Wigan Railway Accident 1873

[Peggy]

Can't figure out where to put this, but as it involves railways. . . . One of my searches in The Times took me to a lengthy account of the Wigan Railway Accident of 1 Aug 1873. I always like finding lists of names, and thought the list of killed and injured might be of use to someone else. (If someone doesn't show up on the 1881 census, an accident such as this one could be the explanation.) The victims of the wreck included people from various places and with various positions in society. I pulled out the names, put them in alpha order along with clues to identity, and will list them in follow-up posts to try to avoid "the duplication demon."

N.B.: No liability assumed for typos.

Peggy

[Peggy]

ALETT. Martha Alett, 22, waiting-maid to Miss ANSON, father lives Gloucester Pl., London.
ANSON. Sir John William Hamilton Anson, Bart., 56.
FAGG. James Fagg, 19, valet to Sir John ANSON.
MINETTE. Alice Minette, abt. 23, nurse to WARK children, relatives in Newington Causeway, London.
PHILLIPS. John Phillips, of Aberdare, chamberlain to Lord Moray. (His sister Margaret Jane CAIRNS of Edinburgh identified him.)
ROBERTS. Zachariah Roberts, 30, schoolmaster at Carlisle Industrial Schools.
Mary Roberts, 73, his mother, wid. of Daniel, of Weymouth.
UNKNOWN. Manservant, name unknown, booked Northampton to Edinburgh.
WADDELL. Thomas Waddell, 25, solicitor, Wellington Sq., Ayr.
WARK. Thomas 10, Maggie R. C. 8, & Andrew Alexander, children of Andrew Wark of Old Hall, Highgate & the Stock Exchange, London.

[Peggy]

ANDREW. John Andrew, engineer for the National Steamship Co., Liverpool.
BELL. Mary Bell, Wigton, Scotland.
BOLT. Thomas Bolt, Blackburn.
FOSTER. John Foster, merchant, High St., Oxford, and Mrs. Foster.
FRASER. J. A. Fraser, artist, 10 Boscobel Pl., Alpha Rd., London.
GOODMAN. Robert Goodman, commercial traveller for Walter Macfarland & Co., Glasgow. (Leg amputated, not expected to live.)
HERON. Alexander Heron, commercial traveller, Newton Stewart, Scotland.
HIG'SON. John Hig'son, churchwarden, Liverpool.
HILL. Wife of J. T. Hill, county magistrate, Mountfield, Musbury, nr. Axminster.
HOWATSON. Andrew Howatson, engineer, 4 Belvoir Pl., St. Helen's Rd., Swansea.
JONES. John Jones, railway navvy, of no settled residence.
LOVE. Hugh Ker Love, Beith, Ayrshire.

[Peggy]

MCKIE/MACKAY. John McKie (later Mackay), chief engineman of the Royal Navy, & Mrs. McKie, Church Pl., Kirkcudbright.
M'MAW (?). Ernest M'Maw, clerk, Brighton Rd., London.
PAWLETT. Joseph Pawlett, ship carpenter, Aberdare.
PHILLIPS. Mrs John Phillips. (see list above)
REBAND. John Reband, schoolmaster, co. Wicklow, & Mrs. Reband.
SHINDLER. Mr. & Mrs. Henry Shindler, Palgrave House, Lee, Kent.
VASSILEPULE. E. Vassilepule, commercial agent & shipper, 2 South Parade, Manchester.
WARD. Wife of Arthur Ward, grocer, Christ Church St., Ringwood.
WARK. Mrs Andrew. (see list above)
WHITAKER. Mr. Whittker, surgeon, Preston.
WOOD. J. H. Wood, engineer, Bank Top Foundry, Blackburn.

[Peggy]

And, getting back to the occupational topic, here are the railway employees mentioned.
Hope it helps someone, some day,

Peggy

BYRON. John Byron. ". . . post at the north box. . . ."
GOODALL. The "pointsman." Allegations of neglect.
GRUNDY. Inspector Grundy, of Southport (Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.)
HARPER. Alexander Harper, the conductor. Slightly injured.
HUNTER. Dr. Hunter, London, the company's physician.
JONES. John Jones. (see Injured list.)
SHAW. James Shaw, Liverpool, district superintendent.
STAWPERT. William Stawpert, engine driver.
THIRLWALL. Engine driver.
WORTHINGTON. Mr. Worthington, Manchester, the company's engineer.

[ChristineR]

Peggy, I'm sure it will come in handy for someone one day. The beauty of these forums is that you can find all sorts of things by a search of the whole lot using the search funtion, so it didn't really matter where you put it, but this seems the most logical place.

All these people would have a death certificate issued in that municipality. What happens in a case like this? does everyone have a separate inquest as to their cause of death? or wouldn't an inquest be held for the individuals who died immediately at the scene, after all the cause was obvious.

Christine
Australia

[Peggy]

Hi Christine,

The wreck happened in the very early a.m., and the coroner (R. Darlington) had opened an inquest by evening. Evidence of identification was taken, and there was testimony from some survivors. The inquest was then adjourned to have a civil engineer examine the crash site and make a report. I'd guess that all deaths had occurred by the time the inquest was ended, and that the death certs were issued locally. That's one reason I thought it might be useful to post the list.

Peggy

P.S. Or am I confused as usual about British procedure? Would the survivors or other relatives have had to go and register the deaths back home, and get certs issued there?

[ChristineR]

Hi Christine,
......P.S. Or am I confused as usual about British procedure? Would the survivors or other relatives have had to go and register the deaths back home, and get certs issued there?

Hi Peggy, I would have thought the deaths would be registered locally, even though the victims probably were returned home for burial ... but then again, it depends if the coroner or the the funeral people were responsible for the registration, so you might be right. No doubt there will be someone who will let us know the normal procedure.
Christine

[Alan Welsford]

Hi Peggy, I would have thought the deaths would be registered locally, even though the victims probably were returned home for burial ... but then again, it depends if the coroner or the the funeral people were responsible for the registration, so you might be right. No doubt there will be someone who will let us know the normal procedure.
Christine

It's an old thread, I know, but it's interesting what does happen in a case like this.

I would have assumed all those recorded as dead at more or less the same time will end up as adjacent entries in the GRO deaths index.

This page would seem to confirm that....

Surname First name(s) Age District Vol Page
-----------------------------------------
Deaths Sep 1873
-----------------------------------------
ANSON John William H 53 Wigan 8c 37
ARLETT Martha 22 Wigan 8c 37
Fagg James 19 Wigan 8c 37
Minnette Alice 23 Wigan 8c 37
PHILIPS John 70 Wigan 8c 37
Roberts Mary 73 Wigan 8c 37
ROBERTS Zachariah 30 Wigan 8c 37
WADDELL Thomas Russell 27 Wigan 8c 37
Wark Andrew Alexander 3 Wigan 8c 37
Wark Margaret Reyburn C 8 Wigan 8c 37

Other than a third WARK, (who is on the previous page), and the "Unknown", who I think are treated differently, this looks a good match with Peggy's original list.

The register that covers Harrow in 1952 must be a chilling read.

[Peggy]

I still have my transcription (best attempt, anyway - I'm a rotten typist) of the article, and am sending it to Feen. If anyone else needs it, let me know.

Thanks for checking the GRO index, Alan. Good thinking! I was still interested in learning the answer.

Cheers,

Peggy