Returning to Grantham

[61070]

Here's some more former Grantham railway staff from yesteryear that you may already have?.

1898 Signalman Herring (no christian name mentioned?) a signalman at Grantham for over 31 years and working at Grantham yard box in 1898.


1906 Signalman Alfred Day a signalman for 11 years and working at Grantham south box in 1906.

1906 Telegraph lad Thomas William Sellars at Grantham south box for 6 months (possibly for more than 6 months?) in 1906.

1906 Signalman Isaac Crowson a signalman for nearly 22 years at Grantham yard box in 1906.

1906 Signalman Richard Scoffin a signalman for nearly 16 years and working Grantham north box in 1906.

All the above names are mentioned in the accident reports for the two accidents at Grantham in 1898 & 1906.

Thanks Micky - much appreciated. These might have gone 'under the radar' if you hadn't picked them up from the reports.

[strang steel]

That's nearly 100 people already on a rough and ready count, and I can think of several categories of station-based staff not (yet?) listed, quite apart from all the loco shed-based staff, pw and S&T gangs etc. etc.

Yes, and I have not completed the station/yard list yet.

I have not found the entry for the loco shed staff, but I suspect there is one somewhere. Does anyone know of a driver or fireman's surname that would have been based at Grantham shed around 1939? It would make my task much easier; although I could just enter Smith and trawl through everyone who comes up.

[61070]

Arthur Cawston in LNER Steam at Grantham lists (p23) the drivers in the Pacific Link in 1931 as Harry Doolan, George Lee, Arthur King, Fred Sharpe, Dick Robinson, Tommy Short, Jim Ledger, Joe Baines, Charlie Parker, Bill and Albert Southwell and Bill Bird. I expect some of them would still be on the job in 1939.
Norman Baines was a fireman at Grantham in 1929 having stated as a cleaner in 1915 (p28), and I know that he was there as a driver in the 1950s (at least three generations of the Baines family were Grantham footplatemen or shed staff).
If I can find anything closer to 1939 I'll let you know.

[strang steel]

Thanks John, but I cannot find any of those names so far.

I am beginning to wonder if the staff return that I am quoting from was somehow linked to the war effort, and was only concerned with certain "non-essential" grades? Although that does not explain the presence of signalmen. Maybe the idea was to obtain a rough number of staff that could be conscripted if the war (which was only 8 weeks old at that point) turned into a long drawn out affair?

However, I am only guessing really, but it seems that loco shed staff were not part of the assessment.

[strang steel]

Anyway; onwards and upwards - as they say.


Chargeman Carriage Cleaner

William Edgar Timm b 21/2/1898 - entered service 4/6/1923 - paid £2 9s per week


Carriage Cleaner

George Shelbourne b 8/10/1886 - entered service 16/8/1920 - paid £2 5s per week

Philip Norman Ingleton b 14/10/1915 - entered service 2/4/1934 - paid £2 5s per week

John Ashford b 10/5/1919 - entered service 16/10/1934 - paid £2 5s per week

Alfred Welbourn b 14/5/1909 - entered service 7/3/1938 - paid £2 5s per week

Ernest Raymond Pacey b 14/10/1920 - entered service 17/10/1938 - paid £1 15s per week

Eric Arthur Wright b 3/3/1924 - entered service 24/7/1939 - paid 16s per week

Jeffery Meadows b 21/1/1923 - entered service 17/1/1938 - paid £1 per week


Yard Foreman

George William Lyon b 29/6/1877 - entered service -/9/1898 - paid £3 10s per week

Alfred Hales b 8/4/1880 - entered service -/-/1904 - paid £3 10s per week

Harry Stanley Misson b 23/7/1891 - entered service -/3/1906 - paid £3 10s per week

[cambois]

It is probably not surprising that there are no footplate staff in the lists as the start titled them as "Grantham Passenger"

Footplate staff would probably come under something like "Motive Power"

[strang steel]

I'm afraid not. It is in alphabetical order of stations, and after Grantham Passenger comes Great Missenden.

