Swindon in the Past Lane

Today we will see him move out of 10 Downing Street ... while she moves in ... but someone much closer to home had a very close connection with this most famous of London residences. Unfortunately there are no depictions of Sir Walter St John walking through this very same door, but there is some paperwork to prove that he probably did. So what is the connection between the St John family, Lydiard House and 10 Downing Street? Edward Lee 1st Earl of Lichfield was the grandson of Anne St John, the daughter of Sir John St John 1st Baronet and his wife Anne Leighton who owned Lydiard House and Park in the 17th century. Charlotte Fitzroy, Edward's wife, was the illegitimate daughter of Charles II and Barbara, Countess of Castlemaine, the granddaughter of Barbara St John, Sir John's sister. This brother and sister are represented on the St John polyptych in St Mary's Church. Young Edward Lee was created Earl of Lichfield, Viscount Quarrendon and Baron Spelsbu...

In 1906 the suffragette campaign entered its most violent phase. Over 500 women had been imprisoned by 1909 and right up there among the militant activists was a Swindon schoolteacher. Edith Bessie New was born 17th March, 1877 at 24 North Street, Swindon, the fourth of Frederic and Isabelle New's five children. Frederic worked as a railway clerk at the GWR Works and Isabelle was a music teacher. An assistant mistress at Queenstown Infant School from 1899-1901, Edith subsequently left her Swindon home to teach in the deprived areas of Deptford and Lewisham. It was after hearing the charismatic Emmeline Pankhurst speak at a meeting in Trafalgar Square that Edith joined the Women's Social and Political Union. In February 1907 a deputation of suffragettes marched on the House of Commons in protest at the omission of votes for women from the King's speech. What had begun as a peaceful demonstration ended in a violent confrontation with police. Edith was among those arr...