The Shenton Family - Railway Ancestors

Richard Shenton 1804-1872 Born Seighford Lived Trentham Staffs

    John Shenton 1832-1883 South Yorkshire Railway Mexborough

        William Shenton 1855-1913 MSLR GCR Mexborough, Ardsley, Leeds, Neepsend.

            John Shenton 1880-1935 Number Taker Railway Clearing House, Normanton

            William Shenton 1881-1963 MSLR -LNER Wakefield, Ardsley

        Richard Shenton 1856-1923 MSLR GCR Mexborough, Staveley, Woodford

            Richard Shenton 1885-1931 Engine Driver Neasden - Woodford

            William Henry Shenton 1887-1963 Engine Driver Woodford
      
            Henry Shenton 1892-1962  Doncaster, Running Foreman Kings Cross, Cambridge

            George Shenton 1896-1918 GCR War Memorial

            Albert Shenton 1901-1981 Engine Driver GCR

    Henry Shenton 1840-1879 Shunter MSLR Mexborough

        George Shenton 1876-1916 Miner Manvers Killed 1st July 1916, 1st day of the battle of the Somme

George Shenton 1896-1918 The Northampton Mercury Friday March 4th 1921

The Northampton Mercury Friday March 4th 1921.

War Memorial

Unveiled at Woodford Halse.

Colonel J. C. Livington Learmouth, C. M. G., D. S. O., of Weedon, unveiled Woodford Halse War Memorial on Sunday.

The vicar, the Reverend F. A. Smith, conducted the service in the parish church, which was crowded. "The Reveille" and " Last Post" were sounded and numerous wreaths placed at the foot of the memorial, which, erected by Messrs White and Butler, of Towcester, takes the form of a Celtic cross of Hopwood stone. The base is rough and the cross polished. At the foot of the cross is the inscription, "To the glory of God and in memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War, 1914-1919."

Then follow the names: George H. Banded, Hal. Baseley, Fred Baseley, Arthur Bent, Stanley Bilclough, Albert Braddock, William French, J. W. Hill, Charles Hulme, William Hunt, Thomas Kinch, Bertram Marriottt, Walter Marriott, Herbert Percival, Harry Saunders, George Shenton, Arthur Smith, Harold Smith, John Walker, Fred J. Ward (Canada). Elisha Willett, and Harry White. The inscription at the base reads, "Rest eternal, grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them."

John Shenton 1832-1883 Sheffield Independent Saturday 12th December 1868

This newspaper article almost certainty relates to John Shenton, born 1832, and this is the earliest dated record to confirm John Shenton served the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MSLR). John's younger brother Henry served as a Shunter and Goods Guard at Mexborough but resigned in 1869.


Sheffield Independent Saturday 12^th December 1868

A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS AT MEXBRO’.-

On Wednesday morning an engine-tenter, named Shenton, who is in the employ of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway Company, was accidentally knocked down by an engine near to Mexbro’ Station, and one of his feet was injured by being run over.



George Shenton 1896-1918 The Yorkshire Post. Thursday. August 10. 1922

George Shenton, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, son of Richard Shenton, employed by the Great Central Railway at Woodford, was killed in action on the 23rd August 1918. He is buried at Gomiecourt South Cemetery, France, remembered on the local Woodford Halse war memorial and the Great Central War memorial in Sheffield.

The Yorkshire Post. Thursday. August 10. 1922.

Railwaymen in the war.

Earl Haig's tribute at Sheffield.

(From our special correspondence.)

During the Great War 1304 men employed by the Great Central Railway lost their lives. To perpetuate their memory a handsome memorial has been erected by subscription at the entrance to the Victoria station at Sheffield, and it was unveiled yesterday by Field Marshall Earl Haig.

The memorial takes the form of an arch of severely classic design supported by columns, and enclosing tablets on which are inscribed the names of the dead. Sheffield has been chosen as the site of the memorial because it is in the centre of the companies system, and is a station which is wholly Great Central. The memorial faces down the approach road to the station, and acts as a kindly mark to the somewhat unheroic front of the station. It has been designed by the companies architect, Mr T. E. Calcott.

The ceremony yesterday was robbed of a great deal of its imperativeness by the wretched weather. During the whole of the time it occupied, cold drizzling rain fell. The station approach was closed to the general public, and the broad asphalt roadway was filled with rows of chairs intended for the bereaved relatives. These turned up in large numbers-wives, children, fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters of the fallen-and practically every person carried a wreath or other floral offering to lay at the foot of the shrine. It would have been a most impressive thing to see all these people, with hearts still aching in loving remembrance, bringing their offerings to those who have passed to the other side; but what one actually saw through a very bad Sheffield day was a vast expanse of dripping umbrellas. The rain also, to some extent, interfered with the proper marshalling and what may without irreverence be called the stage management of the proceedings.

