In 1924, the London, Midland & Scottish Railway published a warning to staff about some of the dangers they faced at work – including ‘heads – you lose!’. Well might they have highlighted the risks of the job: that year alone 263 railway workers were to die on the job, & a staggering 21,098 were injured. But who were those workers, in 1924 & since the advent of the railways? How can we locate past railway employees – & ground them in the places where they lived, worked, & played? These questions are particularly timely during ‘Railway 200’, & with the ‘celebrating railway people’ theme – but where do we find those people?
One way we can access at least some of those staff, & which is the focus of the lecture, is where they left a significant mark in the documentary record: via the accidents they had. These incidents were spread across Britain wherever there were railways. They give us an invaluable insight into ordinary people in their places, offering us rich possibilities for contributing to & understanding local history. I shall introduce the Railway Work, Life & Death project, a collaboration exploring the working lives & accidents of British & Irish railway staff. We will look at how the project can help understand the nature of railway work, as well as contribute to local history via the focus on particular places. I shall highlight some of the local history work the project has been doing, & will warmly encourage you all to explore what the project offers you.
Mike Esbester is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Portsmouth, & a co-lead of the Railway Work, Life & Death project (www.railwayaccidents.port.ac.uk). The project is exploring the working lives of British & Irish railway staff, via the accidents they had & the records they left behind. The project is a collaboration between the University of Portsmouth, the National Railway Museum & the Modern Records Centre, including working with The National Archives of the UK and the RMT Union.