Fare Dodging by Munitions Workers

Dunstable Town Railway Station, c.1928 [Z1306/36/14/2]

Wednesday 8th May 1918: Three young women have been fined for fare dodging on the London and North-Western Railway. Linslade Police Court heard that on 27th February Elizabeth Maud Vincent, of 52 Wing Road, Linslade, and Daisy Sutton of 10, Summer Street, Leighton Buzzard arrived at Leighton Buzzard Station from Dunstable. When asked for their tickets as they were leaving the station both young women said they had lost them. They claimed to have walked from Chaul End, where they work in a munitions factory, to Dunstable, and to have booked their tickets there. When inquiries showed this was not true, Vincent admitted she had used her brother’s weekly ticket while he was on night work, and had not paid the fare either way. Sutton said she went to Chaul End with her sister Mabel; when she returned  she had borrowed her sister’s weekly ticket and had also not paid the fare. Daisy Sutton and Elizabeth Vincent were fined £1 5s.6d. and £1.15s.6d. respectively for travelling without tickets, and Mabel Sutton was fined £1.0s.6d for transferring her weekly ticket to her sister. Vincent told the court “I know this sort of thing is being done by other girls”.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 14th May 1918

Message Thrown from Train on a Spoon

Leighton Buzzard Station c.1915 [Z1306/74/1/4]

Tuesday 23rd April 1918: A Linslade woman heard yesterday that her husband had been buried alive inside a dug-out and had been reported as a casualty. Very shortly afterwards a neighbour arrived with a note from the soldier husband tied to a spoon; this had been dropped from a hospital train and found by a railway platelayer who was a near neighbour. Although he did not know his destination, realising that the train on which he was travelling would pass through Leighton Buzzard station the soldier had taken this unorthodox opportunity to send news to his wife. 

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer 23rd April 1918

Fare Dodger on the Midland Railway

Luton Midland Railway Station c.1905 Z1306/75/13/6

Wednesday 27th March 1918: Stanley Scales, a 35 year old munition worker of 4 Alma Street, Luton, has appeared at the Luton Borough Police Court charged with travelling on the Midland Railway without having paid his fare and with giving a false name and address. He denied the first charge but admitted the second.

Mr. Scales had travelled from Harpenden to Luton but only had a ticket for the journey from Luton to Harpenden. Arthur George Miller, a porter at Luton Midland Station said he was on duty on January 29th when the 11.27 train from St. Pancras was due, but the train did not arrive until 2 a.m. due to an air raid. He spotted that the ticket Scales produced was wrong and Scales offered him one shilling. Miller refused and Scales gave him the name H. Brown and a false address. The next day Scales gave him the name Friday and a Collingdon Street address. Scales said this was true and his nickname was “Friday”.

Harry Jayes told the court he was on duty at Harpenden on the the night of the 29th January. Scales was the only passenger and had plenty of time to book but did not attempt to do so. Scales said he had a sleep in Jayes’ room and had mentioned the matter to Jayes; the ticket office was never open. Jayes denied this. Scales also claimed that the air raid being on had unnerved him. He was fined twenty shillings in each case.

Source: Luton News 28th March 1918

Misdemeanours on the Railway

Leighton Buzzard Station c.1915 [Z1306/74/1/4]

Monday 3rd December 1917: Two cases relating to the railway were heard at Leighton Buzzard police court today. In the first Henry Maze Jenks of Haverstock Hill in London pleaded guilty to travelling in a luggage van on the London and North Western Railway, contravening the Company’s bye-laws. Mr. Jenks travelled by the 4.15 train from Wolverhampton to Euston on 12th September. Between Northampton and Leighton Buzzard he was found first in the guard’s van at the front of the train, and later in the van at the rear; the communicating doors between the carriages had all been unlocked and left open. Mr. Maze was said to have caused a “good deal of trouble”, claiming to be a friend of the Chairman of the line and telling staff he would do as he liked. It was pointed out that this sort of behaviour put the safety of the train at risk, as there was a valve in the guard’s van which would automatically divide the train if it was touched when approaching a signal. In Mr. Maze’s defence his solicitor stated his client was a large manufacturer and a season ticket holder, and like many other people at this time was overworked. When he got into the train he was extremely tired and as all the carriages were very crowded he went through into the guard’s van to have a sleep – the matter should be seen as merely a technical offence. The Chairman of the Bench told Mr. Maze he should have left the van when he was told to do so and that interfering with railway employees was a serious matter. He was fined £2 with £2 5s costs.

