This page is one of a series introducing railway staff who worked on the south coast of England before 1939. They’ve been researched as part of the ‘Portsmouth Area Railway Pasts’ project – which you can read more about here, including accessing details of the other railway workers featured.
Research was undertaken from November 2024-July 2025, by a small group of volunteers from the Havant Local History Group, working with the University of Portsmouth’s History team. The work was funded by the University of Portsmouth’s Centre of Excellence for Heritage Innovation.
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 workers.
Aged just 45, James Pearce was left ‘unable to follow any employment in the future’ after an accident at work. But what happened to him, and how did that one moment fit within his wider life story?
Early life
James proved challenging to track down – there were a number of contenders who all broadly fitted the details we knew of him from his railway accident. However, we think we have the right one!
He was born in approximately 1839 in the Denmead area. (His birth year varies across the censuses from 1839 to 1842, but most give 1839.) His mother, Harriet, and his father, Richard, were both born within Hambledon parish. In 1841 the family was living in Denmead; James had four elder sisters at that point.
By 1851 the family – now extended with the addition of three further children, two sons and a daughter – were living at 30 Hoeford, Fareham. Richard was an agricultural labourer, and James, age 11 according to the Census, was also recorded as a labourer. As noted, he might actually have been slightly older. So far, fairly traditional.
Joining the railway
As is often the case at this distance from the times and events, we’re reliant upon the documentary record. Frequently that means the census, taken every ten years from 1841. So, our next sighting of James comes in 1861. At this point, age 22, he’s living as a boarder in Portsmouth, at 74 Ivy Street, Portsea. He was employed as a journeyman baker – effectively learning a trade. He was living with George and Mary Rogers, and their one-year old daughter. That living arrangement was to prove significant!
George, only a few years older than James, was employed as a railway ticket collector. Seeing this, our supposition was that George was James’ entry point to railway employment – and it’s nice to be able to see this in the records! James joined the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway (LBSCR) in December 1863, as a porter at Portsmouth [Town – now Portsmouth and Southsea] station. His service record shows a recommendation from … Mr G Rogers – James’ landlord.
James’ working and family life
Initially James was paid 17 shillings per week – around £105 today. By 1871 he had only advanced to 18 shillings per week (c.£111 in 2025). However, by 1881, he was paid the princely sum of £1.0.4 per week (around £138 now), and was being provided with a work uniform by the LBSCR.
In 1871 he was no longer living with the Rogers family. He remained on Ivy Street, and had one of his younger sisters, Matilda, living with him. She was 21 and working as a domestic servant.
Between 1871 and 1881 James’ father, Richard, died. On the 1881 Census James is living at 14 Ivy Street, with Matilda, their other sister Elizabeth (age 41) and their mother, Harriett. Harriett is noted as a widow, age 71, and her occupation given as ‘former laundress’: had she been doing this all along, but it wasn’t recorded on the Census? This is something we’ve seen for other women engaged in the economy. Or had she only taken on the role after the death of her husband, Richard, during the previous decade, and now retired, being supported by James and Matilda? Matilda is described as a ‘captain’s merchants wife’, though still under her maiden name and living with her brother.
James’ accident
This was how James Pearce came to our attention. He features in the records in the Railway Work, Life & Death project – albeit briefly. They show that he was a member of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (ASRS) trade union. He joined the Portsmouth branch on 3 December 1873 – the Union itself was only established in 1871, so James was a relatively early member.
On 2 January 1884 James broke one of his legs in an accident, and cut his foot. According to the Union record, the ‘doctor had certified that he was suffering from leg ulcers and nervous debility and was unable to follow any employment in the future.’ This turned out to be extremely important for the whole family.
A brief newspaper report in the Hampshire Telegraph of 5 January 1884 noted the incident: ‘On Wednesday, a railway porter, named James Pearce, was at work at the Goods Station at Landport, when a case containing stays fell on him, breaking his leg just above the ankle. He was taken to the Hospital at Mile End.’ This was the Royal Hospital; and the ‘stays’ mentioned would have been part of the corset industry, which was a significant employer in Portsmouth. So – in a pre-NHS era – we have an interesting marrying together of lots of different aspects of local life.
The aftermath
The records suggest that James’ accident had a big impact upon his family, chiefly around the loss of his income. In the short term, the ASRS Union paid him a standard £20 disability benefit (c.£2780 in 2025), to contribute to his support as he was unable to earn.
At this point there was no automatic compensation from an employer, so James and his family could not rely upon the LBSCR helping. Given the doctor’s summary was that James would never work again, he and his family faced a challenging future.
His sister Elizabeth entered the Portsmouth workhouse in January 1883, albeit was only resident until May 1883. Their mother, Harriett, entered in 1885 and appears to have remained there until her death in 1890. We don’t have an entry record for James, but he died in the ‘Union House’ – the poor union building, in Milton, on the site of what was St Mary’s Hospital.
Matilda has proven hard to trace; possibly she was supported by her husband and avoided the workhouse. So, it appears that at least three of the four Pearce family who were living together in 1881 spent time in the workhouse. Presumably the loss of James’ railway job and income was the root cause of misfortune for some of the Pearce family.
Mike Esbester
I’m Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Portsmouth, and one of the wider Railway Work, Life & Death project co-leads. I’ve greatly enjoyed the Portsmouth Area Railway Pasts project and have valued the chance to learn with and learn from Neil, Ann, Geoff and Alan – and to share what we’ve uncovered here.