Kenneth Scott-Browne was a member of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers 7th Battalion. In November 1943 the 7th Battalion was converted into an Airborne Battalion and began training for the planned Normandy landings. During an exercise code named DREME a Stirling towing a Horsa glider carrying No 3 Platoon hit a tree and crashed. Scott-Browne was one of 34 military personnel killed that day in April 1944. His death was registered in Droxford, Hampshire and his body returned to his home at 85 Medgbury Road, Swindon for burial in Radnor Street Cemetery.
VE Day was a time for rejoicing but not for everyone. While the war in Europe had ended the one in Japan would continue for another three months. And what about the families who would never meet again their loved ones.
The Kenneth Scott-Browne’s wartime marriage to Elsie Herbert was a short one. The wedding took place in Swindon in the spring of 1941 and just four years later Elsie was a widow with a toddler, a son named Kenneth Frederick after his two grandfathers. By May 8, 1945 Elsie had remarried. She was still only 25 and had a three year old son to support when she married Leslie Jack Burnett. In 1954 she married for a third time.
Kenneth was buried on April 11, 1944 in Elsie’s Herbert family plot. Elsie outlived both her sons and died at the Kingsmead Nursing Home in Prospect Place, Swindon in May 2005, aged 84. She was buried in plot C4251 with her young, first husband Kenneth.
The cities of London and Bristol were heavily bombed during the Second World War yet Swindon, somewhere in between, went relatively unscathed. Despite its dominance within the railway industry it appears that Swindon was not on the Luftwaffe radar. There is a theory that Hitler was preserving the railway network for when he invaded Britain.
On the night of October 20, 1940 a lone bomber dropped three bombs (two high-explosive and an incendiary bomb) on the town, causing significant damage on Rosebery and Graham Streets in Broad Town. There were 10 confirmed fatalities, including Nellie May Page who lived at 35 Graham Street but was visiting friends in Rosebery Street that fateful night.
Workers’ Houses Wrecked
People Killed by Bombs in South of England Town
Having regard to the damage to working class houses caused by two heavy high explosive bombs that dropped on a town in the South on Sunday night, the casualties were comparatively few.
In one street six adjoining houses collapsed when a heavy bomb crashed through the roof of one. The second bomb dropped in the middle of a road in an adjoining street, leaving another huge crater and almost completely demolishing three houses.
The explosion threw the uppermost part of about a dozen houses out of the perpendicular. Pieces of masonry, rafter timber and other debris were rained down over a wide radius, holing roofs in many places and doing extensive damage.
Despite this damage fatal casualties were few. One of the persons killed was Mrs. Nellie May Page aged 47, who was visiting friends at the time. Her daughter, Miss Sylvia Joan Page, who was with her, was taken to hospital suffering from severe head injuries and shock.
Fractured Gas Main
An oil bomb which struck the rear of one house, partially wrecked the scullery and living room. A fire was started here, but it was dealt with very effectively by the fire-fighting services, and extinguished before it could get a hold. Gas from a fractured gas main also caught alight, but here again the brigade quickly had the situation in hand.
The situation provided a severe test for the various ARP services and police, but they all acquitted themselves remarkably well. Demolition and rescue squads, as well as first-aid parties and medical men, were at hand extricating residents trapped deep down in the wreckage and attending to the injured.
In Good Spirit
Gallant work was done by wardens and ambulance men, and they recount how two young girls were liberated, almost unscathed, from beneath a completely wrecked house. Falling beams had apparently prevented them from being crushed to death, and the rescuers were surprised to find that they were not only unhurt but in good spirit. One asked for a drink and when offered a flask of water observed, with a smile, “Is that the best you can do?”
Generally, the inhabitants displayed great fortitude and calmness, and seemed to be more concerned about the welfare of their neighbours than of their own interests.
Rapid headway was made in clearing away the debris. There were plenty of volunteers for the work of salving furniture and other belongs, and, in the same way, those whose homes were not so severely damaged found plenty of helpers to assist in covering up broken windows and doorways.
