William Thomas Swift of Churchdown

The diaries of William Thomas Swift Jan. 1860 - Feb 1915, also note books 1893 - 1912.

These diaries, kept by William Thomas Swift, schoolmaster, are of great interest and constitute a remarkable achievement. There are entries for every single day from 31 December 1859 when the diarist was eighteen years old, until 5 February 1915, just five days before his death at the age of 73. The entries relating to the first year or two are mainly brief, but as time goes on they become more and more comprehensive. After the early years they invariably give an account of the weather, the time he arose in the morning, what books he read and whom he met. Not infrequently he even set out what food was taken for the main meal.

The diaries are basically personal in nature and are in consequence very revealing of the character of their author. But they also give a very full account of local happenings of all kinds and of the people concerned in them; who attended local gatherings, who subscribed to funds and in what sum, who failed to pay their rates, and so on. There are frequent references, as would be expected, to members of his and his wife's families, but national events are mentioned relatively infrequently unless they are of great importance (e.g. the Boer and Great Wars) or have an impact on the life of the village (e.g. the Diamond Jubilee and Death of Queen Victoria, General Elections &c.). References to people are often very frank, leaving no room for doubt as to the diarist's feelings about them, and at times they reveal a delightful sense of humour.

As the diaries are read a clear picture evolves of the role of the educated schoolmaster in the life of a village community and that of a man who was on good terms with all its members from the highest to the most lowly, one whose help was sought in numerous ways and who rarely if ever refused to give it and one who was a leader in many village activities and celebrations. All in all the diaries depict a man of fine character, with a strong sense of duty and a constant readiness to follow that path, one who much deserved and was accorded the respect and often the affection of his fellow-men.

This catalogue and the introductory notes were compiled by the late Dr Graham Dowler of Churchdown

THESE RECORDS ARE IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH

Accession 3981 was given by J E Swift, 28 March 1980

William Swift, a painter, the son of Joseph Swift, a farmer, was married to Ann Maria Pick, daughter of Daniel Pick, a labourer, at Leckhampton Church, Cheltenham, on 18 October 1840. On 14 July of the following year their son William Thomas (hereinafter referred to as William) was born. According to an appreciation of William published in The Spectator (1) shortly after his death he grew up to be a 'broadly made man but bent and limping on a club foot'.

He trained to become a schoolmaster at Carmarthen Training College, and after working for a time in Wales he moved in 1870 to Badgeworth School. The number of pupils at that school was evidently diminishing, so when the post of Headmaster of the new Churchdown School became available he applied for it and his application was successful. The school opened on 5 January 1874, and the number of its pupils rapidly increased. (The previous Churchdown School was in a thatched house on the Green, still known (1986) as the School House.)

William was married very quietly to Rosena Poole (always referred to as Rose in the diaries) at St. Peter's Church, Cheltenham, on 3 September 1864. It is curious that the diaries contain very few references to her before the marriage took place. It appears to have been a happy union though not a wildly romantic one. Six sons were born to them between 1867 and 1881, one of whom, Charles Walter, died five days before his second birthday, apparently of kidney failure. Reginald, the eldest, was apprenticed to William Waite, watchmaker of Cheltenham, and it is thought he subsequently set up his own small shop in Southgate Street, Gloucester. The third son, Arthur, was apprenticed to Dale, Forty & Co., Cheltenham, and became a piano tuner and organist. Harry, the fifth child, was apprenticed to Thomas Merrett, the local blacksmith and craftsman, and he himself became an excellent craftsman. The diaries contain numerous references to work he had in hand and those for whom it was being carried out. He remained unmarried and lived with his father until the latter's death.

William can never have known his father, for he died in 1841, the year following his marriage and that of William's birth. It is not known when his mother was married to John Mills, but it is clear from the diaries that the stepfather and stepson got on well together except on the occasions, which became increasingly frequent towards the end of his life, when John Mills indulged in an excess of alcohol and became a source of acute embarrassment to William who not infrequently sternly reproved him. William himself was by no means averse to taking alcohol, in fact he seems to have done so whenever the opportunity presented itself, at a hotel or inn when in town shopping, at country hostelries when out walking or cycling (on his tricycle) or at the homes of relatives or friends, but there is no evidence that he ever took it to excess and it is most unlikely in view of his character that he would have done so.

