Week 11: My ancestor was a railway worker

[Jill on the A272]

Week 11: Railway worker



This is an opportunity to showcase a railway worker from your family tree, you might want to offer a short biography and speak about their work eg
Name
Birth location/date
Family background
Where you've found them on the census
Their workplace/employer
Any tips on researching this occupation?

https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/res...sources/family

[Next week: Teacher]

[Jill on the A272]

My great grandfather's brother Robert Bannister's (1876-1947) first job was in a cotton mill in Nelson, Lancashire after he was orphaned and adopted by a cousin of his mother, but by 1901 he had made the move to the railways and was a signalman living at Reedly Hallows, then in 1911 he was a railway vanman living in Burnley. At the outbreak of WW2 he was a railway porter. His youngest brother Willie (b1880) also worked on the railways and was a railway porter in Bolton.

Sometimes railwaymen crop up in newspaper reports, Robert does but it was not connected with his work, he was described as a pointsman in the Burnley Express on 31st August 1901 in a report of an inquest. His little boy, Herbert, aged 4 went missing from his home at Bolton Road, Quaker Bridge near Brierfield on 19th August 1901. He had been seen by a neighbour in the road near the open gate to the sewage works at 2.30 that afternoon. His body was found at the bottom of a tank eight days later, and Robert had to identify his body.

[Lin Fisher]

My Grandad William Everitt worked on the railways.

He was born 1898 and died 1954, so I didn't really know him. He was supposed to have volunteered for the army in WW1 underage according to family but when he married on 1919, said he was a railway worker, ex army. He did become a Goods Guard for the LMS and remained until he died.

His son my uncle, Horace Everitt was a Train Driver. I was told that he started as a 'knocker upper'. not sure how true that is.

[Lin Fisher]

Got a couple more .

Ernest Hurt, my Grandmothers brother. Born 1885 and died 1940.

He was a goods porter. Seems to have joined in 1908 with Midland Railways and the changed to GN in 1913 according to his Union records.

Also his brother Bertie, born 1900 in Nottingham and died 1988 in Peterborough. He was a shunter and moved to Peterborough with his job.

[Barbara Dodds]

My Great Grandfather, Sam Godfrey was born in Carlton, Nottingham in 1867 He was the youngest of 6 children of William Godfrey who was a tailor to trade. In 1881 he was a farm laborourer living with his older brother in Gedling.

At the time of the 1891 census Sam was still living with his brother. By now his brother was a Railway Goods Guard and Sam was a Railway Fireman. Sam married in December 1891. By the time of the 1901 census Sam was a Railway Engine Driver with two young children. In 1911 his occupation was given as Engine Driver working for G N R (great Northern Railways) which later became part of LNER (London and North Eastern Railways) He was still working as an Engine Driver for GNR in 1921, but the added information from the 1921 census was that he was working at Colwick. He had by this time move to Netherfield and my mother married from his house in 1946.

Sam died in 1947 at his daughters home (my Great Aunt) in East Retford ,Nottinghamshire.

[cbcarolyn]

No direct line people just siblings, and just have census records
A railway guard Samuel Brett b 1836 Harlow
Railway engine stoker George Irish b 1879
George Brett b 1891 was my Dad's uncle - and he said he went to India to work on the railways - but I have never found any information on this, and wouldn't know where to start.

He was a railway engine cleaner in 1911 census https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageview...9_03?pId=21163 I am not sure what the railway company is though?

[PhotoFamily]

I have two peeps in side branches that worked for the railroad in the first half of the 1900s.

[Lin Fisher]

Carolyn, found George I think in the trade union papers on FMP. 1913 -1916 he is a cleaner on L & NW trains as a cleaner. 1917 - 1921 he is a fireman both in Camden. Leaves in 1921 as says ''gone abroad'

It's under education and work. Think you have FMP!

[cbcarolyn]

Carolyn, found George I think in the trade union papers on FMP. 1913 -1916 he is a cleaner on L & NW trains as a cleaner. 1917 - 1921 he is a fireman both in Camden. Leaves in 1921 as says ''gone abroad'

It's under education and work. Think you have FMP!

will take a look, thank you.

[Jill on the A272]

posted in error

[cbcarolyn]

Carolyn, found George I think in the trade union papers on FMP. 1913 -1916 he is a cleaner on L & NW trains as a cleaner. 1917 - 1921 he is a fireman both in Camden. Leaves in 1921 as says ''gone abroad'

It's under education and work. Think you have FMP!

found him. I had him setting off for Calcutta and returning, but nothing whilst he was there

[Lin Fisher]

Great Carolyn, lovely when some of these family stories come to life.

[Caroline]

When you see railway worker, workers with horses don't immediately spring to mind, but "at its height in 1913, there were 27,826 railway-owned cartage and shunting horses in the UK, a number Bryan Holden in his The Long Haul describes as declining to 9,077 by 1945".

My Bradley family were carters and draymen and some eventually ended up working for GWR in Stourbridge.

I have spent many a long hour poking around online in the UK, Railway Employment Records, 1833-1956 | Ancestry® for Joseph Bradley. There are a lot of Bradleys to look at - and several of the same age named Joseph. My search hasn't been helped by us not being able to find his birth record. My uncle had done it the hard way by visiting all the possible record offices in the area and me the easier way but all we have is his year of birth which is at least consistent through the records! His father, also Joseph, was a farming wagoner and moved around the Black Country - finding his marriage to Mary was just as tricky and there is an enormous age gap between their oldest daughter and Joseph. Long enough for there to have been other unfound children in between.

