George Stead Henry Lawrence

(Lawrance – NLR staff register [RAIL 529/134]) Train register boy. Age 13. Appt 21 Dec 1886. Transferred to LNW 1 Feb 1909. Father was a LNWR checker at Broad Street. Joined straight from school (St Columba’s Boy’s School, Kingsland Road). [RAIL 529/134/258 Folio 82.] Train register boy. New appt. Pay 6s. [RAIL 529/53 1 Feb […]

Hirdle Family

The Hirdle Family Edward senior, wife Fanny, son Edward junior and daughter Caroline, All of whom had a job with the North London Railway Edward Hirdle Senior He was born in Apsley, Bedfordshire, the son of a carpenter, somewhere between 1825 (according to his death certificate, aged forty-four when he died in 1869) and 1831 […]

Robert Ayres

NLR Service Driver. Age 62. Appointed about Oct 1865. Service 43 years, 6 months. Good Conduct Retiring Allowance 15s.0d (on taking over management of NLR by LNWR, their rules applied and drivers were retired at 60). [RAIL 529/83, 16 Mar 1909 Offr’s Mtg Min 37.] BMD Amusing Birth Dec qtr 1848, Male Ayres. [GRO. Huntingdon, […]

Three Station Masters of Bow Station

1st November 1863 – 31st July 1906 (Originally published in Journal 67, December 2016) by Peter Bloomfield with a lot of help from Colin Mansell and Martin O’Keeffe.) Abraham Keeble (1st November 1863 – 28th July 1884) Abraham Keeble was born before records began (Autumn 1837) but it was sometime around 1816 (NLR Staff register), […]

John A’Bear

Cashier (Originally published in Journal 66, August 2016) by Peter Bloomfield with a lot of help from David A’Bear and David Hanson The A’Bear name can be traced back to Norman times but what is not certain is was it a Saxon name which became normanised or a Norman name which became saxonised. John A’Bear was born […]

Signalman James Thackray

(who thrice showed quick witted promptitude) (Originally published in Journal 64, December 2015, of the NLRHS) by Peter Bloomfield with help from Margaret Foote James Thackray was born about 1830 to John and Elizabeth Thackray and christened on 26th March 1830 in Godmanchester, then in Huntingdonshire. By 1841 he was living with his parents and […]

The Skegness Disaster

(originally published in Journal 61, December 2014, of the NLRHS) On Saturday the 8th July, 1893, a party, numbering about eighty, of North London Railway men with their friends and relations went on an day excursion to Skegness, arriving at half past ten. It was a happy party that made their way along the road […]

George Wells

A Platelayer Whose Death Resulted In A Question Being Tabled In The House Of Commons (originally published in Journal 60, August 2014, of the NLRHS) [George Wells, Victor Geeves, and William Wells]   George Wells was born on Monday 6th August 1855, sixth of twelve children of John, a labourer, and Caroline Wells, in Leighton […]

The Platt Family

(A fatal explosion which resulted in a long, if not the longest, serving charwoman and pregnancy) (originally published in Journal 59, April 2014, of the NLRHS) [John and Elizabeth Platt, and children William, Daniel and Alice]   John Platt was born in Finchley on the 21 September 1827, son of William, a labourer, and Jane […]

Lapidge Ashlin Family Tree

Nepotism and Inter Breeding On The North London Railway

(originally published in Journals 57, August 2013, and 58, December 2013, of the North London Railway Historical Society)   [Including William Lapidge, John Lapidge , Elizabeth Jane née Lapidge, Joseph John Ashlin, Joseph William Ashlin, George Edward Ashlin, Albert E Ashlin, Henry Elsom, John Thomas Schmutter, Reuben Hart, Jane Crouch and Elizabeth Jones]   The […]