4TH FEBRARY 1899
BATTERSEA FIREMAN
JOHN COLLINS
On the 18th January John Collins, fireman, L.B. and S.C. Railway, Battersea, slipped from his engine at East Croydon and fell to the ground, sustaining severe contusions, in consequences of which he had to go off duty. He is a subscriber to our Extra Insurance Edition.
The Railway Herald
4th February 1899
15TH APRIL 1899
RECENT CLAIMS PAID
On the 7th September last, F. Day, engine driver, L.B. & S.C. Railway, Battersea, was knocked down by an engine in the goods yard and sustained a fracture of one his thighs. He is a subscriber to our Extra Insurance Edition.
F. Day, engine driver, L.B. & S.C. Railway, injured at Battersea, 7th September, 1898; resumed duty 24th March. £1 paid 6th April.
The Railway Herald
15th April 1899
4TH MARCH 1899
THE ASSOCIATED SOCIETY OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS AND FIREMEN
Sir, -- I regret to say there seems a great deal of ill feeling springing up in our Society respecting the "dog in the manger" policy pursued by our officials at Leeds in regard to the appointment of a capable man to act as an organiser. Our General Secretary, and all those who have their opinions manufactured to his order, seem determined not to try to plant our flag at any place other than where we have a branch opened. Our General Secretary, however, was condescending enough at a Sheffield meeting to inform us that he was willing enough to correspond with anyone who would write him with a view of opening a new branch, and then began to inform us how wealthy our Society was. But Mr. Sunter should know it is not wealth that last, but strength, for without a proper amount of exercise no one can remain healthy, and so likewise no society can be progressive and healthy if there is na inactivity on the part of those who form the governing body. Our Society seems to be degenerated and dwarfed by a clique of invertebrate and spiritless would be leaders, who never practice what they preach, for while they profess to believe that combination is the only salvation for enginemen and firemen, they never try to extend the Society beyond its present limits. I hope that the delegates at the forthcoming delegate meeting may realise that ,although the Sheffield Branch is doing well, we shall not be satisfied until we see our Society extended.
PROGRESSIVE
Sheffield, February 20th, 1899
On the 30th March, F. Sutter, fireman, London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway, Battersea, whilst taking water at West Croydon, slipped from the top of the tank, and sustained a severe shock in consequence of which he went off duty. He is a subscriber to our Extra Insurance Edition, and this is the second claim he made upon us.
The Railway Herald
22nd April 1899
31ST MARCH 1889
PRESENTATION AT NEW CROSS
An open meeting was held at the Railway tavern, New Cross, on 21st inst., on the occasion of the presentation to Bro. David Mockett of the superannuation grant of £20, granted by the E.C. Bro. Mockett recently retired from active service, after a period of 47 years upon the L.B.&S.C., about 44 of which was spent upon the footplate. The occasion was also taken advantage of to present him with a further sum of £14 10s. from the contingent fund of the L.B.&S.C. Enginemen's and Firemen's Society.
The chair was occupied during the evening by the following: Bros. R. Graham, E. Pettitt, A. Moss, W.G. Maunders and E. Garrity.
Mr. Garrity, in an able speech, made the presentation. Songs were rendered during the evening by Messrs. Graham, Pettitt, Stevens, Simmonds, Townsend, constable, hooker, Brown, Every, Molyneux and Walker: also recitations by Mr. L. Garrity, (Accrington); a violin solo was also given by Mr. E. Seater; a pianoforte solo and song by Mr. R. Addis; the Reeve (musical eccentries) highly amused by the company by the eccentries; also the Westlake Brothers (mandolinists) rendered selections from the composers, and were encored for their rendering. Mr. G.W. Garrett ably presided at the piano. The whole of the proceedings was under the direction of Bro. C.G. West.
ENGINE DRIVER
P. BURCHELL
On the 8th April, Peter Burchell, engine driver, London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway, Horsham, fell from his engine whilst running the 5.5 p.m. train ex Brighton between West Grinstead and Southwater stations, and sustained injuries to one of his hands, which necessitated the amputation of the fingers. He is a subscriber to our Extra Insurance.
Peter Burchell, engine driver, L.B. & S.C. Railway, injured at Southwater, April 8th; not yet resumed duty. £1 paid May 12th, 1899.
The Railway Herald
22nd April & 20th May 1899
BATTERSEA SPARE DRIVER
JAMES STEVENS
On the 17th April, James Stevens, spare engine driver, L.B. & S.C. Railway, Battersea, in getting out of the pit after examine his engine, slipped and fell on one of the rails, injuring his back and ribs and had to go off duty in consequence. He is a subscriber to our Extra Insurance Edition.
The Railway Herald
29th April 1899
THE SOUTH COAST EXPRESS
22ND APRIL 1899
The London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Company will running, on and after the 1st of next month, a through train, which will be known as the South Coast Express, in each direction between Hastings and Portsmouth, via Brighton and Chichester. The train will composed of first, second and third class carriages, and will travel at a rat of forty miles an hour. This will supply an important cross country link, and it is hoped that the South Eastern and Great Western Railway Companies will be able to arrange connecting train so that passengers may travel by the South Coast from Dover to Southampton, Bournemouth, and other places, in a much shorter time than hitherto.
20TH MAY 1899
Since the 1st inst. the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Company have run their new South Coast Express between Hastings and Portsmouth daily in both directions. A meeting was held on the 20th ultimatum. of the Mayors of the Southern towns interested, when representatives from Dover and Brighton were deputed to up, with the Railway companies, the question of extending this train. A conference was accordingly held at London Bridge between the representatives of Dover and Brighton and the Railway officials, the result being that, in all probability, from July 1st next the train will be extended to Margate, Ramsgate, and Dover on the East, and to Southampton, Bournemouth, and Plymouth on the West, including also the most important intermediate towns.