Before the ceremony Earl Haig inspected the parade of ex-service men, during which time the band of the Queens Own Yorkshire Dragoons played a selection of appropriate music. The ceremony which was presided over by Lord Faringdon, The chairman of the Great Central Railway Company, commenced with the singing of that hymn which has brought consolation to countless bereaved hearts, "O God, our help in ages past."

The patriotism of G. C. Men.

Lord Faringdon, in introducing Earl Haig, said all present decide to take that opportunity of testifying that sense of what the country owed to the men who had given their lives. "Their names," said his lordship, "Are already engraved upon the hearts of many who are with us, who mourn the loss they have sustained, but recognise, as we all do, that but for their devotion, the freedom of which we are so proud might have been non-existent. The respect and admiration we feel we desire to hand down to future generations." He mentioned that it had been erected at the cost of the company, the shareholders, the offices, and the staff. There had been 390 shareholders who had subscribed, and 3780 officers and men. Subscriptions had come from various parts of the world-Canada, India, France, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Vancouver-and the amounts that had been subscribed had varied from a shilling to £100. When all classes of community came forward so regularly to render assistance at the time of the nation’s great trial, it would, he said, invidious to mention any particular industry as having done its duty, but it was, nevertheless, the fact that railwaymen could claim that from the highest to the lowest a steady response was given to the call for service.

Of the Great Central Railway employees, 10,177, or 29.38 per cent. of the whole of the staff, joined up, and it was considered a privilege by those who, by reason of age or for other good cause, were unable to go to the front, to be allowed in the companies shops to work with might and main to provide munitions of war. He especially referred to the alacrity with which their men joined Lord Kitchener's army at the beginning of the war. There was a real enthusiasm to be amongst the first to enrol, and even without leave or obtaining security of reinstatement in the companies service they rushed to their countries call. He referred also to the fact that many of the Grimsby men, officers and crews of their boats, many of whom were in the Royal Naval reserve, at once tendered their services. Amongst them the staff had won decorations.

Helpful work in the shops.

At home a large amount of work was done in their shops at Gorton and elsewhere. Three trains were taken from the existing stock and converted into ambulance trains, and one entirely new train of sixteen vehicles was built at Gorton. High sided goods wagons, to the number of 3267, where put in condition equal to new and sent to France, and 40 new goods wagons were constructed and sent to France. Twenty-five goods brakes were built, and 12 of the old goods brakes were reconstructed and send overseas. Thirty-three of the 8-wheel couple engines were put into first-class order, and three new engines of the same class were built and sent to the front. Howitzer and gun carriages were constructed, and 5,512,000 18-pounder cartridges were renovated, in addition to the making of a large number of high explosive shells. Besides the men who had lost their lives, 2117 men were wounded.

"So deep an impression," said Lord Faringdon, " had the events of the years of warfare made upon our minds, that it is difficult to realise that nearly four years have passed since the armistice was signed, and with many of us there are regrets that the immense effort then made, which of necessity sapped our resources, has not yet been followed by a full return to the prosperity that victory was expected to secure. We recognise today that, after a conflagration greater than the world had ever previously known, a time for recuperation is essential, and we look forward to the future knowing that the cause of justice and right which we vindicated, will bring its reward, and that the blood of the men who gave their lives will not have been shed in vain."

Earl Haig on the meaning of memorials.

Earl Haig, before unveiling the memorial, assured the bereaved of his sympathy. "Yet." He said, "it is not only of grief that this memorial speaks. The day will come when we in our turn will pass on, but after we are gone and after generations yet unborn have followed us, these stones will stand as evidence of the splendid sacrifice and glorious achievement of 1304 brave and gallant men whose names they bear. It is, therefore, I think a duty for all of us to look on these memorials less and less with sorrow and more and more with pride and gratitude-gratitude when we think of the price paid by these men for the liberty we now enjoy, and pride that when the time of peril came men of the British race were found worthy of the occasion, ready and willing to devote themselves without reserve or thought of self to the service of their country. These memorials are monuments to the spirit of the manhood of our race. They are also an encouragement, an example, and an inspiration to future generations of British men and woman to be worthy of the standard set by all ranks and all classes of their fellow countrymen in the days of the Great War."

The work of railwaymen.

Railwayman he went on to say, came through with a fine record in all theatres of war, and nowhere more so than in France. Apart from the service of railwaymen with the fighting forces, the work that they did as railwaymen must not be forgotten. It was a vital work essential to the success of the army. It was often highly dangerous work, calling for a peculiar quality of courage, that of being able to go on steadily and intelligently and persistently with the job in hand though exposed constantly to the enemies fire and unable to hit back. So he was glad to thank railwaymen, and especially the men of the great central railway, for the courage and loyalty and the skill which he as commander of so many of them so much appreciated. "They fought," said the Field Marshall in conclusion. "To bring liberty to the oppressed, to preserve justice on earth and fair dealing among men to maintain the good name of our race, and the safety and honour of our country. They died for that cause: remembering them shall we not live for it."

