The Midland Railway Study Centre - Ashchurch Staff

Appendix: The Establishment in 1911

The 1911 census, the last available at time of writing, provides the most comprehensive list of railway personnel living in Ashchurch, as well as showing their distribution around the area in terms of accommodation. There were 82 railway employees, 87 if the staff of the refreshment rooms are included. Many are living in the railway cottages at the station, others in the community in houses westward along the Ashchurch Road. There is a group in Northway, a few at Aston Cross and in Aston-upon-Carrant. South of the Tewkesbury to Teddington road are small numbers living in Pamington and Fiddington.

The totals are generally compatible with the number of posts shown from railway records:

one each of stationmaster, telegraphist, ticket collector, inspector, sub-inspector , foreman (unspecified), yard foreman, porter shunter, goods
checker, train examiner, gateman, gatewoman, emergency man
2 each of clerks, relief signalmen, guards, painters, engine drivers
3 each of goods guards, carpenters
7 platelayers
8 signalmen

There were also several described as railway employees not further specified - one railway worker, four railway servants and 18 railway labourers.

Ten people worked at the Provender Stores, clearly railway company employees. These included a manager, deputy manager/clerk, night watchman, stationary engine driver, and various porters/labourers. There were also five ladies working at the station refreshment rooms, though, as suggested elsewhere here, perhaps they may have been employees of a different company. They lived at the Refreshment Rooms rather than in railway housing or in the community.

There was a concentration of employees at Ashchurch station. Each of fourteen (in 1911) cottages owned by the railway accommodated a railway family, often with one of the short-term younger employees boarding. In 1911 there was additional accommodation in the form of a nearby farmhouse in which two families were living and which would appear to have been acquired or leased by the railway company. There was also a stationmaster's house. In 1911 the stationmaster was living in a named house. It was very close to the station and it is not known whether this was the stationmaster's house renamed or a new or newly acquired building.

Railway families are also found in houses along the Ashchurch Road, westwards towards Tewkesbury; in Northway where there was a railway lodge, probably that described in 1911 as the crossing-keeper's house; to the east at Aston Cross and Aston-upon-Carrant. South of the Tewkesbury-Teddington Road there was a smaller number of railwaymen living in Teddington and Pamington, including a railway keeper's house at the former. A large proportion of those in the south and at Aston-upon-Carrant, all rural areas, were platelayers and labourers, often local men who had been born and brought up here and were themselves bringing up families.

In the following table the railwaymen's houses are shown in the context of all the houses listed

A. In the area of Ashchurch station
railway cottages
14	John Harrison	foreman porter
13	Frederick Weaver	goods guard
12	James Malin	goods checker
11	Joseph Joel Cooper	signalman
10	Raymond Haynes	signalman
9	Samuel Stockton Evans	yard foreman
8	Thomas Heard	signalman
7	{Frederick Woolley {Harry Collins	coal stage & night watchmen stationary engineman	boarding
6	Robert Hamblin	signalman
5	{Richard H Smith {Thomas O'Hanlon	signalman telegraphist	boarding
4	Albert Geo Saml Bamford	relief signalman
3	{Joseph Bullock {Walter Henry Hancox	relief signalman ticket collector	boarding
2	James Pardoe	corn porter Prov. Stores
1	Frederick Trapp	railway watchman
Refreshment Rooms	{Nellie Wood {Mary Shaw {Lily Matthews {Anne Aldridge	manageress asst manageress housemaid housemaid
farmhouse	{Henry Bassano {Albert Granger	retd signalman Provender clerk	sharing
West View	{William Watkins {James Watkins	stationmaster railway clerk	son of William

B. Along the Ashchurch Road eastwards
… Three 'Northway Cottages', including:
no number	George Willis	railway labourer
… Two houses at/in Gannaway Lane, including:
no number	Charles Trapp	railway carpenter
… One House (The Spa)
… Three Marconi Cottages including:
3	Edward Harris	railway engine driver
… Seven named houses in Ashchurch Road including:
Waverley	Edward H Hodkin	manager Provender Stores
… Two 'Newtown Cottages
6	Henry Holyoak Dare	railway porter
7	John Benjamin Brooks	railway signalman
… Thirteen named houses in Ashchurch Road including:
Forest Ferns	William James Cole	railway clerk
Glencoe Villa	John Smith	railway engine driver	shared accommodation
Northdene	Charles Savory	railway inspector
… Fourteen 'Newtown Cottages' (8-21) including:
11	Arthur Henry Collett	porter shunter
12	Peter Griffiths	telegraph clerk	see footnote
15	{Gilbert Anstee {Raymond Leach	railway servant railway servant	boarding
17	James Sheppard	railway guard
18	Herbert Roden	railway guard
19	{William Rossell {Percy Edw Rossell {Leonard V Rossell {Herbert H Rossell	sub-inspector railway painter railway labourer railway labourer	son of William son of William son of William
21	Northcote R Wills	railway servant
footnote: Peter Griffiths absent on census night, family staying with father in Gloucester, but this is his usual address in Ashchurch

C. In Northway
… Some twelve farms, houses, cottages including:
house	Ernest V S Nunney	railway labourer
house	Raymond Allchin	railway carpenter
Crossing Keeper's house	John Beacham	railway gateman	Northway Crossing

D. At Aston Cross
…Some fourteen residences including:
house	William Kingston	goods guard
Brickfields	{William Davis {Arthur H R Davis {Francis R Davis	forage lab Prov Stores railway platelayer railway platelayer	son of William son of William
The Elms	{Richard Whittingham {Arthur Cox	railway servant railway emergency man	boarding
house		railway carpenter
house	William Walker	railway platelayer

E. In Aston-upon-Carrant
… Some 33 houses including:
house	Robert Harris	railway worker
house	John Dorey	train examiner
house	{Edwin James Haynes {Frank Martin	Provender Stores railway plate layer	boarding
house	Joseph Wm Smith	railway platelayer	grandson of householder
house	{Charles Hutchings {Frank Hutchings {Harold Hutchings	railway painter railway labourer railway labourer	son of Charles son of Charles
house	George Saunders	railway labourer
house	{George Upstone {Walter Upstone	railway labourer railway labourer	son of George
house	Francis Geo Carter	railway labourer

F. In Fiddington
… at Claydon, nine dwellings including:
Railway Lodge	{Henry Hampden {Anna Hampden	railway labourer railway gatekeeper	also called Fiddington Crossing Henry's wife
cottage	Walter C Horsman	railway labourer
cottage	Thomas Tidyman	railway foreman
cottage	Charles H Walker	goods guard
… at Homesdown, eleven dwellings including
cottage	Charles Wheatcroft	railway platelayer
cottage	Joseph Webb	railway foreman (rtd)
cottage	William Chamberlain	lab corn & hay stores
cottage	Joseph Potter	railway labourer	son of householder
cottage	John Griffiths	railway corn porter
Railway Lodge	{Frederick Stephens {John Stephens	railway labourer railway labourer	Frederick's son
… at Natton, seven dwellings including:
cottage	Jesse Edward Price	railway labourer
cottage	Frederick Williams	railway labourer
cottage	Vincent Newbury	railway signalman

G. at Ashchurch (probably Ashchurch Road near the school)
… two dwellings including:
Newton Cottage	Wm Henry Payne	signalman

H. at Pamington
… some 17 dwellings including:
cottage	Frank Witts	railway platelayer	son of householder
cottage	William Chas James	railway forage stores
cottage	George Hudman	railway labourer