Archibald Edward Knee – Tell Them of Us

Archibald Edward Knee was born in Stroud in 1892, the son of Francis and Rose Knee. The family later moved to 123 Albion Street where Francis worked as a railway carriage painter in the GWR Works and Rose cared for their seven young children. Archibald joined his father in the GWR Works on leaving school, working as a railway carriage painter and sign writer; a job he could safely expect to hold for life.

Archibald enlisted in the Wiltshire Regiment in July 1915, when a war initially anticipated to be over by Christmas 1914 approached its first anniversary. He embarked for France on New Year’s Eve 1915, part of desperately needed reinforcements at the front.

The British army began preparing for the ‘big push,’ in the Spring of 1916. It was believed this allied offensive would finish the war. The Battle of the Somme, in which more than 57,000 British soldiers were killed, wounded or reported missing during the first 24 hours of action, was yet to come.

The 1^st Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment was at Pylones, three kilometres north of the German held Vimy Ridge. The German army bombarded this section of the Western Front on May 21, firing everything at their disposal, including gas and lachrymatory (tear gas) shells.

The men of D Company were in battle by day and making running repairs to fencing and trenches throughout the night.

Lt Col W.S. Brown recorded the events of May 24 in the regimental war diary:

“In the trenches. The enemy were able to reach the Birkin Crater post with Cylinder stick bombs and some casualties were caused.

Many rifle grenades were fired at the outpost line of P73: those fired in retaliation appeared to do considerable damage. After 5 p.m. the enemy fired several heavy trench mortars at P74 and P75 and also at the head of Grange C.T. Snipers claimed three Germans. Repairs to the P line were carried out and a large amount of wire was put out along the whole front during the night of 24^th/25^th.”

Private F. Daniels of A Company was killed outright. Lance Corporal Knee was among 10 other casualties that night.

Archibald was taken to the 22^nd General Hospital at Etaples where he received emergency treatment. He had suffered a gunshot wound to his left thigh, which in itself would probably not have proved life threatening. It was the effect of the German gas attack that proved fatal. Archibald developed gas gangrene and died at 11.20 on the morning of May 29. He is buried in the Etaples Military Cemetery.

Archibald’s name appears on the memorial dedicated to the memory of those from the Carriage & Wagon Paint Shops who gave their lives in the Great War. This plaque can now be seen in the STEAM Museum.

#TellThemofUs

#MarkSutton

Why I didn’t get to meet a Princess

Princess Helena Victoria

Princess Helena Victoria visited Swindon on April 21, 1923 published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.

The re-imagined story …

When I told mum the Mayor had selected me to meet Princess Helena Victoria when she came to Swindon, she said nothing at first.

I joined the Girl Guides when I was 12 and went on to become a Ranger. It was in this role that the Mayor, Cllr Harding, had invited me to meet the Princess when she came to town to open the Boys’ Red Triangle Club.

I loved everything about being a Guide. I loved the fellowship and the feeling that I was making a contribution to society. I had made some good friends. Where we met was the only place I could relax and have fun and laugh and be myself. There wasn’t much laughter in our house. Mum’s grief was all consuming, to laugh seemed to be making a mockery of her sadness.

She hadn’t always been a serious kind of person, it was dad who was the sombre character. She would tease him and tickle him when he refused to smile and I can hear her tinkling laughter somewhere in my memory.

“I’d rather you didn’t meet her, Sylvia.”

I was stunned. The Mayor had paid me a huge honour, selecting me to meet the Princess.

“It’s a real privilege mum. The Mayor has only asked George Akins from the Scouts and me to meet her.”

“She’s German,” said mum, blunt just like that. ‘She’s German.’

“She’s Queen Victoria’s granddaughter.” I was incredulous.

“And she was German, too. I’ll not have a daughter of mine shake hands with a German.”

I couldn’t argue with her, that would have been too cruel. She had lost dad and my uncle in the war. Sometimes it felt as if the war had been in another age, at other times it felt as if we were still living through it. Some people would bear the scars for a lifetime, limbs lost, faces disfigured, minds broken. My mum had a broken heart and I doubted whether she would ever recover.

