On this, our virtual Mother's Day cemetery walk, I commemorate and celebrate the mothers of Swindon for their resilience and their determination. I begin with the story of Mary Ann Gee.
Mary Ann and Frederick Gee
Late afternoon on Tuesday April 14, 1896, a gang of five Swindon platelayers were engaged on some repairs to the line in the Sapperton tunnel, some four miles east of Stroud, between Swindon and Gloucester. Among them was Frederick Gee, a 47 year old father of seven.
A warning sounded the approach of a down train but as the men jumped out of the way they were struck by another train that had entered the tunnel at the same moment. Two were instantly killed.
Frederick suffered terrible injuries, his left arm amputated and his skull severely fractured. Help was slow in coming. Frederick and two other injured men were eventually picked up by a passenger train passing through the tunnel half an hour after the accident. Frederick died en route to the hospital in Stroud.
Back home Mary Ann had a family of seven to support - five children under the age of ten, including a baby son just a few months old.
Mary Ann was born in Northleigh, Oxfordshire in 1850 the daughter of Richard Willis, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Sarah. She married Frederick Gee at St Mark's Church, Swindon on April 29, 1876. The family appear to have moved between addresses in Uffington and Shrivenham but in 1878 they were living in Gooch Street, Swindon when they had their elder two children, Bessie and Frederick Richard James, baptised at St Mark's Church on March 17.
Frederick was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery where in 1900 the couples' sixteen year old Rosa Ethel was buried alongside him. Four years later their son Harry Howard died aged 21. In just a few short years Mary Ann had lost her husband and two of her children. But she was made of stern stuff.
On March 14, 1907, with her four youngest sons Sidney 17, Ernest 15, Frank 13 and eleven year old Wilfred, Mary Ann set sail on board the SS Cymric for a new life in the United State of America.
The family arrived in Boston, Massachusetts on March 25 and in the 1910 US Census they can be found living in Forest Dale, Salt Lake City, Utah.
In 1917 Mary Ann, then aged 62, married William A. Tolman. William Augustus Tolman was 69, a widower and a member of a prominent pioneering family. William's father, Cyrus Tolman, had arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1848 with Brigham Young, the founder of the Church of the Latter Day Saints of Jesus (the Mormons).
Theirs was a brief marriage. William died from smallpox in 1920. He was buried in the family plot at Oakley Cemetery, Utah with his first wife Marintha.
At the time of the 1920 United States Federal census Mary Ann was living at 2163 Lake Street in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her daughter Emily with her family had joined her in 1918 and were living in neighbouring South Street.
Mary Ann died in 1929 aged 71. She is buried in her adopted home of Utah.
Alice and Frederick Legg
Alice Legg was not a local girl. She was born in Wimbledon in 1886, the daughter of Frederick (aka Willis) and Catherine Lovegrove. Her first job was as a kitchen maid at a private girls' school in Wimbledon. The duties of a kitchen maid were many and varied and involved a lot of washing up and some cooking under the supervision of the cook. In this her first job Alice was roughly the same age as the pupils at the school.
At the time of her marriage in 1911 Alice was working as a domestic servant for a Wine & Spirit retailer. Her husband Frederick was born in 1887. They married at All Saints Church, Wimbledon on June 5, 1911 when they both gave their address as 65 Norman Road.
The UK Railway Employment Records state that Frederick began work for the GWR here in Swindon on May 29, 1911, just weeks before his wedding, as a boilermaker's helper. He later worked as watchman in the Loco Manager's office before his retirement in 1943.
In 1939 Frederick and Alice lived at 3 Okus Cottages with two of their daughters, Grace and Rose. Both young women state their occupation as clerk in Morse's Shop, the large departmental store in Regent Street. Alice's 66 year old widowed father, Frederick lived next door at No. 4. The couples' last home together was at 75 Okus Road.
Alice died at the Isolation Hospital in June 1961. Further research is required to establish what was her cause of death. Frederick died the same year at 432 Ferndale Road, which I'm guessing was possibly the home of one of their children.
I have been fortunate enough to find photographs of Alice and Frederick copied from the public family tree section of the Ancestry website.
We're finishing our walk today at this grave, and I couldn't be more excited!
As you can see, this is the grave of George and Celia Morkot. George was born in Birmingham, the son of Charles, a train driver, and his wife Jane.
Celia was the daughter of Richard and Margaret Fullond. She was born in Tredegar, Monmouthshire and the family moved to Swindon in the 1860s with the opening of the Rolling Mills at the Swindon Works.
In the 1871 census the family are recorded as living at 1 Reading Street, a cottage in the Railway Village. Ten years later and Celia is still living there, but this time with her sister and brother in law. There are also four boarders, including Charles Morkot, a railway engine fitter, and his brother George whom Celia married in 1883.
But why am I so excited about finding the grave of this woman?
By the 1870s the railway factory had been in operation for some thirty years, but the Great Western Railway Company was finding it difficult to recruit skilled men to the Swindon Works. The problem was the shortage of work for women in the town. The men wouldn't move their families to Swindon if there was no work for their daughters.
Joseph Armstrong, the Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent, the top man in the Swindon Works, addressed the problem by extending the Carriage Works on London Street and creating a separate upholstery department for the employment of girls only. By the end of 1874 five women were employed in the new trimming department and Cecilia Fullond was the first woman to check in on July 18, 1874, working as a French polisher.
By 1891 George and Celia Morkot were living at 31 Chester Street with their three children, Charles 6, Nellie 4 and George 2. Celia would go on to have another four children. She died in February 1922 at 31 Chester Street where the family had lived for more than 30 years.
The first woman to be employed in the railway works! Now isn't that something? If only I could find a photograph of her as well.
