Swindon in the Past Lane

Welcome - sign in to bid or buy.  Oh that invitation. I'm certainly not in the market for the Jimmy Choo ankle boots, a snip at £400 or the diamond studded white gold Rolex retailing at a cool £3,182.63. So what am I looking at amidst the secondhand and second best items for sale online. For me the attraction on the popular online auction website is always the photographs.  Not the film stars and celebrities, but those classified as Antique (Pre 1940): People and Portraits - carte de visite and cabinet photographs produced in their thousands in the late 19th century.  Today there are 59 pages and some 2,923 images for sale online.  'Vintage housemaid in vintage Victorian uniform' taken in a Kentish Town studio, probably on the girl's afternoon off - a gift for her mother?  Occasionally they come complete with family album, the details meticulously recorded by the seller - Uncle West, Auntie Annie Eplett, Poll and Rosie West - buy now £59.99.  But...

The Highworth and Swindon Union Workhouse at Stratton St. Margaret was built in 1845-6 in the wake of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. With outdoor relief - payment in cash or kind - now restricted to only the deserving poor, the workhouse was the destiny of those down on their luck. At the time of the 1881 census the workhouse at Stratton contained 206 people. Among them was Charles Marlow, a man who had enjoyed both fame and fortune. In the 1840s Marlow was ranked as one of the top jockeys of his day. It was his association with the Earl of Eglinton and his horse The Flying Dutchman that secured Marlow's place in horse racing history. Marlow rode the Dutchman to an exciting win in the 1849 Derby. After three false starts Hotspur with George Whitehouse onboard stole the Dutchman's early lead. But as the runners and riders turned into the home straight Marlow struck his horse with the whip and the Flying Dutchman won by a short neck. Marlow was in the saddle a...