Historical research for injured staff

[mr_jrt]

Trying to help my mum out with some family research and wondering if anyone has any suggestions for places to dig when looking for information on very old accidents?

My 2nd great grandfather James George Fisher was a platelayer, and sometime before WW2 he lost both his legs in an accident and was hospitalised for the rest of his life (my grandfather only ever remembered seeing him in Edgware hospital until he died, and indeed, he's listed in the 1939 register as being there). In the 1911 census he is listed as residing in the GNR station house at Mill Hill (so presumably, before the accident as my great grandmother wasn't born until 1915), but that's all we have to go on. Mill Hill GNR is now of course Mill Hill East tube station, but that doesn't help me too much in narrowing down what happened. I do know the family lived in that area throughout though.

I've had a brief dig through the railways archive: https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/eventlisting.php, but nothing obvious stands out. I've had a look through Ancestry's railway employment records, and again, a few James Fishers, but all seem to be working for the LNWR, or in a couple of cases, the Midland up north, so not sure.

 

[krus_aragon]

Accidents involving staff wouldn't always be investigated by the Board of Trade / HMRI at that time, in the same way that accidents involving coal miners or quarrymen wouldn't warrant investigation: accident reports would be for generally be for situations that led to injuries to members of the public.

A good place to learn of serious injuried to a railway staff member (assuming you know the general area) is to look in newspapers of the period. Accidents involving life-changing injuries to a member of staff would often be considered newsworthy (from my experience of old newspapers of North Wales).

I don't know what sort of records of the GNR have survived the ages, but what there is will have ended up (via BR) at the National Archives at Kew. There might be records of injuries to staff (though they may be aggregated numbers, rather than names) or details of staff transfers or pensions.

One final note: In my (limited, rural) experience of following railway families, the residence of a station house would typically be the station master and family, rather than a (relatively) lowly platelayer. Have you checked what occupation is listed next to James Fisher's name in the 1911 census? It wouldn't be that unusual for a railway to offer a station- or office-based job to a manual worker that was injured while working on the railway. Perhaps the accident was pre-1911...

 

[mr_jrt]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. His occupation is listed as being a general labourer, with his employer's business being building, make of that what you will. I did think it strange that he and his family would be in the "Station House G.N.R" as a platelayer, but that's why I thought I'd see if I could get a few more educated opinions on the matter. I'll see if anything turns up in the newspaper archives, thanks.

 

[John Webb]

Early days, relatively speaking, of trade unions, but might be worth seeing if RMT, which incorporates the NUR, might have something in their files?

Regarding the "Station House", this appears in some of the photos at http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/m/mill_hill_east/index.shtml - this site deals with the history of this station, although still open, as part of discussion on the GNR/LNER line.

 

[krus_aragon]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. His occupation is listed as being a general labourer, with his employer's business being building, make of that what you will. I did think it strange that he and his family would be in the "Station House G.N.R" as a platelayer, but that's why I thought I'd see if I could get a few more educated opinions on the matter. I'll see if anything turns up in the newspaper archives, thanks.

Am I correct in concluding that the knowledge that he was a platelayer comes from family oral history, as he's listed in the 1911 census as a general labourer? In the census records I've looked at (Anglesey, 1861-1901) the census takers tend to use descriptions such as "Railway Labourer", if not "Platelayer" itself for track workers. Perhaps (assuming the accident had already happened) he had lodgings courtesy of the railway, but he was working in another capacity, or elsewhere, due to his injuries.

I would suspect that he wouldn't be the head of the household at station house, and listed as "lodger" or similar under "relation to head of household"?

 

[krus_aragon]

@mr_jrt , if you're happy to share a few more details (year of birth, relatives' names and dates), I'd be happy to have a little poke about myself in some census records over the weekend to see if I can find anything. Drop me a PM if you like.

 

[mr_jrt]

Thanks, all. I'll confirm with my mother where platelayer comes from. Here's the census record from 1911 for the avoidance of any confusion: http://random.jamie-thompson.co.uk/rg14_07104_0553_03.jpg

Thanks for the suggestion for the RMT, I'll drop them a message and see what crops up.

As I understand it, my grandfather only ever remembered his grandfather being in hospital, and he was born in 1934, with his mother (Florence Elsie Fisher) being born in 1915. James G. Fisher was born around 1868, so was 43ish in 1911, and died in 1944 at the age of 77ish.

 

[krus_aragon]

Thanks for that copy of the record. Working from that, I've found an index to a birth record for James George for the third quarter of 1867 (Jul-Aug-Sep). If his parents are James and Susannah, then I've found their family living in Mill Hill / Hendon in the census records of 1871, 1881 and 1891. James (the father) is listed as a carpenter in 1871 and 1881, and has died by 1891: Susannah head ofthe household, and is listed as a widow. In that 1891 census, James the son is listed as a general labourer, the same as he was in 1911.

Going by the age and place of birth of James George's siblings, it appears that the family moved from Hertford to Hendon in 1869-1871.

(Alternatively, I've also found a James Fisher of Hertford, son to Frederick and Jane, in Hertford in 1871 and 1881. I don't think this is the right person, given that the above family are living in Mill Hill, but a check of the parish birth record above, or birth certificate, would make sure of that.)

I can't find any record of James George's location for 1901. There are umpteen reasons why that could be the case (transcription errors, away on the night of the census, etc.)

I can't see any evidence of anyone in the family working on the railway: James and Susannah's other sons worked in the postal service as a letter carrier and a sorter, whereas Frederick Fisher was a carrier / haulier. But to be living in the Station House, in relatively rural Mill Hill, one would have expected some sort of railway connection. One possibility is that the connection was through the postal service instead: There's a tenancy agreement between the GNR and the Postmaster General for tenancy of a room at Mill Hill Station dated 1892 at the National Archives. There's also a box of correspondence about Mill Hill Station, but with no summary of its contents you'd have to go and have a look in person to find out if there's anything relevant in there. There's also all the records of the Great Northern Railway, but there's an awful lot to go through there, and without a better clue of what to look for, it may be somewhat of a needle in a haystack job.


I hope somthing above is new and/or of some use to you.

 

[krus_aragon]

@mr_jrt , I had an email this evening telling me that findmypast.co.uk are offering free access to their material until the 11th of this month, so I had a brief look to see if they had anything related to James George.

I'm happy to say that I've found positive proof that he was a platelayer: they have him listed in a register of members of the National Union of Railwaymen. (This link may take you straight to the item, or you may need to sign up for a free account.)

James George Fisher, membership no. 689385, joined the Finchley branch of the Union at the (stated) age of 48 on the 14th of April 1916, employed by the "GN" Railway. He was excluded from the Union in October 1924, with a tick mark in the column "arrears". It would appear from this that he started working on the railway after the 1911 census, and possibly after your great grandmother's birth in 1915.

Perhaps, with two brothers working for the postal service out of Mill Hill station, a good word was put in for him with the Great Northern Railway? Could there have been a shortage of workers for the railway due to the war?

 

[mr_jrt]

Hi mate, I've just seen your reply and I whilst I spent all weekend using the free weekend myself, I didn't find that record, so I can't thank you enough for letting me know. I was going to post that my mum couldn't remember where she got platelayer from, so maybe she misremembered. Clearly she didn't! Narrows the window for any accident down considerably.