Everyone was excited about seeing the Princess. There was to be a luncheon at the Queen’s Royal Hotel first before she opened the Boys’ Red Triangle Club and a Civic Gathering in the Town Hall afterwards.

I explained to the Mayor why I couldn’t greet the Princess. I thought he would be angry, but actually he seemed to understand.

Sometimes it felt as if the war had been in another age; at other times it felt as if we were still living through it.

Councillor A.E. Harding

Mayor A.E. Harding

The facts …

Princess Helena Victoria visited Swindon on Saturday, April 21, 1923. The Princess was the elder daughter of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Helena, the daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. She was born at Frogmore House in 1870 and lived her entire life in Britain. During the First World War she visited British troops in France and afterwards worked to promote and support the YMCA and the YWCA. During the war King George V relinquished the use of German royal titles for himself and his numerous cousins.

Albert Edward Harding was born in London in 1865. At the time of the 1881 census he was working in the railway factory as a clerk and lodging with the Hunt family at 38 Prospect. He married Agnes Westmacott in 1889 and the couple had three children, Stewart Jasper, Myrtle Marion Westmacott and Albert Edward Benjamin Harding.

The family first lived at 115 Princes Street where in 1898 Harding was the divisional secretary to the National Deposit Friendly Society, in addition to his job as a Clerk in the railway works. The family later moved to their long-time home at 56 Victoria Road.

Albert Edward Harding was a Councillor representing the East Ward from about 1911 and served as Mayor of Swindon in 1922/23, the year that Princess Helena Victoria visited Swindon.

Albert Edward Harding died at his home on December 30, 1943. He is buried in plot E8568 with his wife Agnes, their son Albert Edward Benjamin Harding and daughter in law Kathleen.

Their eldest son Stewart Jasper Harding is buried in the neighbouring grave plot E8569 with his wife Gladys.

Agnes and Albert Edward Harding Mayor of Swindon

Maurice Carew Swinhoe – banana planter and exporter

Dr George Money Swinhoe was the GWR surgeon at Swindon between c1861 to his death in 1908. He and his wife Diana produced a large family based first at 4 London Street and then later at Park House, which served as family home and doctor’s surgery. They had eight daughters, one of whom died in infancy, five who married and two who didn’t; of their five sons one entered the military, one trained as an engineer and two became doctors working alongside their father. Youngest child Maurice chose a somewhat different career – that of banana planter and fruit exporter working with Elder & Fyfe in Kingston, Jamaica.

Unfortunately Maurice was in Jamaica when an earthquake occurred on January 14, 1907. The first terrifying reports stated that almost all the buildings in Kingston had been destroyed and there was a great loss of life. In the following days an estimated 20,000 people were made homeless, camping out on the racecourse. One report told how ‘continual religious services are being held, in which the people join with hysterical fervour.’ While fires continued to rage in the dock area, a tsunami flooded the lower part of Kingston. The death toll quickly escalated with 1,000 declared dead, although this figure was thought to be an inaccurate and low estimation. The earthquake was described as one of the world’s deadliest recorded in history with aftershocks still being recorded up to March 22, 1907.

Maurice survived and in due course returned to England, but it would appear from the obituary published in the North Wilts Herald, Friday, September 29, 1911 that he never fully recovered from the ordeal.

A Swindonian in Jamaica

News from Mr Maurice C. Swinhoe

On Sunday a cable message was received by Dr George Money Swinhoe from his youngest son, Mr C. Maurice Swinhoe, who went out to Jamaica and settled near Kingston some five or six years ago, stating that he is safe, having, happily, escaped those terrible consequences of the recent earthquake which have been shared by so many.

It is hardly necessary to say that the message, so eagerly looked for, has afforded considerable relief to Dr. Swinhoe and the members of his family.

As stated a fortnight ago in the “Advertiser,” Mr Maurice Swinhoe went out to Jamaica some five or six years ago, and settled some three miles outside Kingston, where he threw in his lot with a partner, possessing an extensive banana plantation, as a planter. Close by the plantation is the racecourse, covering a wide stretch of turf, and, according to the reports received from the stricken area, it was upon this racecourse that the desolated people camped out. Dr. Swinhoe, however, received no news from or concerning his son, and, naturally, the absence of any intelligence gave rise to a little anxiety.

