This and other cases made the newspapers because a train
under the charge of an intoxicated individual was clearly an accident risk. But
reviewing such reports cannot give me an accurate indication of how frequently late-Victorian
engine drivers were found to be drunk. To determine this hard data was
required.
While Victorian railway companies kept staff registers
which listed their employees’ positions, pay and promotions, most also kept
‘Black Books.’ These ominously titled volumes recorded every instance where an
employee disobeyed the rules and was punished. They recorded small
transgressions, such as when forms were incorrectly filed, to major offences,
for example criminal activity, refusing to follow orders, or drunkenness – the subject
of this post. Indeed, from the time of the earliest railways being intoxicated
while on duty was a serious offence, and rule 12 of the London and South
Western Railway’s (LSWR) 1897 rule book stated: ‘The company may at any time
without notice dismiss or suspend from duty any servant of the company for
intoxication.’[2]
So, it was to the Black Books (available through
Ancestry.com) that I turned to find out about drunkenness amongst nineteenth
century engine drivers. Despite a reluctance to again study the LSWR, it being
the company I have done my thesis on, a Black Book dedicated to the
misdemeanours of its footplate crew (drivers and firemen) between 1889 and 1896
was available on-line. This volume was the perfect choice for my research.
In total I surveyed the records of 584 LSWR firemen and
drivers in the Black Book. Between 1889 and 1896 these individuals collectively
transgressed the rules 1,728 times. However, amongst these punishments the
number issued for intoxication was small, with only seventeen instances being
recorded (0.98 percent of cases). Additionally, these seventeen offences were
only committed by fourteen individuals (2.50 percent of the sample), three of
the men being repeat offenders.
These findings clearly suggest that for the most part the
LSWR’s drivers and firemen were, while at work at least, a temperate group of
employees.[3] The supports the commonly held view at the time that railway
employees stayed away from alcohol while at work. The South Western Gazette, the company’s staff magazine, reported in
1885 that at the inaugural meeting of the Exeter branch of the United Kingdom
Railway Temperance Union, the Bishop of the city had commented that the
organisation was ‘very peculiar and very striking’ as ‘it could not be said
that railway men as a general rule were tempted to drunkenness.’ Generally they
were ‘as a body were as temperate a body as could be found.’[4]
As for the fourteen drivers and firemen found to be under
the influence while at work, it is probable that most never got as far as being
in control of a train. Usually the ‘Black Book’ recorded that they came ‘to
duty the worse for drink’ or they were ‘under the influence of drink whilst on
duty’, and only in two cases was it explicitly stated that a driver had been ‘under
the influence of drink whilst in charge of an engine’: J. Appleton of the Nine
Elms Shed was caught in May 1896, while R. Reid., who was based at Twickenham, was
found driving a passenger train while drunk in August 1889.[5]
From this evidence it can therefore be tentatively
suggested that instances where drivers ‘under the influence’ actually got onto the
footplate of their locomotives, such as the one cited at the start, were
exceedingly rare on the late-Victorian railways.
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[1] Bury and
Norwich Post, 20 January 1891
[2] South Western Circle Collection [SWC], 1897 Rule Book, p.9
[3] The National Archives [TNA], RAIL 411/521, London and
South Western Railway Company. STAFF RECORDS. Black Book - fines to drivers and
firemen, 01 January 1889 - 31 December 1896. Accessed through Ancestry.com.
[4] South Western
Gazette, January 1885, p.6
[5] TNA, RAIL 411/521, London and South Western Railway
Company. STAFF RECORDS. Black Book - fines to drivers and firemen, 01 January
1889 - 31 December 1896, p.11 and p.29. Accessed through Ancestry.com.