This summer, we’ll be introducing a vast run of records to the Railway Work, Life & Death project database of accidents to British and Irish railway employees before 1939. One of the additions comes from the Midland Railway Company, and covers 1873-1921. It seems to record all incidents which involved casualties – whether they be worker or someone else, like passenger, suicide (something our blog has previously explored, here), trespasser or someone else harmed by their interaction with the railway.
Given it’s currently Women’s History Month, we’re continuing our look at where women feature in the records (see our previous blog post, too). The breadth of coverage of the Midland Railway records, along with the relatively early start date, means this dataset is unusual – and all the more valuable for it. It also means that women feature more frequently than in those records which focus only on workers. This is purely because there were more opportunities for women to feature, given for much of the period our project is looking at there were relatively few women employed by the railways.
‘Obvious’ railwaywomen … ?
The majority of women in the records weren’t employed by the Midland Railway. They were people like Ann Greensmith, killed whilst trying to cross the line at a level crossing at Bobber’s Mill, Nottinghamshire, on 22 March 1873. Or Mary Ellen Atkinson, a passenger who was killed when she fell between train and platform at Monk Bretton, in Barnsley, Yorkshire, on 5 December 1905.
However, we do see clearly identifiable cases in which the women concerned were employed by the Midland Railway. To take the earliest of these, Maria Underwood features in 1894, though given under her married name, ‘Mrs G Underwood.’ She was recorded as a ‘gatewoman’ – as per other ‘servants’ of the railway companies, where their grade/ role was given.
Maria’s role would be to open and close gates to road traffic at the point at which a road crossed a railway, to ensure no collisions between road and railway vehicles. This was a ‘classic’ role for railwaywomen, something explored by Helena Wojtczak in this blog post. Interestingly, it was also a common role for disabled railwaymen – a comparator for how the work, railwaywomen, and male disability were regarded.
On 9 May 1894, Maria was knocked down by a goods train at the Broome Lane (as it was spelt in the original) level crossing, near Syston, Leicestershire. She was fortunate in that she only suffered cuts to her right arm – this could easily have been fatal.
Courtesy National Library of Scotland Maps.
Courtesy National Library of Scotland Maps.
We know a little more about her context and wider life from other records – including those within the Railway Work, Life & Death project. Her husband, George, features in the run of Midland Railway accident records too. He was a track worker, and on 18 January 1901 suffered a back sprain whilst digging near Syston.
Obvious to the Company – but hidden in the census
From census records we know that Maria was born in approximately 1844 in Nether Broughton, Leicestershire. On the 1901 Census, she was living with George, their married daughter and their granddaughter, at ‘Gate House, Broom Lane, Rearsby’ – a fairly big clue as to her role. However, whilst George’s occupation is listed as ‘railway ganger’, no role is recorded against Maria’s name.
This flags something that Helena Wojtczak and others have observed. Frequently women’s work, on the railways and beyond, was hidden in the formal documentary record. This was particularly the case for married women, whose paid (as well as unpaid) contributions might not have been recognised or valued. In cases like these, therefore, purely from the census record we would have no idea about these women’s paid work. We risk losing sight of their railway roles, impoverishing our understanding of the railway industry and wider society in the past. By combining records we can recover a more nuanced view of the past. The Railway Work, Life & Death project’s research is making visible women railway workers we wouldn’t otherwise know about.
More about Maria Underwood’s life and work
By the 1911 Census, George had died and Maria was living on her own in West Street, Syston. This time her employment was recorded: charwoman, so at the very least, her role as a gatekeeper had finished. We know a little more from the report of Maria’s death and funeral, in the Melton Mowbray Times of 29 January 1915. Maria died on 19 January 1915.
She was recorded as having lived with George at Broom Lane gate-house ‘and had had charge of the crossing of the Syston and Peterborough branch of the Midland Railway for the long period of about 35 years, retiring from that position about eight years ago.’ This would make her the gatekeeper from approximately 1872 to 1907. That role wasn’t attributed on the 1881 or 1891 census, and she doesn’t appear to have a surviving employment record for the Midland Railway. This suggests that her formal employment status was somewhat opaque – no doubt due to the fact that women’s work was regarded as less significant than men’s. Nevertheless, the fact that her role was recognised in the Midland’s accident register is telling.
Of course, there were other railwaywomen employed by the Midland Railway and who, having had an accident, were recorded as employees. We’ll leave exploration of the potential of the records up to you, when they’re available. When the time comes, do tell us what you’re finding and how it’s helping your research. Women’s employment on the railway is something we shall be returning to for future blog posts, in the coming months and years. This isn’t just a one-off focus in March for Women’s History Month, but an integral part of the Railway Work, Life & Death project.
‘Ambiguous’ railwaywomen
Some women were clearly identified in the Midland Railway records as employed by the Company. However, there were other, less clear, ways in which railwaywomen appeared in the records. The ambiguity seems to be very much in how these women were recorded, with their work for the Midland Railway not being clearly acknowledged – but visible, nonetheless.
This speaks once again to the ways in which women’s work has, historically, not been valued or seen as ‘real’ work. Three women appear in the Midland’s records as appearing to undertake railway work, but they aren’t shown as employees. One of them was ‘Mrs Stephens’ of Ashchurch, Gloucestershire. Again, her first name wasn’t given in the record, but we know from other sources that she was Elizabeth Stephens.
The register shows that on 11 February 1900 she fractured one of her legs, following a fall. Her role was recorded as ‘gatekeeper’, but she appeared in the list ‘Not in Company’s service’, along with 11 other people. For some of them it’s clear that they would not ever have been a Midland Railway employee – a collier, for example, hurt at Ystalyfera, near Swansea. However, for others – and this might include Elizabeth Stephens – it’s less clear. It might be that she was an employee but not on duty at the time of her accident, or that the incident which led to the injury was not a recognised part of her work.
Elizabeth Stephens and the project in context
She was born in 1857 in Bristol. By the 1901 Census, she was married to Frederick Stephens, a platelayer, and living in Homedowns, just south of Ashchurch. They had four children living with them. Perhaps predictably, the Census shows no occupation against Elizabeth’s name. This remained the case at the 1911 Census, when both her husband and her eldest son’s railway occupations were shown.
Courtesy National Library of Scotland Maps.
However, by the 1921 Census, she was shown as a gate keeper, employed by the Midland Railway Company. Clearly her previous 20 years – at least – of railway service weren’t clear from the census or many other sources. Just as was the case with Maria Underdown, the press notice of Elizabeth Stevens’ death provides more detail about her railway service. She died in 1937, and the Tewkesbury Register noted she had been ‘for over 40 years crossing-keeper at the Homedowns railway crossing.’ This was service which, but for that single record in the 1921 Census and the accident record from 1900 would likely have been missed.
Again, the Railway Work, Life & Death project’s work, using the original records preserved at The National Archives of the UK, is opening up aspects of the railway past that would otherwise be hidden. This is just one way in which our project – which on paper looks very niche – is actually exploring much wider issues. It allows you to answer all sorts of questions about women’s history, labour history, social history … and many other approaches to the past. As we prepare to add over 50,000 records to the Railway Work, Life & Death project database, the utility and potential of this ‘big data’ is growing greatly.