Warning: some graphic description included in this article

The Morning Herald, Tuesday, October 5, 1841

The late fatal occurrence on the London and Brighton railway.

Inquest on the bodies of the sufferers.

Yesterday forenoon, at 10 o'clock, Mr F. H. Geil, the Coroner for the eastern division of the county, and a jury composed of 12 of the resident gentry of Sussex, assembled at the Station House Inn, a small wooden building on the west side of the railway station at Hayward's Heath, 13 miles from Brighton, and 38 from London, for the purpose of investigating the circumstances which led to the death of the four unfortunate persons who were killed on the line of the London and Brighton railway on Saturday last.

The names of the jury having been called over, Mr Bellamy, the magistrate, chosen foreman, those of the deceased persons were declared to be as follows:- Robert Marshall, and Robert Field, who were firemen to the engines, and Henry Palmer and Jane Watson, the latter servants to Dr Carpue, the anatomist.

Amongst the gentleman present were, Lord Sheffield, Mr Harman, the chairman, Captain Heaviside, major Beauclerk, Mr M’Lean, directors, Mr Wood, secretary, Mr Rastrick, engineer, and Mr Rallet, chief superintendent of the Company; and Mr Faithful, their solicitor was also present.

The jury having been sworn proceeded to view the bodies, which were at a beer shop, called the Copyhold, situate about a mile and a half from the Hayward's Heath Station. They were placed in a shed, and presented a frightful spectacle. The body of Henry Palmer was most ghastly. The wheels of the train appear to have passed over him just above the eyes, and the whole of the upper portion of the head was completely crushed. The female, Watson, also presented a shocking appearance. She was covered with blood, and the train had evidently passed over her body, which was nearly severed in two at the pit of the stomach, and her bowels were protruding. 

The bodies of Marshall and Field were also much disfigured. The jury then inspected the spot on the line where the catastrophe took place. The remains of the pilot, or first engine, were lying on the east side of the railway, in the Copyhold Cutting, with a tarpaulin thrown over it. The tender lay some distance off, also shattered to pieces, and fragments of broken wheels and carriages were strewn about, although the greatest portion had been removed.

Charles Goldsmith, the engineer of the pilot engine, was first examined. He was lying in a cottage near the place of the accident, where the coroner and jury attended to take his deposition, he being unable for the injuries he had sustained by the shock to be removed. He, however, appears in a fair way of recovery.

He said – I am an engine driver in the employ of the London and Brighton railway company. On Saturday last I was acting as engine driver to the down train from London to Brighton. I came from Hawley only, and drove the pilot engine. The other engine brought the train from London. My engine was the smaller one of the two. The small one was in front of the train, and the large engine driven by Jackson behind me and in front also.

I went in front of the train at Hawley, because the train was so heavy. We went on at about the rate of 30 miles an hour. When we had passed the Ouse viaduct we did not go quite so fast. On arriving at a place called the Copyhold Cutting. I perceived a different motion of the engine. I had scarcely made this observation an instant, when the engine went off the line, and I then neither heard or saw any more of the accident. I came to myself shortly after, and found that I was in a ditch by the side of the railroad, with the tender of my engine upon me, and I was covered with mud and water. I found that some workmen were moving the tender just as I was coming to myself. I was in the hollow of it.

I enquired how long the accident had taken place, and was informed about 10 minutes. I examine my engine before I left Hawley. As far as I could see it appeared to be safe.

Jackson let off steam just before we entered the copyhold cutting, and I let off mine within about half a minute of the same time. The whole of the work was done from that time by my engine, as I had shut my steam off within half an inch. There was no police man at the spot where the occurrence took place. The last I saw was at the booze viaduct. He gave a signal that all was right. There was no policeman station between the viaduct and Hayward's Heath. It is usual to put on a small engine at Hawley, when there is a heavy train. A heavy engine will hold its way longer than a smaller one. When two engines were together, and anything happens, we communicate to one another by signals. I have been a driver on the Brighton line 1 month tomorrow, but I have had practical experience for five years.

My reason for shutting off my steam, and slackening my speed at the copyhold, was as I thought I saw some person hold up his hand in the cutting. I understood the signal to be not to stop, but to slackened. The motion of my engine was vibrating before the accident. Mr Hurst is my employer.

