One of the great things about this project is that it takes us in all sorts of unexpected directions. That includes the research and topics we’re exposed to – as in today’s guest blog post: another surprise that the apparently mundane topic of railway accidents has thrown up. There’s another aspect to the directions the […]
Tag Archives | fatal
Railway Accident at Ivybridge Devon 1917
By Sandra Gittins on May 16, 2022 in Accident reports, Blog, Explore your Archives, Family History, Guest contribution
We’re delighted to welcome Sandra Gittens back to the project blog this week. Sandra is known for her research on – amongst others – the railways of the First World War. In the course of that work she’s uncovered a number of accidents to railway staff on military duty overseas, many of which she’s already […]
James Spridgeon, Railway Platelayer: Accidentally Killed in 1880
By Rosie Rowley on May 23, 2022 in Accident aftermath, Accident reports, Blog, Family History, Guest contribution, Local History, Urban History
This week’s blog post came about following a talk Mike gave at the U3A Family History Conference in Buxton in September 2019. Mike had a number of interesting conversations, including with this week’s guest author, Rosie Rowley. They discussed a case Rosie had found from her family history, also notable for the fact that the […]
Charles Stewart, 1806-1864
By Pauline Figliolini on August 30, 2021 in Accident aftermath, Blog, Family History, Guest contribution
This guest blog post, from Pauline Figliolini, came about after Pauline had found the project and enquired about early staff accident records. Sadly we didn’t have further details to help directly, but we made a couple of suggestions and after a few emails back and forth Pauline not only found more information on her Great […]
Jock Carlin
In this week’s post, returning guest author Gordon Dudman reflects upon the start of his railway career – a formative influence, but one which had a tragic end. Gordon noted that it was, sadly, a good demonstration of how the system might fail individuals. This is taken from the career autobiography that Gordon is currently […]
Frederick John Berriman
By Gordon Dudman on May 10, 2021 in Accident aftermath, Blog, Family History, Guest contribution, Linking sources
In this week’s post, from guest author Gordon Dudman, some of the legal issues raised by railway accidents come to light. These weren’t, however, arcane points, but had a very real impact on the ability of one man’s wife to claim compensation for her husband’s death. They also had wider implications for all areas of […]
The Case of the Monkey on the Railway
By Alexandra Foulds on March 15, 2021 in Accident aftermath, Blog, Guest contribution, Linking sources, Medical humanities
As guest author Alexandra Foulds notes, this post came about by a chance connection on Twitter – fortunately, though the subject matter is, perhaps needless to say, unfortunate. We’re really pleased to feature it, and look forward to working with St George’s University of London Archives again in the future. As this blog post makes […]
The Tragedy of Lilian Daisy Gale
In this post, guest author Mark Rothwell looks at the service of GWR railway policewoman Lilian Gale – including her fatal accident at work in Plymouth docks during World War 2. As well as giving us an insight into Lilian’s time as a railway policewoman, Mark puts her role in context of women’s police service […]
Dying for a wee – 1
As travellers today (when we’re able to resume travelling) we may be less than enamoured of the toilets on trains – all too often cramped, unclean or even out-of-order. But at least they’ve been provided for us. That isn’t always the case for staff – and that’s a long-standing issue. Earlier this year I wrote […]
Look out!
This guest post comes from Arthur Moore, one of our longest-serving volunteers, based with the NRM team. Arthur has a lot to answer for, having contributed the first guest post the project featured, opening our eyes to the possibilities! This post comes out of Arthur’s work on the inter-war accident reports currently being prepared for […]
