Tag: women's lives

Florence Gladys Richards – accounts clerk

Female clerks photographed in 1916

You might be surprised to know that women were employed in the GWR Works from as early as 1874. It was not only Swindon’s sons who could benefit from a father employed in the Works but so could Swindon’s daughters.

By the 1870s the GWR was finding it difficult to recruit skilled men to move to Swindon. The problem was caused by a shortage of jobs for young women, the railwaymen’s daughters. The men wouldn’t move their families to Swindon if there was no work for their daughters. Joseph Armstrong, Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent, addressed the problem by extending the Carriage Works on London Street and creating a separate upholstery department for the employment of girls only.

Women were probably most obvious in the Works during WWII when they were employed in engineering and other roles previously unavailable to them. Many were sorry to leave when servicemen returned to take up their jobs once again.

The employment of women as clerks, once traditionally a male role, began in about 1910 and by 1915 was increasing rapidly. In 1914 sixteen year old Florence Gladys Trehorne started work in the accounts department where her father Edwin also worked. Florence started work on April 6, 1914 joining others such as Winifred Sims, Grace Wright and Lilian Plaister, who went on to become supervisor.

After eight years Florence resigned from her job just two days before her wedding on July 5, 1922 (married women were then not allowed to continue working in the GWR) when she married Percival Stanley Richards at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Victoria Road. Perhaps Florence was looking forward to leaving her job and stepping off the 9-5 treadmill. Perhaps she was looking forward to being a housewife and all that cooking and cleaning!

Sadly, Florence died on July 26, 1928, aged 30 years. She was buried in grave plot D149 with her father Edwin Charles Trehorne who died in 1923. Her mother Amelia Ellen Trehorne died in 1940 and joined them both. Florence does not appear to have had any children. Percival never remarried. He moved back to Bath where he died in 1974.

You may also like to read:

Celia Morkot – the first woman employed in the Works

Phyllis Peters – Railway Clerk

Lorna Dawes – in her own words

Fanny and Nellie Maud Harris

I try to remember to tread carefully when I am researching other people’s family histories. It is not always immediately obvious what the relationships might be nor what tragedy could be lying in wait.

When I first stopped at this headstone I suspected the two women buried here were mother and daughter, but their relationship was not as it might at first appear.

Fanny Dyer was born in about 1861 in Woodchester, Gloucestershire, the daughter of David Dyer, a train examiner, and his wife Emily. On December 26, 1881 she married William Henry Harris in All Saints Church, Gloucester. The couple had one son, William Henry David. Sadly, by the time of the 1891 census Fanny was widowed and living with her eight year old son William and her parents David and Emily Dyer at 47 Gooch Street. She was 29 and worked as a dressmaker.

On October 19, 1907 Fanny’s son William Harris married Nellie Maud Wakelin at the church of St. Mary & St John in Cowley, Oxford. Nellie’s father George Wakelin and Fanny Harris signed the register as witnesses. Some four weeks later the young couple’s daughter Nellie was born.

At the time of the 1911 census William and Nellie were living at 91 Cardiff Road, Reading. They had been married 3 years and had two children but only their son, William Henry aged 1 was living with them. Back in Swindon Fanny was living with her widowed father David at 4 Islington Street and little Nellie Harris aged 3 was living with her.

As we can see from this headstone Fanny died on March 2, 1936 when she was living at an address in Commercial Road, Swindon. Nellie would have been approximately 29 years old at the time of her grandmother’s death.

The next time I can find Nellie is on the 1939 List when she is a resident at the Wilton Certified Institution, Kingsway House, Wilton, Wiltshire classified as a Certified Mental Defective. One of the most shocking aspects of family history research is discovering the terminology once given to people with physical or mental disabilities.

Nellie Maud died on December 12, 1967. The burial registers record that she died at Cotshill Hospital, Chipping Norton, although a home address of 18 Northern Road, Swindon is also included. Formerly a workhouse, Cotshill Hospital had various classifications across the years and is described post 1948 as an Acute, Mental Hospital.

This is only a snapshot of Fanny and Nellie’s life, the reality was probably more nuanced. Perhaps Nellie spent long periods living with her family. Perhaps it was only the death of Fanny that necessitated her move into an institution.

This stylish headstone memorialises these two women, and so do I.