William and Jane Frampton

Continuing the story of Swindon Suffragette Edith New and her family.

Round the other side of Christ Church churchyard we met Edith’s four great aunts, the Frampton sisters. Here we meet her grandparents, William and Jane Frampton.

Jane was born in Cricklade in 1816, the daughter of John and Ann Akers and William was born in Swindon in 1813, the son of James and Ann Frampton. However, when the couple married it was at St. Mary’s Church, Whitechapel in the East End of London on May 24, 1837. The entry in the parish registers states they were married by banns, which had to be called over a three-week period, and that they were both said to be ‘of this parish.’

By the time of the 1841 census they were back in Swindon living in a house in Prospect Place and their eight children were all born and baptised in Swindon, the older ones in Holy Rood and the three younger ones at Christ Church.

William owned several properties in Old Town and you might have expected the family led a settled, prosperous life, but they were not without their problems.

In 1851 William declared himself bankrupt. The bankruptcy notice declared that he owned two houses and shops in Wood Street, two houses in Prospect Place, the Victoria Inn and an adjoining house in Victoria Street and four dwellings in Union Row.

Five years later he was back in business working as a carpenter, builder, appraiser and undertaker and by 1861 he was working as a builder and living in Wood Street.

Quite how he dealt with this set back in the 1850s remains unknown but it must have been a huge worry to Jane. Again, we know so little of her life. And again, I’m left wondering if all this made an impact on the way Jane raised her daughters, especially Isabella, Edith’s mother who was widowed young with small children. Was there always a sense of insecurity in the family with the women picking up the pieces? It would be so interesting to read first hand accounts of these women’s lives.

Perhaps we should all commit to writing down our own histories, not as a great work of literature but just to inform those that come after.

Jane died in May 1873 aged 57 and William died in December 1875 aged 62.

The Frampton Sisters

Another story from Christ Church churchyard…

Swindon Suffragette Edith New came from a large family with a lot of maiden aunts. Her mother Isabella had four sisters and her grandfather William Frampton also had four sisters.

In 1861 the Frampton family occupied three properties in Wood Street. Edith’s grandfather lived at what is now Balula’s Delicatessen. To his right lived his married sister Catherine Sharpe and to his left his widowed mother Ann and those three unmarried sisters.

By 1871 the sisters were at 4 Victoria street where they lived and worked for more than 30 years. One was a milliner, another a dressmaker and one a mantle maker, which was a type of cloak.

Catherine was widowed in 1865 and returned to Swindon from Malmesbury with her daughter to live with her sisters.

Jane died first in 1880 and Emma, Catherine and Ellen all died in 1902.

Edith was born in 1877 and would have been just three years old when Jane died, so probably had no memory of her. However, she would have grown up knowing the other three sisters. According to the 1901 census the women worked up until the year before they died.

I wonder what impression their situation made upon Edith and whether it contributed to her long fight for equality in the teaching profession and her involvement in the Votes for Women campaign.

This weathered headstone, which no longer marks the actual grave, records the burial of William Frampton’s four sister, Jane, Emma and Ellen, who never married, and Catherine who married William Sharpe.

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The New family memorial at Christ Church

In June 2018 the small team at Swindon Suffragette organised a festival to celebrate the centenary of the enfranchisement of (some) women and the contribution to the cause made by Swindon born suffragette Edith New. Women who were over the age of 30 and met a property qualification were granted the vote, however it would be another 10 years before women received electoral equality with men.

Edith moved to Polperro in Cornwall after her retirement from teaching. Her sister Ellen also bought a property in the village. Edith moved in with her sister after she rented out her cottage to a family who had been bombed out of London during WWII. Ellen died in December 1949 and Edith in January 1951. They are buried together in the cemetery just outside Polperro village.

The grave of Edith New and her sister Ellen

This impressive obelisk monument is the New family memorial in Christ Church churchyard. Remembered on this memorial are Edith’s parents and three of her siblings.

The New family memorial

Frederic James New was a clerk in the railway village. He married first Sarah Sophia Ball in 1870 and they had one child Frances Jane born the following year. Sarah died either in childbirth or shortly after and was buried in this family plot.

Frederic and several other members of the New family were Freemasons and it is likely the bereaved family received some help from that organisation. Frances won a place at the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls in Battersea. She died on October 27, 1889 and was buried with her mother.

Meanwhile, in 1872 Frederic married Isabella Frampton. They had five children, including Ellen, Frederick and Edith. Sadly, a daughter Annie Isabella died in 1876 aged 5 months and a son, Henry James Earnshaw died on February 6, 1879. These two babies are also buried here.

On February 19, 1878 Frederick was walking along the railway track to meet with his friend who lived at Toothill when he was struck by a train and killed. The inscription on this memorial indicates it was paid for by his colleagues in the GWR.

We know that Isabella never remarried and raised her three surviving children alone. She taught music to private pupils at her home and she had a property that she rented out. We know that she was supportive of Edith’s work in the campaign for women’s suffrage and that Edith came back to Swindon to recuperate at the family home in Lethbridge Road after one of her prison sentences.

The last person remembered on this memorial is Isabella. The inscription reads:

Her ways are ways of

Pleasantness and all

Her paths are peace.

International Women’s Day

I couldn’t let International Women’s Day pass without celebrating the life and times of two extraordinary Swindon women – Edith New and Mary Slade – even though, unfortunately, neither of them are buried in Radnor Street Cemetery.

Edith Bessie New was born in North Street, Swindon on March 17, 1877, the youngest surviving child of Frederick New, a railway clerk, and his wife Isabella, a music teacher.

Isabella raised her three children alone following the death of her husband in an accident while he walked along the railway line. Perhaps this example set by her independent mother and the struggles she encountered led Edith to spend her life campaigning for women’s rights.

Edith trained as a teacher at Queenstown School, Swindon before moving to London. Here she joined the Women’s Social and Political Union, becoming one of that organisations earliest militant members.

Following her retirement from teaching Edith moved to Polperro, Cornwall where she lived with her sister Nell. It was here that she died on January 2, 1951. She is buried with Nell in the cemetery there.

For more about Edith’s life and work you might like to read on…

Mary Elizabeth Slade was born in Bradford on Avon on July 12, 1872 one of two children born to cloth weavers Frank and Susan Slade.

By 1901 she had moved to Swindon and a teaching position at King William Street School, boarding with builder’s foreman Edwin Colborne and his family at 64 Goddard Avenue. At the time of the 1911 census she was living at 63 Avenue Road with her widowed mother Susan.

At the outbreak of World War I Mary headed a team of volunteers who collected and dispatched comforts to members of the Wiltshire Regiment serving overseas. However, the dire plight of those soldiers taken prisoner of war soon came to the attention of Mary and her team and they directed their efforts to sending parcels to these men.

For more about Mary’s work you might like to read on… (please note that this article was originally written in 2014).

Mary continued to live in Swindon until her death on January 31, 1960. She died suddenly at her home in Avenue Road. She is buried in Christ Church churchyard, Swindon.