Alfred Williams

Alfred Williams was born and raised in South Marston near Swindon, and spent over twenty years working a steam hammer at the Great Western Railway works. Largely self taught, he became known as the Hammerman Poet and wrote Life in a Railway Factory. Between 1914 and 1916 he cycled around the villages of the Upper Thames, writing down the words of more than 800 songs, catches and fragments from country singers.