Dr Rodway Swinhoe was, perhaps, the most sanguine member of the family for when fears for the absent one’s safety were beginning to be felt, he said to an “Advertiser” reporter in the course of an interview, “I don’t think anything can have happened to my brother. You see, he picked up a little medical knowledge while out there, and no doubt he has been so busy doing what he can for the sufferers that he has not had the time or opportunity to send any word home.”

The Evening Swindon Advertiser Monday, January 28, 1907

Death of Mr M.C. Swinhoe

The death occurred on Wednesday at the residence of his sister, 11, St. Mary Abbott’s Terrace, London, W., of Mr Maurice Carew Swinhoe, [the youngest age,] was the thirteenth child of Dr. G.M. Swinhoe and was, of course, a brother of Dr. G.R. Swinhoe, of Swindon. Some years ago he went to Jamaica and was occupied as a fruit exporter, being connected with the well known firm of Elder & Fyfe at Kingston. He was in Jamaica at the time of the great earthquake, and a series of letters was published in the columns of this paper at that time vividly descriptive of the stirring phases of danger which the deceased experienced. He suffered much in consequence from nervous derangement, and returned to England, and some two years ago underwent an operation at Bournemouth. It subsequently transpired that this was of little avail, and a further operation was performed at St. Thomas’s Hospital, London. The deceased had been ill for a considerable time previous to his death.

North Wilts Herald, Friday, September 29, 1911.

The body of Maurice Carew Swinhoe was returned to Swindon where he was buried in grave E8228, a large family plot. He was 30 years old.

Henry Hustings – Swindon’s Jack of All Trades

The re-imagined story …

Mr Hustings gave me a job when no one else would.

I’d returned from the war pretty much fit for nothing. But my wounds were not obvious. I had not lost a limb, I was not scarred or hideous to look upon.

I suffered from being subjected to heavy shelling, day after day, week after week, from living on the edge of terror.

Others seem to return home unaffected from the hell they had endured, although I would question that. I don’t think any returning soldier was the man he had been when he left for the war. Even now, twenty years later, you can see the men ravaged by their experiences. The men who drink too much, the men whose temper is easily ignited, the men who retreat into silence. We all carry our wounds, the obvious ones and the hidden ones.

Mr Hustings must have wondered if he had been ill advised employing me. I’m sure plenty of his other workmen must have thought so to. At first I couldn’t go up a ladder, but there were plenty of jobs I could do at the yard. Gradually my life became more of the now and less of the then. My confidence grew, my health improved and I began to pull my weight in the firm.

I shall add Mr Hustings to the memory of those others I mourn. He gave me a job when no one else would, he gave me back my life.

The facts …

With just a week left to complete his term of office as Mayor, Councillor H.R. Hustings died suddenly at the Victoria Hospital on Sunday, October 27, 1940.

A tough speaking, no nonsense Labour politician, Henry Russell Hustings, Swindon’s 40th successive Mayor, took office on Thursday, November 9th 1939 as the town got to grips with the black out, air raid warnings and wartime restrictions.

A former trade union organiser for the National Union of Vehicle Workers and the Transport and General Workers’ Union, Henry had enjoyed a varied working life and the Swindon Advertiser styled him as the ‘Jack of All Trades Mayor.’

His first job was with a firm of agricultural engineers in Dorset followed by stints as a traction engine driver, shop assistant, porter, engine driver in a laundry, miner, stoker, baker and in 1939 he was a window cleaning contractor.

Henry was born in 1883 in the Dorset village of Hilton to John W. Hustings and his wife Susan. In 1903 he married Alice Maud Ball and the couple had four children.

A member of the Labour party since 1919 Henry began his political career in Devizes in 1921 where he was the first Labour member of the Town Council. By 1927 he was living at 38 Regent Circus, Swindon and represented the West Ward on the Swindon Town Council.

Councillor Hustings was a founder member of the Unemployed Association, launched at a time when Swindon had more than 5,000 unemployed. In 1939 he was President of both the Swindon branch of the Labour Party and the Swindon Trades Council. He also served on the Management Committee of the Swindon Co-operative Society, the Council of Social Service, the local Food Control Committee and the Western Area Federation of Trades Councils.

