Tag: St Mark’s Church

Richard Renwick Pattison – another story from St. Mark’s churchyard

It is seldom possible to read the words of our working-class ancestors, after all, what time was there to write diaries or even letters, but there is one source where occasionally we can hear their voice and that is in contemporary local newspapers.

In 1874 Richard Renwick Pattison retired from the Great Western Railway Company after a career spanning more than thirty years and the men with whom he had worked all that time had a whip round.

Richard Renwick Pattison was born in Houghton le Spring, Durham in 1819, the son of Christopher and Jane (Renwick) Pattison. He married Sarah Bellwood in Heighington, Durham on December 31, 1839 and by 1843 they had moved to Swindon, the new railway town in Wiltshire.

The GWR records state that Richard R. Pattison, engineer and fitter, was the third foreman of the Erecting Shops appointed in 1843 alongside Thomas Atkinson and Walter Mather. He is recorded as being a member of the team who erected the first engine built at the works, the “Premier,” completed in under two weeks in 1846 and later renamed the Great Western.

When Richard retired in 1874 the Swindon Advertiser covered his testimonial in some length:-

‘On Saturday week, the workmen employed in the B Shed, over which Mr. Pattison had been foreman, presented him with a silver inkstand and a very handsome writing desk, nearly all the men and lads in the department having contributed to the testimonial fund.

The subscribers and friends having been assembled in the B Shed, at the close of the day’s work, the desk and inkstand were duly presented to Mr Pattison by Mr Evans, accompanied by a few brief remarks expressive of the feelings which had dictated the offering, and hoping that the recipient of it might be spared to enjoy it, retaining always the good-will of those over whom for so many years he had acted as foreman.’

Richard then took to the floor and gave the following address:

‘I need not tell you how pleasing it is to my feelings to have this mark of respect shown to me on our separation, for it is really more than I could have expected, for I have done nothing more than to fulfil my duty as a foreman between master and man, and which duty I have endeavoured to fulfil impartially, and without favour. If I have in any way failed in this it has been an error in judgement. But, really, a foreman’s position is the most difficult to properly fulfil that I know of, for what with engines, masters, men, and those confounded boys – a toad under a harrow has a more comfortable life.

However, I may truly tell you all one thing, and that is, that I have never made one favourite in the shop, and those amongst you who have been promoted or raised one step higher up the ladder, have been promoted entirely through your own merit; at least so far as my judgement and conscience enabled me to judge fairly between you. And I am proud to say that there is not a shop in the kingdom that can surpass us for steady good workmen.

Another thing I should like to refer to, and it is this; we have had less change of men than in any other shop, and I sincerely hope this state of things will continue. And I have every reason to believe it will, for I have no doubt my successor will do all he can to pursue the same path; and I hope this splendid testimonial will be an inducement to him so to act, that should the day come when he shall be enabled to retired from his work, he also may receive a similar reward or mark of respect.

Now, fellow workmen, let me once more seriously thank you for this splendid testimonial and mark of respect which I shall highly prize, and which I hope may be handed down by my children for generations to come. But before we part I should like to ask one favour of you all, and that is forgiveness for past hard words, which perhaps was my greatest sin. But then, when you had the word you had the worst. There was no after sting or malice, for that is a thing unknown to me; and I am pleased to be able to say that I take farewell of you all with the best and kindest feelings and wishes, and I assure you I feel the separation more than I can express.’

That same evening the members of the testimonial committee entertained Richard at the Queen’s Arms Hotel. Following a toast to his health Richard spoke a few words, reminiscing on his time in the Works, saying ‘there were one or two things he should like to refer to, because they formed the foundation of his success.’ He went on to say that he had always kept his time in the works and that he could honestly say that for the first two years of his being at New Swindon he never lost ten minutes, and when, after he had been there about three years he lost his first quarter, he thought it would have broken his heart. He and a companion were talking and did not hear the bell ring, and this put him behind, and he could assure them he had never forgotten the circumstance.

He continued – another thing was this: whenever he had a pound he put it by – he put it in a building society, and in fourteen years it became two. This was a point he had always carried out: whenever he could save a pound he saved it, and when he had once saved a pound he never afterwards spent it, but left I to make more.’

The Works foremen had huge power and influence and were not the best loved of colleagues, but it would seem that Richard Pattison might have been of a different mould, for he received not just one, but two testimonials.

