| Admin History | William Henry Hallam (1868-1956) was one of the children of John and Sarah Hallam, John being stud-groom on the Lockinge estate to Lt-Col Robert Loyd Lindsay (created Baron Wantage in 1885). Although spending the greater part of his adult life in Swindon, where he was employed at the GWR works, William remained devoted to the place of his birth. His remarkable sequence of diaries, which run from 1886 to 1952, is broken only twice between 1894 and 1897 (unfortunately the period of his marriage to Sarah Sophia Hawkins of Padworth). Their contents include a daily mention of the weather and much humdrum domestic routine in Swindon, but also reflect his abiding interest in history and archaeology, Berkshire antiquities, churchyard inscriptions and church bell mottoes, and numismatics. There are also accounts of excursions, and of visits 'home' to Lockinge and to his in-laws in Padworth, and a number of impatient remarks about lecturers and local clergy. Although he regularly notes down his wages and occasionally comments on workmates, he says virtually nothing of his work itself as a GWR iron turnerFrom a village school education, Hallam appears to have built up his knowledge and interests from attendance at lectures and wide reading, and published a History of the Parish of East Lockinge, Berks in 1900. A draft manuscript of this work is included in the following collection, along with other writings and related correspondence, and two work account books of his father's. A copy of the published History is available in the Record Office Library. |