As we all practise our social distancing skills, let's make an online exception and draw a little closer. Join me on another virtual cemetery walk. This morning we are staying close to the cemetery chapel to learn about two entrepreneurial Victorian Swindonians.
First let us pay our respects to Swindon's own 'Mr Selfridge.'
Levi Lapper Morse
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Photographs of the Children's Fete, William Harvie's Multiple Cake Cutting Machine and The Croft are published courtesy of Local Studies, Swindon Central Library.
Thank you to Ivy Sheppard for the photograph of Morse's grave.
First let us pay our respects to Swindon's own 'Mr Selfridge.'
Levi Lapper Morse
This impressive monument is that of Levi Lapper Morse. The grave plots around the Chapel area were once thought to be the most expensive, so this is where you will find a lot of Swindon’s dignitaries and most wealthy residents. However, a list of charges published when the cemetery opened in 1881 reveal this might not necessarily have been the case.
Morse’s father had been a shopkeeper in Stratton but Levi went on to far greater things. He established one of Swindon’s first departmental stores, which stood on the present site of W H Smith’s in Regent Street, Swindon up until the 1960s.
Morse served as a Justice of the Peace and an Alderman; he was Swindon’s second mayor and MP for South Wiltshire for six years. Morse was an active and energetic member of the Primitive Methodists, serving as Circuit Steward of the Swindon II circuit from its formation until his death. In 1896 he was elected chair of the Brinkworth District Meeting and Vice President of Conference and also served as District Missionary Treasurer for about nine years. He was a lay preacher, Sunday school teacher and accomplished organist.
He lived with his wife Winifred and their family at a magnificent property called The Croft, sadly no longer standing. This photograph was taken at a meeting of the Brinkworth and Swindon Primitive Methodists in 1912.
When he died in 1913, he left £124,095 19s 4d worth more than £9 million today.
Now let's meet the inventor of the amazing Multiple Cake Cutting Machine.
Now let's meet the inventor of the amazing Multiple Cake Cutting Machine.
William Harvie
This monument marks the last resting place of William Harvie, pretty impressive for a railway foreman. You won’t be surprised to learn that at the time of his death in 1930 (when he left £44,000) he was known by his railway colleagues as the wealthiest workman in England.
So, how did he come about this great fortune?
William Harvie was born in Islington, London in about 1849. He began his career as a coach trimmer in Birmingham where he met and married his first wife, Susan Newman, at St Peter and St Paul's Church, Aston. Susan was a widow with a young son. By 1871 the couple were living at Rushey Platt with Susan's son Edward and two children of their own, Henry and Louisa. They would have a third child George William. The family lived at 15 Faringdon Street for a number of years, and by 1891 William had been promoted to foreman.
He served as foreman over the women in the polishing shop, and during the 1890s he was responsible for organising the entertainment for the ‘annual tea of the female staff employed in the Carriage Department.’ He even performed a couple of humorous songs, said to have contributed to the event.
He served as foreman over the women in the polishing shop, and during the 1890s he was responsible for organising the entertainment for the ‘annual tea of the female staff employed in the Carriage Department.’ He even performed a couple of humorous songs, said to have contributed to the event.
By the time of Susan’s death in 1906 they were living at 6 Park Lane. Two years later William married again. His second wife was Alice Elizabeth Turner. She died in 1921 at their home 92 Bath Road but does not appear to be buried in Radnor Street Cemetery.
A notice in the Western Morning News reported that he was instrumental in building the first saloon railway coach for Queen Victoria.
He was known to dabble in stocks and shares but there is no mention of his famous invention, the Multiple Cake Cutting Machine.
Swindonians will know that until the outbreak of the Second World War the Children's Fete took place in the GWR Park, organised by the Mechanics’ Institute Council. As part of their entrance fee the children all received a piece of cake. The quantity of cake required was enormous, baked in 5lb slabs and numbering more than 1,200. As you can imagine the cutting up was a mammoth task – until Mr Harvie here invented his famous Multiple Cake Cutting Machine.
The machine, a dangerous looking contraption, was composed of crossed knives, balanced on spiral springs, which hovered above each cake. The cakes were fed into the machine on 12 wooden trays by an endless band on rollers worked by the handle at the end of the machine. The average speed of this new machine was 6 cakes per minute.
William is buried in plot D14a with his first wife Susan where they were later joined by their elder son Henry.
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| William Harvie's Multiple Cake Cutting Machine |
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| The Children's Fete held in the GWR (1907) |
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| Photograph of Morse's grave - a rare Radnor Street Cemetery photo |
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| Levi Lapper Morse |
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| The Croft |
Thank you to Ivy Sheppard for the photograph of Morse's grave.