In the second case two local boys, William Cornish, aged 17 of 1 Albany Road, and Harry Stroud, aged 16 of 3 Billington Road, pleaded guilty to trespassing on the railway platforms at Leighton Buzzard and refusing to leave when asked to do so. Frank Buckingham, a vanman at Leighton Buzzard Station, said that he had found the two boys and another lad named Rickets on the station without tickets at 6.45 on November 20th. He told them they were trespassing but they did not leave. Ten minutes later a railway detective took their names and told them they would be reported. One of the boys said he was not doing any harm and there were plenty of others there. The Court was told that gangs of youths had been a “continual source of annoyance” to the Stationmaster for the past year, hanging around on the platforms pretending to wait for munition trains from Luton and refusing to leave. The two boys were fined six shillings each, and warned that in future offences of this type would be severely dealt with.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 11th December 1917

Train Timetables

Leighton Buzzard Railway Station c.1910 [Z50/72/174]

Saturday 4th November 1916: The Deputy Mayor of Dunstable has written to the Urban Councils of Leighton Buzzard and Linslade asking them to join him in persuading the North Western and Great Northern Railway Companies to provide a better train service for munitions girls. Many travel from Leighton Buzzard to work at the munition factory at Chaul End, but face a difficult morning journey home after working a night shift. They arrive at Dunstable from Chaul End at 7.30, but have to wait until 8.50 for a train to take them on to Leighton. If the Great Northern Company could provide an earlier train, they would reach Dunstable in time to catch the 7.05 from Leighton Buzzard. It has also been suggested that the North Western Railway Company could help soldiers from Dunstable and Luton who are at Halton Camp by holding back the 12.25 to Luton at Leighton Buzzard for a few minutes. Men on weekend leave reach Leighton at 12.33, just in time to see the 12.25 leaving the station. Instead of getting home in time for dinner, they then have to wait for the 1.55 train, followed by another hour’s wait at Dunstable before finally arriving at Luton at about 4 o’clock. For the sake of five minutes, the men lose a whole afternoon of their short leave.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 7th November 1916

A Muddle Over Railway Vouchers

Leighton Buzzard Railway Station c.1910 [Z50/72/174]

Thursday 30th March 1916: Two Leighton Buzzard men have appeared in court charged with failing to present themselves to join the army as instructed. William Abraham, a 32 year old labourer, was supposed to have presented himself at Luton on 20th March. When arrested he claimed that as his railway voucher was dated the 18th he went on that date, but was told to go home until the 20th. As he did not have another railway voucher he did not return. When questioned in court he said he had been forced to borrow his fare back to Leighton Buzzard. The magistrates were told it was not permitted to give another ticket if a man made a mistake - the Chairman of the Bench pointed out that in this case the mistake had not been made by the recruit! As it was felt Mr. Anderson was not trying to avoid military service, he was simply to be handed over to the military authorities.

Amos Field, a 40 year old labourer, appeared very nervous and was almost inaudible when he made his plea of "not guilty". Superintendent Matthews said that when Mr Field was brought in he said he had never received a notice. Colour-Sergeant Handley said the notice had been sent to Mr. Field together with his railway warrant, and produced papers and counterfoils as proof. Mr. Field was to be handed over to a military escort