We have written instructions, but we have no regulation in them as to speed, except on the Greenwich and Croydon portions of the line. When I received the signal I understood it to slacken. I slackened to speed properly.

I do not think that the accident could have been occasioned by my slackening my speed. I have been in the habit, for the last five years, of driving four wheeled engines. I have always found them to be safe, and never had any accident happen to one of them until Saturday.

I have seen accidents with them, but never experienced one myself. I have driven them a greater speed than 30 miles an hour. I do not think a four wheeled engine so safe as a six wheeled one. I cannot form any opinion as to the cause of the accident. If there was a strain either in the wheel of a six or four wheeled engine, it was liable to go off and cause an accident.

I know that the steam was shut off the large engine before we entered the cutting. I was three years on the London and Birmingham Railway, on which line only four-wheeled engines are used, but they are not quite so high as those on the Brighton line. I do not know at what time we started from Hawley.

Mr Holland, 15, Cockspur Street, London, examined – had seen the bodies of Henry Palmer and Jane Watson. They were servants to Dr Carpue, of Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square. The man was Butler and the woman housemaid, they were both 23 years of age. I have not the slightest doubt as to their identity.

James Jackson, examined – I am an engine driver in the employee of the London and Brighton railway company. On Saturday last, at five minutes after 12, I started from Hawley to accompany the down train from Hawley to Brighton.

I took charge of the same engine which had come from London. We turned her round at Hawley, and another engine was attached also at Hawley in consequence of the train being heavy.

When we started from Hawley we went on between that place and the copyhold cutting we went on between that place and the copyhold cutting at the rate of about 31 or 32 miles an hour.

About half a mile before we got to the copyhold cutting, I should say we were going at the rate of about 30 miles an hour. At the moment the accident happened I do not think our speed was greater than 24 miles an hour.

When we entered the cutting I did not slacken our pace, but I shut off the steam of my engine about half a mile before I got to the cutting. My reason for doing so was that we were going down the hill, and the other engine was going to leave me, and was slack of steam, and I wished to reserve it in order that I might get into Brighton without stopping to take in water. The other engine was to leave me at Hayward's Heath.

I observed no signal in the cutting before I entered the cutting, but I did shortly after I had entered it. The signal was the green shade, which signifies caution to slack on the speed.

A minute or two after I observed the engine before mine rocking very much, and immediately after it turned over on the left hand side of the line.

On observing this, I instantly seized the regulator handle of my engine, and I had scarcely done so, when I was thrown off the engine onto the tender. I felt no extraordinary movement of my engine until the shock of the collision struck the upper part of the foremost engine. It was instantaneous and tremendous. When I recovered myself, I found I was on the foot plate of my tender. I nearly jumped off, and the first thing I saw was kitchen, the guard, lying on his back. I then saw Goldsmith, the Driver of the first engine, between the engine and the tender of the first engine.

I dragged him out. He appeared apparently lifeless, and was covered with dirt and sand. The next body I saw was the deceased Palmer lying under the wheels of one of the carriages across the line, he appeared quite dead.

I subsequently saw my stoker, Robert Field, between the engine and tender of my own engine. He was not quite dead and I heard of gurgling in his throat. I believed he died about 20 minutes after.

I then went down amongst the carriages, and saw the deceased, Jane Watson, under one of the wheels of the carriages, and her body appeared nearly cut in half. Palmer was about 2 yards from her.

I can account for the rocking in the cutting in no other manner than that the soil of it is of a greasy nature. It is a sort of blue clay. It would affect the line, I think, in consequence of the engine having four wheels only and being top-heavy, which would cause it to slip and slide about, and the clay would get on the rails. I have frequently driven through the cutting at the rate of 32 miles an hour.

 All I saw was the rocking of the engine before the accident. The rails are generally slippery from the wet in this cutting. If there had been no pilot engine I do not believe the accident would have happened. I think that my engine was far better, as it was a heavy engine, and had six wheels. There were three carriages off the line when the accident took place.

I believe the train consisted of 12 carriages.The three carriages off the line were very much broken by the collision. I do not know the number of passengers that were in the train.

