Swindon in the Past Lane

Today it is de rigueur for the about-to-be-married couple to circulate a gift list, but few would publish the results in the local paper.  Yet this was common  practice  among the great and the good of the 19 th  century and when the Goddard heir married he did just that. Captain Fitzroy Pleydell Goddard, second eldest son of Ambrose Lethbridge Goddard married Mrs Eugenia Sutton, widow of Alexander George Sutton, at the Parish Church, Chippenham on June 1, 1895.  The wedding, described as being of ‘a very quiet character,’ was performed by Captain Goddard’s brother, the Rev. C.F. Goddard assisted by the Rev Canon Rich, Vicar of Chippenham and the Rev Canon Mayne, Rector of Christian Malford.  Following the wedding breakfast at The Angel Hotel, Chippenham the couple left for a honeymoon in Lynton, Devon. While the wedding might have been a low key event, the presents were in a different league altogether and were described in the Advertiser as ‘...

When Florence Poole married Elver Milsom in 1900 her family was at the peak of their profession, enjoying celebrity status across the country.  Florence was the daughter of Joseph Poole who with his four brothers developed novel techniques in the art of myriorama, introducing explosive special effects, which caused great excitement amongst audiences, especially when the scenery caught fire. The family business began in the 1840s when Malmesbury brothers George, Walter and Charles Poole, itinerate musicians working south coast resorts, met old showman Moses Gompertz. By 1863 the brothers were managing Gompertz's panorama and diorama touring productions.  However, it would be their nephews who would take the myriorama, a presentation of painted pictures moving across the stage on rollers, to new heights of popularity. One of the Poole brothers most successful shows was 'The Bombardment of Alexandria' which included realistic gun fire achieved by a network of brass tub...