Showing posts with label Travel & Transport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel & Transport. Show all posts

Monday 5 October 2020

A Tragic Railway Accident at Earlston Station

Historical newspapers regularly featured quite graphic accounts of tragic accidents in the workplace. 

One such event in Earlston involved John Thomson, a coal agent.    On 7th February, 1866, aged just 36, he died as a result of injuries to his arm being crushed betweenthe buffers and coal trucks at Earlston Station.    A newspaper report in ‘The Kelso Chronicle’ of Friday 9th February, 1866, gave the full details:

“John Thomson, who got his arm broken and severely bruised between the buffers two wagons on Monday last week, died from the effects of the accident about one o'clock on Wednesday morning.    Thomson having been sergeant in the Earlston Volunteer Company, the members the Corps, who were greatly interested in his case, and who in the beginning of the week thought it was assuming very serious aspect, subscribed to procure the services of a surgeon of eminence from Edinburgh, and in this they were liberally assisted by the public in general.

Accordingly, on Tuesday morning, Mr Andrew Murdison, a brother volunteer of Thomson’s, very kindly took the trouble of going personally to Edinburgh, in addition to sending a telegram (which, as is too common, landed at its destination long after the sender had been conveyed by train thereto) to seek the services of Dr. Annandale, to whom he had been recommended by Dr. Riddell.  [The local physician]

This gentleman accompanied Mr Murdison back to Earlstoun in the afternoon, and having seen and examined Thomson, deemed amputation of the arm necessary. This operation Dr Annandale performed about 4 o’clock in the afternoon but Thomson gradually sank, and about nine hours thereafter expired.

Thomson, who was a young unmarried man in the prime of life, was much respected in the place, and his premature death under such circumstances has excited deep sympathy for those of his family who survive him.”

  

Two trains in Earlston station
Copyright © A R Edwards and Son,  Selkirk.    (Cathy Chick Collection).   All Rights Reserved

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Background Notes:

  • ·       John Thomson’s Family
    John was born Earlston, 2nd May 1829, the fourth son, in a family of eight, children  of William Thomson and Janet Slight/Sleigh, the great, great great, grandparents of Auld Earlston member Sheila McKay.  


    In the 1851 census, William, born in Lauder, was described as a thatcher, with the family living on Main Street, Earlston. John’s occupation was given as a sawyer.


    Father, William died in 1860, with John named as the informant, on the death certificate.


    Where John was at the time of the 1861 census remains a mystery, as he was not in Earlston.     Could he possibly be the John Thomson, born in Earlston , aged 30, serving as a police constable in Chirnside?  Impossible to say when his name is so popular in the region. The Heritage Hub in Hawick holds a substantial collection of police records, but the Constabulary Records  for Berwickshire did not begin  until after 1866. 

    By the time of his death, John had had a change of occupation to that of coal agent. Coal represented the single largest freight traffic on the railways.  John would have been working in the coal merchant’s yard at the station. As the coal wagons arrived from the Dalkeith coalfields, his role involved liaising with the local coal merchants on the purchase of the coal.
  • ·       Medicine in 1866
    John was tended to initially by  the local physician Dr. Riddell, and we have a fine description of the doctor in  the writings on Earlston people and places by  Rev. William Crockett. 


"Here was a man skilled in diagnosis, a very capable servant, responsive to every phase of human distress. Even if (because of his slightly humped back), they spoke of him as”Humpy" Riddell, it was never with any feeling of disrespect. The doctor was endowed with a big brain; poor people said he had a heart of gold. He showed his queer habits on occasions   - a street fight fascinated him for instance.  Dr  Riddell believed in prayer and once told the minister "I always pray before I start an operation."  

This was a time of early days in the use of anaesthesia, with infection control weak, and the incidence of mortality following amputation high. It was only in 1867 that Joseph Lister published his work in using carboiic acid as an antiseptic.