I consider the pilot engine, being a four wheel engine, is unsafe, and that that was the cause of the accident. All the four-wheel engines are subject to wobbling. I think a four wheel and a six wheel engine are eligible to act in unison together, if they are the same size and/of the wheel. I think a six wheel engine could be stopped sooner than a four wheel engine, and from its height was not so likely to run off the line. I do not know their comparative heights.

In answer to the jury, – I did not shut my steam off from any signal I received. Goldsmith shut off his steam soon after I shut off mine. I do not believe there is any more danger in a train having two engines than one. Had they been both four-wheel engines the danger would have been far greater. Between the viaduct and the copyhold cutting, I am sure I was not proceeding at more than 30 miles an hour.

We were rather later with our trains than usual, in consequence of the train being so heavy. It was a first class train. I should say the accident happened at as near 12:30 on Saturday as possible. It is my duty to examine my engine before I start with it. I did sell at Hawley, and also did the foreman of the locomotive engines at the holy station.

I believe he also examined Goldsmith’s engine too. I am convinced that the greasy nature of the rails is the usual cause of oscillation. I have been for years and engine driver. I have no reason to believe the weight of the carriage behind would cause the engine to sway; on the contrary it would make them run all the smooth. The pilot engine, when I first observed the strange motion, jumped and oscillated sideways. I saw no policeman to give us signal from the viaduct.

Just before the accident took place I saw a man give a signal on the line, but I was not aware what he meant. The pilot engine is not an old one. I received no order as to the speed which I was to go. The only orders are the companies bill, announcing the time of arrival at the various stations, which we adhere to as nearly as possible. I have known engines to go off this line before. One on Friday last, near Hayward's Heath. It was a four wheel engine. I saw it, but I was not aware of, nor did I enquire the cause. I have been examined before this, since the accident, by some of the directors, as to the cause of it, but by no one else. It is my usual custom to stand on my engine with the reverse lever in one hand, and the regulator in the other. I was doing so at the time of the occurrence. I never heard of a six wheeled engine running off the line, except occasioned by some obstruction, or by the rails getting out of their place.

I have been a driver on the London Birmingham railway. They have four wheeled engines employed on that line, but they are not so high as those on this one. I recollect a four wheeled engine getting off the line on the London and Birmingham railway, at Woodcock Hill, and which was attended with serious consequences. I never complain to the authorities about the four-wheeled engine being dangerous. I examined the rails of the line after the accident, and they were in good working order, except where the engine struck, where they went off, and there they were bent.

George Copley, a labourer in the employ of the company said – about 12:30 o'clock on Saturday for noon last I was standing in the cutting of the Brighton railway, at Copyhold Hill, and saw the train coming along the line. As it approached, I held up my arm as a signal for it to come steadily. I did so in consequence of the road being "light," owing to the late heavy rains. I can't say what rate of speed the train was coming. It was not out of its ordinary speed. The meaning of the road being "light" is the rain getting under the sleepers on which the rails rest, and train them up. I cannot say whether the rails were slippery or not, or if there was any clay on them at that part where the accident took place. The signal was not directed by any officer connected with the company; but I made it of my own accord, and have done so the last three or four days since the rain. The soil where the calamity happened is sandy. There was no policeman stationed near the spot.

Witness, in answer to a question by a juror, added that the train might have been going at the rate of 20 miles an hour. The gentleman, who was understood to be a surgeon, declared that the speed, at the time of the accident, was upwards of 25 miles an hour, and that previous to entering the cutting the train was bowling between 30 and 49 miles an hour.

Mr John Hardy, MP, was next examined – I was a passenger by the 11:30 train, from London to Brighton, by the railway, on Saturday last, and was in the same carriage as the unfortunate deceased persons Jane Watson and Henry Palmer – namely, the carriage next to the engines, but was in the centre part of the vehicle, which contain first and second class places, the front and back part being open. Then first thing I experienced of the accident was on arriving at the cutting that has been mentioned, a violent shock, following immediately by dreadful crashing and screaming of the passengers. At the moment, I was sitting with my back towards Brighton, but instantly the carriage was lifted up and turned completely round, and fell over against the embankment.