Rose appears to have been an efficient business woman and a good housewife. She owned a house in Cheltenham, No. 34 Bloomsbury Street, from which rental income was derived, and when he died his stepfather left William further properties, Nos. 1 and 54 Townsend Street and No. 34 Brunswick Street South. After taking into account his salary as a schoolmaster and income derived from all other sources including these properties his net income in 1893 amounted in total to only £164.9.0., yet the family appear always to have lived in reasonable comfort. He evidently took careful note of his financial position always, for a year before his death he stated in his diary that he found he was living 'on a very narrow margin'. His income amounted to £121.7.0., his outgoings to £116.19.6½., balance £4.7.5½. 'or thereabouts'. Somehow he managed in 1891 to buy two semi-detached houses in Churchdown, Nos. 1 and 2, Chosen Villas, in what he called 'our dirt lane', now known as The Piece. On of these became the family home, while still retaining the use of the schoolhouse, and the other was let. It is fortunate that he was a keen gardener as the area of his garden must have been considerable, extending back from the house as far as The Avenue, from which there was an entrance he frequently used when going home from school.

In 1904 Rose had the first of three strokes which caused her to become increasingly helpless and complaining. William found this situation very trying, particularly as it led to his having frequent disturbed nights. She died on 16 October 1907 and was buried in the churchyard on Chosen Hill three days later. Although William and Harry, who then lived on their own, appear to have managed very well, it is evident that Rose was greatly missed and each anniversary of her death received mention in the diaries. For many years William had been in the habit of paying visits, generally of a few days, to his Aunt Sarah at Lower Stone, and he always greatly enjoyed them. After Rose's death these became more frequent. The last of the took place only a Week or two before his death at a time when he was far from well. To get there he travelled by train to Berkeley Road where he was met by an old Friend, Mr. Croome, and his pony and trap. They proceeded to Berkeley where a stop was made to buy chops or some other gift for Aunt Sarah and to take some whisky and water or other such refreshment. The remainder of the journey to Lower Stone seems always to have been accompanied by much laughter.

It is time now to turn to William as a man, his many activities and various aspects of his character. As a schoolmaster he seems to have been very effective and caring, firm but by no means tyrannical. The school inspectors appear almost always to have issued excellent reports on the standard of teaching, and his scholars, of whom he was always very proud, seem to have held him in high regard. The fact that many of them, by then in military uniform, are reported in the Gloucester Journal (2) as having attended his funeral service in 1915 gives some testimony to this. He appears in fact to have fitted very closely the commonly held vision of the village schoolmaster of those times. He was looked up to as an educated man and consulted on all sorts of matters. As an example, he was very often asked to draw up the Wills of the poorer members of the community and he always did so, often at considerable personal inconvenience. He played a very active part in all village affairs, not only in official positions as will be shown below but as a voluntary helper or as a leader. When money had to be collected for events he seems always to have been one of those deputed to visit residents' homes and persuade the inmates to contribute. He walked many miles in carrying out this task, and he took care to set out in his diaries not only the names of the contributors and the sums they gave but also the names on those who declined to contribute, sometimes with appropriate caustic comments.

His religion was an important element in his life. Not only was he a very regular church attender, often attending services in Churchdown or in Gloucester Cathedral daily, but he also took a very active part in church affairs. For many years he played the harmonium - before an organ was installed - and trained the choir, and later he was for a long period the Vicar's Churchwarden. He was the superintendent of the Sunday School for no less than 39 years. Prior to 1904 the only church in Churchdown was St. Bartholomew's, the lovely old building situated on the top of Chosen Hill. As access to this was often difficult, particularly in the winter months, a room in the school was used as a Chapel of Ease, and this gave Mr.Swift much pleasure. He took great pride in preparing the room for services and in decorating it with flowers, and he obviously had feelings of regret when the use of the room came to an end with the dedication of St. Andrew's Church.