At his marriage to Sarah Gamson ("my servant") at Ogley Hay , Shropshire, in December 1863, Joseph Bradley gave his occupation as a miller, though throughout the later censuses, his occupation was a drayman/carman. Ogley Hay Steam Flour Mill was in operation then. The Mill provided flour to customers in the area and delivered the bags of flour to areas as far as Four Oaks, so rather than actually being a miller, he probably just worked for them as a deliveryman.

1871 - Kidderminster, Worcestershire. Drayman.
1881 - Kingswinford, Staffordshire. Brewer's drayman.

In 1891, he and his second wife were in Stourbridge at 3 Mill Street. (By this time, Joseph and Sarah’s third son, William Eli Bradley (my great grandfather), had left Staffordshire and gone to England and was working there as a glass cutter. I wonder why he went into glass and not horses like everyone else in his family, but that is another story.)

The rest of the family were also living in Stourbridge and still worked with horses. Joseph was working as a railway drayman, as was his second son, Samuel, His oldest son, Joseph, was a brewer’s drayman. Thomas was a boatman (horse driver) and Harry was a groom. There are still Bradleys in Stourbridge today who have come up as DNA matches to us.

1901 - Amblecote, Staffordshire. Railway drayman.
1911 - aged 69 in Wordsley, Staffordshire. General labourer with a fine brick manufacturer. His son George was a railway shunter, in 1901 he had been a builder's carter. I think I may have found his records on ancestry but cannot be 100% sure yet that they are his - WIP!!

I have ordered a couple of second hand books about horses and the railway so may be able to add to their story later on.

GWR road vehicles and horse-drawn vehicles

Camden Stables – in Search of Horse Ghosts

The Fall of the Railway Horse

Camden Railway Heritage Trust

[Katarzyna]

My 2nd Great Grandfather, George Sporle, was born on 6th Jul 1831 in Ipswich.

b03c69e3-d8bc-4dd4-8ec5-2f3c7c6cca85.jpg

He was a mariner until his late 40's but left the sea and became a porter at Ipswich Station for Great Eastern Railways (GER). Porters had various jobs on the station including helping people on and off trains, baggage handling and keeping the platforms clear and clean. Goods porters helped in left luggage offices and the trains parcel vans. At the age of 70 George is recorded on the 1901 census as the points and gatekeeper for GER at Trimley St Martin Station. This station is on the line between Ipswich and Felixstowe. George and his wife Matilda lived in one of the Gatekeeper’s Cottages next door to Railway cottage. The trains still stop at Trimley but it is an unattended station. The building itself is now almost derelict but a campaign is ongoing to restore it for community rooms and museum.

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Trimley St Martin Station

[Barbara Dodds]

Railway work was ot all about the actual running of the trains, there was also the maintenance side

My Great Grandfather, John George Parnham was born on 19 August 1872 in Stanton by Dale. On the 1891 census he shares the occupation of Railway labourer (plate) with his father. He subsequently became a railway wagon repairer and he continued in this trade until he retired. The trade was then also passed on to my grandfather, George Samuel Parnham.

The 1921 census tells me he was working for W H Davis and Sons at Colwick Sidings. Colwick Sidings was a large marshlling yard built bt Greant norther Railway for the concentration of coal traffic, and the firm is still in existence building freight wagons for the railways. https://whdavis.co.uk/about-us/#history

[cbcarolyn]

my Dad told me a lovely story the other day of a bygone age, when he was a child they went on holiday on the railway, and his mother would pack their clothes, with tissue in between in a large trunk and the luggage people (Patersons) would come and collect it and take it to the train.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Paterson

I think my Nan was def someone that thought she was a cut above the rest, as grandad was only a pastry cook/baker...I am sure that this was a service that people higher up the social chain would use, but maybe wrong.

found this memory

https://yesterdayremembered.co.uk/memory/1166/

[Caroline]

my Dad told me a lovely story the other day of a bygone age, when he was a child they went on holiday on the railway, and his mother would pack their clothes, with tissue in between in a large trunk and the luggage people (Patersons) would come and collect it and take it to the train.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Paterson

I think my Nan was def someone that thought she was a cut above the rest, as grandad was only a pastry cook/baker...I am sure that this was a service that people higher up the social chain would use, but maybe wrong.

found this memory

https://yesterdayremembered.co.uk/memory/1166/

Carter Paterson used to take my trunk back to school, in the 60s, when we were in Scotland or when I went back by train from Hampshire - we weren't posh. That reminds me, my mother once wrote about her relations' holiday in the 1880s which involved going on a train:

• Seaside Holiday ~ 1880s
• Seaside Holidays ~ 1930s

[Gardengirl]

My grandfather, George Leonard WOODWARD, was a Railway Policeman for nearly 30 years from 1922-51. My target for this winter's research was to find out more about him, his previous military career and his subsequent work as a Railway Policeman whilst also giving 35 years voluntary service to the St John's Ambulance. So far I have made no progress with this due to getting completely sidetracked with other things and his story is still unwritten

These are some of his St John's Ambulance medal and bars and a letter from the Ministry of Transport.

George L Woodward St John Ambulance medals (5).jpg George L Woodward St John Ambulance medals (1).jpg

IMG_2737.jpg

[Jill on the A272]

I've also got a railway policeman in my tree (not a direct ancestor and married into my family) who appears in a number of newspaper reports due to incidents he was involved in, giving evidence in court. I'm saving him though for Week 36 which will be Police Officer as he was previously a regular police officer.

[Gardengirl]

I haven't looked in the papers yet for George. Maybe I should - thanks for the idea, Jill