Following on from yesterday’s post, looking at Lewis Washburn and his family, today we focus on another of the men who died in the 1922 Wilmcote accident: William Bonehill, and his family. William was the youngest of the men to die, aged 27. He was born in January 1894 in Wilmcote, to Edward and […]
Archive | Accident aftermath
Wilmcote: Lewis Washburn & his family
By Mike Esbester on March 21, 2022 in Accident aftermath, Anniversary, Blog, Family History, Linking sources
In yesterday’s post we looked at what happened in the days following the 1922 Wilmcote accident. This included some of the community impacts, seen through the response to the men’s funeral and the financial support given to the dependents left behind. Today we move the focus of our posts about the accident, to look more […]
Wilmcote: ‘the whole district in mourning’
By Mike Esbester on March 20, 2022 in Accident aftermath, Accident reports, Anniversary, Blog, Linking sources
In yesterday’s post, we looked at the immediate circumstances of the accident, as seen through the investigation reports. Today we turn to what happened in the days and weeks following. The Coroner’s inquest The accident happened on Friday 24 March 1922. The Coroner’s inquest took place the following Monday, on 27 March 1922, in […]
John William Hawley, 1868-1909: A family tragedy remembered
By Megan Carswell on February 4, 2022 in Accident aftermath, Anniversary, Blog, Family History, Guest contribution
A year ago, we posted this blog about the 1909 Sharnbrook accident, which killed 2 railway workers. Shortly afterwards, we were contacted by this week’s guest author, Megan Carswell – the Great Niece of one of the men killed at Sharnbrook. A discussion followed, and we’re grateful that Megan was willing to do a bit […]
‘For God’s sake go and stop him’: The Sharnbrook crash, Feburary 1909
Something of a departure for our usual project focus, this week’s blog makes use of an accident report type we don’t usually have reason to include. Our project database so far draws largely from reports issued by the Railway Inspectors appointed solely to investigate accidents to workers (called Sub-Inspectors or Assistant Sub-Inspectors, producing the Appendix […]
On Track for Change – a visitor’s perspective
By Louise Bell on November 22, 2021 in Accident aftermath, Blog, Disability, Disability History Month, Guest contribution, Medical humanities
In this guest post, Louise Bell reflects on her visit to the ‘On Track for Change’ exhibition at Head of Steam, earlier this year. The exhibition took a look at how artificial limbs were made, used and understood on the railways, and included a creative response to the relationships between railways, prostheses and their owners […]
Robert Johnson – visualising disability
By Mike Esbester on December 14, 2020 in Accident aftermath, Blog, Disability, Disability History Month, Family History, Linking sources
Some months ago I was sent an intriguing image by Robert Kitching of the Bowes Railway (whose guest post will be appearing soon!). The image showed a railwayman, supported by crutches and lacking both legs below the knee. Robert knew we’d be interested, especially since images of the workers involved in accidents are often hard […]
A Railway Accident at Strensall: The Case of George Hey
By Sally-Anne Shearn on October 25, 2021 in Accident aftermath, Blog, Disability, Family History, Guest contribution, Health, Linking sources, Medical humanities
In another one of those fortuitous encounters – in this case, virtually, on Twitter – we ended up in contact with the author of today’s guest blog post, Sally-Anne Shearn. We were invited in to hear a railway-related talk at the Family History Society of Cheshire (with thanks to Margaret Roberts); Sally-Anne made a comment […]
Ten Men Memorial, at Queensbury Tunnel
This week’s guest post seems fitting, coming after last week’s look at the 1921 Stapleton Road accident and thinking about how we remember those who have been killed or injured at work on the railways. Typically we focus on the operational years, rather than construction – but here the post, from the Queensbury Tunnel Society, […]
Stapleton Road: the men, pt 4
By Mike Esbester on September 25, 2021 in Accident aftermath, Accident reports, Anniversary, Blog, Family History, Linking sources
This blog is our final post in this series, ahead of the centenary tomorrow of the 1921 Stapleton Road accident. Yesterday we looked at the family connections between Arthur and Charles Hobbs. Today we focus on the final man who died, Stephen Francis. Stephen Albert Francis proved to be somewhat tricky to pin down – […]