He felt very strongly that everything to do with the church must be done according to the proper order. Not infrequently he complained that sermons or chosen hymns bore no relation to the particular days of the church's year. When visiting villages and towns he made a special point of seeing the churches, and he usually made a particular note of the number of candles on the altar and of any other details concerned with ceremonial. He was on excellent terms with the tow incumbents of the Churchdown during his life there, first the Rev. Dr. Smithe and after him the Rev. Cooke, and also with a retired clergyman who lived in the village, the Rev. Hodson. When the time came to build a second church, St. Andrew's, he enthusiastically helped to collect the required money and he took a great interest in the planning.

As for his involvement in local government he was for a time a parish councillor, but the most important part he played was as one of the two Rate Assessors and Collectors. On numerous occasions, both while doing this work and after his retirement from the post, he helped his colleague George Davis to correct errors in the figures so that the presented accounts were completely accurate. For a time he was an Overseer of the Poor, and he took a very active interest in two longstanding village charitable funds of which he was a trustee. When censuses took place he was on several occasions the officer responsible for the Churchdown returns, and the figures shown in them were always recorded in the diaries. He appears to have been far less interested in national than in local government, but he always recorded details of the results in local constituencies in general elections. He was a staunch Conservative supporter.

Finally, some aspects of William Swift as a man: One of the most outstanding features of his character was his insatiable interest in everything and his constant desire to acquire new knowledge. He much enjoyed meeting and taking to people, particularly if they had information to impart. He was a great reader, and the diaries usually record what he read each day and how long he devoted to each book. The range of subjects they comprised was Extraordinary and included theology, archaeology, languages, classical novels and countless others. On rare occasions he was persuaded to read 'modern' novels, but he always regretted having done so and resented having wasted valuable time. He was enthusiastic about the French language, and to improve his knowledge of it he often read a French New Testament, looking up in the dictionary words with which he was not familiar. It was perhaps typical of him that he persisted in this study until a few days before his death, even though he was aware that he had but little longer to live.

He went to much trouble in writing a history of Churchdown (3) which was locally published and very well received. He also wrote for the Vicar a long series of articles on the derivation and history of the Prayer Book for publication month by month in the Parish Magazine.

For a time he was a keen collector, first of geological specimens and fossils and later of coins, in both of which subjects he became quite knowledgeable. Archaeology was one of his greatest interest and he much enjoyed visiting old churches and other buildings. In furtherance of this interest he became a member of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, much enjoying some of the expeditions organised by it and often borrowing books from the Society's library. With the diaries is a set of notebooks, the contents of many of which relate to archaeological matters. Other entries, as would be expected, cover a wide range of subjects one of which is self-medication which always seemed to have a fascination for him.

Reading the diaries gives one the feeling that one has got to know a most remarkable and outstanding man, one of fine character who regarded service to others and an unfailing readiness to help them as being of paramount importance. It is clear from the article in The Spectator written by one who knew him that he engendered both respect and affection in his many friends and neighbours.

William Swift died on 10 February 1915 and his funeral took place at Churchdown on 14 February, a Sunday afternoon. Copies of his Will and of that of his wife are held in the Gloucestershire County Record Office, which also has the custody of the diaries and notebooks.

1) The article appeared in The Spectator of April 24 1915 under the title 'Of One Who Counts - An Appreciation'. It was written by Miss Purnell, a resident of Churchdown, but she signed the article 'J. Lenrup'. In it William Swift is referred to as Mr. Martin, and Churchdown is referred to as Thor. (There is a myth, almost certainly incorrect, that a Temple of Thor formerly stood on the site of the old church on Chosen Hill.)

2) Report of the death and funeral of the late Mr. William T. Swift in the Gloucester Journal of Saturday, February 20, 1915.

3) History of Churchdown, by William T. Swift. Gloucester: Wellington & Co., Printers, Southgate Street. 1905.