The record before Grantham Passenger is Grange Park.

[cambois]

Thanks That fits The list is the "Traffic" Department list. So it will include all stations, passenger and goods, plus marshalling yards. All signalling staff would be attached to a "home" station and guards likewise.

But all footplate staff would be on a completely separate "footplate" list possible under the CM&EE, rather that Operations or Traffic.

[strang steel]

I will see if I can find any footplate lists, but at present it is not looking hopeful; which is a shame, as some of the footplate staff may have been known to members of this forum and we might have been able to draw together more information (such as promotion/retirement dates) resulting in a much fuller career profile.

I have found the Finsbury Park signal box staffing return for 1939, however.

[strang steel]

Now, back to Grantham station and yard staff:-


Goods shunters

Frederick Johnson b 23/10/1890 - entered service 26/5/1913 - paid £3 per week

Francis John Maxon b 29/9/1903 - entered service 20/1/1919 - paid £3 per week

Walter Smith b 21/3/1900 - entered service 19/4/1915 - paid £3 per week

Arthur James Grice b 8/10/1893 - entered service 19/3/1919 - paid £3 per week

Arthur Edwin Dudley b 6/4/1886 - entered service -/11/1906 - paid £3 per week

Thomas Errington Ford b 29/4/1906 - entered service 17/12/1903 - paid £3 per week

Albert Edward Ablewhite b 25/5/1902 - entered service 19/2/1923 - paid £2 15s per week

Raymond Tabor b 15/12/1908 - entered service 24/7/1924 - paid £2 15s per week

Wilfred Horace Clapton b 14/1/1900 - entered service -/-/1916 - paid £2 15s per week

Frank Allman b 21/11/1891 - entered service 21/5/1919 - paid £2 15s per week

Montague Ogden b 28/2/1905 - entered service 13/9/1920 - paid £2 15s per week


Passenger Shunters

John Culpin b 19/4/1892 - entered service 16/7/1912 - paid £3 per week

Walter Drury b 29/11/1874 - entered service 29/6/1901 - paid £3 per week

Robert William Ellershaw b 1/11/1904 - entered service 3/3/1919 - paid £3 per week

George Frederick Sharman b 21/1/1890 - entered service 7/3/1919 - paid £3 per week


Staff Serving With The Forces

Cecil John Raymond Keys Telegraph Lad b 4/4/1921 - entered service 24/5/1937 - paid £1 10s per week

Jack Leonard Harry Hall Telegraph Lad b 1/5/1920 - entered service 11/3/1935 - paid £1 10s per week

Charles Freestone Lad Carriage Cleaner b 17/2/1923 - entered service 7/3/1938 - paid £1 per week


Supervisory Foreman

Sidney Morris b 29/12/1882 - entered service 7/6/1900 - paid £3 9s per week


Foremen

Thomas Edward Chambers b 25/4/1881 - entered service -/1/1901 - paid £2 19s per week

Joseph Henry Morris b 16/3/1887 - entered service 12/2/1907 - paid £2 19s per week

John Joseph Sharp b 28/8/1892 - entered service -/6/1910 - paid £2 19s per week


Checkers

Frederick Charles Edwards b 24/4/1886 - entered service 9/4/1900 - paid £2 14s per week

George Thomas Hoy b 29/6/1883 - entered service -/4/1903 - paid £2 14s per week

George Chappell b 30/3/1902 - entered service 18/11/1915 - paid £2 14s per week

Arthur Chappell b 22/9/1903 - entered service 18/2/1918 - paid £2 14s per week


Loaders

Frederick Charles Clarke b 3/1/1875 - entered service 1/10/1914 - paid £2 9s per week

George Edward Pizer b 6/6/1876 - entered service -/7/1911 - paid £2 9s per week

Cyril Tom Pearson b 15/4/1912 - entered service 31/1/1927 - paid £2 9s per week

Lawrence Robert Maycroft b 12/8/1886 - entered service 7/7/1922 - paid £2 9s per week

