2024’s Disability History Month theme is ‘Disability livelihood and employment’. This is directly relevant to the Railway Work, Life & Death project. As many of our past blog posts have explored, the railways caused a great many life-changing injuries, producing disabilities. Railway companies often continued to employ staff who had been disabled by their prior work.
This tended to involve some sort of assessment of what might be ‘appropriate’ for the now-disabled employee to do. Sometimes it was possible to continue in the original role, at least in some capacity – as was the case with driver E Hodges, after he lost a leg in an accident in 1865. However, the occupations that frequently produced life-changing disabilities often involved intense physical activity that was much more challenging with a disability. This included shunters and guards, who were working in and around moving stock, regularly getting up and down from wagons. Very often, therefore, it was hard to continue in those roles if someone had lost an arm or a leg. If they were retained, staff were usually found less physically demanding roles.
Finding disability in the records
Records of disabled people in the past aren’t always straightforward to find – but they do exist. In the Railway Work, Life & Death project, we see disability in the records in two key ways. Perhaps most obviously, where an accident produced a disability and that accident was investigated. We also see disability from pre-existing reasons where it was commented upon in relation to a subsequent incident, as in this blog post and in this post. Today’s blog post focuses on another of the latter type of records.
On 6 May 1927, London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) employee J Kerr had an accident at Cowlairs, Glasgow. Kerr has so far proven an elusive man to track down in the records, so the only detail we have comes from the accident report produced by the Railway Inspectorate at the time. This is part of our project database, one of nearly 50,000 cases featured.
We know that Kerr was 67 in 1927, and was ‘graded as a goods guard’ – an unusual phrasing, to which we’ll return. He had been working since 1920 as a pilotman on the Cowlairs-Port Dundas goods line. As such, he travelled on every engine using the branch line whilst he was on duty. On the day in question, Kerr was attempting to get down from the engine as it arrived at Cowlairs at about 2.15pm, to return to the pilotman’s cabin. As he did so, he either stumbled or slipped ‘and fell with his body across the near rail of the down main line from Glasgow to Edinburgh.’
Working with a disability
Fortunately, nothing was moving on the line, and Kerr escaped with bruises and a cut to his head. Had there been a train coming, it’s likely this would have been fatal. The accident investigator, JLM Moore, noted that having to get down from trains into the space between running lines was dangerous. He suggested the LNER should consider advising staff at this location to get out on the other side of the train ‘where there is no risk of injury from passing traffic’. The ground at this spot was also identified as in need of improvement – presumably it was uneven in some way.
Moore concluded that the incident was down to misadventure. However, he had ‘little doubt that if Kerr had been in possession of both arms he would have been able to save himself to a certain extent and reduce the effect of his fall.’
For Kerr, the report noted, had lost his right arm around 50 years previously. He would have been around 17 at the time. This was a significant injury at any time, but particularly with a working life ahead of him. Frustratingly, the report doesn’t say how Kerr lost his arm, and we’ve not been able to uncover this. Perhaps an earlier railway accident? It seems more likely to have been a railway accident than an accident in another occupation and afterwards employed by the railways. Railway companies would more likely have kept their own staff on than found space for a new employee who came with an existing disability.
Presumably this explains why Kerr was ‘graded as a goods guard’, but working as a pilotman. These were two different roles. As a goods guard, Kerr would have been expected to travel on different routes with goods trains, coupling and uncoupling stock, up and down from a guard’s van, including whilst the train was moving. It’s likely this grading was a means of making up his pay but retaining him on slightly lighter work.
Suitable employment?
Even so, Moore’s report raised the question about what was ‘suitable’ employment for a disabled railwayman. The ‘constant getting on and off engines from the rail level’ was deemed an issue in Kerr’s case. Moore observed that because of the nature of his disability, Kerr was in the habit of descending from the engine on the right-hand side. At Cowlairs this put him in the more dangerous position between tracks. As a result, Moore ‘strongly recommend […] that Kerr should be found an occupation more in keeping with his disablement’ (1927 Quarter 2, Appendix B).
Moore clearly accepted that disabled employees were simply part and parcel of railway work. Not surprising given the numbers of occupationally-created disabilities in the industry. The presumption was that Kerr would remain employed by the LNER in some capacity. Moore didn’t say anything further about what more suitable work might look like, but in other cases of limb loss we’ve seen ticket collectors, gatemen and telephone operators. These were roles which meant less exposure to moving vehicles at track level.
Frustratingly, we don’t know what happened next. It would be fascinating to know what Kerr went on to do. Nevertheless, even these limited appearances in the records give us valuable insight into occupational disability on the railways and the ways in which disability were viewed in society at this time.