We’re thrilled to release a new data set for you: details of Great Eastern Railway (GER) staff who had been injured at work and applied for assistance to the Company’s Benevolent Fund between 1913 and 1923. The information comes from a ledger book kept by the Company and now found at the National Railway Museum […]
Tag Archives | 1915
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 […]
‘Improper propping’
It seems every aspect of railway working was (is?) full of arcane practices. Shunting – moving wagons and carriages around to get them into the right place for use – seems to have accumulated more than a few of these terms: fly shunting (more on that, here), tow roping (more here), horse shunting (unlike fly […]
Dying for a wee – 2
Two weeks’ ago we looked at accidents to carriage and wagon staff who were keeping the railway network’s on-train toilets stocked. Provision was clearly made for passenger comfort and convenience – but what about the staff? In this week’s post, we’re looking at those cases where operating staff had to improvise when they wanted to […]
Bartholomew Stephenson – from pub landlord to permanent way worker
By John Davison Cameron on April 1, 2019 in Accident reports, Blog, Family History, Guest contribution, Linking sources
We’re pleased to be able to feature another guest post, from another person the project has been able to help. John contacted us via our feedback form to let us know that he’d made use of the project database and found it useful – something we always like to hear, so do get in touch […]
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 […]
From injury to fatality
In past blog posts we’ve discussed some of the cases of workers known to have had more than one accident – a theme to which we return today. Albert Robert Cox forms part of the group of 14 individuals who each had 2 accidents. His first documented accident took place on 25 November 1911, at […]
Where has 1915 gone?
Have you been delving deep into the project database, following us on Twitter (@RWLDproject) or keeping a close eye on the ‘On this day’ Twitter feed on the homepage of the website? If so, and you were paying close attention, you might have noticed over the last 2 months or so you’ve not seen any […]
Watch the ankles – multiple cases 2
In a previous post, we focused on labourer Joseph Brown of the Great Eastern Railway, one of a select few – 15 – who feature in our database as having two accidents. This week we see the anniversary of the 2nd accident of another member of this group: shunter Tom Oliver. Like Brown, who worked […]
Remembering the Dead, Fighting for the Living: Workers’ Memorial Day
28 April is Workers’ Memorial Day – an important occasion for us to stop and think about all those who have died, been injured or made unwell as a result of work over the years. For our project it is particularly pertinent, given we’re so closely focused on the ways in which work has had […]