  • ·       Earlston’s Community Spirit
    It is worth noting the generosity of the public to John’s accident and the readiness to provide funds to call on Edinburgh surgeon, Dr. Annandale to perform the operation.

  • ·       Earlston Railway
    John’s death in 1866 occurred in the
    early history of the Earlston railway.  The Berwickshire line had reached the village in 1863 and was extended to Newtown St. Boswells in 1865, with completion of the Leaderfoot Viaduct, the major engineering feat of the line and itself the scene of some railway accidents during its construction.





    A goods train from Earlston travelling between Gordon and Greenlaw.
    Copyright  © Bruce McCartney.  All Rights Reserved.  
     

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Sources of Information

  •  British Newspaper Archive - website

  • The Rhymer's Town:  Further Notes on Earlston's Past, by Dr. W. S. Crockett. In "The Southern Annual:1942.


    Cotributed by Sheila  McKay and Susan Donaldson 
     
     
     
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Wednesday 23 May 2018

1898 - First Car Sighted on Earlston High Street

Reader Dr. John Burns  came  across this  snippet on Earlston life in  “The Southern Reporter” of 24th March 1898.
"MOTOR CAR - A motor car passed through the village on Sunday morning.  The two gentlemen who were driving it left Newcastle-on-Tyne the previous day en route for Edinburgh. In this neighbourhood one of the tyres got damaged  and it was resolved to put up at the Red Lion. 
This was done and the  car when it reached the hotel, being stopped for a little while was quickly surrounded  and examined with no small degree of curiosity, this being the first time  such a machine  has been seen  in operation here. "
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This little  news item is complemented by advertisements from the  "AA Illustrated Motoring Annual and Motorist Year Book. 1904", held by reader Cynthia Sinclair whose grandfather had a car hire business in Edinburgh.  


 


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More motor car photographs from the Auld Earlston Collection 


 

Ten years on from this the first sighting of a car in the village,  this is the official car used by Prime Minister Asquith when he visited Earlston in 1908.
 

 A vintage  car on Thorn Street at the west end of the village, c.1920's.

 
The Quiet Market Square, c.1920's

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Have you come across an interesting story or item from the past 
that can be shared with others on our blog?  We would  like to hear from you. 

 Please contact us at:     auldearlston@aol.com 

THANK YOU    

Monday 15 January 2018

Travel around Earlston in Times Past.

AN EARLSTON TRAVEL TIMELINE

c, 1737  - Craigsford Bridge was built over the Leader Water, carrying what was then  the main route north  and south.




1765 - The Turnpike Act authorised the planning and building of a new road from Lauder to Kelso  via Purveshaugh, near Earlston. 


1768 - A Turnpike Act provided a new road between Lauder and the Tweed at Leaderfoot, the route going by Blainslie and Craisgford to the west of Earlston. with considerable improvement to the existing route between Newtown and Jedburgh and onto Carter Bar. 

1778 - A bridge was built over the River Tweed at Leaderfoot, replacing the ferry crossing. Its narrow structure, more suited  to horses and carts, remained in use for 200 years, until  a new road bridge spanned the river in 1974.  

1795 - The first regular coach service introduced between Kelso and Edinburgh, via Smailholm and Lauder,  with a later stop  at Earlston for changing horses.  The journey initially  took 10 hours! 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0hWLQBE-I4AvyhJggQ0oCVOSjNaB_6nSbhVp570BglpVN2skI8bU8Bhzc65PC-stX-VhJbPyC65VvS_iSdKxPzvzF_WnwCzo1-WC8Gm4-vyW2iNPf7UYsvlUflQU6XK1UYFicPfCkkQv9/s400/Stagecoach+Bl.+.jpg


1830's - The "Tweedside" coach between Kelso and Edinburgh offered a daily service, leaving Edinburgh 8am. Lauder 12.30pm, Earlston 1.30pm and arriving at Kelso 2pm - a six hour journey. 

1834 - Road built between Earlston and Greenlaw.  

