Eve, thank you for your reply on this. I have already looked into the railway company angle. The company was originally the Yorkshire Railway Company, which soon became the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Company. Their records are at the National Archive, Kew, along with most railway companies. I have searched the index online and there is very little of that age for the company unfortunately. There is a list for railway genealogists: http://www.british-genealogy.com/mailman/listinfo/gen-railwaymen and a gentleman called Geoffrey Oxley, who is Research Officer, Railway and Canal Historical Society (they have a good website), gave me a lot of help. He is extremely knowledgable. Your comments about William Wraith's education are very interesting and his ancestors were mainly railway clerks down to my father (I even did a short temp stint in the job!). At least some of them were reputed to be smart (genes worn thin now though). I am struggling to confirm his birth date as he gave his age as 35 in the 1841 census (i.e. born between 8 June 1801 and 7 June 1806 I think), and 47 in the 1851 census (i.e. born between 1 April 1803 and 30 March 1804 I think) and the only William Wraith in the Hollingbourne PR's was baptised 20 December 1801. I don't think he would have got his age wrong. With respect to the Dimmock line, the earliest I have come from Wootton near Bedford, Joseph born around 1737 from his MI. He was a yeoman farmer who owned his land so I assume the family had been there for some time. I know there were and are a lot of Dimmocks in Bucks (I live in Berkhamsted) but I haven't found a link yet. Any other suggestions gratefully received. Many thanks David Wraith -----Original Message----- From: Eve McLaughlin [mailto:eve@varneys.demon.co.uk] Sent: 13 December 2004 22:27 To: Wraith, David Cc: BUCKS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: Railwaymen >William gave his occupation as servant, which could mean >many things. Possibly in this case 'railway servant' which included clerks etc. >However they moved to Wakefield, Yorks around 1840 and by 1841 his occupation >was Railway Inspector. By 1851 he was the station master in Wakefield. >In your previous response you made reference to the difficulty in getting a job >as a station employee. I have often wondered how a country boy from Kent, >working far from home, managed to get what was probably a very good job at the >other end of the country. He must have had a reasonable education, since clerks were expected to write a very neat hand, deal with maths etc. And to become a station master he must have been a high flyer. It will certainly be worth looking for him in the records of the railway company. Finding out which railway co is the first necessity - maybe (London and) North Eastern, or maybe one of the cross Pennine lines. Writing to the Railway Museum in York may get the necessary information in this case (saying he was stationmaster at Wakerfield). >I don't recall having seen you mention your railway ancestors before in your >many postings so was interested to see the comment. My Dimmock line were yeoman >farmers in Bedfordshire around Wootton. William Dimmock, well known Bucks name. > son of a yeoman farmer >was born 1805, became a tenant farmer (coincidentally near Sherington I think) >as his inheritance wasn't very big. His son Barnard, b 1831, worked on the farm >at first, then moved to Newport Pagnell where he became a corn merchant. His >father William retired and lived with him. The business presumably failed as >both father and son then went to work on the railway, the old boy as a porter >and the son as a labourer at Wolverton loco works. The family then moved to >Derby where many of them worked in the loco and carriage & wagon works. The >story seems to be typical of the move from working on the land to industrial >towns. There are some recoprds of the Wolverton Works in the Milton Keyenes Museum (open spring-autumn - and you need a special appointment to see the railway staff books, because someone h as to sit with you.) -- Eve McLaughlin Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * This electronic message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. 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