Tag: YMCA

Robert Powell – killed in a motor bike accident

Responding to my request for old photographs, Broadgreen and Queenstown historian Kevin, sent me one taken following a funeral in Radnor Street cemetery, but discovering whose funeral it was proved difficult.

He writes: This reminded me of an old photo I have that had belonged to my late grandparents. I have no clue who’s grave it is or even the date it was taken as there were no details on it.

Kevin went to a great deal of effort trying to place the grave site using aerial photographs of the cemetery and cemetery maps. The break through came when I was able to tell him the names of those buried in the area he had identified as a possible location.

This is Robert Powell, writes Kevin. He was killed in a motorcycle accident on 16 June 1935. He was good friends with my Grandad Fred Newman and Fred’s brother Harry. Grandad used to talk about Robert when I was younger. Although he was killed in a road accident, grandad was always worried I’d be killed when I was racing speedway. 

Unconscious near his blazing machine

Young Swindon man dies in hospital

Robert Powell, a young man of 5, Carr street, Swindon, was found lying unconscious by the side of a blazing motor-cycle at Little Faringdon, on Saturday night.

Dr. Moredon, of Lechlade, ordered his removal to the Fairford Cottage Hospital, where he died yesterday from serious head injuries.

The discovery was made in the Filkins-Lechlade road at Little Faringdon, soon after eight o’clock on Saturday night.

In the absence of any indication of a collision with another vehicle, it is assumed that Mr. Powell’s machine must have skidded, then mounted the grass verge and collided with some tar barrels. The accident occurred at a bend in the road.

Mr Powell, who was a member of Swindon Y.M.C.A., and a keen cricketer, recently obtained work in Coventry.

Powell was employed at the Rolls Royce Works at Coventry, and it was only a week ago that he purchased a motor-bicycle.

He was the sole support of his mother (a widow) and a little brother.

Swindon Advertiser June 17, 1935.

At the inquest his mother said the first time she saw he had a motor-cycle was on Whit-Sunday. The machine was his own. She explained that her son rode it during the Whitsun weekend and returned to Coventry on it. The Coroner asked if her son had any difficulty with the motorbike and she replied that he was not used to the kick start, but otherwise he seemed all right. “I thought the machine was far too heavy for him, but he told me he did not think so. He said it would be all right when he got thoroughly used to it. He also said that he found it far easier to manage than a car,” she told the inquest.

Mr R. Powell, Swindon.

The funeral took place on Saturday of Mr Robert Powell, of 5, Carr Street, Swindon. Mr Powell met with a motor accident at Little Faringdon last Saturday. He was taken to Fairford Cottage Hospital, where he died on Sunday morning. He would have been 24 years of age next month. Mr Powell was well known in Swindon and was a member of the Boys’ Red Triangle Club. He was apprenticed in the GWR Works as a fitter and turner, and at the time of the accident was working for an engineering firm in Coventry. The funeral service was held at St. Mark’s Church, and the interment at Radnor-street cemetery. Rev. T.J. Barrett officiated.

Extracts from Swindon Advertiser June 24, 1935.

Among the many floral tributes shown in the photograph were ones from – ‘his broken-hearted mother and little brother Leslie’ along with others from W.D. and H.O. Wills’ Cricket Club, friends and neighbours from Carr Street, Villet Street and Catherine Street and one from Mr and Mrs Newman (Kevin’s great grandparents) who also kept the Order of Service.

At the time of the complilation of the 1939 List, Lily was living at 14 Farnsby Street and working as a laundress in the GWR. Living with her was her younger son 12 year old Leslie. In 1954 Lily married William Bridgeman. She died four years later. Her funeral took place on January 2, 1958 when she was buried in grave plot C4154 with her eldest son Robert and her first husband, also named Robert.

Kevin’s grandad, Fred Newman, is pictured standing next to Robert Powell in this photograph of the YMCA boys’s football team taken in 1929.

Helene Celine Sawyer – distinguished public servant

Helene Celine Sawyer is buried in a dark and overgrown area of the cemetery and when I first wrote about her I thought she had no headstone or memorial. I bemoaned the fact that often the people who worked the hardest for others during their lifetime leave no lasting memorial following their death, but since then one of our cemetery volunteers has been able to find Helene’s grave.

Helene Celine was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire in 1877, the eldest child in a family of eleven. Her father Thomas Hobbs was a butcher, her mother Elizabeth was born in Switzerland. Following the death of her husband in 1896, Elizabeth became Sub Post Mistress at the Post Office in Westcott Place where Helene was working at the time of her marriage to Albert Sawyer, a brass finisher in the railway works. The couple were married at St Mark’s Church, Swindon on September 21, 1902 and moved into 72 Dean Street where they would live together for the next 31 years.

Helene and her husband Albert were both members of the Swindon Labour Party and Helene was involved with other local organisations such as the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) and the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA).

Helene began her lifetime of public service as a member of the Swindon and Highworth Board of Guardians where she was described as an energetic member of that committee. She continued to work with the Wiltshire Public Assistance Committee, which replaced the Board of Guardians following the Local Government Act 1929.

In 1920 Helene was appointed a Justice of the Peace, one of 234 women magistrates created nationwide, and was the first to serve on the Swindon Bench. The long list of names was published in the Women’s Freedom League newspaper, The Vote, where the women were described as having “rendered themselves conspicuous by distinguished public service.”

Helene had been suffering from failing health for some months during 1933 and died at her home on December 11. She was 56 years old. The obituary published in the North Wilts Herald on December 15 noted that Helene “had always carried out her duties very rigorously and with a great deal of judgement and sagacity” and that her work with the Children’s Court would always been remembered.

The funeral took place on Friday, December 15 with the service at St Mark’s Church followed by interment in Radnor Street Cemetery. Helene lies in plot B2647 where her husband was also buried in 1948. The cremated ashes of their only daughter, Kathleen were interred with them following her death in 1986.