Alderman was champion of Swindon's underdogs (From Swindon Advertiser)

Alderman was champion of Swindon's underdogs

4:20pm Thursday 13th August 2009 in

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“It was the greatest public demonstration of spontaneous affection for a public figure that the town of Swindon had seen for very many years,” reported the Advertiser on the funeral of Alderman Reuben George.

Yet today he is in danger of becoming one of the forgotten political heroes of the town.

Reuben was born on September 11, 1864 the son of Stephen George, a bootmaker and his wife Elizabeth.

He grew up at Highfield Cottages in the hamlet of Barton St Mary, Gloucester.

He moved to Swindon where he worked as an agent for the Wesleyan and General Insurance Company and by 1891 he lived with his wife Clara and their son, two year old Herbert Gladstone George, in two rooms in a shared house at 97 Princes Street.

The rest of the house was occupied by Albert Bick, an iron turner at the GWR works, his wife and her sister.

Socialist, pacifist, member of the Wiltshire Archaeological Society, an authority on Wiltshire local history, one of the founder members of the Worker’s Educational Association and supporter of the Richard Jefferies Society, George’s list of interests and achievements is a long one.

During his lengthy political career he served as Mayor of Swindon from 1921-22.

He was elected to both Swindon Town and Wiltshire County councils and he served on numerous committees, including the education committee of both authorities.

His life-long interest in education stemmed from his own humble beginnings and early lack of opportunities. Reuben George died in the Victoria Hospital on June 4, 1936. Described as a champion of the underdog he was a Socialist reformer inspired by William Morris, the 19th century artist, poet and political activist. And George’s fame was not confined to Swindon. “The news of the passing of Ald Reuben George was broadcast to the nation in the second news bulletin of the National programme on Friday night,” the report of his death continued.

During a funeral service, attended by not only local dignitaries but also the ordinary people to whom George had devoted his life, it was reported that “men and women sobbed audibly.”

A letter of condolence was sent by May Morris, the daughter of the late William.

And among the floral tributes were wreaths from the employees at the Electricity Department, Swindon, and Clifton Street School senior girls. The pall bearers were six members of the Swindon WEA Executive Committee.

Among the family mourners were Reuben’s widow, who attended her husband’s funeral against her doctor’s advice, his three surviving brothers John, Alfred and Walter and his two sons, Granville and Stanley.

His eldest son Herbert had died while on military service in India. Bareheaded crowds lined the streets and blinds were drawn everywhere along the route as the funeral cortege made its way from Christ Church to the Radnor Street Cemetery.