cleaner (railway) any ideas

[Cath RJ]

I have a man employed as a railway carriage cleaner in Folkestone in 1920. Do you think he would be employed by a rail company or a private one? If it was a railway what's the likelyhood of finding any records?

[Darksecretz]

I would think that he would be employed by the Railway company themselves, I don't think that at that time the work load was contracted out, though I could be wrong..

have a look at this page in our Reference Library.. it might help

Railways

[Cath RJ]

Thanks for your reply Julie. No luck there I'm afraid.

We are at a loss to discover what happened to the chap in my avatar after 1925. His family went to Australia in that year but he disappeared into thin air.

[Gwyn in Kent]

I think this is likely to be a link to the company for which he worked.
With easy access to the continent, could he have moved there?

http://www.southeasternandchathamrailway.org.uk/

I'm not far from Folkestone. Let me know if I can help with addresses etc.

Gwyn

[Cath RJ]

Thanks for yor kind offer, Gwyn. I was helped yesterday, by the Folkestone library, to confirm he was living 1920/25 in East Cliff, Folkestone but his wife and family went to Australia in 1925 but he doesn't appear to have accompanied them. This chap has been a major brick wall for several years. We expected to find him in the north west but he surfaced in Folkestone in 1917. (I may be back...)

[JBee]

Perhaps he went to Australia before them via a different route and then sent for them??? Have you any idea where the wife and family went to ie relative/friend in Australia??

[Cath RJ]

Perhaps he went to Australia before them via a different route and then sent for them??? Have you any idea where the wife and family went to ie relative/friend in Australia??

We'd thought about that but can't find any trace of him leaving the country. His family left in 1925 and he is on the electoral register right up to that date.

[Gwyn in Kent]

Cath
Do you want to give us his name and birth year, in the hope that someone can spot him somewhere?

Gwyn

[JBee]

Yes but remember the rolls are compiled months before they're published - nowdays I fill in the electors roll form in Oct for the following year so could have gone up to 15 months beforehand if its the same timeline as now. So I'd look for 1924 as well as 1925.

I agree that he would have worked for the railway company - remember my uncle worked in a hotel but was employed by the british rail. Thinking aloud he also worked on liners - wonder if you're man got a job on a ship and decided to stay in Australia and send for family. Have you found the family in australia? Wonder if he was with them.

[Cath RJ]

Yes. We have the family in Australia. It's just him we can't find.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

I would have thought it unusual for a married woman (without a husband) and her children to be able to emigrate to Australia in their own right at that time, unless she was wealthy, or had a profession.
Is there anywhere to find out how an individual qualified for an assisted passage?
Did the family have money?
What did she do to earn a living?
Is there a death record in Australia for the husband?
Any relatives in the area they went to?

Jay

[Cath RJ]

Janet,
I think the answer to all your questions is no. Except for the query re assisted passage. Google tells me that they were probably covered by assisted passage legislation 1922.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Lots of info here about a wide range of Australian government schemes 1921 onwards .....

http://www.naa.gov.au/naaresources/Publications/research_guides/guides/immig/pages/chapter03.htm

Was your man ex-army? There were schemes to help ex-soldiers (both Oz & UK) The Napier Bay area scheme planned that husbands should go first to clear land, families to follow 14+ months later.

Can't really attempt to help further, without name details and dates - sorry.

Jay

[Uncle John]

Have you looked for him in the railway employment records on Ancestry? Living in Folkestone, it's likely he worked for the South Eastern Railway (by then the South Eastern and Chatham or SECR).

[Cath RJ]

So many people have tried to help with this chap recently (thank again everyone) that I didn't really want to trouble you all again by giving his name but here goes.
Thomas Battersby Graham, b.1893, Bury, Lancs. last address in UK 1925, 45, East Cliff, Folkestone.

His wife and 2 daughters left for Australia in 1925 without him. We have found them there on later dates but Thomas has just disappeared. I think we have searched all possibilities. If anyone else wants to have a go I will be very grateful.

[JBee]

Got him here - if his wife is Sarah address is same as you gave too.


http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=View&r=5538&dbid=1263&iid=CANIMM1913PLIS T_2000918963-00017&fn=Thomas&ln=Graham&st=r&ssrc=&pid=1686570

arriving in Canada

[Uncle John]

Carriage cleaner to interpreter is a big leap, if I've followed the line across correctly.

[JBee]

Yes that's what I thought but the address is the same as given by Cath.

[herky]

Not sure if this is helpful or not-
Is your man a "carriage cleaner" or a "cleaner" on a rail engine?
I may not be correct but if I remember correctly then the promotion for steam train drivers went from -

engine cleaner
to locomotive or engine fireman
to engine driver

[Debbss]

I was looking in the Railway records for a relation and came across a few who were cleaners employed by the railway, so I would agree there is every chance that he was.