On August 22, 1940 Henry launched Swindon’s own Spitfire Fund. The aim was to raise £5,000 and in less than a week the fund stood at £245. By October Swindonians had raised £3,300 and were well on the way to achieving their target. Donations came from across the Swindon and district area. Two little girls sold some of their toys and gave the 8 shillings they had raised to the fund while Kingsdown brewer J. Arkell & Sons presented the Mayor with a cheque for £100.

At the time of the Mayor’s death the fund stood at £3,956, just over £1,000 short of its £5,000 target.

“The fund had a very good start, but it seems to have slowed down during the last two or three weeks,” said Mr Raymond Thompson, director and general manager of the Swindon Press who was behind the last desperate drive to complete the fund. “We owe this and a lot more to our late Mayor.”

In just seven days generous Swindonians had donated £1,352 to complete the project inaugurated by Henry Hustings. A cheque for £5,308 was presented to Col J.J. Llewellin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Aircraft Production by Swindon’s MP Mr W.W. Wakefield in January 1940.

Henry’s death at the age of 57 followed recent surgery from which it was thought he was making a good recovery, and came as a great shock to fellow members of the Council.

The funeral service conducted by Major W.J. Hills of the Salvation Army took place at the Mission Hall followed by interment at Radnor Street Cemetery.

“Representatives of practically every industrial and social organisation in the town and district took their place in the cortege, and also paid their last tribute at the graveside at Radnor Street Cemetery,” reported the Advertiser.

“The public life of Swindon will be much poorer by the passing of Councillor Hustings,” Mr G.A. Marshman, presiding magistrate said paying tribute to a man who had devoted his life to the underdog – Swindon’s Jack of All Trades Mayor Henry Russell Hustings.

Surprisingly there is no headstone to mark Henry’s grave.

Henry Charles Cook – builder

St Margaret’s Road published courtesy of P.A. Williams and Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.

Henry Charles Cook was born in Bledington, Gloucestershire in 1860 the son of Charles Cook, a carrier, and his wife Jemima. By 1881 Henry had moved to Swindon with his mother and her second husband Thomas Smith where the family lived at 19 Prospect Hill. Henry, then aged 21, was working as a plumber and glazier. In 1882 Henry married Elizabeth Jane Carpenter and the couple went on to have three children, William, Daisy and Frederick.

Henry’s building business was soon up and running with projects in progress by 1884. He built numerous properties in Gorse Hill including houses in Florence Street, Omdurman Street and in 1907 he built property in Osbourne Terrace, a new street off Ferndale Road. But he didn’t confine himself to this area of town. In 1897 he was building in St Margaret’s Road and Goddard Avenue and in 1903 he built 23 houses in Devizes Road. During the 1920s Henry’s firm returned to Gorse Hill where they built more than 25 houses in Harcourt Road and another 9 properties just round the corner in Cobden Road.

And like so many men of his generation, Henry took an active part in the civic, political and religious life of the town.

Elizabeth died in 1925 aged 66 and was buried on June 13 in Radnor Street Cemetery plot E8273. Henry died at his home, 59 Broome Manor Lane, ten years later. He was buried with his wife on August 14, 1935.

Death of Mr H.C. Cook

Well Known Swindon Methodist

The death occurred on Saturday night, at his residence, 59, Broome Manor lane, Swindon, of Mr Henry Charles Cook, who for 50 years had been prominent in the business and civic life of Swindon. He was 75 years of age.

Mr Cook came to Swindon as a youth and was apprenticed to the decorating trade. He began in business on his own account as a very young man, later taking up building, and was in business in the town for over 60 years, for a great part of that time at his present premises in Wood Street.

Mr Cook had been an Alderman of the Borough and had served capably as chairman of the Education Committee. He was also active in Methodist circles in the town, being attached to the Regent Street church; he was Circuit Steward for many years, and was a splendid delegate to conference. He was an ex-president of the Swindon Liberal Association.

Mrs Cook died ten years ago, and there are left three children – Mr W.H. Cook, chemist, of Faringdon; Mrs J.B. Hodges, of Andover; and Mr F.C. Cook of Wood street, Swindon.

