How's it going for all of you out there in lockdown land? Is it getting any easier or are you fast losing the plot? Good days and bad ones? I think it's the same for most of us.
So, fancy joining me for a virtual cemetery walk? Today we're going for a wander around the churchyard at St. Mark's, the church in the Railway Village.
So, fancy joining me for a virtual cemetery walk? Today we're going for a wander around the churchyard at St. Mark's, the church in the Railway Village.
Trains speed by just yards from where we stand and I tried to imagine what it would have been like to stand here more than 170 years ago when the church was newly consecrated.
There are relatively few surviving headstones but there were probably never very many, this being the burial ground for the railway men and their families when the life expectancy in 1845 was an appalling 29 years.
The churchyard was closed to new burials in 1881 - after a mere 36 years it was already full. The new Swindon Cemetery on Kingshill, better known today as Radnor Street Cemetery, opened on August 6 that same year.
Let's begin our walk by the south porch where a magnificent memorial stands enclosed within the branches of a yew tree.
Henry Alfred Money
A broken column like this is symbolic of a life cut short, someone who died young and the story that goes with this grave has a very modern feel to it.
Henry Alfred Money was the son of Thomas, an engine painter, and his wife Mary. Thomas was born in Staines, Middlesex and his wife Mary was born in Bath. By the time their eldest son George was born in the mid 1850s they were living in Swindon. Henry was born in 1858 and on September 26 of that year the two boys were baptised together here at St. Mark’s. Two daughters, Elizabeth and Ellen, were born in 1861 and 1864 and the family lived at 8 Oxford Street in the railway village.
Henry was a talented musician and played the violin. He was a member of the New Swindon Musical Classes and for many years had taken part in most of the New Swindon Musical entertainments.
When Thomas died in 1873 he left his widow largely dependent on the wages of her sons.
Then, on Monday March 5, 1877 a body was found by the side of the railway track between Chippenham and Corsham. The young man had not been hit by a train but was lying in the ditch, his face covered by 3 or 4 inches of water.
The body was identified as 19-year-old Henry and the inquest the following day unravelled a story that has a very modern feel to it.
Henry and his friend Sutherland Polson set off for a lads’ day out on Sunday, March 4. They went first to Shrivenham, then to Wootton Bassett and then onto Bath. Arriving in Bath the two young men pretended they had come to the station to see some friends off. They were clearly larking about.
They caught the 1 am mail train to Swindon and both fell asleep immediately they got on the train. When Sutherland awoke as the train pulled into Swindon he found his friend missing, his hat and stick left behind.
At this point Sutherland must have panicked. He had no train ticket and no money on him. He gave his friends hat and stick to a porter and when asked for his details he gave a false name and address.
Those called as witnesses at the inquest made no mention of the lads being drunk and in fact William Morrison, station inspector at Bath who was on duty that morning made a point of saying that all the passengers who came out of the waiting room to board the mail train ‘seemed apparently sober.’
The jury returned a verdict: Found dead by the side of the railway, apparently killed by a fall from the mail train.
The funeral of the unfortunate young man took place on Saturday afternoon at St Mark’s burial ground, New Swindon, and was made the subject of a great demonstration, the route from the residence of the deceased’s mother in Oxford Street to the church being crowded by several thousand spectators.
The funeral cortege was made up as follows: - Firing party of 12 members of the 11th WRV Corps – Members of the Corps – The coffin, with deceased’s belt and hat, and several beautiful wreaths of flowers on the top, carried by rifle volunteers – The band of the 11th Wilts Rifles, 25 strong, wearing crape, with muffled drums, and playing the Dead March – About 60 friends, fellow clerks, and workmen of the rail mills – Upwards of 100 of the 11th and 16th WRV Lieut. Armstrong – and between 50 and 60 members of the Ancient Order of Foresters. The service was conducted by the Rev. George Campbell. The blinds at most of the houses on the route were drawn, and the utmost order prevailed.
The inscription on the memorial reads:
Erected from the proceeds of a concert given by the New Swindon Amateur Minstrels (of which he was a prominent member) as a memento of their esteem.
Let's begin our walk by the south porch where a magnificent memorial stands enclosed within the branches of a yew tree.
Henry Alfred Money
A broken column like this is symbolic of a life cut short, someone who died young and the story that goes with this grave has a very modern feel to it.
Henry Alfred Money was the son of Thomas, an engine painter, and his wife Mary. Thomas was born in Staines, Middlesex and his wife Mary was born in Bath. By the time their eldest son George was born in the mid 1850s they were living in Swindon. Henry was born in 1858 and on September 26 of that year the two boys were baptised together here at St. Mark’s. Two daughters, Elizabeth and Ellen, were born in 1861 and 1864 and the family lived at 8 Oxford Street in the railway village.
Henry was a talented musician and played the violin. He was a member of the New Swindon Musical Classes and for many years had taken part in most of the New Swindon Musical entertainments.
When Thomas died in 1873 he left his widow largely dependent on the wages of her sons.
Then, on Monday March 5, 1877 a body was found by the side of the railway track between Chippenham and Corsham. The young man had not been hit by a train but was lying in the ditch, his face covered by 3 or 4 inches of water.
The body was identified as 19-year-old Henry and the inquest the following day unravelled a story that has a very modern feel to it.
Henry and his friend Sutherland Polson set off for a lads’ day out on Sunday, March 4. They went first to Shrivenham, then to Wootton Bassett and then onto Bath. Arriving in Bath the two young men pretended they had come to the station to see some friends off. They were clearly larking about.
They caught the 1 am mail train to Swindon and both fell asleep immediately they got on the train. When Sutherland awoke as the train pulled into Swindon he found his friend missing, his hat and stick left behind.
At this point Sutherland must have panicked. He had no train ticket and no money on him. He gave his friends hat and stick to a porter and when asked for his details he gave a false name and address.
Those called as witnesses at the inquest made no mention of the lads being drunk and in fact William Morrison, station inspector at Bath who was on duty that morning made a point of saying that all the passengers who came out of the waiting room to board the mail train ‘seemed apparently sober.’
The jury returned a verdict: Found dead by the side of the railway, apparently killed by a fall from the mail train.
The funeral of the unfortunate young man took place on Saturday afternoon at St Mark’s burial ground, New Swindon, and was made the subject of a great demonstration, the route from the residence of the deceased’s mother in Oxford Street to the church being crowded by several thousand spectators.
The funeral cortege was made up as follows: - Firing party of 12 members of the 11th WRV Corps – Members of the Corps – The coffin, with deceased’s belt and hat, and several beautiful wreaths of flowers on the top, carried by rifle volunteers – The band of the 11th Wilts Rifles, 25 strong, wearing crape, with muffled drums, and playing the Dead March – About 60 friends, fellow clerks, and workmen of the rail mills – Upwards of 100 of the 11th and 16th WRV Lieut. Armstrong – and between 50 and 60 members of the Ancient Order of Foresters. The service was conducted by the Rev. George Campbell. The blinds at most of the houses on the route were drawn, and the utmost order prevailed.
The inscription on the memorial reads:
Erected from the proceeds of a concert given by the New Swindon Amateur Minstrels (of which he was a prominent member) as a memento of their esteem.
A young man with so much promise, lost on a lads' night out.
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