With just a week left to complete his term of office as Mayor, Councillor H.R. Hustings died suddenly at the Victoria Hospital on Sunday, October 27, 1940. A tough speaking, no nonsense Labour politician, Henry Russell Hustings, Swindon's 40th successive Mayor, took office on Thursday, November 9th 1939 as the town got to grips with the black out, air raid warnings and wartime restrictions. A former trade union organiser for the National Union of Vehicle Workers and the Transport and General Workers' Union, Henry had enjoyed a varied working life and the Swindon Advertiser styled him as the 'Jack of All Trades Mayor.' His first job was with a firm of agricultural engineers in Dorset followed by stints as a traction engine driver, shop assistant, porter, engine driver in a laundry, miner, stoker, baker and in 1939 he was a window cleaning contractor. Henry was born in 1883 in the Dorset village of Hilton to John W. Hustings and his wife Susan. In 1903 he marr...