John Richard Oxby b 27/10/1908 - entered service 16/4/1923 - paid £2 9s per week


Goods Porters

Walter Bryan b 28/11/1881 - entered service -/6/1906 - paid £2 7s per week

Henry Charles Butler b 20/7/1915 - entered service 9/1/1933 - paid £2 7s per week

Norman Malcolm Harrison b 7/1/1917 - entered service 29/7/1935 - paid £2 7s per week

William Johnson b 30/11/1876 - entered service 10/9/1900 - paid £2 7s per week

Thomas Charles North b 3/5/1918 - entered service 4/9/1933 - paid £2 7s per week

William Newman b 8/9/1876 - entered service 31/7/1911 - paid £2 7s per week

Clarence Summerfield b 4/11/1916 - entered service 9/10/1933 - paid £2 7s per week

John Tilney b 9/5/1877 - entered service 3/2/1919 - paid £2 7s per week

Arthur Kimberley Parker b 2/2/1900 - entered service 7/3/1938 - paid £2 7s per week

Oliver Welbourn b 18/9/1907 - entered service 7/3/1938 - paid £2 7s per week

Charles Donald Clayton b 11/4/1918 - entered service 28/10/1935 - paid £2 7s per week


Lad Porter

Charles Ray Chambers b 28/11/1922 - entered service 30/5/1939 - paid £1 per week


Shunt Horse Drivers

John Thomas Butler b 3/9/1879 - entered service 2/9/1918 - paid £2 9s per week

Horace Edwards Towers b 15/4/1900 - entered service 22/12/1924 - paid £2 9s per week

Amos Lloyd Ramsden b 8/6/1912 - entered service 1/10/1928 - paid £2 9s per week



.......and that is all that I can find for Grantham Passenger.

[Brush53Falcon]

Now, back to Grantham station and yard staff:-


"George Edward Pizer b 6/6/1876 - entered service -/7/1911 - paid £2 9s per week"


.......and that is all that I can find for Grantham Passenger.

The Pizer's were quite a famous 'railway name' in and around the Grantham and Gt.Ponton area.

Collected from various census 1901 backwards

Edward PIZER b1841 Gt Ponton
Ann b1848 Castle Bytham Lincs
Children
Thomas b1868 Castle Bytham Lincs
Robert b1870 Gt Ponton
John H b1873 "
George b1877 "
Charles b1880 "
Alfred b1882 "
Walter b1886 "
Arthur b1892 "
Herbert b1895 "

Birth reg?

Arthur Pizer
Year of Registration: 1891
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
District: Grantham (1837-1933)
County: Leicestershire, Lincolnshire
Volume: 7a
Page: 457

Possible marriage ?

Arthur Pizer
Year of Registration: 1912
Quarter of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar
Spouse's Surname: Woodcock
District: Sleaford
County: Lincolnshire
Volume: 7a
Page: 572



It says
Well known figure at Great Ponton - he worked at the railway station
there for 40 years.
He leaves a widow, a son Edward, who also works on the railway, and a
daughter Phyllis.
Also mentions brothers Edward & Herbert.
His son, Ted Pizer, who died in 2005, was the signalman at Colsterworth Mines box. When the box shut in 1976 he transferred to Grantham as a station announcer until his retirement in 1987. He lived at 1 Tunnel Cottages, Highdyke, Gt.Ponton and was one of Colsterworth's 'characters', still feeding all the stray cats for miles around. He was the last of the 'railway Pizer's' and still a proud railwayman.

I would like to find out more about Ted as it would be relevant to the book I am writing on 'The Highdyke Branch', it's a great pity I never got around to meeting him!

[61070]

.......and that is all that I can find for Grantham Passenger.

