Railway Accidents Book

Contents: A volume containing records of accidents to LMS employees during the period 1923-1930, also included are accidents to London and North West railway employees in the period, May-December 1922, before the LNER became part of the LMS on 1 January 1923. Accident returns were required under the terms of the Factories Acts, and each report provides details of the employee, the nature of the accident and its consequences, the date and time of the accident, and a decision on the category of accident (misadventure, negligence by injured party or other party, and "other cause" - nearly all cases were judged to be misadventure).

All cases relate to the LMS Division which covered the counties of Cheshire, Staffordshire and Shropshire, and had its main office at Crewe. The volume is indexed by individual name. There are some slight differences in the types of form used to record cases.

The volume provides interesting information about the working conditions of rail employees during this period, including a range of data on the nature of accidents encountered on the railways, and how the company dealt with these.

The London, Midland and Scottish Railway Co.Ltd. was created in 1923 from a merger of several railway companies, most notably the London and North Western Railway and the Midland Railway. The LMS was the largest of the four UK railway companies created under the terms of the Railways Act 1921, and it was the second biggest employer in the UK after the General Post Office. The LMS also claimed to be the largest joint-stock company in the World. The LMS's main areas of operation were the Midlands, the North West, North Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Under the terms of the Transport Act 1947, the company was nationalised and became part of British Railways.

The manuscript is available for consultation by any accredited reader.

The manuscript was donated to the Library in December 2007 by Emma Robinson. Its previous custodial history is unknown.

Photocopies and photographic copies of material in the manuscript can be supplied for private research and study purposes only, depending on the condition of the manuscript.

Prior written permission must be obtained from the Library for publication or reproduction of any material within the manuscript. Please contact the Head of Special Collections, The John Rylands Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3EH.

The National Archives holds archives of the LMS. Cheshire Record Office has local records relating to LMS staff (DDX 439).