Railway Accident at Huddersfield on 21 April 1905

On Good Friday 1905, a passenger train from Bradford collided with a large shunting engine near to Huddersfield Railway Station, killing two people.

Details

On the afternoon of 21 April 1905 at around 2:30pm, driver Frederick William Haigh of Hillhouse was shunting London & North Western Railway (L&NWR) carriages and a goods van on the lines to the north of railway station. Apparently unused the type of large engine he was driving, he possibly failed to see a signal which indicated that the line was not clear and began to reverse onto the main line.

The 1:50pm Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) train from Bradford — comprising seven carriages and a goods van at the rear — was approaching the station "at a gentle speed" from the north and was unable to avoid colliding into Haigh's heavy shunting engine. The first three carriages of the passenger train crumpled and "telescoped" into each other. The L&YR engine was badly damaged, which caused the crash site to become enveloped in hot steam. Debris from the collision fell down from the viaduct onto Fitzwilliam Street.

Dr. George W. K. Crosland of New North Road, along with railway station and staff and several police constables under the direction of Chief Constable Morton, were quickly on the scene and began to help injured passengers from the crumpled carriages.

At around 3:45pm, the body of 29 year old slater's labourer Ralph Greenwood Farrand, a mason employed by the L&NWR who resided at Blackburn Road in Birstall, was discovered amongst the wreckage. It appeared that he had been killed instantly. His body was reportedly not removed until around 5pm.

Farrand was engaged to Miss Florence Parkinson[1] of Longwood and had been due to be married to her the following day. Several newspapers initially incorrectly reported that she had been awaiting his arrival at the station and had witnessed the crash first hand. Instead, when her fiance had failed to arrive, she set out to see if his train had arrived, only to discover that his name was being reported as one of the deceased.

The other fatality was 49 year old[2] Catherine Augusta Yeats-Milne, of 54 Belgrave Street, Leeds.[3] She had been trapped in the wreckage under one of the carriage wheels, with her right foot nearly severed. Despite efforts to extricate her, she died at around 4:45pm. Newspaper reports stated that she had remained conscious and had seemingly kept the full extent of her injuries hidden, since she insisted that the rescuers attend to the other passengers first.

Several of the injured were taken to Huddersfield Infirmary or to local doctors, including:

  • Geoffrey Brooke of Mirfield, son the late George Brooke, had been travelling in a first class carriage and was thrown out onto the rails. He was taken to Lockwood where he was attended to by Dr. MacGregor.
  • George Watson of St. Peter's Street, Huddersfield, was suffering from "severe shock" and had been travelling in third class.
  • Arthur Nicholson (aged 24) of Miriam Street, Fartown, had been the fireman on the shunting engine and sustained bruises.
  • Mrs Frances Shillito (28) of 7 Barnby Street, Wilson Road, Wyke, sustained a fractured scapula.
  • Miss Emily Brearley (33) of 8 Hallroyd, Shipley, sustained a head injury.
  • Joe Balmforth (32) of Roundhill, Cleckheaton.
  • Frank Moore (27) of Craven Lane, Gomersal, received bruises.

The driver and fireman of the L&YR train — William Cliffe and J. Hough (both of Mirfield) — sustained minor injuries, including cuts and scalds from a burst steam pipe.

The clearing of the wreckage and repairs to the line were completed by the early hours of the following morning.

Inquest

The inquest into the accident began the next day under coroner E. H. Hill, who took evidence to confirm the identities of the two victims. It emerged that Mrs. Yeats-Milne had married army surgeon George Yeats-Milne circa 1878, but had been living apart from her husband for some time. She left behind two sons and two daughters, and was identified by one of the sons, George Cecil Yeats-Milne[4]. The inquest then adjourned in order to allow time for the accident to be investigated fully.[5]

The adjourned inquest resumed on 4 May and, after hearing evidence, the jury returned a verdict that the accident had been caused by the neglect of driver Fred Haigh. However, they did not believe that the deaths had been caused through criminal neglect.[6]

Prior to the inquest concluding, engine driver Frederick William Haigh had been fired from his job. By 1911, he had found work at the town's gasworks.

Further Reading

Gallery

Local photographer Smith Carter of Netherton took a number of photographs of the accident (some of which are available on the Kirklees Image Archive) and these were subsequently published as photo postcards.

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Notes and References

  1. Born 24 April 1875, the daughter of engine fitter George Henry Parkingson and his wife Emma. Aged 45, she eventually married widower John George Marsden of Birstall on 2 October 1920 at St. Mark's Church, Longwood. She died in April 1945, aged 69, and was buried at St. Peter's Church, Birstall, on 13 April.
  2. Her age was possibly misreported, as it is believed she was born in 1857 and was aged 47 years and 10 months at the time of her death.
  3. Newspaper reports give various spellings of her name, including "Katherine" and "Yates-Milne".
  4. George Cecil Yeats-Milne died at the workhouse in Leeds aged 33 in August 1910 and was buried at Beckett Street Cemetery on 10 August
  5. "Holiday Disaster" in Bradford Daily Telegraph (24/Apr/1905) and "Huddersfield Smash" in Leeds Mercury (24/Apr/1905).
  6. "Huddersfield Railway Collision" in Leeds Mercury (05/May/1905).