Earlier this year we were contacted by the author of this blog post, Sarah Maczugowska, seeking information about her Great Grandfather John Pratt’s role on the railway – in particular, the ‘special guard duty’ during the First World War that was to result in his death. Whilst we couldn’t help directly, when knew someone who […]
Archive | War
Barbara Stainsby: A Munitions Worker to Blame for Her Own Death
By Laura Noakes on September 13, 2021 in Accident aftermath, Blog, Gender, Guest contribution, Industrial, War
Whilst blog posts have largely reflected our project sources and focus, and looked at mainline railways in the UK and Ireland, this doesn’t capture all of the railway activity – and dangers – in our nations. Plenty of railway systems were privately-owned and operated – like the coal railways which came to be part of […]
Light Railway Accident 17 January 1918 – The Death of Sapper Hay
By Sandra Gittins on January 13, 2020 in Accident reports, Blog, Guest contribution, Linking sources, War
In her research, Sandra Gittins has already turned up a couple of cases of accidents to railway staff serving overseas during World War One – and we’re very grateful that she’s blogged about them for us, here and here. In this post, she has uncovered the circumstances surrounding one further – dramatic – case. We […]
Working 9-5? Not in 1915 – Long hours 1
In the early 1890s a public scandal arose over the hours some railway employees worked. We might conclude that the press and MPs who took up the case were very public spirited and willing to campaign on behalf of others, particularly as it resulted in the 1893 Railway Regulation Act which (theoretically) restricted employees’ hours […]
A World War Two case
So far we’ve largely confined ourselves to the cases found in our database, to give you more detail on a small – but increasing – number of the 3,915 individuals involved in accidents, and to demonstrate some of the value of our project. Today’s post, however, strays beyond existing territory – and is a precursor […]
Railway Accident at Ruyalcourt Station (Somme) 16 November 1917
In the course of her research into the military railway aspects of the First World War, Sandra Gittins has already found a number of accidents to soldiers around the rails in France and been good enough to write them up for us, the most recent of which is here. These cases add an important dimension […]
New surroundings and new dangers: wartime railwaywomen
In this guest post marking the start of Women’s History Month, Dr Susan Major – another of us with a connection to York – explores some of the ways in which women railway staff encountered and experienced dangers in their working environments during the Second World War. Women weren’t new to the railways by any […]
Dernancourt (Somme) railway accident, 1918
In this post, guest contributor Sandra Gittins brings us back to the First World War, when accidents to railway staff didn’t stop. She’s already blogged about a case which led to an injury for a railwayman on active service in France (here); this time, sadly, 2 fatalities resulted. As always, we’re very happy to receive […]
Thomas Henry Stearn: injured at work, died at war
Last year we blogged about some of the railway staff who were injured at work and then went on to fight and die in the First World War. They appear in both our database and the NRM’s Fallen Railwaymen database, also put together by volunteers. We identified 11 men who cross over like this, including […]
The Fighting Wounded
Over the last 4 years a great deal of attention has been focused on the First World War and its devastating and wide-ranging impacts. We’ve thought – as nations, communities, families, and individuals – about what happened, and about how we remember and talk about the war and its aftermath. That has included people looking […]