There were two or three persons in the carriage who, by the shop, were thrown in all directions, and a lady who was sitting on the opposite seat was pitched on to my knees. For several seconds the carriage was filled with steam and water from the boiler of one of the engines, and immediately it had subsided a little a gentleman, named Wood, who was with me, contrive to get through the carriage window, and he afterwards assisted in helping witness out. On reaching the ground, I proceeded to ascertain whether there was anyone injured, and I'm going round the engines, I don't know which, I discovered one of the guards lying on his back on the ground much disfigured, and I'm looking further observed one of the stokers, dead, line close to the rails and dreadfully mangled. The engine that had caused the mischief had capsized and was lying in the ditch.

A juror – can you inform us, sir, the speed of the train at the period of the accident?

Mr Hardy – we were going not more than 20 or 25 miles an hour. A few minutes before I was complaining to my son-in-law, who was with me, of the slow rate the train was proceeding, and expressed an opinion that we should be half an hour late in reaching Hayward's Heath station. I have travelled several times before on the Brighton railway, and I have also travelled on different other lines.

Mr Hardy, in answer to a question by a juror, said on his arrival at the station at Brighton he got into the open part of the carriage facing the engine, and would've remained their head not his son-in-law, Mr John Wood, prevailed on him to go into the centre portion where he was, and that for that circumstance he would, he said, inevitably have suffered with the unfortunate deceased individuals.

Mr John Wood, residing at Shedding Grange, in Hampshire, confirmed Mr Hardy’s evidence in every particular. With regard to the speed, he supposed it was under 25 miles an hour.

Similar evidence was reduced by Mr Beaton, of North Street, London, who happened to be walking within half an mile from the spot.

Richard Hodges labourer, living near the village of Copyhold, and employed on the line, said he was standing in the copyhold cutting on Saturday, and, observing the train approaching, he endeavoured to run out of its way, but had not gone far before he was knocked down by one of the steps, and in falling into the ditch one of the stokers of the engines fell on him. He feared an accident would happen to the train by the jumping of the engine. The train was coming at its usual speed. (The witness apparently had received considerable injury and was scarcely able to walk.)

Mr Matthew Hall assisting engineer employed on the railway, deposed – It is my duty to inspect the line in and about the cutting where the engine got off the rails, and also the 13 miles through Hayward's Heath. I examined the rails in the cutting on Saturday, before the accident, and was in it at the time the catastrophe occurred. I was walking up the line, and hearing a peculiar noise behind me, turned round and saw the upsetting of the carriages.

The line of road was in a good state of repair and soundness before the accident as it was on the day of opening, and is now perfectly safe. I am positive there was no clay or earth on the rails, as has been stated by a former witness.

Jackson, the engine driver, re-examined – I think that the water and the top heaviness of the pilot engine, coupled with the slippery state of the rails, was the cause of the accident. I have known four wheel engines run off on the Eastern counties mine, but I have never knew six wheeled engines to do so.

John Hinge examined – I am police constable, number 37, on the line of the London and Brighton railway, and reside at Cuckfield. On Saturday last between 12 and 1 o'clock I was on duty at the news viaduct. I saw the down train coming towards me, and held up my hand to give the open "All right" signal; as it neared me I gave a signal to go steady, as I observed that it was going rather faster than usual. I did not at that time observe any particular motion of the engine or train.

Shortly after I heard a great noise in the direction of the copyhold cutting, and, as I thought, the bursting of a steam boiler. I ran in that direction as hard as I could, and some labourers run also. As soon as I got into the cutting, which is about 3/4 of a mile, I observed that an accident had happened, and I got up to the spot and rendered assistance to the sufferers. I do not know how it happened. I had no apprehension of an accident occurring when I saw the train pass along the viaduct. I did not say my heart came into my mouth when I saw the train coming along, they were going at such a rate. The road near where the accident happened has been out of order lately in consequence of the bad state of the weather.

The court was here cleared of strangers, and at 6:30 o'clock the jury returned a verdict of "accidental death, with a deodand (1) of one shilling on the engines; and the jury are of the opinion that the four-wheeled engine as used on the line are not of a safe construction and they recommended their discontinuance."

List of rail accidents before 1880:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_accidents_%28before_1880%29

More on the accident:- https://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=3615.0

(1)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deodand#:~:text=A%20deodand%20is%20a%20thing,his%20township%20was%20held%20responsible.