‘On Saturday afternoon last, after the day’s work in the shop, the boiler makers employed in the same department, but under another foreman, presented Mr Pattison with another testimonial, consisting of a silver goblet, and a pair of gold eye glasses.’

Again, we have the opportunity to read the words of Richard:

‘Mr Amos, Mr Sharps, and fellow workmen: This mark of respect is truly more than I could expect of you, for it is no secret that we have been continually at war with each other – my shop against the boilersmiths’ shop. But then it was only a friendly war in our effort to get the company’s work forward. You all know that your esteemed foreman (Mr Sharps), always liked to steal a march over the fitters, and then he quietly enjoyed a laugh at us. But then, we not unfrequently had our laugh at the blessed boilermakers. However, it is very gratifying to find that in our struggle to get the company’s work done we have preserved good fellowship, which is due in a great measure to your good and valuable foreman, Mr Sharps, whom you ought all to esteem, for he is truly a good man.

Now, my friends, you will not expect a long speech from me, but I must again express my sincere thanks for this splendid testimonial and mark of respect, and I wish the goblet had been full of wine so that I might have drunk all your healths. However, I hope you will all have an opportunity of drinking out of it yet, for I hope to have many a quaff from it in memory of bye gone days in the B shop, and of my kind friends there. (Loud and long continued cheering).’

Sadly, after so many years hard work, Richard Pattison did not enjoy a long retirement. He died aged 60 at his home in Sheppard Street on December 4, 1879 and was buried in the churchyard at St Mark’s.

The Gwyther family – but from where?

After my walk around St. Mark’s churchyard recently I began looking for family connections between there and Radnor Street Cemetery. And If you’ve ever pursued a line of family history research beyond the bounds of a possible resolution you’ll probably empathise with me!

The closure of the churchyard at St Mark’s in 1881 was not well received by Rev Ponsonby. (You can read his letter to his parishioners published in the parish newsletter here.) And how distressing it must have been for God fearing families to be buried separately.

Having come upon this stylish headstone to Richard Gwyther who had died aged 14 in 1875 I wondered what had happened to the rest of his family.

Now a name like Gwyther piqued my interest too. In the 1860s the GWR opened a Rolling Mill at the Swindon site, which saw a great many Welsh iron workers move here. Was the Gwyther family part of this first Welsh migration? Well actually no it wasn’t.

Research revealed that the boy’s father, also named Richard, was born on April 22, 1818 not in Wales but in Bristol. Richard was a boiler maker working in the iron and steel ship building industry. He married Caroline Cooper at the church of St Mary le Port in Bristol on May 14, 1843 and for more than 25 years the family continued to live in Bristol.

I eventually found the couple in Swindon on the 1871 census when they were living in Westcott Place, four years before the death of their son Richard.

Richard and Caroline remained living at 90 Westcott Place where Richard (senior) died in 1884. He was buried in grave plot A161 where another son James later joined him. Given the stylish headstone in St. Mark’s churchyard I was surprised to discover Richard and James buried in an unmarked public grave.

In 1891 Caroline, then aged 70, was living with her married daughter at an address in Wootton Bassett in an area at the back of the church near the Rope Walk. She died in 1897 and was buried in grave plot 285 in Royal Wootton Bassett Cemetery.

I did eventually find the Welsh connection – I knew there had to be one! Richard (senior) was the son of Stephen Gwyther, a clock and watchmaker, and his wife Sarah. This couple had married at St. Paul’s, Portland Square, Bristol in 1801, but Stephen was born in 1781 in Jeffreyston/Jeffreston, a village in Pembrokeshire close to Tenby, a popular TRIP destination for Swindonians in the 19th century – but don’t get me started on that line of research!

Locked out!

So, what do you do when you go up to the cemetery with a long list of graves to find and photograph to discover the cemetery gates are locked. Well you go to another churchyard instead!

There are few remaining headstones in the churchyard at St. Mark’s. It is unlikely there were ever many more as this was the burial place of the early residents of the railway village, most of whom were young with large families and little money.

By the end of the 1870s burial space at St Mark’s was running out and a new burial ground was urgently needed. This and the increasing demands of the large non-conformist congregations for an independent burial ground saw the establishment of Radnor Street Cemetery in 1881.