This is the lovely Alice Legg ...
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Mary Ann and Frederick Gee
Late afternoon on Tuesday April 14, 1896, a gang of five Swindon platelayers were engaged on some repairs to the line in the Sapperton tunnel, some four miles east of Stroud, between Swindon and Gloucester. Among them was Frederick Gee, a 47 year old father of seven.
A warning sounded the approach of a down train but as the men jumped out of the way they were struck by another train that had entered the tunnel at the same moment. Two were instantly killed.
Frederick suffered terrible injuries, his left arm amputated and his skull severely fractured. Help was slow in coming. Frederick and two other injured men were eventually picked up by a passenger train passing through the tunnel half an hour after the accident. Frederick died en route to the hospital in Stroud.
Back home Mary Ann had a family of seven to support - five children under the age of ten, including a baby son just a few months old.
Mary Ann was born in Northleigh, Oxfordshire in 1850 the daughter of Richard Willis, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Sarah. She married Frederick Gee at St Mark's Church, Swindon on April 29, 1876. The family appear to have moved between addresses in Uffington and Shrivenham but in 1878 they were living in Gooch Street, Swindon when they had their elder two children, Bessie and Frederick Richard James, baptised at St Mark's Church on March 17.
Frederick was buried in Radnor Street Cemetery where in 1900 the couples' sixteen year old Rosa Ethel was buried alongside him. Four years later their son Harry Howard died aged 21. In just a few short years Mary Ann had lost her husband and two of her children. But she was made of stern stuff.
On March 14, 1907, with her four youngest sons Sidney 17, Ernest 15, Frank 13 and eleven year old Wilfred, Mary Ann set sail on board the SS Cymric for a new life in the United State of America.
The family arrived in Boston, Massachusetts on March 25 and in the 1910 US Census they can be found living in Forest Dale, Salt Lake City, Utah.
In 1917 Mary Ann, then aged 62, married William A. Tolman. William Augustus Tolman was 69, a widower and a member of a prominent pioneering family. William's father, Cyrus Tolman, had arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1848 with Brigham Young, the founder of the Church of the Latter Day Saints of Jesus (the Mormons).
Theirs was a brief marriage. William died from smallpox in 1920. He was buried in the family plot at Oakley Cemetery, Utah with his first wife Marintha.
At the time of the 1920 United States Federal census Mary Ann was living at 2163 Lake Street in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her daughter Emily with her family had joined her in 1918 and were living in neighbouring South Street.
Mary Ann died in 1929 aged 71. She is buried in her adopted home of Utah.
Alice and Frederick Legg
Alice Legg was not a local girl. She was born in Wimbledon in 1886, the daughter of Frederick (aka Willis) and Catherine Lovegrove. Her first job was as a kitchen maid at a private girls' school in Wimbledon. The duties of a kitchen maid were many and varied and involved a lot of washing up and some cooking under the supervision of the cook. In this her first job Alice was roughly the same age as the pupils at the school.
At the time of her marriage in 1911 Alice was working as a domestic servant for a Wine & Spirit retailer. Her husband Frederick was born in 1887. They married at All Saints Church, Wimbledon on June 5, 1911 when they both gave their address as 65 Norman Road.
The UK Railway Employment Records state that Frederick began work for the GWR here in Swindon on May 29, 1911, just weeks before his wedding, as a boilermaker's helper. He later worked as watchman in the Loco Manager's office before his retirement in 1943.
In 1939 Frederick and Alice lived at 3 Okus Cottages with two of their daughters, Grace and Rose. Both young women state their occupation as clerk in Morse's Shop, the large departmental store in Regent Street. Alice's 66 year old widowed father, Frederick lived next door at No. 4. The couples' last home together was at 75 Okus Road.
Alice died at the Isolation Hospital in June 1961. Further research is required to establish what was her cause of death. Frederick died the same year at 432 Ferndale Road, which I'm guessing was possibly the home of one of their children.
I have been fortunate enough to find photographs of Alice and Frederick copied from the public family tree section of the Ancestry website.
Celia and George Morkot
We're finishing our walk today at this grave, and I couldn't be more excited!
As you can see, this is the grave of George and Celia Morkot. George was born in Birmingham, the son of Charles, a train driver, and his wife Jane.
Celia was the daughter of Richard and Margaret Fullond. She was born in Tredegar, Monmouthshire and the family moved to Swindon in the 1860s with the opening of the Rolling Mills at the Swindon Works.
In the 1871 census the family are recorded as living at 1 Reading Street, a cottage in the Railway Village. Ten years later and Celia is still living there, but this time with her sister and brother in law. There are also four boarders, including Charles Morkot, a railway engine fitter, and his brother George whom Celia married in 1883.
But why am I so excited about finding the grave of this woman?
By the 1870s the railway factory had been in operation for some thirty years, but the Great Western Railway Company was finding it difficult to recruit skilled men to the Swindon Works. The problem was the shortage of work for women in the town. The men wouldn't move their families to Swindon if there was no work for their daughters.
Joseph Armstrong, the Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent, the top man in the Swindon Works, addressed the problem by extending the Carriage Works on London Street and creating a separate upholstery department for the employment of girls only. By the end of 1874 five women were employed in the new trimming department and Cecilia Fullond was the first woman to check in on July 18, 1874, working as a French polisher.
By 1891 George and Celia Morkot were living at 31 Chester Street with their three children, Charles 6, Nellie 4 and George 2. Celia would go on to have another four children. She died in February 1922 at 31 Chester Street where the family had lived for more than 30 years.
The first woman to be employed in the railway works! Now isn't that something? If only I could find a photograph of her as well.
This is the lovely Alice Legg ...
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| Alice Legg |
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| Frederick Legg |
