicester, for several years. He was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and had passed his examination as L.R.C.P. only four weeks previously.

Leicester Chronicle and Leicestershire Mercury, Saturday September 10, 1881.

Albert had died during an epileptic seizure. He was buried in plot A137, the 14^th burial to take place in the new cemetery at Radnor Street.

albert ramsden surgeon

Coming next …

Family dynamics – how do they work? Are events propelled by personality, internal conflict or economic pressures.

published on Radnor Street Cemetery blog February 28, 2019