16th January 1902
The greatest moment of my career was when I fired the engine that was driven by King Edward VII from Baker Street to Amersham. The train was meant to leave at 6.10 pm but the King was delayed and we left left 6 minutes late. All the Met top brass were on board. Having royalty on board the path for this special train was completely cleared and so we made the 24 mile journey in a fast 36 minutes. At Amersham we passed the station and then reversed into the up platform so that the King did not have to use the footbridge to cross the lines.
It is doubtful the the King actually drove the train as stated but probably spoke to the engine crew. The King was opening Parliament that day and his journey was to meet Earl Howe at Penn House. Such a fast train journey by this route would not be possible today. Avoidance of the footbridge was presumably for several reasons. Four years earlier when the King was crossing a footbridge in a chair because of a leg injury the chair collapsed. He was now portly, in his sixties and a few months later his appendix burst so he could have been struggling with stairs.
Pennyfare, staff magazine, March 1941
St James Gazette, newspaper, 17th March 1902
Machorne, website, 11th April 2013
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April 1902
Heard that young Charles was shot in the hand with a pistol and had to be take to the Radcliffe.
Charles was one of his brothers who was still living at home in Bletchingdon. It is not clear who inflicted the wound or whose gun it was. The Radcliffe was a hospital on the outskirts of Oxford about 10 miles away. Treatment would have to be paid for as this was decades before the National Health Service. Charles was soon reported as playing sport and later became a stoker so there appeared to be little long term damage.
Oxford Chronicle, newspaper, 28th March 1902
10th May 1912
Young Amelia has died, she was only aged 15. William and Agnes are of course most upset. She has been a sickly child for several years now and had been in the Infirmary but her health improved. So she was adamant she wanted to become a servant, however soon became ill again after starting. The doctor said she had a heart problem and dropsy.
Amelia was his niece, the daughter of his brother William. She has rheumatic fever aged 9 and had been in the Radcliffe hospital. In March she was taken on as a general servant for Mrs Gray in Oxford. Dropsy is an old medical term for accumulation of fluid within the body causing swelling.
Oxford Chronicle, newspaper, 10/5/1912
19th October 1921
Jack is a hero, its in all the papers, he save a 14 year old boy from being murdered by a mad man. He was working at Stevens when he heard screams and a man in Botley Road was trying to cut the throat of the boy with a razor. Jack tackled the man to the ground and other men came to help and held him until the police arrived. The boy was taken to the Radcliffe and fortunately he survived.
Jack was his brother John who lived at Wolvercote, a village near Bletchington. His military training in World War One probably helped him. The man was found to be insane and if Jack had not acted so quickly the boy would have died.
Oxford Chronicle, newspaper, 25th November 1921