Robert Hanks was born in Bristol, the son of Thomas and Elisabeth Hanks, and baptised at St. Phillip and St Jacobs, Bristol on October 16, 1796. He married Elizabeth Phillips at St Paul’s, Portland Square, Bristol on September 10, 1820 and the couple had six surviving children.

The 1841 census finds the family living at an address at the Viaduct Foundry, Newton in Mackerfield, (Newton le Willow) Lancashire, where both Robert and his eldest son, also named Robert, are working as mechanics.

By 1851 the family had arrived in New Swindon where they lived at 13 High Street (later renamed Emlyn Square).

In 1866 Robert was killed in an accident in the Works when an iron truck on which he was working toppled over, crushing him. He was 71 years old.

It is said that after this fatal accident, Joseph Armstrong, Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent, began a series of measures designed to improve safety in the railway factory.

August 1882

August 1882 and the new cemetery on Kingshill had been open a year. There were 14 burials during the month of August 1882, numbered 221 to 235 in the burial registers. In those early years most of the burials took place in Section A.

The oldest person buried in August 1882 was Richard Cowley aged 91. Richard Cowley was baptised on December 12, 1790 at St. Mary’s Church, Lydiard Tregoze, the son of John and Sarah. In 1810 he married Susannah Smith at the church where he had been baptised and they had five children (possibly more) Maria, Joseph, William, Sarah and John. In 1841 they were living in the Lodge Gate, Spittleborough Farm, Lydiard Tregoze, close to present day Junction 16 on the M4. They were living alone, both in their 50s, the children had all left home. In 1851 the couple were living near Marsh Farm, Lydiard Tregoze. No chance of retirement for Richard who still worked as an agricultural labourer. Susannah died in 1858.

The following year Richard married Elizabeth Green at All Saint’s Church, Lydiard Millicent. He was 68, she was twenty years younger. In 1861 Richard and Elizabeth lived at The Green, Lydiard Millicent. Richard, aged 70, was still working as an agricultural labourer, possibly for Anthony Kibblewhite at neighbouring Godwin Farm. By 1871 Richard was widowed for the second time; still living in Lydiard Millicent, still working.

Richard died in August 1882, aged 91. His last home was 63 Westcott Place where he lived with his youngest son John and daughter-in-law Caroline. He was buried on August 19, 1882 in grave plot A551, a public grave.

The youngest person to be buried in August 1882 was 2 month old Arthur William Thomas. He was baptised William Arthur Thomas at St. Mark’s Church on August 13. He was buried 15 days later in a babies grave plot A285 when he was recorded as Arthur William Thomas. Were his parents too distraught to notice his name was incorrectly recorded?

If William Arthur Thomas had lived as many years as Richard Cowley he would have seen man land on the moon!

In August 1882 Radnor Street Cemetery had been open a year; 14 burials took place that month, the oldest person was Richard Cowley, the youngest was William Arthur Thomas.

Georgina Frances Verschoyle Pt 2

Today I’m returning to the story of Georgina Verschoyle and although I am no nearer to understanding how or why she came to be living in Swindon, I do know more about her life here.

A view of St Mark’s Church taken from Radnor Street Cemetery

Following her death a lengthy obituary was published in the parish magazine of St. Mark’s Church.

Requiescat in Pace

Miss Verschoyle died on Dec. 20, and was laid to her rest in the Swindon cemetery on Sat., Dec. 23rd. Her health had been failing for several years, and though the end did not seem near to her friends, she was not strong enough to stand against a bad attack of Influenza, that scourge of our country at the present time.

Many who read these lines, perhaps far away now, will remember the time when she came to Swindon thirteen years ago. In those days Church life was just starting in S. Mark’s Parish. She threw herself with untiring energy into the work as a volunteer helper, and indeed continued as such to the end.

Before she had been in the parish many weeks she obtained the Vicar’s permission to commence a Bible Class for Men. The attempt was a decided success. A good number joined at once, and between 50 and 60 men have assembled, while on one of the last occasions when she presided over her Class at the new Parish Rooms, over seventy men were in attendance.

During the whole of the same period she has conducted a large Mothers’ Meeting, and for the last few years a Bible Class for Women at S. John’s. Unlike many of the kind, these classes have never diminished in the numbers of those attending them. People who have experience in such matters know well that classes such as these can only be kept together for so long a period by diligent and unceasing work and earnest prayer.