The Funeral

The funeral took place on Wednesday. The service took place at the Regent Street Methodist Church, and was conducted by the Rev. T. Allison Brown, the interment being at Radnor Street Cemetery.

The principal mourners were Mr and Mrs W.H. Cook Faringdon (son and daughter in law), Mr and Mrs J.B. Hodges, Andover (son in law and daughter), Mr S.C. Cook, Swindon, (son), Mrs Button and Mrs Cull, Swindon (sisters), Mr B.W. Cook, Faringdon, (grandson), Mr K.L.W. Cook, Swindon, (grandson), Messrs W.H. Kent, F. Tucker, W. Smith, E. Liddiard and Covey.

Messrs A.E. Smith and Son, Gordon Road, Swindon, had charge of the funeral arrangements.

Extracts published from North Wilts Herald, Friday, 16 August, 1935

Goddard Avenue published courtesy of P.A. Williams and Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.

Mr Levi Lapper Morse – the end of an era

The re-imagined story …

The store closed the day of Mr Levi’s funeral, as a mark of respect. That kind of thing seldom happens now, but things were different in those days.

I had only just started work at Morse’s in the summer of 1913. Drapery assistants worked a long day and as a new, young apprentice I was called upon to do the more menial tasks as I learned my trade. I remember doing a lot of dusting.

Morse’s had begun as a small draper’s shop in Stratton St Margaret, opened by Mr Levi’s father Charles, more than 50 years ago. It was Mr Levi who opened the Regent Street store where he proudly announced that you could furnish your house ‘cheaply and well.’

I often wondered how much of his own stock he used to furnish his big old house at The Croft where he entertained his political friends and held the large Primitive Methodist conventions. My mum told me not to let the manager at Morse’s hear me speak like that as I would soon get my marching orders.

The Croft

The staff were gathered together when the announcement of his death was made earlier that week. Many were moved to tears. I hung my head but to be honest I didn’t know him, his days of calling into the store and overseeing the business had long passed. We opened late that day, after we dressed the store in black, trimming last used when the old Queen died.

That week in September everyone spoke about Mr Levi in hushed, reverent voices. I wondered if he was really that well liked, or whether this was just the ‘old order’ speaking; those who touched their forelock when the squire drove past in his carriage.

The end of an era, people said. At 16 you don’t really appreciate what that means. But a year later the world was at war. Nothing was ever the same again.

Levi Lapper Morse

The facts …

The remains of the late Mr Levi Lapper Morse were laid to rest at Swindon Cemetery on Saturday, when nearly 5,000 people witnessed the last rites.

The Cortege, on leaving The Croft, proceeded to the Regent Street primitive Methodist Church. It was headed by a posse of police under Inspector Winchcombe. Then followed the borough magistrates and the Mayor (Mr J.J. Shawyer). The deputy mayor (Mr G. Brooks), and the Town Clerk (Mr R. Hilton). Most of the members of the Corporation and representatives of the principal public bodies brought up the rear of the first portion of the procession. Two carriages laden with beautiful wreaths proceeded the handbier, on which the coffin was laid.

An imposing spectacle was made by the male and female employees of Mr Morse’s business, who came immediately behind the carriages conveying the family mourners. Next were the representatives of religious bodies, and finally about 200 friends and acquaintances who had attend to pay their last tributes of respect.

Besides the family wreaths were tributes from Sir William and Lady Hartley, the members of the Swindon Primitive Methodist circuits, the North Wilts Liberal Association, Members of the second Methodist circuit quarterly meeting, the business staff etc.

Levi Lapper Morse (2)

A Friend’s Tribute

An impressive panegyric was delivered by the Rev T.M. Pinnock, who described the late alderman as ‘my faithful and true friend for 40 years.” Speaking with evident emotion, the reverend gentleman referred to Mr Morse’s generosity to the Church both locally and in the connexion generally. Without him it would have been impossible for their church in Swindon to be what it was that day. Reference was also made to Mr Morse’s unobtrusiveness and natural business talent, which latter quality he made of immense serve to the Church. “He never forsook the friends of his youth,” added the speaker, “and he died fearing God. He sought to make God’s will the rule of his conduct, God’s service the joy of his heart, and God’s glory was the aim of his life.”