The flags covering the memorial were then drawn away, and the Rev. Canon T. Houghton Rural Dean of Sheffield and vicar of Eccleshall, offered up a dedicatory prayer.  Trumpeters of the Yorkshire Dragoons sounded the "last post." And the ceremony closed with the singing of "God save the King." Afterwards a very large number of wreaths were deposited at the foot of the memorial, the first being from the directors of the company and the next from the company’s staff, deposited by Sir Sam Fay, the general manager. Then all the relatives present filed past and deposited their tributes, until at the close the memorial was surrounded by a huge bank of flowers.

William Shenton 1887-1963 Northampton Mercury 7th November 1952

Northampton Mercury 7th November 1952

County Parade

If the smell of engine smoke still lingers in the nostrils of 65-years-old Mr. William Shenton, of Woodford Halse, so too does the “tally-ho” of the hunt ring in his ears.

For although Mr. Shenton said goodbye last August to the railways after spending 47 years on the footplate, he has not given up his favourite hobby of following hounds.

It was 40 years ago that he first took an interest in hunting, and for very many years both he and Mrs. Shenton have been seen regularly at meets of the Pytchley, the Grafton, the Bicester and the North Warwickshire.

They used to go on a motor-cycle, but since his wife gave up following, Mr, Shenton has reverted to a bicycle.

He knows every covert and every draw for many miles around his home, and so does his eldest son, William, who, in addition to being gamekeeper at Whittlebury Lodge, is earth stopper to the Grafton. The very air Mr. Shenton breaths has fox-hunting associations, for his cottage was once one of the outbuildings of Woodford House, where a son or a former Earl of Derby held hunting parties. And on ground which is now Mr. Shenton's garden was a hospital for sick hunters.

Railway Century

Mr. Shenton's family association with the railways goes back for 100 years and, with his son in the same trade, a second century is commencing.

His grandfather, John, joined the old South Yorkshire Railway, later to become the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire line, and later still the Great Central. In 1851 he rose to be a driver.

His father, Richard, another driver, started work in 1870 at Mexborough Yorkshire, and 47 years ago Mr. Shenton himself began his railway career as a cleaner.

He was promoted fireman in 1912 and driver in 1919. He drove troop trains in both the 1914-18 and the 1939-45 wars.

He cannot calculate the number or miles he has travelled by train, but during one period of 14 months he drove passenger trains for 228 miles every day.

During the first world war, it was common to do 20 hours at a stretch and then be liable to recall to duty after only eight hours’ rest.

When he retired in August, his place as driver was taken by his youngest son, George, who is also a keen follower of hounds.

William Shenton 1887-1963 The Northampton Mercury Friday, September 16, 1926

The Northampton Mercury Friday, September 10, 1926.

KILLED ON RAILWAY.

The tragedy of deafness at Culworth.

Farmers death.

A verdict of "accidental death" Was returned by Mr W.E. Whitton, sitting with a jury at an inquest held at Watts' farm, Culworth, on Wednesday afternoon, on Thomas Watts, a farmer, aged 61, who was killed on the London and North Eastern Railway on Tuesday morning.

Superintendent Butler, of Towcester, represented the police; inspector Frond (district locomotive inspector), the L. N. E. R. ; and Mr. Lawson Sanders, The Associated Society of locomotive engineers.

Mr. George Watts, farmer, of Culworth, a brother, said on Tuesday Mr Watts, Who worked for him, was going to work in some fields on the opposite side of the railway line which were reached by means of a level Crossing. Witness and his wife had repeatedly begged his brother not to use the crossing as he was very deaf.

Sarah Ann Watts, wife of the previous witness, said shortly after Mr Watts had left to go to work she heard an engine whistle and on going outside saw him on the level crossing, but as she could not see him after the train had passed, she concluded he had got safely across.

William Winnett, call, who was in charge of a gang of platelayers working on Woodford side of Watts level Crossing, said William Shenton, an engine driver, stopped the train he was driving and said he had knocked down an elderly man at a level Crossing.

Ernest George Partlett, parish constable at Culworth said when he found Mr Watts body the right leg was severed near the hip, the left arm nearly severed from the shoulder, the left leg smashed at the thigh, the head smashed, and the upper part of the body badly torn. The body was 60 yards from where it had been struck, was practically stripped of clothing, and almost unrecognisable.

William Henry Shenton, engine driver said he was driving a train of horses from Banbury to Doncaster, and when passing Eydon-Road crossing noticed an old man about to step on to the up line at the level Crossing further ahead. He blew his whistle, but the man kept on his way, looking on the ground. Witness slowed down, but driving about 50 miles per hour when the engine hit the man, who was then almost in the middle of the 4 foot way. He had only about 100 yards view of Watts's and did the best he could, blowing the emergency whistle in addition to the ordinary one.

In reply to a question, witness said he did not think the circumstances warranted his pulling up before. He knew he had knocked Watts down, but did not think there could be anything left of him.

The jury returned a verdict of "accidental death" and exonerated the driver of the train from blame.