It is however in the District that we think that Miss Verschoyle’s work has chiefly been done. Well trained in Church work in earlier days at Clewer, Guildford, Market Drayton, S. Giles’, Reading, and S. Luke’s, Torquay, she had attained the habit of regular and systematic visiting. From early morning to late evening she was to be seen every day in all weathers going to all parts of the parish amongst the sick and the whole, bearing the message of comfort. Her daily visits to the dying were a striking feature of her work. Many a one in Paradise will, we believe, thank God for that regular earnest teaching which helped to bring the soul out of darkness into the light of Christ, while many a one living now, who may read these words will gratefully acknowledge that the turn in his life was due to her sympathy and help.

Miss Verschoyle knew the secret of success, viz., that no work for God can prosper unless His help is sought. She was regularly to be seen in her place at the daily Services of the Church, gathering strength into her own life, that she might be the better able to impart it to others. Indeed the Church was very dear to her; she enriched it with many costly gifts, and as each Festival came round, she spent time, money, and labour in decorating the Font with flowers.

We need scarcely say that she was beloved and respected by those amongst whom she worked. While we thank God for her work in the Parish, let us pray to Him to send to our Parish other such workers, and let us ask Him to give us grace to profit by her teaching and example, that when the great day comes, we may be found worthy to be on the King’s right hand among those to whom the word of comfort shall be spoken, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Inside St Mark’s Church, Swindon

The Late Miss Verschoyle.

Dear Friends,

It has been suggested to me that some of those who have known Miss Verschoyle and her work in the parish may like to place some kind of memorial to her in S. Mark’s Church, where she was so constant a worshipper. I do not think it would be suitable to have an organised collection for such a purpose as this, but if any of those who read these words like to send a contribution, great or small, I will very gladly receive it. The nature of the memorial must be decided by the amount contributed. Yours truly, Maurice Ponsonby.

Throughout the year fund raising updates appeared in the parish magazine until in November the Rev. Ponsonby declared it was probably time to close the account and think about how the money should be spent.

I wonder if anyone can tell us what kind of memorial was chosen for Miss Verschoyle and whether it still survives in St. Mark’s today.

Fr Toby from St. Mark’s has sent the following words and kindly offered to provide a photograph.

The memorial is a window in the south aisle depicting Matt 15.28. The dedication on a plaque underneath reads: “This window is given by many friends in grateful memory of Georgina Verschoyle who fell asleep on Dec. 20th 1893 after 13 years of unceasing labour for God in this parish. Requiescat in pace.” 

He’d been gone a long time – Arthur Jeffreys Lewis White

The re-imagined story …

You saw it happen so often in those days, a mother or father would die suddenly, but to lose both parents within a matter of three years was heart-breaking for those poor children. Little Arthur was just four years old when his mother died and only seven when he lost his father.

I would have happily taken that little boy into our home. It would have been what his mother would have wanted. We were close, the two of us. But his father had obviously made provision for his family.

It would have been hard on those children had their father not been a Freemason. The girls received a good education and Walter, the brother just a couple of years older than Arthur, went into the railway factory before moving to Wolverhampton and a job as a fitter in the GWR Stafford Road works. But I never knew what had happened to that little boy.

I often thought about young Arthur then one day there was a knock on my door and who do you think was standing there but him. My, he had grown into a handsome young man – I could see something of his mother in him. He came in for a cup of tea and a piece of my sponge cake and he told me he was about to start work as a clerk in the Works, following in his father’s footsteps.

He had been to the burial ground at St. Mark’s to visit his parents’ grave, but things looked very different to how he remembered them and he came away without paying his respects. Perhaps someone could help him find the grave? He’s been gone a long time.

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The facts …

When Arthur White’s father Richard Lewis White died in 1879 it seems likely it was members of Swindon’s Freemasonry who provided for the young boy and his family of siblings. 

Richard Lewis White, secretary and chief accountant for the GWR locomotive and carriage department, was a member of The Gooch Lodge when he died in 1879, leaving behind six orphaned children from his first marriage. 