Extracts for the North Wilts Herald Friday 25 October 1940.
Wartime publishing restrictions prevented newspapers from identifying the town and street names.
Nellie was born on June 4, 1893, the youngest of five children. Her father William James Hopkins worked in the Carriage and Wagon Works. When Nellie was baptised at St. Saviours on July 16, 1893 William and his wife Emma and their children were living at 78 William Street.
Nellie married at St. Marks on September 25, 1915 during the First World War when her husband Francis Vernon Page was serving in the RAMC.
Nellie was buried in grave plot E7491 with her husband Francis who died in December 1935.
A lone raider on a bombing mission came dangerously close to the Great Western Railway factory during the night of Thursday December 19, 1940. But instead of hitting the Works the high explosive bomb fell on Beatrice Street, Gorse Hill.
There were several casualties and some miraculous rescues, but sadly Jane Elizabeth Hobbs died the following day in the Victoria Hospital.
Jane Elizabeth Miles was the daughter of a railway man; she married another railway man like so many women of her generation did. William John Hobbs had begun his working life as a cattleman on a farm in Calne but by the time of his marriage to Jane in 1907 he was working as a machineman in the GWR.
The couple lived their entire married life in Gorse Hill where they raised three children. William died in 1933 at 167 Beatrice Street; the house that was later destroyed by a bomb on the night of Thursday December 19, 1940.
Five houses were demolished and others damaged, but there were few casualties when a lone raider dropped bombs on a town in the South of England last Thursday night.
In one street where three houses were wrecked, the rescuers, who were on the scene within two or three minutes, were astonished to hear cries for aid.
Gaining a way through the debris from the back of the house they saw three or four heads protruding from beneath the collapsed stairway. These were the occupants of the house, who had rushed under the staircase as the building collapsed upon them and were thrown flat on the floor. They were all pulled out suffering from slight injuries.
Mrs Jane Hobbs, a widow, was the most seriously injured, and she died in hospital on Friday evening. Her 24-year-old daughter Jane, who was also seriously injured is still in hospital.
A Mr. Crook, who was on a visit from another part of the town, was also taken to hospital.
In another nearby street a bomb dropped in the middle of a small backyard at the rear of two houses. All the outbuildings were demolished and the walls at the back of the houses were fractured. Here again there were lucky escapes. Five or six occupants in the kitchen included a married couple who had twice previously been bombed in London.
Scores of houses in the neighbourhood were hit by flying masonry, and in this way, as well as through blast, many windows were broken.
Praise for ARP Squads.
Everyone was loud in praise of the magnificent way in which the wardens, the rescue and demolition squads. First-aid workers and firemen discharged their duties.
One resident observed: “They were here and hard at work almost before we could get out. Not a second was wasted, and I can tell you this fact was a great relief to us all.”
Extracts from North Wilts Herald, Friday, 27 December, 1940.
Gorse Hill
Jane was buried on December 26 in grave plot C3831 which she shares with her husband William and her parents Henry John and Fanny Miles.
Pilot officer Stanley Ashton married Josephine Loveday in December 1939. Josephine was the daughter of Frederick and Adeline Loveday. Frederick served as an Air Mechanic 1st Class during the Great War. He died in the King George Military Hospital in Stamford Street, South London. He was 29 years old and left a widow and two small daughters.
Stanley William Ashton, who was born on 22nd August 1911, served an apprenticeship as an electrician. He joined the RAF and gained his Pilots wings in Nov 1938. In 1939 he was serving with 59 squadron in France where they were using Blenheim MIV aircraft. As the Germans pushed through France in 1940 the squadron was withdrawn to England and based at RAF Odiham Hampshire. They continued to fly missions over France, mainly reconnaissance operations.
