A while back I wrote about this handsome man for my post in the 'Heirlooms' week. He was a railway signal man, and had been given a beautiful gold pocket watch at his retirement, which we still have. When I researched George Grosset (1863 - 1935) and the rest of his family, I discovered that three of his four surviving sons had worked for the rail service in one way or another, all being referred to as 'railway servants' in their various records.
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| George Grosset, 1863 - 1935 |
George Grosset (pictured above) and Margaret Bald married in 1885, in Duddingston, Edinburgh. They had a lovely large family of five sons, and four daughters in total; Ebenezer (1886 - 1950), Robert (1888 - 1951), George Ferguson (1890 - 1974), William Bald (1893 - 1971), Helen Calder (1895 - 1961), Beatrice Goodal (1897 - 1969), James (1899 - 1899), Margaret Bald (1900 - 1954), and Jessie Bald (1905 - 1979). Sadly the youngest son James did not survive his first day of life, and 'died of convulsions', on his day of birth; 26th May 1899. But for 3 of the surviving 4 sons, the railway was a large part of their lives, and all four were railway servants of one kind or another.
Robert Grosset was the second son, born to George Grosset and Margaret Bald. He was born on 6th June 1888, in Portobello, Edinburgh. The first time we see recorded evidence of him following in his father's tracks is in the 1911 Census. By this time Robert was 23 years old and was living in a boarding house in Tranent, East Lothian, with another railway servant, James Young, aged 19, from Berwick. The pair of them were working as 'demurrage checkers'. Demurrage is the fee charged to the owner of a private railcar that sits too long on the railroad, and the fee charged for the late return of railroad owned railcars. The area of East Lothian, where Robert was living and working was coal mining country. In fact the area boasted the earliest mined coal seams in Scotland. It seems likely that Robert worked on the Gifford branch line that was used to transport primarily coal from the pits of the Tranent area, to the Forth docks, and the centre of the city of Edinburgh. The Gifford line ran from Gifford, East Lothian, to Humbie, and then into the colliery district, circling around Saltoun, Pencaitland, and Ormiston, before finally reconnecting to the main line at Monktonhall. This line ran three return services a day, to Edinburgh Waverly, with 5 services on Saturdays. It was not a successful service however, and was closed to passengers in 1933, by which time Robert had moved on. The rail line has long since disappeared but is now a beautiful walking path, enjoyed by many.
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| Click on the map to learn more about this walking path. |
In the 1921 census Robert Grosset was recorded as a goods guard for the North British Railway Company. By this time Robert was married to Mary Blair Pirie, and they were living, with their 4 year old daughter Margaret at 8 Livingstone Place, Portobello; a street known today as Adelphi Grove. Livingstone Place was a stone's throw from the Portobello goods yard, where it seems likely that Robert worked. As a goods guard Robert had the responsibility of ensuring the goods trucks were delivered and uncoupled at the appropriate tranship station, which would depend on the goods' ultimate destination. Robert might have worked on a train line, or his work might have remained within the goods yard.
George Ferguson Grosset married Wilhelmina Bennett in Inveresk and Musselburgh, Midlothian on 21st April 1911. Just three weeks earlier the 1921 census was taken, in which George Ferguson Grosset was recorded as living as a boarder with a Mr and Mrs Crawford, in Newhaven. He was working as a railway servant, no doubt at the nearby railway dock yards. His landlord, Mr Crawford was a 'shipping checker' and they may have worked together. Incidentally the address that George (my husband's great grandfather) was living at was a short walk along the road from the Peacock Hotel, which was owned and run by my 2x great grandmother, and possibly various other ancestors. My own great grandfather had been born at the Peacock Hotel in 1870. The Peacock Hotel had been known for many years, as the best place for a fish supper, and by all accounts people had flocked to the restaurant for a well made dish of fish and chips. It seems likely that my husband's great grandfather had dined at this restaurant, owned by my ancestors.
George and Margaret's first child, yet another George Ferguson Grosset, was born the following year, by which time the family were living together in Portobello, at 94 North High Street, Musselburgh; just round the corner from where her parents lived at 188 High Street, Musselburgh. Not far from their home, just across the River Esk, was the Musselburgh Railway Station, which is probably where George worked as a railway foreman. It was a terminus station, meaning it was the end of the line. The station no longer exists; you'd never know a railway station had stood there. The rail bridge across the River Esk, that served the station has been converted into a road bridge, and where the grand station had once stood, there is now a car park.
In 1921 the family had grown, and moved house, and George had a new job, as a railway dock foreman. In the previous 9 years George and Margaret had 6 of the 7 children they were to boast, in those short 9 years. Agnes Bennett (1914), Margaret Bald (1916), John Bennett (1918), Helen Calder (1921 - 1921) and Wilhelmina Bennett (1921). Their youngest son, Blair Grosset was born in 1926, and tragically their youngest daughter Helen died at just 12 days of age, the death certificate citing 'congenital debility' as the cause of death. On the 19th of June 1921, when the census was taken, the family of 7 were living in 2 rooms, at 27 Halmyre Street, Leith, from which George would walk up the road, presumably to the Leith docks (which Google Maps tells me would be roughly a 20 minute walk; not a bad commute!) The 1921 census tells us that George Ferguson Grosset was, by this point, a Railway Dock Foreman. As a foreman he would have had responsibility for other men, and they would have been engaged with unloading ships, into railcars, and unloading railcars into ships; the latter probably being coal from the local coal mines, into the steamships for their next journey.
