Re: Information Regarding Murrle, Bennett & Co.
Posted: Thu Feb 29, 2024 11:58 am
THE WITHAM RAIL DISASTER
On Friday, 1st September 1905 the Great Eastern Railway's London Liverpool Street to Cromer Express derailed whilst travelling through Witham station at high speed. Ten passengers on the train and a porter at the station were killed, and a further seventy-one passengers were seriously injured.
Below is a report from a period newspaper:
SMASH ON THE G.E.R.
CROMER EXPRESS WRECKED
Ten Killed and 40 Injured. The quiet little market town of Witham, in Essex, on the Great Eastern Railway, was the scene on Friday morning of a railway disaster the magnitude of which has rarely been equalled in the history of British railway travel. The 9.27 express from Liverpool-street, London, for Cromer, composed of first and third class coaches, with guard's brake-van, started with a fairly full complement of passengers, many of them holiday-makers on their way to popular East Coast watering-places, with a fair sprinkling of country people who had been spending vacations in London. Chelmsford, the first stop, was reached in schedule time, and the train started two minutes later for Colchester, the next stopping station. The train is timed to run through Witham, nine miles beyond Chelmsford, at 10.29, and it was whilst it was running through the junction at 40 miles an hour that the catastrophe occurred. The engine in entering the station was on the line, but some of the succeeding carriages were seen to oscillate in an alarming manner. It was evident they had jumped the metals. A second later one of the rocking coaches struck the down platform. Instantly the train parted. The engine, being relieved of part of its load, dashed forward with increased speed. A composite carriage and a coach adjoining in the foremost portion, probably owing to the wrench when the train parted, then left the rails. One of these coaches was swung over on its side, and the driver, realising what had happened, pulled up his engine within a hundred yards. The engine itself never left the metals.
RUSHED AGAINST THE PLATFORM
But the second portion of the train suffered much more. The coach rushed against the platform, and was forced by its own impetus and the pressure of the carriage following right on to the platform. It crashed into the station buildings, crumpling them up like so much match-wood. The porters'-room was completely demolished, and the foreman porter, sitting in his little cabin, was crushed to death before he could realise what was happening. Still driven forward by their own momentum, the carriages of the second section tore down the buildings on the platform, and finally lay in one almost unrecognisable mass of carriages, station, timbers, and general wreckage. Two ticket-collectors were buried in the wreckage, but were subsequently taken out alive, though much bruised. The dreadful suddenness of the event was for the moment paralysing. Men seemed too thunderstruck to move. Then the screams and groans of the injured and dying brought about a realisation of what had occurred. The signalman promptly blocked the line, and then telegraphed to Chelmsford and London for aid. The guards were quickly among the ruined pile, helping those to whom a helping hand meant instant relief. The station staff were equally prompt. All the available surgeons of Witham were summoned. These were reinforced in an incredibly short time by doctors and a staff of nurses from Chelmsford, who were, brought up by a special relief train.
HEARTRENDING SCENE
The scene at the station was heartrending, and one calculated to sicken the strongest of constitutions. The moans of the passengers pinned in were pitiful, and, to heighten the horror of the situation, the gasometers under the carriages set fire to some of the debris, and men strove frantically to rescue all those in danger before the dreaded flames reached them. In this, it is believed, they were successful. Witham, as already stated, is a market town and local corn centre. In close proximity to the line is a large building used as a Corn Exchange. Here the poor mangled bodies were reverently taken as they were recovered, and quickly attended to by the doctors and nurses in waiting. Some of those taken from the debris were evidently dead; in other cases they were unconscious, and it was difficult to say whether they were alive or not. It was a sad spectacle—one that once seen is never forgotten.
Source: Evening Express and Evening Mail - 2nd September 1905
This report was followed by a long list of those killed and injured. Amongst the list of those injured, one name in particular stands out:
Mrs. Redgrove, 187, High-road, Streatham, injuries to head.
This may well have been Nellie A. Redgrove, wife of William Raynsford Redgrove. She was also a director of White & Redgrove, Ltd. (Murrle, Bennett's Successors.) The Redgrove's were known to reside in Streatham by at least 1916, as was Ernest Murrle in 1903.
