photograph published courtesy to Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.
Building on Princes Street dated from about 1876. In Roadways published in 1979, Peter Sheldon and Richard Tomkins state that the name commemorates Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Demolition on the Victorian houses took place in the 1960s. Photograph taken during the 1960/70s redevelopment shows the Courts and in the distance the Police Station, since demolished as well.
Read about some of the residents below:
All photographs published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.
Swindonians were an adventurous lot, embracing new ideas and new inventions. In the early 19th century photography exploded in a blaze of magnesium and by the 1860s the popular carte de visite had become affordable to all but the very poorest in society.
In 1861 Richard Keylock Passmore, one of the first Swindon based photographers, was established at Victoria Street. By 1895 there were six local photographers listed in Kelly’s Directory with two in Regent Street and one in Regent Circus.
In 1889 James Smith Prothero had a studio at 30 Regent Street where he worked alongside his nephew Thomas Henry Simons who eventually took over the business. James Prothero died in Mumbles, Glamorganshire in 1929 and is buried in Radnor Street Cemetery. You can read more about him here.
Perhaps the most ‘famous’ of Swindon’s photographers is William Hooper who began his business following a disabling accident in the GWR Works which led to his dismissal on medical grounds. Hooper’s photographic career spanned more than 20 years and today his collection is managed by his descendent Paul A. Williams. William Hooper died in 1955 and is buried in Radnor Street Cemetery. You can read more about him here.
You might also like to read Swindon Photographers & Postcard Publishers by Darryl Moody and Paul A. Williams available from the Library Shop.
Carte de visite and cabinet card photographs survive in great numbers but sadly, unless in a family collection, most are identifiable. Local Studies at Swindon Central Library have reproduced some of their collection on their website. Here are just a few, people I am sure must now lie in Radnor Street Cemetery, if only I knew their names.
They say every picture tells a story and I love these photos of the Gardner family shared on the Swindon Local Studies Flickr page. Meet James Gardner and his wife Annie pictured in their garden at 5 Montagu Street, Rodbourne taken in about 1935. I’d love to know what was said just before the camera shutter clicked.
Annie was James’s second wife. They married in St. Swithins Church, Walcot, Bath on December 27, 1905. James was 52 and Annie 39. James had several children by his first wife Sarah and presumably Florence Gardner was the daughter of one of these. She appears on the 1911 census aged 3 years old living with James and Annie and Annie’s mother Margaret at 5 Montagu Street.
These two charming photos of Florence appear with those of James and Annie.
James died at his home in Montagu Street in 1939 aged 86 years old. Annie died in 1947 aged 82. Her last address was Ford Street, just a stone’s throw away from Rodbourne. Perhaps she ended her days living with Florence?
James and Annie are buried in grave plot C639, Radnor Street Cemetery.
Image published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library
James Lambdin died suddenly and, it would appear, without making a will. Perhaps he had no worldly goods to leave. His life had been spent spreading the word of God.
James was born in Aldbourne in 1850, the son of Joseph and Sarah Lambdin. By the age of 10 years old he was working as an agricultural labourer. He later moved to Swindon and a job in the railway works, but it is his service in the Wesleyan Methodist Church that he is remembered for.
James married twice. His first wife, Faithfull Maria Dew, whom he married in 1874, died two years later aged just 22 years old. She was buried in the churchyard at St. Mark’s.
In 1878 he married Eliza Burt. The couple made their home first in Stratton St. Margaret (1881) and then in Gorse Hill living at 24 Hinton Street (1891) and 21 Avening Street (1901). They had one child, a daughter Beatrice, born in 1886.
A pamphlet produced after his death was entitled – Memoirs of James Lambdin – The Singing Ploughboy who became a Great Preacher and 30 years a Class Leader at Gorse Hill, Swindon.
The Angel Reaper has passed over the Bath Road Wesleyan Circuit, and taken away one of the staunchest adherents, Mr James Lambdin, of Gorse Hill. Mr Lambdin was a highly respected member of the Wesleyan body and looked up to throughout the whole circuit and was widely known for his wise exposition of the Scriptures.
He was a native of Aldbourne, and only the Sunday previous to his lamented death, he went to his birthplace to fulfil a preaching engagement. The day before that he had called upon one of his class members who was almost at the point of death, and the following day week, he himself had taken that journey from whence no traveller returns.
His illness was very short but painful, and his last words were a benediction for his fellow class members and workers. The loss is being felt very keenly throughout the circuit. Last Sunday morning, the preacher at Cricklade Road, a very old and devoted layman, was completely overcome with grief, and the evening congregation were greatly impressed by an impromptu memorial service.
I hear a whisper that a short memoir with a photograph will be prepared shortly.
The Swindon Advertiser, Friday, February 28, 1908.
James Lambdin was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery on February 27, 1908 in grave plot B2912. His wife Eliza survived him by more 19 years and was buried with him on February 3, 1927. The inscription on the modest headstone reads ‘To the revered memory of James Lambdin – Promoted Feb 23, 1908’
Radnor Street Cemetery 