1849 - The Waverley Rail Line opened between Edinburgh and Hawick, extended to Carlisle in  1862. 


1850 - A new road was built following the line of the Leader Water, between Lauder and Newtown, via Earlston  (the current Thorn Street).  

1852 -  As the railways took over as a mode of travel,   the last  coach service  was withdrawn from the Borders. On country roads, the only vehicles were private carriages and farm carts. 

1863 - The Berwickshire Railway reached Earlston.  


 


1865 - The opening of Leaderfoot Viaduct and the completion of the Berwickshire Railway line from Reston to Newtown. 




1890's - The introduction of the "safety bicycle" brought in the first hey days of  leisure cycling. 




1890's - The Arrol-Johnston, built by George Johnston in Glasgow, was one  of the first cars ever built in the world. 

1903 - Wilbur and Orville Wright made the first powered flight. 

1931 - Earlston Aerodrome opened at Purveshaugh, with a William Rodger's plane offering  air displays and passenger flights. 
   
1948 - Major floods in Berwickshire restricted train traffic  through Earlston to goods only.

1965 - The Berwickshire Railway closed, as part of the Beeching cuts.  

1974  - A new concrete bridge was built over the River Tweed at Leaderfoot to take modern day A68 traffic.   


 

 
 Sources: 
  • Borders Highway by  John J. Mackay
  • Local Newspapers
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Tuesday 21 November 2017

Wheel Women of Earlston

One journalist in the 1890's 
called female cyclists   "wheelwomen". 

Christina  (Tinnie) Notman  of Kidgate.  
The photograph was taken on the A68 with Roosevelt Place seen in the background.


The introduction of the "safety bicycle" in the 1890's led to a hey day for leisure cycling,  For women, cycling  came to represent a freedom they had not experienced before and the activity quickly became associated with the wider movement of  women's emancipation.   

But there  were public outcries at the prospect of these  changes in the social norm,  with much of the criticism focusing on women's dress - notably the new style of bloomers and knickerbockers. These  offered more freedom for movement than women's  usual restrictive dresses, and cycling  fashions became the subject of ridicule in cartoons.
   
 Couple, Bicycle, Vintage, Advertisement
Image courtesy of Pixabay

Newspapers of the day  abounded  with letters,  articles  and reports  on  the vision of women riding around the countryside.   

In 1894 the Society of Cyclists calling for  "Rational Dress for  Wheelwomen"

An angry  letter condemned "a young woman who spends most of her time in riding  on a man's bicycle, has a good deal to learn in respect of simplicity and neatness of attire", and  one clergyman refused to give communion to women who turned up for church in bloomers or knickerbockers.  

However some  doctors said firmly that, " as those best qualified to judge, they were almost unanimous in declaring that the average standard of health among women, who cycle had shown an appreciable elevation."

So this was the image portrayed in advertisements and posters that conveyed a sense of fun and freedom, with illustrations of happy cyclist  enjoying the fresh air and exercise.  

As one protagonist said 
"A  most exciting and delightful mode of travel".  

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Women in Earlston were not going to be left behind in  enjoying this new activity and cycling quickly grew in popularity.   

 Leaving the Egg Packing Station,   1950's


Sandra Wylie, c.1953

But if pundits frowned upon the first women cyclists, what would they have made of the move onto motor cycles?  

 Minnie Silver, 1920's.

An unidentified rider - does anyone know who this is?

Anne Brotherston at Charterhall 
Anne Brotherston on her brother's bike  in East End Woods.

Beatrice Notman (Bea) of  Kidgate

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Bike, Bicycle, Hessian, Sacking
Image courtesy of Pixabay


With thanks to everyone who has donated  these photographs 
of Earlston's  women cyclists. 

We would love to hear from you, if you have any photographs 
that can be added to the Auld Earlston collection.
The photographs  can be scanned, copied and returned to you. 

Please contact:  Te/:  01896 848240.  E-Mail:  auldearlston@aol.com 


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