On Tuesday 4th June 1940 Pilot officer Ashton and his crew were flying R3697. They took off from RAF Eastchurch in Kent – There are 2twotheories as to what they were doing. One is that they were on a transit flight to head back to their base in Hampshire. The other is that they were on an operational mission.
Neither have been confirmed but as the aircraft banked during take off one of the wings clipped the ground and the plane crashed killing all on board. Among those killed were Observer Sgt William John Wilson and Wireless operator/Air gunner Sgt Roland Wilson (unrelated). Stanley Ashton had been married just six months.
Josephine eventually remarried in 1955 and died in 1982 but is buried elsewhere. Although the cemetery was closed by then the burial registers indicate that there was room for one adult left in this plot.
Stanley William Ashton is buried here in plot C3524 with Frederick and Adeline Loveday.
On International Women’s Day we remember some of the remarkable women who have contributed to Swindon’s history and now lie buried in Radnor Street Cemetery.
I’ve lived in New Swindon all my life. I was born in my gran’s bedroom in Bristol Street and I’ve never known anywhere else. But I’m tired of the close-knit railway community where everyone knows everyone else’s business, and a life confined to the Works and the railway village. I’m weary of seeing the same faces day in, day out, I don’t want to marry a boilermaker or a fitter and live the same life my mum and my Gran have.
“But that’s the strength of this place,” said Gran. “It’s knowing Mrs so and so’s baby is poorly or that Mr whatsit needs help with his shopping.” Gran was settling in for a long session, I could sense it. I offered her a piece of cake.
“When me and your Gramps moved here, I thought we had made the biggest mistake of our lives. All that was here was the Works and the company houses and that was it. No market, no shops, no church even, nothing.”
She took a sip of her tea.
“Is there any sugar in this?”
“Two spoons, Gran.”
“Your Gramps wanted to move out of London. He thought the kids would have a better future here. He thought living in the country would be healthy.” She shook her head sadly.
“The company houses looked nice enough from the outside but the railway village was worse than any East End slum. That first winter we lived here there was an outbreak of typhus. Six children died in Bristol Street. We were fortunate.”
She twisted the wedding ring on her gnarled finger, worn thin by hard toil.
“Did you ever consider moving back to London?”
“It wasn’t that easy and your Gramps had a good job in the Works here. He kept telling me we’d stick it out a bit longer, give it a chance, he’d say.”
“So, what persuaded you to stick it out?”
“Your grandfather and the men he worked with, they made the difference. Men like George Barefoot, elected on to the Mechanics’ Institute Council. Those men were investors; investors in people, they weren’t interested in share prices and profit. They wanted to protect their families and improve their standard of living. They wanted health care in a time when people didn’t call out the doctor because they couldn’t afford to. They were good men and they made the difference.”
“I’m glad your Gramps and George Barefoot gave New Swindon a chance.”
Gran spooned out the sugar from the bottom of her cup.
“Is there anymore tea in that pot? And make sure you put some sugar in this time.”
The facts …
George Barefoot was born in Maidenhead in 1828. He married Margaret Elizabeth Williams, a dressmaker, at Holy Rood on December 23, 1848. George was transferred to Gloucester where on November 12, 1865 three of the couple’s children, John James, William Alfred and Mary Ellen, were christened at St James’s Church, Gloucester. The family’s address is given as Front Terrace. By 1869 the family had returned to Swindon.
That same year George Barefoot was elected on to the Mechanics’ Institute Council with 166 votes. The following year he was re-elected with an increased number of votes, topping the poll with 281. Election results continue to show his presence on the Council and in 1873 he is recorded as ‘George Barefoot Locomotive Department K shop 296 votes.‘
George Barefoot died at the age of 86 years. He was buried on February 26, 1914 in Radnor Street Cemetery in plot E7936
Death of Mr George Barefoot
The death took place on Saturday, at the residence of his son-in-law, Mr F. Edge, “Inglewood,” Deacon Street, Swindon, of Mr George Barefoot. The deceased gentleman who was very well known in Swindon, was born at Maidenhead in 1828, and commenced his working career as an office boy at Paddington Station. In 1847 he came to Swindon, being then at the age of 19, and was transferred for a few years to Gloucester, and finally returned to Swindon.