Another brief but earnest tribute was given by the Rev J.D. Thompson (general committee secretary), who said the sympathy of Primitive Methodists all over the country went out to the bereaved.

During the service the hymns “O God our help in ages past” and “Rock of Ages” were sung.

A cordon of police had been drawn round the chapel, on the west side of which was the grave, lined with the deceased’s favourite flowers – red roses – and many other beautiful blooms. Large and sympathetic crowds witnessed the final rites, conducted by the Revs. J.D. Jackson and J. Dobson.

A memorial service was conducted by the Rev T. Mostyn Pinnock (formerly of Swindon), at the Regent Street Church on Sunday night.

Extracts from The Wiltshire Times Saturday published September 20 1913

Swindon’s working class history

Unlike Highgate Cemetery in London, Radnor Street Cemetery is not a tourist destination. Plenty of Swindonians don’t even know of its existence. There are no elaborate mausolea, no Egyptian Avenue or Terrace Catacombs and although at first sight there appear to be large numbers of headstones, the vast majority of graves are unmarked.

The GWR Works opened in 1842 and employed more than 1,700 men twenty years later. At the same time a shortage of burial spaces in the town became of critical concern, but the Radnor Street cemetery was not opened until 1881.

Highgate Cemetery has been the setting for numerous books, several films and in the 1970s was subject to a bizarre vampire obsession. Radnor Street cemetery online archives include just a few early 20^th century photographs and a 1980s music video filmed by Swindon music legend XTC.

Highgate Cemetery is famous for being famous; for the number of people of note and celebrities interred there. Radnor Street cemetery is all about working class history. The men who rose through the ranks of the railway engineering hierarchy and others who spent a lifetime on the factory floor in the GWR Works. Those men who served in two world wars and died as the result of their service. The women who trained as nurses, who taught in Swindon’s schools, worked in factories, shops and offices and raised large families who began the cycle all over again.

This is Swindon’s working class history – stories of the triumphs and the tragedies and the sheer hard work.

The Egyptian Avenue at Highgate Cemetery

Cheltenham Street

Job Day, Jabez Henry Forshaw and C. Joyce were among the builders who begun work on a New Swindon street in 1869/70. By the time of the 1871 census Cheltenham Street was a busy residential town centre street extending from Station Road to the canal. It vanished in all but name with the demolition of more than 80 houses and the later construction of the Tri Centre complex built in the 1980s.

Photographs taken recently show the Fleming Way area as work begins on the ambitious £33m bus boulevard project due for completion in 2024. Reduced to the Cheltenham Street car park for many years this latest project may be the final death knell for a street that provided homes for a busy town centre community. This aerial view is believed to date from the late 1950s before the area was ‘improved’ during an earlier regeneration scheme.

So, what brought James Hager Adnams and his wife Elizabeth to Swindon following their marriage in London in 1863. Two years previously James had served as a Chief Quartermaster on HMS Ganges before the ship was converted into a training ship however, by 1871 the couple were living at 47 Cheltenham Street in a house they shared with Zacharias Peskett and his wife Ann. James describes his status as Seaman Pensioner. James and Elizabeth continued to live with Zacharias when in 1881 their address is 75 Cheltenham Street. They may have moved into another house in the same street or the street may have been renumbered as further properties were added.

James died at number 75 Cheltenham Street in April 1887 and was buried in a public grave in Radnor Street Cemetery plot number B1392. Elizabeth continued to live in the same house, taking a lodger by the time of the 1901 census. Elizabeth died in April 1910 and was buried on April 9, the anniversary of her husband’s funeral. She is also buried in a public grave plot B2360.

In 1912 Cheltenham Street was the former home of retired GWR foreman Benjamin Howard 63, and his wife Ellen 61, when they decided to join their two sons in America. Having sold up their belongings and said goodbye to friends they set sail in style on the ill-fated, luxury liner, the Titanic. Benjamin and Ellen were among more than 1,500 people who died on the ship’s maiden voyage. Their bodies were never recovered.

James Hinton – a return visit

So, what did James Hinton ever do for us? Not me personally, but Swindon in general. Here is a quick resume of the roles he played in both his personal life and his public one.

Published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.

