Railway Deaths

[ivroth]

I have an ancestor who was a railway clerk in the late 1890s. Sometime around 1894 he died due to an accident at work. I don't know which company he worked for but he was from Bolton.
Is there a way in which I can find out what happened to him?
Or if anybody can help at all his name was Richard Rothwell

[Jan1954]

Hello Ivroth,

Well, I had a quick shufty through the Railway Archives (http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/index.php), but could not pull anything up that seemed related. Have a delve yourself and see if there is anything there.

Do you know how old Richard was when he died? I had a look at FreeBMD (http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl) and found the following deaths for Richard Rothwell in the Bolton Registration district:

March quarter 1894, volume 8c, page 246, aged 55
March quarter 1895, volume 8c, page 213, aged 37
June quarter 1895, volume 8c, page 243, aged 0 (shouldn't think that this was him unless the person registering the death had absolutely no idea of his age...)
September quarter 1895, volume 8c, page 234, aged 57
December quarter 1895, volume 8c, page 335, aged 53

If you can identify the corect registration, order a copy of the certificate, it should provide some clues as to the nature of his death. It should also state whether or not an inquest was held. If it was, a look in the local newspaper for the time should provide a report of what happened. Even if there was not, his death could still have been a newsworthy item.

I am pretty certain that I have also seen some articles about railway deaths on Parish Chest (http://www.parishchest.com/). Click on the link and use the search box.

[ivroth]

Hi Jan. Thankyou for your reply. I found a report on the National Archives that shows a collision at Bolton in September 1895 which could be it. It doesn't give any further info but I may have something to work from now. The details I have for Richard is that he was born in approx 1857.

[Jan1954]

Hi Jan. Thankyou for your reply. You are welcome ;)

I found a report on the National Archives that shows a collision at Bolton in September 1895 which could be it. It doesn't give any further info but I may have something to work from now. Next stop could be the local newspapers.
The details I have for Richard is that he was born in approx 1857. Ah. So none of the above registrations fit....

Find the newspaper! :D

[Jan1954]

The details I have for Richard is that he was born in approx 1857.This chap?

Richard Rothwell, Bolton District, March quarter 1857, volume 8c, page 288

[Sue Mackay]

You are welcome ;)
Next stop could be the local newspapers. Ah. So none of the above registrations fit....

Find the newspaper! :D

AS you live in Preston, if you are a member of a public library you will have free access to the online Times Digital Archive and the Gale Group 19th century newspapers.

Go to http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/onrl/ and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Click on the required database, enter your library card number, and start searching. I did have a quick look without success, but sometimes you have to play around with different keywords.

[ivroth]

Will try that, thanks Sue
Yes Jan he is the one