Hello Listers I am really struggling in my attempt to find at which station in Sheffield my G Grandfather, John Briggs CURTIS, worked - I naively thought this would be easy ;-). He is listed in both the 1871 and 1881 census records as a station master living in Shrewsbury Street, just up the hill from the Midland station. He was in Sheffield as late as March 1883 but was in Liverpool by February 1885. It would be simple to assume that he was station master of the Midland station. However, I do not know whether station masters were necessarily obliged to live adjacent to their stations. He was only 26 in 1871. This fits with the family oral history which goes "he was the youngest station master of his time". He could, as someone pointed out, be just a relief or assistant station master. Also he may have served at different stations in his stay in Sheffield. Just to confuse matters further I have recently discovered that goods stations sometimes had station masters, such as the Great Central, Park Station, Sheffield. I have started gathering information about candidate stations in Sheffield and am really struggling. There is little on the internet and I cannot find an appropriate book. I know my G grandfather was a Midland railwayman in 1861 and 1891 so it is reasonable to exclude the Great Central Railway stations. He went on to become the agent for the Midland Railway Co. (passenger and parcels receiving office) in Liverpool. So perhaps the goods stations can also be eliminated I have a copy of the 1871 Midland timetable for Sheffield and note the following passenger stations:- Sheffield Midland Attercliffe Road Brightside Wincobank Heeley I think Brightside can be eliminated at least in 1881 as in the census for this year it appears to have a resident station master in the station house in Blackburn Road. I feel that this problem may only be solved by a visits to Sheffield Local History Library and the Public Records Office at Kew however these are not viable options at the moment. If anyone can help me with dates of opening and closure of the above or any other information I would be most grateful. Thank you Stephen in UK

Hello Stephen, It might be useful for you to make contact with the Wyvern Midland Railway Index, which is/was a project being carried out by Chris & Judy Rouse to systematically transcribe all the Midland Railway staff records held at the PRO. The project was in progress in October 2003 and they were offering a look-up service at a nominal charge at that stage. I'm not sure that the project is still going, but you might want to check. Of course even if the project is still live they might not have covered the records for your Great Grandfather (if there are any) yet. The email address was chris@rouse31.freeserve.co.uk Hope that this helps. Regards, John Jefferies Sheffield, South Yorkshire stephen cook <cookieloco@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: Hello Listers I am really struggling in my attempt to find at which station in Sheffield my G Grandfather, John Briggs CURTIS, worked - I naively thought this would be easy ;-). He is listed in both the 1871 and 1881 census records as a station master living in Shrewsbury Street, just up the hill from the Midland station. He was in Sheffield as late as March 1883 but was in Liverpool by February 1885. It would be simple to assume that he was station master of the Midland station. However, I do not know whether station masters were necessarily obliged to live adjacent to their stations. He was only 26 in 1871. This fits with the family oral history which goes "he was the youngest station master of his time". He could, as someone pointed out, be just a relief or assistant station master. Also he may have served at different stations in his stay in Sheffield. Just to confuse matters further I have recently discovered that goods stations sometimes had station masters, such as the Great Central, Park Station, Sheffield. I have started gathering information about candidate stations in Sheffield and am really struggling. There is little on the internet and I cannot find an appropriate book. I know my G grandfather was a Midland railwayman in 1861 and 1891 so it is reasonable to exclude the Great Central Railway stations. He went on to become the agent for the Midland Railway Co. (passenger and parcels receiving office) in Liverpool. So perhaps the goods stations can also be eliminated I have a copy of the 1871 Midland timetable for Sheffield and note the following passenger stations:- Sheffield Midland Attercliffe Road Brightside Wincobank Heeley I think Brightside can be eliminated at least in 1881 as in the census for this year it appears to have a resident station master in the station house in Blackburn Road. I feel that this problem may only be solved by a visits to Sheffield Local History Library and the Public Records Office at Kew however these are not viable options at the moment. If anyone can help me with dates of opening and closure of the above or any other information I would be most grateful. Thank you Stephen in UK ==== ENG-SHEFFIELD Mailing List ==== Always include your name and area of residence on ALL list messages. It helps others to point you to your nearest source of information. It also makes for a more friendly message. ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx

hello Stephen, From the Sheffield Local Register (a digest of local newspapers): 4 May 1883 Mr JB Curtis, master at Midland Station, presented with address and £150 on leaving for Liverpool. Succeeded by Mr Wheen, from Bristol. And Bob's your uncle (not a genealogical statement). Hugh in Sheffield ----- Original Message ----- From: "stephen cook" <cookieloco@yahoo.co.uk> To: <ENG-SHEFFIELD-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 4:58 PM Subject: [SHEFF] John Briggs CURTIS and railway stations in Sheffield > Hello Listers > > I am really struggling in my attempt to find at which > station in Sheffield my G Grandfather, John Briggs > CURTIS, worked - I naively thought this would be easy > ;-). > > He is listed in both the 1871 and 1881 census records > as a station master living in Shrewsbury Street, just > up the hill from the Midland station. He was in > Sheffield as late as March 1883 but was in Liverpool > by February 1885. It would be simple to assume that > he was station master of the Midland station. However, > I do not know whether station masters were necessarily > obliged to live adjacent to their stations. [snip]