It is interesting to note that he was married at the old Parish Church by the then Vicar (the Rev. H.G. Baily), and he has, therefore, watched Swindon grow from what were practically two large villages into the large and enterprising town it is to-day.
He was a chargeman in the GWR Works for over 30 years, and he won the esteem and respect of all who knew him. In recognition of his faithful services the company granted him a pension on his retirement, and he went to live with his son-in-law and daughter.
He was always a prominent Conservative, and the late Sir Daniel Gooch used to speak of George Barefoot as his staunchest supporter in the Works. He had been a regular attendant at St. Mark’s Church.
A few weeks ago Mr. Barefoot had a stroke, and took to his bed, the end coming peacefully on Saturday. He leaves five children to mourn his death.
The Ashfield angel was my mum’s favourite memorial in Radnor Street Cemetery. Weird, I know, but my mum was like that.
She wanted a ‘Victorian’ funeral with a hearse drawn by black horses with plumes and mutes (whatever they are) in attendance, until she realised how much it would all cost. I thought it sounded like an East End gangster’s funeral myself.
My mum loved Radnor Street Cemetery but she always knew it could never be her final resting place. The cemetery had long since closed to new burials and we didn’t have an existing family plot.
Mind you she spent enough time up there when she was alive and as I mentioned the Ashfield angel was one of her favourites.
“She looks like she has taken them by the hand and led them away to heaven,” she used to say. I know, vaguely creepy.
Mum wasn’t even that religious and she certainly didn’t believe in a life after death and heaven. Personally, I don’t think the statue is even an angel, but there we are. It’s funny the effect Radnor Street Cemetery can have on a person. Take me for example, wandering around the graves and stopping at the Ashfield angel.
The facts …
This is the final resting place of Arthur and Sarah Ashfield.
Arthur worked as a carpenter and railway horse box builder in the GWR Works. In 1904 he married Sarah Gray, the daughter of a steam engine maker and fitter. At the time of the 1911 census Arthur and Sarah lived at 30 Alfred Street with their five year old son Charles and Arthur’s widowed mother Annie.
The youngest child of Charles and Annie Ashfield, Arthur was born in 1881, the year that Radnor Street Cemetery opened. Although his birth place is stated as Stratton, by the time he was a month old the family were living at 19 Redcross Street, the original name for Radnor Street.
In 1891 Arthur and his family were living at 71 Radnor Street in quite possibly the same house, following the renaming and renumbering of the street.
Sarah died in 1927 aged 46 and Arthur 22 years later when he was 68.
When Maria Matthews died in 1940 the local press reported that she was the first woman to serve on the Poor Law Board of Guardian but in reality, she was one of four trailblazing women so to do.
The Local Government Act of 1894 brought in reforms that allowed women to serve on parish and district councils. These reforms extended to the election of the Poor Law Board of Guardians and for the first time women were eligible to be guardians.
Elections took place in December 1894 and when the Poor Law Guardians met at the Stratton St. Margaret Workhouse on 2 January 1895 the names of four women were among their numbers.
Maria was the wife of master tailor Jesse Matthews. Together the couple ran two businesses, a tailor’s shop in Regent Street and a newsagent’s business in Fleet Street. Jesse had both a drink and gambling addiction and in 1886 was declared bankrupt. Maria headed their large family and business concerns alone after Jesse’s death in 1905.
The funeral took place on March 2, 1940 of Mrs Maria Matthews who died at her home in Kent Road aged 97 years old. The Rev Joseph Coombes conducted the service at Mrs Matthews’ former home and afterwards at Radnor Street Cemetery.
And then I was contacted by Shelley Hughes, a descendant of Maria’s, who supplied some of the above information.
