Alfred WilliamsKnown as 'The Hammerman Poet' and 'The Wiltshire Poet' Alfred Williams was born in 1877 in South Marston, near Swindon. Family poverty forced him to begin working for a farmer at the age of eight. While still a teenager he joined two of his elder brohers at the GWR works at Swindon. Throughout his life he was a prolific writer of both prose and poetry and his thirst for knowledge was immense -he even taught himself Sanskrit. The shock of receiving news of his beloved wife, Mary's, terminal illness proved fatal to him and he died just before her in 1930. Read More Read Less