The Hadwen Family of Lancashire

THE CHELTENHAM GHOST.
Taken from “Ghosts and witches of the Cotswolds”, by J.A. Brooks
The property involved in the story of “the Cheltenham Ghost” is a large Victorian house in Pittville Circus Road, Cheltenham, now called St.Anne’s. It is now divided into flats and there have been no reports of anything untoward since 1962.
The house was built in 1860 and advertised as ‘a typical modern residence’. It was bought by Mr Henry Swinhoe, who lived there happily until the death of his wife, to whom he was devoted. After two years as a widower, during which time he drank heavily, he re-married. His new wife, Imogen Hutchins, thought that she could she could induce him to stop drinking, but she was wrong and it actually got worse! There were frequent violent quarrels, many of which concerned Henry’s first wife’s jewellery which was, apparently, hidden under the floorboards of the front room as a nest-egg for the children of his first marriage. Imogen finally left Henry and moved to Clifton in Bristol, where she died on 23 September 1878. Although she had vowed never to return to Cheltenham, she did leave instructions for her body to be buried in Cheltenham along with those of her parents (see photograph).
After Henry Swinhoe died his house was let to a Captain Despard. He called the house “Garden Reach”. The ghost was first seen in June 1882 by Captain Despard’s daughter, Rosina, who kept a meticulous account of the haunting:
“I had gone up to my room, but was not yet in bed, when I heard someone at the door. I went to it, thinking it might be my mother. On opening the door, I saw the figure of a tall lady, dressed in black, standing at the head of the stairs. After a few moments she descended the stairs….”
THIS IS BELIEVED TO BE THE GHOST OF IMOGEN HUTCHINS, BUT DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS??