South Yorkshire Times, January 5th, 1934
Golden Wedding
Mr. and Mrs. Amos Swift
“Poor but Proud”
“Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, be it ever so humble there’s no place like home. Amos Swift and his good wife, Ada Elenor, of 30, Orchard Street, Wombwell, have had no experiences of “palaces” and very little of life’s more garish “pleasures” but they have got a home Moreover, it is their own home, and they are convinced that there is no place on earth like it. They have occupied the little homestead in the long row of old grey cottages nearly all their married life and on New Year’s Day they celebrated their “golden wedding” in it.
“Celebrated” – strictly speaking, that may not be the correct word to use. There were no “celebrations” as we usually think of them; as a matter of fact, they spent the day alone – alone except that they were surrounded by memories – memories of their courting days, of old school friends who have gone before, of children who have grown up and left them to form their own little family circles. Sad memories, may be, some of them were, but there were also many pleasant ones.
Looking back on their long-married life they have much to be thankful for. As Amos said to our reporter, “There isn’t a shilling between us and the workhouse, but thank God we don’t owe anybody a penny. How many young people can say that? “Poor, but proud,” as you might say. And surely there is not much margin out of two old age pensions when the coal has been bought and the rent man satisfied, but Amos and Ada contrive to make themselves fairly comfortable on it. Anyway, they manage to keep their independence, their little sparsely furnished home and a Persian cat of which they are very proud, and which follows them about like a pet lamb. For Amos and Ada, the “big day” was one of quiet, peaceful meditation. Amos spread himself out on his own hearth, while Ada trimmed the little home up a bit. Then, when evening came, Amos went out for a pint of beer, and the old couple pledged each other in it. They could have a lodger if they wanted, but they would rather be without one; two’s company, three’s none” as Mrs. Swift says.
Mr. Swift is 73 and his wife 68. They were married at Wombwell Parish Church by the Rev. A. E. Flaxman on New Year’s Day 1894. At that time Mrs. Swift (then Ada Moore) lived at 10 Lundhill Row, the house in which she was born. Her father, Joseph Moore, worked at Lundhill colliery. The couple could not afford a cab, so they had to walk over the fields. “It was a nice mild morning, just like we had this year,” said Amos. Mr. Swift was born at 8, Reform Row, Elsecar, his father Joseph Swift then being employed at Earl Fitzwilliam’s colliery. At the time of his marriage, he earned only 5/6 a day and was working only two and three shifts a week. “The young people of today,” he said “do not know what hard times are. There was no compensation and no unemployment in my time” he said. “If you earned nothing, you got nothing.”
He started work at Elsecar colliery at the age of 12, his first job being to walk round with a deputy. He had to stand by while the deputy inspected the “gob,” and to give warning if any danger arose. Subsequently he passed through all grades of pit work, working at Lundhill until it finished in ’94, and then going to Mitchell Main where he stayed for 34 years. He gave up work a few years ago.
The old couple have had ten children, but only four are living. One son, Mr. Walter Swift, is a drummer in the Salvation Army Band at Mexboro’. They have may grandchildren and or two great grandchildren. Mr. Swift is an old member of the Wombwell branch of the Yorkshire Miners’ Association.