BATTERSEA ENGINE DRIVER
FREDDERICK SNOW
On September 19th, Frederick Snow, engine driver on the L.B. & S.C.R., Battersea, met with an accident at Pouparts Junction through a collision, his nose being injured. He is a subscriber to our Special Edition.
F. Snow, engine driver , L.B. & S.C. Railway, injured at Pouparts Junction, September 19th. 15s. paid October 26th, 1899.
The Railway Herald
21st October & 4th November 1899
14TH OCTOBER 1899
A.S.L.E. & F.
Sir, -- On behalf of myself and fellow members of the above, allow me a small space in your valuable paper to give little forecast of what I hear is to take place at our coming delegates meeting. In the first place Mr. Sunters party is going to oppose might and main the election of an organising secretaries. But in case the delegates are too strong for them in favour of having one, the leader of the party is to try to get the delegates to elect an executive committee, composed of members of Leeds branches, under the guise that it will be less expensive than a representative committee. When I joined this society I was of opinion it was to form a universal brotherhood of loco. enginemen and firemen, and was to be against all clique or clan. But, alas, the clannish and selfish element is in full swing. If the delegates at the coming delegates' meeting allow Mr. Sunter and these wirepullers to play the game of bluff on them as they have at past delegate meetings of vital importance of the society, we might shut our doors at once, and make it into a sick and burial society, and get Kruger to be president. Or, perhaps, out of feeling for the little fakes that have been played on us under the guise of economy, we might rename our society the Antediluvian Society of Leeds Economisers and Fakers, and give Mr. Sunter, our twenty years behind the times secretary, full control.
PROGRESS
28TH OCTOBER 1899
A.S.L.E. & F.
The triennial confidence of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen was held last week at the Workpeople's Hall, Leeds. Mr. Gough, chairman of the Executive Council, presided over a large attendance of delegates, and stated that the Society comprised 9,000 members, with a fund of about £70,000. The report he brought forward condemned the system of premiums to officials, and regretted it was impossible to get any improved conditions of service by following a Pacific policy. It would have to be done by pressure and sooner they recognised that the better for all concerned. The men found it impossible to live respectably on wages given, and had to resort to working overtime, which the companies favoured ("What about the men in other grades, if the drivers and firemen cannot live respectably on their wages?"), otherwise the men would demand a considerable advance in wages. The Compensation Act had bee disadvantageous to drivers and firemen, as men had been discharged whose only crime was growing old, although they were as capable as ever of performing their duties. The report was adopted.
4TH NOVEMBER 1899
RAILWAYMEN'S GRIEVANCES
AN IMPORTANT MOVE
At the last annual general meeting of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants a resolution was adopted giving sanction for a general agitation among railwaymen of the kingdom for improved conditions of labour on the various railways. The General Secretary, Mr. R. Bell, was instructed to carry out this decision as soon as possible. Mr. Mr. Bell has now secured the co-operation of the Union of Locomotive Enginemen and Firemen. A conference between the two Unions will shortly be held, and the agitations which will doubtless have far reaching results, may be expected to begin at an early date. The Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants has issued the following
IMPORTANT MANIFESTO TO RAILWAYMEN
"The annual general meeting of this Society, held at Liverpool during the first week of this month decided that 'special efforts should be made to complete our organisation with a view of more effectively improving the condition of employment of railwaymen generally,' and gave its sanction for a movement for that purpose. It is now nearly two years since the Board of Trade requested men to make direct appeals to their respective Companies, which recommendation was acted upon with but meagre results, excepting that nearly 100 men to acted as representatives ere in various ways victimised. For many years in succession sectional efforts have been made and agitations carried on to established some of the most vital principles in the conditions of employment -- viz., a standard day, overtime rate, payment for Sunday labour, etc.; and the congress felt that the time had arrived when a united effort should be made to establish these important principles once and for all, thus bringing about some degree of uniformity in the conditions of the men which has not hitherto been the case.
A united movement is therefore essential to establish for all grades the principles of each day standing by itself, time and quarter for all time worked over each day's standard hours, time and a half for Sunday duty between twelve midnight Saturday and twelve midnight Sunday, and a guaranteed week.
Hours. -- Engine - drivers, firemen, goods, mineral, and passenger guards and brakesmen, ten hours per day, ad time and a quarter for night duty between six p.m. and six a.m. Shunters, eight hours per day; signalmen, eight hours per day in all bust cabins, and ten hours per day as a maximum in all other cabins. Goods workers, draymen, passenger staff, and all at present rated above ten hours per day, to be rated ten hours. Platelayers, 54 hours per week, with an all round advance of 2s. per week.
This programme, if accomplished, would be a great boon to all concerned, and, having once secured these important principles, the question of wages can on future occasions be more easily regulated than by submitting proposals entangled with hours, principles, and wages at the same time, as has been so often done in the past.
In conclusion the Secretary says:- " I am aware these conditions are below what you are entitled to; but they are such as the Companies cannot refuse if you show a determined desire to secure them. If these proposals meet with your approval, it is hoped you will at once say so, and join the nearest branch of this Society, remembering at the same time that the same power that is necessary to obtain is also necessary to maintain better conditions of employment. The great prosperity in trade has been taken advantage of by all other classes of workmen. It is unprecedented in the history of railways, and I hope the opportunity will not be allowed to slip by without railwaymen securing their fair share. Let your answer be decisive and sharp, keeping in mind that in combination lies your salvation.
Railway accidents on the
L.B.S.C.R.
PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN
Wivelsfield/Keymer Junction 23rd December 1899
Involving Battersea Driver Thomas Wright & Frederick Barrows & Battersea Driver Alfred Westlake & Fireman William
Franklin
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