Railway Work, Life & Death project database upgrade

[Daifly]

For info. Dave

Dear All,

Hope you're well. The English and Welsh line societies might be interested in the substantial new dataset we've added to the Railway Work, Life & Death project's database of accidents to British and Irish railway staff before 1939. Drawing on accident & compensation records held at The National Archives of the UK, we've just added around 65,000 records, with a further 4,000 to follow in due course.

This is freely accessible from the Railway Work, Life & Death website, www.railwayaccidents.port.ac.uk, and we'd encourage you to explore what it has to offer, and (where relevant) to bring it to the attention of your Society members. We're happy to help with that if useful, as we have done in the past for many of you, by providing content for newsletters, etc - please just get in touch.

The update covers the companies listed below; details vary between very basic factual information (name, location, date, nature of injury) and rather more extensive discussion about what happened, why, who was responsible and what happened next for the individuals involved. They cover 1855-1929, with most records falling in the 1897-1921 bracket unless otherwise indicated in the list below. They really are a tremendous insight into the people and working practices of the railways in the past.

This has been possible thanks to the dedication and hard work of a small team of volunteers, largely based at The National Archives, who have spent the past 7 years transcribing the original records: we owe them a huge debt of gratitude, and recognise and thank them for all they've done.

The railway companies covered are:

Barry Railway
Brecon & Merthyr Railway
Cambrian Railways
Cardiff Railway
Great Western Railway
London, Chatham & Dover Railway (1880-1891)
Midland Railway (1873-1921)
Neath & Brecon Railway
North Eastern Railway (1855-1865)
Port Talbot Railway & Docks
Rhondda & Swansea Bay Railway
Rhymney Railway
Taff Vale Railway
Vale of Glamorgan Railway (health warning: only 4 accidents!)

To be incorporated in the coming month or so - Great Eastern Railway

Do please make use of this amazing resource - and ideally, if you could let us know (and encourage your members to do the same) what use you're making of it, that would be a great help. It helps us make the case for the continued work of the project, as we have more work to do. We're currently working on further trades union records (ASRS/ NUR), filling in gaps in our existing content so that we will cover 1875-1921, and a set of records shared with us by the HMRS, covering York carriage and wagon works c.1911-27. These will be added in due course.

We're also always keen to know about further staff accident records, so if you are aware of any, please do let us know.

The Railway Work, Life & Death project is a collaboration between the University of Portsmouth, the National Railway Museum and the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick, working with The National Archives of the UK, the RMT Union and the HMRS. We're entirely volunteer-driven.

All best wishes,

Mike Esbester (University of Portsmouth)