by Kevin Gordon
The London and Birmingham Railway was designed by the great Victorian railway engineer, Robert Stephenson and was the first inter-city railway to enter the capital. The railway was built north from Euston via Rugby and south from Curzon Street Station, Birmingham via Coventry. The railway took five years to build at a cost of £50,000 per mile. The 20,000 strong workforce did not include any Irishmen as Stephenson considered them too troublesome.
In 1833 Superintendent Bedford was the Officer-in-Charge of the London and Birmingham Railway Police Force which was one of the first police forces to be established in England. As the first through trains did not run until 1838, it is likely that these officers were responsible for controlling the difficult navvy workforce.
The Police Force was still headed by Mr Bedford in 1839 when he led a force of 10 Inspectors and 90 Constables. They wore uniforms ‘similar to the Metropolitan Police’ but were green in colour rather than blue. It was the duty of the railway policemen was to ‘guard the road’, ‘prevent obstructions’, ‘render assistance in the case of an accident’ and ‘to keep up a continued line of communication. They were an early form of signalman. The men occupied ‘station houses’ that were situated at mile and an half intervals along the tracks. Early pictures show that these ‘station houses’ were often little more than small sentry style boxes.
A curious incident occurred just a few weeks after the trains started to run. It was the duty of Inspector Thomas Howe of the Watford Division of the force to walk along the railway line several times a day to check on his Constables. At 9pm, just before the London to Birmingham mail-train was due to pass, he checked on 48-year-old PC James Daniell. Although PC Daniell was at his post the Inspector noticed that he was not wearing the correct uniform – in fact he was wearing the coat and belt of his colleague, PC William Wharton. Inspector Howe reprimanded the constable and continued on his patrol.
When Inspector Howe returned back down the line after 10pm he again went into the Watford Tunnel Station House. PC Daniell had been due to have booked off duty at 10pm, so it was no surprise to see PC Wharton in his place. However what surprised the Inspector was that, although PC Wharton was wearing his own jacket, it was torn, bloodied and in a dirty condition. When he questioned him about the jacket PC Wharton said “I don’t know – I found it in my box like this but it had probably been made dirty by the unfortunate man lying dead in the tunnel” Inspector Howe exclaimed “Good God! what man?” PC Wharton told him that the body was that of his colleague PC Daniell.
Inspector Howe immediately made his way into the tunnel and about 200 yards in found the body of PC Daniell lying face down with one of his arms severed and a deep wound to the back of the head. He was without the police-jacket that Inspector Howe had seen him in an hour earlier and it was clear that he had been struck by the mail train.
An inquest was held at the Railway Arms Inn at Watford the following day. The Coroner for Hertfordshire, Mr William Osbaldeston presided. The driver of the mail train was unable to give any useful evidence. Inspector Howe gave his evidence and then the jury inspected both the bloody jacket and the dead police officer (which, from its ‘mutilated condition presented a spectacle utterly indescribable’). The jury was told by the Coroner that the cuts and other marks on the coat clearly indicated that it was being worn by PC Daniell at the time he was killed. But how did the bloody jacket get back into the police box?
The Coroner then called PC Wharton to give evidence. He swore on oath that he had not taken the jacket from his dead colleague and that he had found it hanging up on a hook in the police-box when he reported for duty at 10pm.
This assertation excited the ‘greatest possible surprise’ from both Coroner and the Jury and despite being subjected to a severe cross-examination, he stuck to his story.
It was supposed that, after Inspector Howe had seen PC Daniell, he had walked into the tunnel to check it, however when observing the mail-train approaching at speed he had flattened himself against the narrow space at the side of the line and had probably been struck by a projecting section of the train which caused him to fall under it.
The jury returned a verdict of ‘Accidental Death’ but ‘severe comments’ were made as to the conduct of PC Wharton as it was evident that he must have taken his police jacket off the mangled body of his poor colleague. It is inconceivable that PC Daniell had been severely mangled by a train, staggered back to his police-box (minus his arm), hang his bloodied coat up and then return along the dark tunnel !!
It would be interesting to know what safety measures were in place for these early railway constables. Surely when PC Daniels went into the tunnel he would have had a lamp with him to check for any problems yet there is no mention of this in the newspaper reports. It is also interesting to read that a mail-train was operating between London and Birmingham three years before the introduction of the ‘Penny Post’
In 1846 the London and Birmingham Railway along with its Police Force was merged with the London and North Western Railway. I doubt by this time Constable William Wharton still had a job!
Kevin Gordon
September 2021
Source: British Newspaper Archive
Also see: Roll of Honour (Line of Duty)