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 4th April 1916

Blizzard Hits Bedfordshire

Bedford Embankment after the blizzard

Tuesday 28th March 1916: This afternoon Bedfordshire has been hit by the worst blizzard since the great snowstorms of 1881 and 1899. Train, telegraph, and telephone communications have been cut off, and substantial damage has been done by the gales which accompanied the blizzard. The snow began on Monday evening and continued overnight, but was slushy and was soon cleared by rain during Tuesday. The first indication that exceptional weather was on the way came when telegraph and telephone wires were down further north and southbound trains arrived several hours late – one train from Glasgow scheduled to arrive at Luton at 7 a.m. did not appear until 4 p.m.  According to the driver: “I have never seen a blizzard like it in thirty years’ experience. I took over the train at Trent, and from there to Bedford the blizzard was at its worst – a fierce, blinding blizzard; nothing could stand against it. Telegraph poles were blown down in all directions. At one place I counted thirteen poles down in succession. In some places even the strong double poles had collapsed. In other places the wires broke with the weight of snow. Once we had to stop to get the engine clear of fallen wire. At Wigston we had to wait five hours. Telegraph poles had fallen on a goods train and blocked the line. The snow was about two feet deep there. When the line was cleared we went on again, but with the wires down the train at times had to crawl and stop to find out from signalmen what trains were on the line."

The line from Northampton through Leighton Buzzard to Tring was also badly hit. A driver said “I went dead slow through all this mess, and it’s well I did so, for the frozen snow on the line was so hard that the engine bumped along just as though she might have been an old cart travelling along a badly cobbled road. From Northampton right as far as Tring we did the crawl act. Not a wire was standing. It was dangerous to look out, and me and my mate had to be pretty nippy when we did put our heads out in case the broken wires should tear our eyes out. We stopped at every signal box, and I got orders to carry on my train ‘on my own,’ to take no risks, and to feel my way every inch. With the wires down and a lot of the signal boxes out of gear it was a pretty anxious job, I can tell you. All along the home stretch platelayers were out working like slaves at clearing the line, and the last few hours of the journey seemed to me to be a ‘stop’ at every hundred yards or so.” The high wind caused drifting, and by 6.30pm the Luton-Dunstable-Leighton line was blocked, with a goods train and a passenger train both snowed in at Blow’s Downs; the passengers were obliged to walk the five miles back to Dunstable Church Street station through the snow.  

Sources: Luton News 30th March 1916

Train on Fire at Tempsford

Steam goods train, 1914 [Z50/9/874]

Wednesday 2nd February 1916: As a southbound goods train on the Great Northern Railway passed Tempsford Station this morning it was seen to be on fire. The driver sounded the whistle several times to catch the attention of the guard and stopped the train as soon as possible. The guard saved the train by quickly dividing it into three parts and confining the fire to just two wagons. One of these was carrying bales of peat and the flames hot up to a great height. The Tempsford Fire Brigade, under the command of Captain Sims, were soon on the scene with their manual engine. A continuous stream of water from the fire engine and the nearby brook brought the fire under control. The contents of the wagons were taken out and thrown down the embankment, and one wagon was found to be very badly burnt. This was taken back to Tempsford goods yard and the rest of the train was able to continue its journey.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 4th February 1916

Two Railway Accidents at Sandy

Sandy Railway Station [Z1306/99/23]

Monday 6th December 1915: Richard Hemmaway, a driver employed by the Great Northern Railway was killed today while driving a goods train from Peterborough to London. Christopher Maidens, the fireman on the train, said that all went well until the train was about a mile from Sandy, when Hemmaway got on to the tender. The train was travelling at about 20 to 25 mph when they passed under a footbridge at Low Field in Everton and he heard a crack. When he looked up he could not see Hemmaway. He climbed onto the tender step and saw the driver lying with his head against the lid of the tank. He stopped the train and whistled for the guard. On examining Hemmaway they found he was dead. The driver knew the track well and Maidens thought that he must have gone to look in the tank to make doubly sure of the water – they could not get water at Sandy and would have to whistle for the slow line if they wanted to get water at Biggleswade. The guard, Patrick O’Connell said that when they found the driver lying dead on the top of the tender they went on to Sandy as quickly as possible and placed him in a waiting room. There he was examined by a doctor who found a fracture to the upper part of the cervical spine and two lacerations at the back of the scalp. Death must have been instantaneous. Richard Hemmaway was a married man with five children; he was 49 years old and lived at New England, Peterborough. He had worked for the Great Northern Railway for over 30 years been a driver for nine.