William Bald Grosset was born on the 13th February, 1893 in Portobello, Midlothian, when his father was working as a railway signalman. Records first show that William joined his brothers and father in the railway business in the 1911 census, when he was living in his mother and father's home at 14 Southfield Place, Southfield Place is situated just west of the impressive Portobello rail yard, which is likely where William, at the age of 18, worked his job as a railway number taker. Number takers had the job of noting down the numbers of all the railcars, which would then be passed on the the head office. In the pre-computer era, and without tracking technology, it was the way in which the rail company was able to track where their railcars were. Whilst the job might sound a little like train-spotting, it was rather more dangerous. It involved the number taker walking around shunting yards, where moving trains were arriving, departing, loading and unloading, and number takers were occasionally injured or killed doing this work.
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| All three brothers, like their father, worked for the North British Railway Company. |
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| The Peacock Hotel, Newhaven, North Leith |
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| Musselburgh Railway Station |
William Bald Grosset was born on the 13th February, 1893 in Portobello, Midlothian, when his father was working as a railway signalman. Records first show that William joined his brothers and father in the railway business in the 1911 census, when he was living in his mother and father's home at 14 Southfield Place, Southfield Place is situated just west of the impressive Portobello rail yard, which is likely where William, at the age of 18, worked his job as a railway number taker. Number takers had the job of noting down the numbers of all the railcars, which would then be passed on the the head office. In the pre-computer era, and without tracking technology, it was the way in which the rail company was able to track where their railcars were. Whilst the job might sound a little like train-spotting, it was rather more dangerous. It involved the number taker walking around shunting yards, where moving trains were arriving, departing, loading and unloading, and number takers were occasionally injured or killed doing this work.
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| An aerial image of the impressive Portobello Rail Yard, circa 1940. |
Luckily for William, he survived this work, and in 1915, at the age of 22, he married Anne Hunter Allan, a 'clerkess'. At the time of the marriage William was working as a 'railway goods shunter'. A shunter had the job of coupling and uncoupling railcars, whether they were empty or loaded, so they could be moved into the right place in the rail yard. They would use arm signals to convey to the engine driver what was required, and had a coupling rod which could be applied to the wagon, for use as a brake. When trains arrived at a goods depot the shunter would have the responsibility of breaking up the train, and shunting each part fo the train into the appropriate sidings. Similarly to number taking, shunter work was dangerous, always with the possibility of an injury or fatality due to an errant engine.
Again, either due to luck or vigilance, William survived the job of shunter, and in the 1921 census he had the far safer job of 'goods guard', for the North British Railway. He and Anne also had two children; Charles (1916), and Margaret (1918). The family of 4 were living at 54 Broughton Road; just down the road from where they were living at the time of their marriage. At the top of Broughton Road, and across from the Edinburgh and Leith Cemetery was the Bonnington Goods Yard, and it seems likely that William was working here, both when he and Anne married, and in 1921.
Bonnington Goods Yard was connected to the rail line via Bonnington Station, and was on the south bank of the Water of Leith, where various industries that presumably made good use of the transport, were situated. These industries included a paper manufacturer, a boiler works, Midlothian Oatmeal Mills, a foundry, and a sugar refinery. Just like his older brother Robert, its not clear if William worked on a train, or within the goods yard itself. The Bonnington Goods Yard no longer exists, and today the area on which it once stood is now a mixture of new apartment buildings and industrial units. The cobbles remain in parts, and the rail tracks that ran through the cobbles have been bricked over.
The three brothers worked as railway servants in the Portobello and Leith areas all their working lives. Robert Grosset was the first to die, in 1951, at the age of 63. At the time of his death he was a 'railway dock checker'. I've not been able to ascertain exactly what this job entailed, but I suspect it had something to do with checking that the correct loads were moved from train to ship, and vice versa. Robert died from a coronary thrombosis on the 9th December 1951.
William Bald Grosset worked until retirement. His wife Anne died in 1953, and at the age of 78, at the Craiglockhart Hospital, William died, on the 16th August 1971, due to various heart conditions including left ventricular failure.
George Ferguson Grosset outlived all but one of his siblings; his youngest sister and baby of the family, Jessie Bald Grosset, who died on 1979. George retired from the rail service and died on 18th September 1974, when my husband, his great grandson was about 18 months old.
While these three railway brothers were working the goods yards of Edinburgh throughout the early to mid 1900s, some of my ancestors were working the Leith docks, and serving fish suppers to, amongst others, hungry dockers, and railway workers. I've often wondered if the two sets of ancestors ever met, if they knew each other in passing, or they were just faces in the crowd to each other. Of course, we'll never know, but it is fun imagining.
#Grosset
Again, either due to luck or vigilance, William survived the job of shunter, and in the 1921 census he had the far safer job of 'goods guard', for the North British Railway. He and Anne also had two children; Charles (1916), and Margaret (1918). The family of 4 were living at 54 Broughton Road; just down the road from where they were living at the time of their marriage. At the top of Broughton Road, and across from the Edinburgh and Leith Cemetery was the Bonnington Goods Yard, and it seems likely that William was working here, both when he and Anne married, and in 1921.
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| The Bonnington Goods Yard |
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| Anderson Place, Edinburgh |
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| Craiglokhart Hospital |
George Ferguson Grosset outlived all but one of his siblings; his youngest sister and baby of the family, Jessie Bald Grosset, who died on 1979. George retired from the rail service and died on 18th September 1974, when my husband, his great grandson was about 18 months old.
#Grosset
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https://maps.nls.uk/view/142842305
I also enjoy finding ancestors among my husbands, or friends, who may have crossed paths with mine. I enjoyed learning about the various railway jobs and yards you describe. Thanks for sharing.
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