In yesterday’s blog we outlined what we knew of two of the men involved in the Holywell Junction accident, Richard Jones and Alfred Jones. Today we look at the other two men. Josiah Jones Josiah Jones was born in Whitford, Flintshire, in 1881, to Owen, a carpenter, and Elizabeth. He had an elder brother, […]
Archive | Anniversary
Holywell Junction – the men, pt 1
By Mike Esbester on August 31, 2022 in Accident aftermath, Accident reports, Anniversary, Blog, Family History
Yesterday’s blog looked at the accident at Holywell Junction on 1 September 1922. The next blog posts will look at the men involved. To be honest, the heart sank a bit when we saw we had a case which involved 3 ‘Jones’ – but we’ve found at least a little information about each of the […]
Holywell Junction, 1 September 1922
Alfred Henry Jones. Josiah Jones. Richard Jones. Daniel Roberts. Once again we start a blog post with the names of multiple men killed at work on the railways. Once again, it’s a case of track workers, hit by a train whilst they were maintaining the lines. It comes nearly 6 months after we […]
An accident in the dark – Woodhead tunnel 1922
In today’s post, project volunteer and regular blog contributor Philip James looks at the (infamous?) Woodhead route, including the tunnels. He draws on an accident case he found when transcribing for our forthcoming data release, as well as providing us with a potted history of the Woodhead route. Our thanks as ever to Philip for […]
Wilmcote: George Booker & his family
By Mike Esbester on March 24, 2022 in Accident aftermath, Anniversary, Blog, Family History, Linking sources
On the day of the centenary of the Wilmcote accident, we turn to the fourth and final family to be affected: the Booker family. This follows on from our previous blog, which looked at Edward Sherwood and his family. Of all the families to be affected by the accident, George’s has probably been the […]
Wilmcote: Remembering those affected
Over the last six days we’ve been blogging about 1922 Wilmcote accident (see yesterday’s post here), in the lead up to the centenary on 24 March. We’ve also been writing for different audiences – including a piece for the Stratford Herald newspaper and a blog post for The National Archives of the UK. We’d also […]
Wilmcote: Edward Sherwood & his family
By Mike Esbester on March 23, 2022 in Accident aftermath, Anniversary, Blog, Family History, Linking sources
Yesterday we looked at William Bonehill and his family – another small family, though no less devasting an impact via the death of a husband and father. Today we see the other end of the scale: Edward Sherwood and his large family. Edward was the only of the Wilmcote men to have travelled some […]
Wilmcote: William Bonehill & his family
By Mike Esbester on March 22, 2022 in Accident aftermath, Anniversary, Blog, Family History, Linking sources
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 […]
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 […]