This was the second rail accident at Sandy in just three days. On Saturday Private Frank Reynolds of the Norfolk National Reserve Regiment who are stationed at Sandy was carrying water across the London and North-Western Railway Bridge over the Great Northern Railway in Cambridge Road, Sandy, when a train due to arrive at Sandy at 9.07 a.m. overtook him before he reached the south end of the bridge, catching him on his right arm. A doctor was summoned and found his arm to be badly cut and bruised He was taken to the Red Cross Hospital at Beeston where he is making good progress.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 10th December 1915

Stationmaster's Son Dies in Mediterranean

Bute Street Station, Luton [Z1306/75/18/1]

Thursday 21st October 1915: Mr. Thomas Henry Few, the stationmaster at the Great Northern Railway Station at Bute Street in Luton, has received news that his youngest son, Private Charles Whelpton Few of the 1st Eastern Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance of the Royal Army Medical Corps, has died of dysentery while on a ship in the Mediterranean. The “Luton Medicals” were the last of the first-line Bedfordshire Territorial Units to leave England, setting off for service abroad only last month.

All four of Mr. Few’s sons joined the Army at the beginning of the war, with three joining the same unit and the fourth the Bedfordshire Yeomanry. Charles was an old boy of Christ Church School in Luton. From the time he left school until he joined the RAMC he worked at Messrs Welch and Sons Ltd.

Source: Luton News 28th October 1915

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[1] He is buried at East Mudros Military Cemetery on the Greek island of Lemnos.

A Tragic Accident at Arlesey

Arlesey Station Crossing c.1906 [Z1306/2/14/1]

Monday 8th February 1915: An inquest has been held today at the Pavilion, Arlesey into the tragic death of Royal Naval Reserve Stoker Joseph Shannon, aged 36, a stoker on HMS M.F.A. Baron Amrossan He was returning home to South Shields for five days leave when his comrades noticed his was missing from the train and a door was open. Stoker Shannon’s body was found by a platelayer on the Great Northern Railway 300 yards south of the Three Counties Station at Arlesey at 7.15 on Friday morning. The doctor called to examine his body said that the nature of the injuries meant that death must have been instantaneous. His identity was confirmed by his wife, Margaret Shannon of 59 Francis Street, Deans, Tyne Dock, South Shields.

The engine driver, George Thomas Hall stated that he was driving the 11.45 express from King’s Cross when he noticed at Great Barford that someone had pulled the communication. He pulled the train up at St Neots South Box and sent his fireman Frederick Parker to investigate. Mr Parker spoke to a naval man who said his mate had fallen from the train and that he had pulled the cord. The passenger guard Arthur Edward Monk heard someone calling “guard” when the train stopped. He found another Naval Reserve man, Alexander Turnbull, who said he had been pulling the cord for twenty minutes and asked why they had not stopped the train earlier – the driver said that he had followed company regulations in proceeding to the St Neots South Box as the next stopping point.

Alexander Turnbull told the inquest that he was also from South Shields and served on the same ship as Stoker Shannon. They were travelling home together from Chatham with two other men, Robert Wilson and Samuel Smith. They were all in the same compartment until 12.25 when Turnbull left to find a seat where he could lie down. Shannon and Wilson were both asleep at this time, and Smith was smoking. Turnbull went to sleep and was woken by Smith who said he though Joe Shannon was missing; they returned to the compartment where they found Wilson crying. When asked whether it was true Wilson told Turnbull, “Mate, its too true, owing to the door being open”. The witnesses stated that all the naval men were quiet and sober. A verdict of accidental death was returned.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard 12th February 1915

Railway Tragedy at Sharnbrook

Private James Joseph Rothwell (centre) [from Bedfordshire Standard, 8th January 1915]