Shelley writes: “I found Maria living with her Mapson (Mother’s brother) aunt and uncle in Wootton Bassett when she was just eight years old in 1841. I believe she was sent to live with them after her father died in 1838. Maria’s older brother (age 10), younger sister (age 6) and their grandmother continued to live with her mother in Cirencester. I just discovered on the 1841 census that Jesse Matthews and his family lived just a few houses away from Maria and her aunt and uncle. The age difference was considerable at the time with Maria age 8 and Jesse age 17, but they must have known each other.”
And in addition to this extra information, Shelley has sent me another fantastic photograph of Maria, Jesse and their family taken in around 1893, just a year before her election onto the Poor Law Board of Guardians.
As we put our heads together to plan our cemetery walks for 2025 we hope to make a return visit to the churchyard at Holy Rood Church where burials pre-date those at Radnor Street by more than 700 years…
The Goddard family were Lords of the Manor of Swindon for more than 350 years but you won’t find any of them buried in Radnor Street Cemetery.
The Goddard family home was set in extensive parkland with spectacular views across the Wiltshire country side. Until the early 19th century the property was known as Swindon House after which it received a bit of a makeover and was renamed The Lawn. The family worshipped in the neighbouring parish church where Richard Goddard Esquire was buried on May 20, 1650 according to the wishes expressed in his Will that his body was ‘to be interred and buryed in the parish church of Swindon.’
The ancient parish church closed to general worship in 1851 after which most of it was demolished leaving only the chancel, the 14th century arches, a few chest tombs and the Goddard family tomb.
The Goddard family vault stood beneath the floor of the North Chapel. When this was demolished a mausoleum was built above it. Today the Goddard family tomb is a Grade II listed monument described as made of limestone with sandstone panels and built in the Gothic revival style. In his book The Story of Holy Rood – Old Parish Church of Swindon published in 1975, Denis Bird confirms that the Goddard tomb dates from around 1852 and was constructed on the site of the north chapel. Exposed to the elements and random acts of vandalism during its 169 year history, today the plaques on the side of the tomb are difficult to read.
Following the construction of Christ Church the ruins of Holy Rood came under the watchful eye of the Goddard family. Although the churchyard closed to new burials, interments in existing family graves continued for some years. A drawing dated c1800 shows the churchyard contained numerous headstones. Sadly, these were all repositioned in 1949 and arranged around the churchyard wall.
The last Lord of the Manor to live at The Lawn, Fitzroy Pleydell Goddard died at the family home on Friday August 12th 1927. Major Fitzroy Pleydell Goddard’s dying request was that his funeral service be as simple as possible and that he wished to be buried in a “plain elm coffin made from timber grown on my estate.” The Major’s funeral took place on Monday August 15 at 8pm. Swindon Advertiser headlines read ‘Interred at Sunset’ and ‘Large Attendance.’ As requested the Major’s coffin was made from one of his trees, cut down in Drove Road during road widening work. Covered by a Union Jack flag the coffin was carried from The Lawn to the Parish church on a handbier where Canon C.A. Mayall and Dr. R. Talbot, the Archdeacon of Swindon conducted a simple service in Christ Church. The congregation was estimated to number in the thousands as Swindon marked the end of an era.
The last member of the family to be buried in the Goddard tomb was Charles Frederick Goddard, Rector of Doynton, Gloucestershire who died on May 11, 1942 and is buried alongside his parents Ambrose Lethbridge and Charlotte Goddard.
Bird writes: ‘To say that ten thousand people may have been buried here may be no exaggeration, for although the population of early Swindon may have numbered no more than a few hundred souls at any one time, it was here that nearly all found their last resting place, generation after generation, for perhaps more than 700 years.’
The churchyard at Holy Rood, Swindon’s first ‘modern’ burial ground.
The view from the Goddard mansion in the Lawn.
The Goddard family tomb
Acorner of the churchyard and the repositioned headstones
Radnor Street Cemetery 