He was born in 1842 in Newport Street, Swindon but grew up on the family farm at Wanborough. In 1860 he married Sarah Ann May and the following year the couple were living in Lambourn where he worked as a Corn, Seed and Flour Factor. He next worked as a butcher, first in Longcot and then in Wroughton. Sarah died in 1870 and after his second marriage to Sarah Honor Whiteman he moved back to Swindon and emerged on the Swindon scene as a businessman of considerable influence. A builder and brick maker he soon became an auctioneer with premises in Regents Circus. He was a railway entrepreneur, a Freemason and a Forester, New Swindon Local Board member, Alderman and Mayor of Swindon in 1903.

But his biggest legacy has to be the numerous properties he built across the town, which still survive to this day. Perhaps his two largest building projects were the development in Kingshill where he laid out the Mount Pleasant housing estate in 1877, building 35 houses in 1878. In 1879 he laid out land between Dixon, Stafford and Clifton Streets where he continued to build in 1883 and 1884. In 1881 he built a brick kiln in Kingshill, obviously to keep up with the demand for bricks while work continued. In 1889 he began work on the Gorse Hill Farm housing estate, meanwhile continuing with further projects across both New and Old Swindon.

published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library

There can be no denying that James Hinton made a tidy penny for himself. After his death in 1907 his effects were valued at £18,910 4s 1d (worth today approximately £2.1m) but without his investment in the fabric of the town it is questionable that it would have developed so extensively or so rapidly as it did in the 1870/80s.

James Hinton died in 1907 and is buried in Radnor Street Cemetery with his wife Sarah who died in 1928.

W.H. Read – the continuing story

Occasionally I return to a Radnor Street Cemetery resident for a second blogpost and I felt that W.H. Read was a worthy candidate. You can read about him here where I mention a couple of the building commissions he is best remembered for, but looking at his long list of projects I felt he deserved a revisit.

In 1894 the town celebrated the opening of the Town Gardens with a parade and a celebratory dinner for local dignitaries held in the evening at the Goddard Arms Hotel. The pleasure park was created on a 7-8 acre site of the worked out Swindon quarries and purchased from Ambrose Goddard. W.H. Read had designed the layout of the new recreation ground, the park keeper’s lodge and the band stand. The band stand was erected by Messrs Allan of Glasgow with the assistance of local builder Joseph Williams who also built the lodge at the Westlecott Road entrance. On the arrival of the procession at the Westlecott Road entrance W.H. Read presented W. Reynolds (chairman of the Local Board) with a silver plated key and the gardens were officially opened.

In 1898 Read designed the Even Swindon Hotel for John Groves and Sons Ltd of the Hope Brewery, Weymouth. The hotel was built on a plot of land owned by James Morrison on the corner of an intended new street, which would later become Groves Road, Rodbourne.

And among the prestigious, prize winning projects were the bread and butter commissions – four houses in Cow Lane in 1876, repairs to seven cottages in Mill Street for Swindon Permanent Building Society in 1881 and in 1892 houses in Turner Street.

William Henry Read died in November 1901. A brief report of his funeral, which had taken place earlier that day, was published in the Swindon Advertiser dated Wednesday November 6.

The Late Mr W.H. Read

Funeral To-day

The funeral of the late Mr William Henry Read, architect of Swindon, took place this afternoon. The cortege left deceased’s late residence in Bath Road at two p.m., and the first portion of the service was conducted in the Parish Church. The coffin was conveyed on a hand-bier, and the mourners were all on foot. They included deceased’s sons, and also the following relatives and tradesmen:- Messrs J.H. Chandler, T. Chandler, W. Reynolds, H.W. Reynolds, R. Reynolds, R.S. Edmonds, A. Plummer, S. Snell, R.J. Beswick, Cullingford, Cox, etc

There were signs of mourning on every hand, shutters being up and blinds drawn at all the residences and shops en route to the church. The officiating clergy were the Rev Canon E.W. Estcourt (vicar), and Rev W. Scott (curate). After the first portion of the service at the Parish Church the cortege proceeded to the Cemetery, where the interment took place. The coffin was covered with beautiful wreaths from sorrowing relatives and friends.

Swindon Advertiser, Wednesday, November 6, 1901.