Thursday 7th January 1915:  An inquest was held today into the tragic death of Private James Joseph Rothwell, a National Reservist, who was hit by a train while guarding the railway at Sharnbrook Viaduct on Tuesday. Private Rothwell went on duty at 6am, together with Private Edward Fookes. At 9.30am Private Fookes saw Private Rothwell in the hut and warned him to be careful because the weather was very foggy. William Goodman, who was driving the 9.27 train from Bedford, said that before reaching Sharnbrook Bridge he blew the whistle. He glimpsed Private Rothwell at the side of the line, where he appeared to be in the act of stepping from the left rail. There was no time to stop and the engine struck the Reservist on his side. He was quickly taken by special train to Bedford, but died before arriving at the County Hospital. The cause of death was given as a fractured neck. It appears that Private Rothwell did not take sufficient care while on the line and it has been suggested that he had been bending over to put coal on the fire. The jury gave a verdict of accidental death.

Private Rothwell was called up for the National Reserve in November and had been on duty at Sharnbrook for a month. His thirteen years of service with the 2nd Middlesex Regiment included the war in South Africa where he took part in the Battle of Spion Kop. He received the Queen’s Medal with six clasps and the King’s Medal with two clasps. After leaving the Army he was a clerk at the Queen’s Engineering Works in Bedford where he lived at 10 Cromwell Road. He was an active Unionist and a street list man for the Borough Unionist Association. He leaves a widow and three small children.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 8th January 1915

News from Leighton Buzzard

Leighton Buzzard Railway Station c.1910 [Z50/72/174]

Sunday 27th December 1914: The Red Cross hospital at Leighton Buzzard has now been closed. Since military hospitals opened at Aylesbury and Tring demand has reduced, and the ten remaining patients have been transferred to Tring. Since opening in August the hospital has  treated about 300 cases. Although many of these were serious only two patients died. The hospital also treated many out patients.

Leighton Buzzard railway station has been extremely busy over the Christmas period. The usual heavy number of passengers at this season has been increased by the almost 200 troops billeted in the area, most of whom have been given home leave for Christmas. By Boxing Day 4,000 passes had been filled in, counterfoiled and duplicated. On Wednesday troop movements caused considerable delay and staff were forced to delay ordinary traffic in order to cope with the Christmas rush.

Source: Luton News 31st December 1914

Life and Death on the Railways

Image: Train at Bedford Midland Station c.1900 [Z1306/10/41/24]

Sunday 13th December 1914: A fatal accident took place at Bedford Station in the early hours of this morning in which a Midland Railway goods guard, Alfred Charles Cave, was crushed under a wagon wheel. Mr Cave arrived at the south siding with 33 wagons from the Bedford yard. He was told by Henry Harlow, a shunter, that there was room only for 21 wagons as the siding was already partly filled and was told where to put the rest. Cave began shunting. While Cave was uncoupling the 21st wagon Harlow heard a pole crack and his colleague cry out. He found Cave lying on the line in front of the wheel, which was pushing him along. The wheel then mounted his body and fell off the rails. Harlow raised the alarm and the driver stopped the train, which had not been going at more than 3 m.p.h. The accident may have been the result of Mr Cave having difficulty unlocking a very heavy screw coupling. Mr Harlow thought Mr Cave had got the pole between the wagons to lift the coupling off, and either the pole broke as he pressed on it, or Mr Cave slipped. He said that Cave was “one of the best shunters round about Bedford, and a rare man for doing a bit of work”. He had been a guard on the Midland Railway for 26 years and was one of the best and most experienced men at Bedford. He died on the way to hospital.[1]

In the evening a meeting of the National Union of Railwaymen was held at Bedford Picturedrome. It was presided over by Mr F G. Kellaway MP who said every civilian in the country owed a debt to the railwaymen for their work, the risks of which had been demonstrated by the death of Mr Cave and which were all too often overlooked by the public.[2]  The sacrifices of life and limb made by those who worked on the railways were just as valuable as the sacrifices made by the men in France. He commended the work of  the A.S.R.S. which would make the lot of Cave’s wife and children a little easier.[3] The railways had also contributed more than their fair share to the forces, and forty men of the Bedford branch had already joined the colours.