Trev.
On Friday, 1st September 1905 the Great Eastern Railway's London Liverpool Street to Cromer Express derailed whilst travelling through Witham station at high speed. Ten passengers on the train and a porter at the station were killed, and a further seventy-one passengers were seriously injured.
Below is a report from a period newspaper:
SMASH ON THE G.E.R.
CROMER EXPRESS WRECKED
Ten Killed and 40 Injured. The quiet little market town of Witham, in Essex, on the Great Eastern Railway, was the scene on Friday morning of a railway disaster the magnitude of which has rarely been equalled in the history of British railway travel. The 9.27 express from Liverpool-street, London, for Cromer, composed of first and third class coaches, with guard's brake-van, started with a fairly full complement of passengers, many of them holiday-makers on their way to popular East Coast watering-places, with a fair sprinkling of country people who had been spending vacations in London. Chelmsford, the first stop, was reached in schedule time, and the train started two minutes later for Colchester, the next stopping station. The train is timed to run through Witham, nine miles beyond Chelmsford, at 10.29, and it was whilst it was running through the junction at 40 miles an hour that the catastrophe occurred. The engine in entering the station was on the line, but some of the succeeding carriages were seen to oscillate in an alarming manner. It was evident they had jumped the metals. A second later one of the rocking coaches struck the down platform. Instantly the train parted. The engine, being relieved of part of its load, dashed forward with increased speed. A composite carriage and a coach adjoining in the foremost portion, probably owing to the wrench when the train parted, then left the rails. One of these coaches was swung over on its side, and the driver, realising what had happened, pulled up his engine within a hundred yards. The engine itself never left the metals.
RUSHED AGAINST THE PLATFORM
But the second portion of the train suffered much more. The coach rushed against the platform, and was forced by its own impetus and the pressure of the carriage following right on to the platform. It crashed into the station buildings, crumpling them up like so much match-wood. The porters'-room was completely demolished, and the foreman porter, sitting in his little cabin, was crushed to death before he could realise what was happening. Still driven forward by their own momentum, the carriages of the second section tore down the buildings on the platform, and finally lay in one almost unrecognisable mass of carriages, station, timbers, and general wreckage. Two ticket-collectors were buried in the wreckage, but were subsequently taken out alive, though much bruised. The dreadful suddenness of the event was for the moment paralysing. Men seemed too thunderstruck to move. Then the screams and groans of the injured and dying brought about a realisation of what had occurred. The signalman promptly blocked the line, and then telegraphed to Chelmsford and London for aid. The guards were quickly among the ruined pile, helping those to whom a helping hand meant instant relief. The station staff were equally prompt. All the available surgeons of Witham were summoned. These were reinforced in an incredibly short time by doctors and a staff of nurses from Chelmsford, who were, brought up by a special relief train.
HEARTRENDING SCENE
The scene at the station was heartrending, and one calculated to sicken the strongest of constitutions. The moans of the passengers pinned in were pitiful, and, to heighten the horror of the situation, the gasometers under the carriages set fire to some of the debris, and men strove frantically to rescue all those in danger before the dreaded flames reached them. In this, it is believed, they were successful. Witham, as already stated, is a market town and local corn centre. In close proximity to the line is a large building used as a Corn Exchange. Here the poor mangled bodies were reverently taken as they were recovered, and quickly attended to by the doctors and nurses in waiting. Some of those taken from the debris were evidently dead; in other cases they were unconscious, and it was difficult to say whether they were alive or not. It was a sad spectacle—one that once seen is never forgotten.
Source: Evening Express and Evening Mail - 2nd September 1905
This report was followed by a long list of those killed and injured. Amongst the list of those injured, one name in particular stands out:
Mrs. Redgrove, 187, High-road, Streatham, injuries to head.
This may well have been Nellie A. Redgrove, wife of William Raynsford Redgrove. She was also a director of White & Redgrove, Ltd. (Murrle, Bennett's Successors.) The Redgrove's were known to reside in Streatham by at least 1916, as was Ernest Murrle in 1903.
Trev.
