We’re really pleased to be able to feature this guest post from Yvonne Kerry. In the course of researching her family history she came across our project – with a useful conclusion for her search! What makes this doubly-pleasing is that Yvonne works in the railway industry today – a family line, perhaps. We’re always […]
Tag Archives | fatality
From injury to fatality
In past blog posts we’ve discussed some of the cases of workers known to have had more than one accident – a theme to which we return today. Albert Robert Cox forms part of the group of 14 individuals who each had 2 accidents. His first documented accident took place on 25 November 1911, at […]
Transcription Tuesday: William Mercer’s story
By Mike Esbester on January 21, 2019 in Accident reports, Blog, Linking sources, Transcription Tuesday
Although Transcription Tuesday is still a little way off, we’ve had a look at the first pages of the volume we’ll be working on, to test the transcription process and to get a sense of the stories it contains. Unsurprisingly, there are some serious, and sad, cases. Part of William Mercer’s entry in the ASRS […]
Fog, steam and speed: fireman Edward Booth’s gravestone
We’re going beyond the edges of the project in this post, to look at a passenger crash and its aftermath. This week it’s the anniversary of the Ulleskelf accident, which took place on 24 November 1906. It killed two railwaymen, the driver and fireman of the express train that ploughed into the back of a […]
Halloween: A mystery man, an eerie rabbit & a railway death
As we’re heading towards Halloween, it seems only fitting that we’ve a supernatural case, involving an accident to a railway worker, to bring to your attention. It’s a great demonstration of the promise of our project work, combined with digitisation and transcription of seemingly unrelated documents: the combination and linking of sources is very pleasing. […]
Burns Awareness – past & present
17 October is National Burns Awareness Day, organised by the British Burn Association, a charity set up in 1968 to educate and encourage research into all aspects of burn injury, its treatment and prevention. Some railway staff could have used the Association over 50 years previously, however, as they experienced burns as a part of […]
Monorail, monorail, monorail …
Most of the cases in our database are fairly standard – certainly in terms of being above ground and referring to ‘standard gauge’ track (the well-known 4 foot 8 and a half inches between rails, albeit the reasons for which are debated). However, there are some outliers – including accidents on underground railways (London and […]
James Hodge, 1895
By Nick Planas on October 1, 2018 in Blog, Family History, Guest contribution, Linking sources, Non-company employee
In this post we’re pleased to feature another guest contributor, Nick Planas. Nick contacted our project earlier in the year, offering details of an accident which resulted in the death of one of his ancestors in the 1890s. Although currently outside the timeframe of our project, it was of course still of interest, and Nick […]
Fatal Accident at Steele Road Station
By Kenneth G Williamson on September 10, 2018 in Blog, Family History, Guest contribution, Linking sources
In this post, Kenneth G Williamson outlines the circumstances around the death of his Great Uncle in 1907. Whilst not strictly a worker accident – in the sense that his Great Uncle was only 9 at the time of his death, & not employed on the railways – it happened in the railway workplace, and […]
Railway accidents and deaths: archives at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
By Helen Ford on August 20, 2018 in Accident aftermath, Blog, Guest contribution, Linking sources, Updates
This week’s post comes from a guest contributor, Helen Ford, Manager of the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick – and a staunch supporter of our project. In the post Helen reflects upon the project, the topic of railway worker accidents and the sources at the Modern Records Centre, home to all sorts […]
