This page is one of a series introducing railway staff who worked on the Isle of Wight’s railways before 1939. It’s a collaboration between the Isle of Wight Steam Railway and the Railway Work, Life & Death project. We’ve tried to share more about the social history of the Island’s railways in the past, via the people who kept them moving. Where we can we’ve looked at the individual and their wider working and family lives.
The workers featured were selected from staff who appear in the Railway Work, Life & Death project database of accidents to pre-1939 British and Irish railway employees. This worker is one of those featured in the leaflet produced collaboratively between the Isle of Wight Steam Railway and the Railway Work, Life & Death project, available at the Railway or as a PDF here. You can find the other staff in this series here.
It used to be the case that the railways offered a job for life – provided staff didn’t step out of line. Albert Shepherd demonstrated what happened when things didn’t work out – and potentially offers us an interesting insight into how mental health was handled in the past.
Farm, families and railway
Albert Shepherd was born on 2 January 1873, in Ryde parish. It looks likely that Albert and his family were based in a rural part of the parish. Certainly by 1891 the family – consisting of four children and mother Ann – were living in Ashey Common, to the south of Ryde. Albert, then 18, was working as a farm labourer. In 1897 Albert married Alice Amelia Ashman.
Ashey Common was reasonably close to one of the routes of the Isle of Wight Central Railway, and now preserved as part of the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. This proximity might have offered Albert a route to a different career.
A mainland railway – on the Island
In July 1899, aged 26, Albert joined the London and South Western and London, Brighton and South Coast Joint Railway (LSW & LBSC Joint Railway). This company was a bit of an oddity – particularly on the Isle of Wight. It was very much of the mainland, being formed as a joint enterprise between the London & South Western Railway and the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway as a compromise to drive a railway through limited space onto Portsea Island.
Courtesy Isle of Wight Steam Railway Photographic Archive.
Having done so, the LSW & LBSC Joint Railway established a toe-hold on the Isle of Wight. It owned and ran the railway from Ryde Pier Head to St John’s Road – a distance of around 1.2 miles. It connected with ferry services from the mainland, through Portsmouth and for a while Stokes Bay in Gosport. Given the mainland connections – both literal and organisationally – mainland railway staff might find themselves on the Island, and vice versa.
Albert’s service record survives. It tells us that he was 5 feet 10 inches tall, and had been recommended by Ryde Pier Head’s station master. He was appointed as a porter, being paid 17 shillings per week – around £134 in 2026. (Interestingly, it looks like Albert’s younger brother, Ernest, followed him onto the railway. He joined the LSW & LBSC Joint Railway on 7 February 1907 as a porter at Ryde Pier Head.)
Moving on on the railway – and in the family
In 1901 Albert and Alice were living in St Helens. St Helens-Ryde was a bit of an awkward journey to make by rail, and by 1911 they were living in Ryde. In January 1908 Albert had been promoted from porter to shunter. The two grades were more closely linked than people perhaps think. Gradually Albert’s wages increased – until by 1912 he had reached the height of 23 shillings per week (around £140 in 2026).
There was another significant event during this period. Albert and Alice took in Albert’s niece, Elsie, born in 1900. It’s unclear exactly why this was. Elsie was the third children to Alexander and Ellen Shepherd, in Bexhill, Sussex. For whatever reason, she ended up with her uncle and aunt and on the Island.
This provides another demonstration of why we need to approach sources critically and to check information where possible. On the 1911 Census Elsie appears as ‘daughter’ to Albert and Alice. She was also included under the details about number of children born to the marriage. Whether this was a census enumerator’s mistake or a deliberate attempt to deceive on the part of Albert and Alice is unclear. By 1921 Elsie was more correctly identified as Albert and Alice’s niece. It looks like Albert and Alice didn’t have any children of their own.
Albert’s 1910 accident
On 4 December 1910, Albert had an accident at work on Ryde pier. At just after 5pm, he was involved in shunting two carriages between platforms. He checked the points were set correctly, and started walking back on a girder between the two main running lines. However, he slipped and fell onto a signal at ground level. As he did so, he was caught by the footsteps of the first carriage.
Courtesy Britain from Above.
There was an official state investigation into Albert’s accident. This didn’t always happen – only around 3% of all staff accidents were investigated. Whilst it concluded that the accident was ‘misadventure’ it noted that there were some systemic issues that the Company should address. Clearly access and space was an issue on the pier. Without a safe walking route, staff had to use the girder to move about site. Inspector JJ Hornby recommended that the girder be boarded to prevent slipping, and that the ground signal be moved to create a clearer route for staff. Whether or not this was done isn’t known – the railway companies didn’t have to accept the Inspector’s recommendations.
The end of Albert’s railway career
Albert’s service record notes that on 5 November 1914 he was ‘dismissed for theft’. More detail comes from contemporary press reports and court documents. Albert was charged with two counts of theft of jewellery at Ryde, on 24 December 1913 and 17 June 1914. The items were valued in total at £447 (around £60,250 in 2026). He had been arrested on 12 October 1914. At trial he confessed, and was sentenced to six months hard labour for each offence, to run concurrently.
The press report of the trial gave a rather more illuminating detail. Albert tried to defend himself by noting that ‘I have had a lot of trouble in the last year or two; I have had a sick wife, and I was depressed when I did this’. Today this might be taken into account; in 1914 the judge simply determined that there was ‘no justification, if he had a sick wife, to act as he had acted.’ With the conviction came the formal end of Albert’s railway career. Having lost the Company’s trust, he was unlikely ever to be employed on the railways again.
Life after the railway
That proved to be the case. Albert remained on the Isle of Wight for the rest of his life. In 1921 he, Amelia and Elsie were living on Quarry Road in Ryde. Albert was listed as an unemployed general labourer. Amelia died later in 1921. By 1939 Albert was living in Sandon and working as a hotel porter. We’ve so far been unable to trace Elsie; Albert died in 1949.
If you know more about any of the railway workers featured we’d be keen to hear from you – do please let us know.