That's an amazing piece of work John, thanks very much. It begins to build up a picture of the community of people who owed their living to the LNER in Grantham at that time. Do you think that everyone you've listed came under the management of the Station Master, whether directly or indirectly? The list of jobs appears to include staff responsible for the traffic side of the railway, but not, for example, those who maintained or crewed the motive power, as cambois observes, or who looked after the physical infrastructure (S&T, PWay, plant, buidings and so on).

Now that we have so many names to go I'm sure it will be possible to find out more from a variety of sources, in particular from the LNER Magazine beacause the excellent DVD version published by the GER Society facilitates such searching. I've just given it a try and, within seconds, came up with the retirements of guard Wand and signalman Bland, both of whom are on your lists:

ON January 31 [1941], at Grantham, PASSENGER GUARD WAND was presented with a fireside chair, and SIGNALMAN BLAND received some bank notes, on the occasion of their retirement, on November 26 and December 28 respectively, the gifts being handed over by Mr. Gardner, Stationmaster, who was supported by Messrs. Buttery, Dannon, Selby, Bullimore, Goodliff, Scrimshire and Harmston. Mr. Wand entered the service at Grantham in 1897 and has held various positions at that station, leading to guard. Mr. Bland started at Queensbury, and after being moved to Grantham as a telegraph lad, served as a special class signalman for 35 years, which covered a period on relief duties.

[61070]

Now, back to Grantham station and yard staff:-


"George Edward Pizer b 6/6/1876 - entered service -/7/1911 - paid £2 9s per week"


.......and that is all that I can find for Grantham Passenger.

The Pizer's were quite a famous 'railway name' in and around the Grantham and Gt.Ponton area.


It says
Well known figure at Great Ponton - he worked at the railway station
there for 40 years.
He leaves a widow, a son Edward, who also works on the railway, and a
daughter Phyllis.
Also mentions brothers Edward & Herbert.
His son, Ted Pizer, who died in 2005, was the signalman at Colsterworth Mines box. When the box shut in 1976 he transferred to Grantham as a station announcer until his retirement in 1987. He lived at 1 Tunnel Cottages, Highdyke, Gt.Ponton and was one of Colsterworth's 'characters', still feeding all the stray cats for miles around. He was the last of the 'railway Pizer's' and still a proud railwayman.

I would like to find out more about Ted as it would be relevant to the book I am writing on 'The Highdyke Branch', it's a great pity I never got around to meeting him!

Surely a member of the family:
LNER Magazine, June 1945 ON April 11 [1945] a presentation was made to Goods Loader E. PIZER, of Grantham, who recently retired from the service. The gift took the form of treasury notes and was handed over by Mr. H. Gardner, Stationmaster and Goods Agent, who expressed the appreciation of the Company and himself for the splendid manner in which Mr. Pizer had carried out his duties. Tributes were also paid by Mr. Lee, Chief Clerk, Mr. Wilsher, Chief Section Clerk, and Foremen Chambers and Morris. Entering the service at Ducie Street in 1896, Mr. Pizer went to Grantham in 1910.

There's a photo of him too (page 144). The DVD set is available from the GER Society: http://www.gersociety.org.uk/images/sto ... ER_DVD.pdf

[workev]

I make no apologies for announcing that the Return to Grantham team have a stand in the main Marquee at the Mallard Festival of Speed at Grantham this weekend (September 7/8).

Please come along and say hello, and if you have anything relevant for the project please do bring it with you!

Finally, we will have details of how you can purchase some of the photos that 61070's dad took and which started this amazing thread. We have printed out a limited selection of some 40 sample photos for now, but any of the photos on this thread can be purchased if requested. So if you have a favourite come along and ask us for a copy, we hope prices are not too high!

Please note that we don't aim to make any profits from this, it is going towards the running of the project and funding research.

Don't be shy come and say hello!

See you at the weekend, Ian

[Andy@34F]

When my Grandad passed away i was handed a leather wallet containing some photographs, not many i'm afraid.

I believe the location is Grantham; is that the North box in the background? Sadly there isn't a date on the picture.