What do these stones mean?

The following paragraphs describe five different memorials, for individuals, a crash, the rail industry, and its people. The present headquarters of the Railway Mission (RM) are located on Rugby station and until the 1940s the RM had a mission hall just outside the station. On a September Sunday afternoon in 1915 a service was held to commemorate those connected with the Mission who had died in the war; including Sgt. Johnston, Border Regiment and Drummer Howard, Inniskilling Fusiliers, who, whilst posted to Rugby the previous spring, had devoted a great deal of their time to the work of the Mission. Framed photographs of these two heroic men were presented to serve as a continuing reminder of their faithful service. The former RM Hall in York had the only marble wall plaque commemorating a member that I currently know. The plaque still exists in a nearby church. The memorial

(pictured, page 11) commemorates Signaller George Thompson, Royal Garrison Artillery, who had regularly attended the Mission for ten years. He had enlisted at the age of 18 and made ‘the supreme sacrifice’ in November 1917 aged 20. The plaque which originally surmounted a framed portrait was paid for by members’ subscription. The Railway Industry Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum was the

idea of the British Transport Pensioners Federation. The inscription on the front of the memorial reads: ‘In celebration of the magnificent achievements of the railway family who have served the British Isles with great distinction from beginnings in the nineteenth century through to the present day. We specially remember and give thanks for the many thousands of railway people who have given their lives in times of conflict or peace.’ The memorial was dedicated at a service led by Railway Mission chaplain Rev James Lindsay in May 2012. It is customary for memorials to be erected to commemorate serious accidents on the railway and the dead and injured, but the memorial to commemorate the nine who died in the 1986 Lockington Train Crash was not erected until some 24 years after the event. Richard Jones has spent much time seeking out disasters that do not have a permanent memorial and lighted upon the accident at Lockington level crossing. He sought out those involved including RM chaplain John Riley. As a result the story was pieced together and funds raised to erect a memorial in North End Park, Driffield, East Yorkshire; it was unveiled on July 26, 2010. The North Eastern Railway erected a magnificent cenotaph just inside the York city walls to commemorate those railway employees who gave their lives during the Great War and each November an Armistice Day ceremony is held at the monument to remember these and those from more recent conflicts. Wreaths are laid by representatives of train operators, rail engineers, exservicemen’s associations, and others. In recent years The Act of Remembrance has been led by Railway Mission chaplain Rev Angela Levitt-Harwood. In 2016 she told the large crowd who attended, speaking of those commemorated: “They were someone’s son, someone’s grandson, someone’s husband, nephew or friend.” Dudley Clark October 2021

Pictures: Page 10: ‘Silence:’ Remembrance Service at the York Railway Centaph 2018, Page 11: George Thompson: faithful member of York Railway Mission. Article Title from Joshua 4:6