Mr Thomas MP also spoke to the meeting, expressing his delight at the way the railwaymen of Bedford were now recognising their responsibilities and that membership of the branch had risen from under one hundred to over five hundred in three years.[4] He believed that Germany had assumed that the workers of Britain would seize the opportunity of the war to press their claims for improved conditions and higher pay and that the resulting conflict with the authorities would work in the Germans’ favour. He also believed that the workers differences with the railway companies were nowhere near as great as their differences with the enemy. They knew their country was in danger and would play their part as much as the soldiers who were facing the bullets. He said 66,000 railwaymen were already serving the king, a greater number than that contributed by any other industry. He trusted that after the crisis was over the just claims and sacrifices of the railwaymen would be recognised. The Executive intended to do everything in its power to ensure the current state of affairs where the men’s wages were being reduced while shareholders’ dividends were guaranteed should be changed. They should also realise that if the government could take control of the railways as easily as they had done at the beginning of the war, private ownership was a danger to the state and the railways should be owned and controlled by the people in peace time as well as in war.

A collection was held for the Belgian Relief Fund.

Source: Bedfordshire Times 18th December 1914

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[1] An inquest into Alfred Cave’s death was held on Tuesday 15th December and a verdict of accidental death was given.
[2] Frederick George Kellaway (1870-1933) was the Liberal Member of Parliament for Bedford from 1910 to 1922.
[3] The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants had in fact merged in 1913 with two smaller railway unions to form the National Union of Railwaymen.
[4] James “Jimmy” Thomas (1874-1949) was an official of the A.S.R.S. who became general secretary of the N.U.R. from 1919 to 1931. He was Labour MP for Derby from 1910 to 1936 and later served as Secretary of State for the Colonies.

Hit By A Train

Postcard commemorating the Sharnbrook rail accident of 4 February 1909 [Z1306/100/26/2]

Monday 28th September 1914, Sharnbrook: An unfortunate accident took place on the railway near Sharnbrook Station this afternoon. P.C.Stringer of Harrold was on guard at the Girder Bridge when he was hit by a light engine on its way from Bedford to Wellingborough as he stood by the goods line. He was thrown down the embankment on to the passenger line and had to be taken to the County Hospital badly injured. At least the accident was nowhere near as terrible as the dreadful disaster of 1909 - the express goods train from Manchester to London crashed into a stationary goods train at Sharnbrook Station and both the driver and fireman of the express were killed.

Source: St Peter’s Sharnbrook Parish Record, P112/28/6, p.55

Mobilisation

'We're Doing Our Duty' postcard [Z1306/75/16/42]

Wednesday 5th August 1914 (Luton): The South Bedfordshire detachment of the Bedfordshire Regiment Territorials mobilised this morning and has left town to much excitement. B and C companies assembled at the Plait Hall, F company were sent to the Assembly Hall, and G company to the Corn Exchange. The Territorials paraded through town with flags flying, and F Company left the Town Hall to be greeted by a cheering crowd waving hats and umbrellas. Once they had been joined by the other companies there were nearly five hundred men. Some were former soldiers who had only joined up this morning and did not yet have their uniforms. One was even wearing a bowler hat! 

The soldiers marched down George Street, then along Manchester Street and Bridge Street to the Midland Station where they left for Bedford on a special train. The 5th Bedfordshires’ own band has been disbanded but the Red Cross band stepped in to the breach and marched in front of the men. There was some angry muttering in the crowd about the town authorities and their failure to provide an official send off. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are both away, and it seems nobody could be found to step into the breach.

News has spread that the Government has taken over the railways. Although trains are still running from Luton it is expected that the service will have to be cut as so many railway employees are reservists and are leaving to join their regiments.
Source: Luton News 6/8/14