The first clue to what happened to the children comes in a newspaper article published in the Western Daily Press, Bristol on Wednesday, September 17, 1879:-

Somerset and Wilts Freemasonry – The balloting papers for the election of daughters of Freemasons to the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls have just been issued. The election will take place at the Freemasons’ Tavern, London, on Saturday October 11th. There are 48 candidates on the list, and 18 vacancies in the school. Among the candidates are one from Somerset and one from Wilts. The Somerset candidate is Mabel Jane Sampson, whose father, Thos. Sampson, nurseryman and farmer, was initiated, in the Lodge of Brotherly Love, No. 329, Yeovil, on the 16th March, 1859. The Wiltshire candidate is Adelaide Louisa White, ten years of age, whose father, Richard Lewis White, a clerk on the Great Western Railway, died on the 6th of February last. He was initiated in the Gooch Lodge, No. 1,395, New Swindon, on the 4th of April, 1870, of which he became Worshipful Master. He was also Past Provincial Grand Sword Bearer of Wilts.’

Adelaide was one of the successful candidates, polling 1,118 votes and at the time of the 1881 census she is recorded as a pupil at the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls, Battersea. In the same census Eleanor, aged 17, is recorded as a pupil at Queen’s College, a private school in Islington and 12-year-old Walter is a pupil at The College, Beach Road, Weston Super Mare.

Arthur’s eldest brother Richard Corbett White died in 1877 aged 15 while his sister Frances worked first as a domestic servant and then a dressmaker at the time of her marriage in 1893. 

Arthur J L White and Emily White

And what of little Arthur who was just four when his mother died and seven when his father died. 

The first definite sighting of Arthur is on January 4, 1887 when he enters the GWR employment as a Lad Clerk and it is possible to track his employment record in the Swindon Works. By 1902 he is Assistant Chief Clerk and in 1918 he is promoted to Chief Clerk. His annual salary rose from £45 in 1889 to £1,000 in 1924, so the boy orphaned as a seven-year-old did well. And like his father he also became a Freemason, joining the Royal Sussex Lodge of Emulation in 1919.

Arthur married Emily Sendell in October 1917. He was 45 and she was 41. They did not have any children.

Arthur died on October 24, 1929 at his home in Okus Road. He left effects valued at more than £4,000 to his widow Emily. He was buried in plot E8134 in Radnor Street Cemetery on October 29, 1929, where Emily joined him when she died in 1968 aged 92.

Arthur J L White and Emily White (2)

Images of London Street published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.

The lost Alley family babies

It was my great good fortune to recently meet up with some overseas visitors researching the Alley family. Di, George and Kay are all descended from Frederick Alley and his wife Elizabeth. When we visited the couple’s grave in Radnor Street cemetery with local Alley family historian Wendy, we talked about their large family (18 children) and the seven who had died, whose burial places were unknown.

Originally from Westbury and Trowbridge the young couple arrived in Swindon in the late 1860s, appearing on the 1871 census living at 64 Cheltenham Street with their two sons, Frederick 4 and one year old Albert, both born in Trowbridge. Two children had already died.

So many of their lost children were born and died in between the taking of the 10 yearly census returns, but the visiting family members knew their names and all I had to do was discover where they were buried.

Eldest daughter Annie Phedora, born in 1865 who died in 1870 was buried in St Mark’s churchyard. George Martin, born in 1868 died in 1871 and was also buried at St Marks.

View of St Mark’s taken from the cemetery

Three boys and another little girl are all buried in Radnor Street Cemetery although, sadly not together.

Charles was 9 months old when he died in April 1883. He was buried in a public plot number A490 which he shares with six other babies and young children who died between 1883 and 1902.

Later that same year Frederick and Elizabeth lost another baby son. Sidney was only 16 hours old when he died in November 1883. He was buried in a public plot number A62 which he shares with two others; a girl aged 11 years who died in 1901, almost 20 years later. The third burial was that of a gentleman aged 89 who died in 1928, so again another long gap between interments.

Arthur was 11 months old when he died in November 1885. He is buried in plot number A110 with five other babies and young children who died between 1885 and 1915.

The family home at the time these babies died was at 65 Gooch Street.

Lizzie died aged 3 years old and was buried on January 1, 1891. She is buried in a public plot number B1922 with five other babies aged 2 – 13 months who died between 1891 and 1917. At the time of her death the family lived at 16 Princes Street.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find the burial place of one remaining daughter. Elizabeth Maria was born in 1873 and died before her first birthday, but at least we now know where six of those seven little children are buried. I didn’t like the thought of them being ‘lost’.