The railway revolution and its impact on our ancestors.

[John915]

Good evening,

My great gran would have travelled from Oxford to London to train as a domestic servant in a Stamford Hill convent, then by the 1911 census she was working as a servant in Bexhill in Sussex. I guess she got the London to Brighton line but got a train that turned off at Keymer towards Bexhill when she travelled down to Bexhill to start her new job. By about 1916 she was in Rochford, Essex.

She would have 4 choices of route;
London to Hastings via Wivelsfield (Burgess Hill), Lewes, Polegate and on to Bexhill. This may have required a train change.
London to Hastings via Hurst Green, East Grinstead and Lewes etc.
London to Hastings via Hurst Green, Ashurst, Rotherfield, Mayfield, Heathfield, Hailsham and onto the coast line. This may have required going into Eastbourne to change trains.
The 4th route was further east, Tunbridge, Tonbridge Wells, Robertsbridge, Battle and to Bexhill but at the other station.
All of those could have involved changing trains at that time although I think the first one always had a through train. My brother was the expert on trains in the south east but no longer with us.

John915

[DianaCanada]

14 hours in 1851 from London to Scotland on a train, about 300 miles or so. That sounds right, and again it is nothing at all like sailing on a ship from London to Sydney in 1851, in a 12000 mile or more voyage to the other side of the world.

It still takes 5-6 days to travel by rail across Canada, not counting stops.  The Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in 1885 and certainly helped open up the west to settlers.  Unfortunately our rail system is not used extensively for travel but more for shipping.

[andrewalston]

Would there have been children's fares then? It's a long journey to be in the baggage car if the kids were posted!

The same advert says "Children under Ten Years of Age will be taken at Half Fares".

At the time ten year olds would probably be working. 

[John915]

Good morning,

One thing to remember from the early days of rail travel. Was the lack of facilities on a train. No corridor coaches in those days, no buffet car. So people may have had to leave the train quickly at a station for relief. Packed lunches would have to be taken. Or people would have to actually break their journey for an hour or so then resume on a later train.
In the mid 60s I regularly travelled from Sussex to Dorset. A journey involving several changes. Cooksbridge to Lewes, Lewes to Brighton, Brighton to Portsmouth, Portsmouth to Southampton and Southampton to Wool. The first 4 were all electric non corridor trains. It wasn't until Southampton the train from London was a corridor train, drawn by steam. Military travel warrants were always by the cheapest route so Cooksbridge to London, then to Wool was not allowed.

John915

[coombs]

Good evening,

My great gran would have travelled from Oxford to London to train as a domestic servant in a Stamford Hill convent, then by the 1911 census she was working as a servant in Bexhill in Sussex. I guess she got the London to Brighton line but got a train that turned off at Keymer towards Bexhill when she travelled down to Bexhill to start her new job. By about 1916 she was in Rochford, Essex.

She would have 4 choices of route;
London to Hastings via Wivelsfield (Burgess Hill), Lewes, Polegate and on to Bexhill. This may have required a train change.
London to Hastings via Hurst Green, East Grinstead and Lewes etc.
London to Hastings via Hurst Green, Ashurst, Rotherfield, Mayfield, Heathfield, Hailsham and onto the coast line. This may have required going into Eastbourne to change trains.
The 4th route was further east, Tunbridge, Tonbridge Wells, Robertsbridge, Battle and to Bexhill but at the other station.
All of those could have involved changing trains at that time although I think the first one always had a through train. My brother was the expert on trains in the south east but no longer with us.

John915

Thanks for the info. Yes, London to Hastings seems the likeliest route. She was christened in a Hackney church in March 1910 aged 14, while living at a Hackney convent at 121 Stamford Hill. As said she must have been training for domestic service, then got a job in Sussex by the 1911 census.

[John915]

Good evening,

My great gran would have travelled from Oxford to London to train as a domestic servant in a Stamford Hill convent, then by the 1911 census she was working as a servant in Bexhill in Sussex. I guess she got the London to Brighton line but got a train that turned off at Keymer towards Bexhill when she travelled down to Bexhill to start her new job. By about 1916 she was in Rochford, Essex.

She would have 4 choices of route;
London to Hastings via Wivelsfield (Burgess Hill), Lewes, Polegate and on to Bexhill. This may have required a train change.
London to Hastings via Hurst Green, East Grinstead and Lewes etc.
London to Hastings via Hurst Green, Ashurst, Rotherfield, Mayfield, Heathfield, Hailsham and onto the coast line. This may have required going into Eastbourne to change trains.
The 4th route was further east, Tunbridge, Tonbridge Wells, Robertsbridge, Battle and to Bexhill but at the other station.
All of those could have involved changing trains at that time although I think the first one always had a through train. My brother was the expert on trains in the south east but no longer with us.

John915

Thanks for the info. Yes, London to Hastings seems the likeliest route. She was christened in a Hackney church in March 1910 aged 14, while living at a Hackney convent at 121 Stamford Hill. As said she must have been training for domestic service, then got a job in Sussex by the 1911 census.

Good evening,

My great gran would have travelled from Oxford to London to train as a domestic servant in a Stamford Hill convent, then by the 1911 census she was working as a servant in Bexhill in Sussex. I guess she got the London to Brighton line but got a train that turned off at Keymer towards Bexhill when she travelled down to Bexhill to start her new job. By about 1916 she was in Rochford, Essex.

She would have 4 choices of route;
London to Hastings via Wivelsfield (Burgess Hill), Lewes, Polegate and on to Bexhill. This may have required a train change.
London to Hastings via Hurst Green, East Grinstead and Lewes etc.
London to Hastings via Hurst Green, Ashurst, Rotherfield, Mayfield, Heathfield, Hailsham and onto the coast line. This may have required going into Eastbourne to change trains.
The 4th route was further east, Tunbridge, Tonbridge Wells, Robertsbridge, Battle and to Bexhill but at the other station.
All of those could have involved changing trains at that time although I think the first one always had a through train. My brother was the expert on trains in the south east but no longer with us.

John915

Thanks for the info. Yes, London to Hastings seems the likeliest route. She was christened in a Hackney church in March 1910 aged 14, while living at a Hackney convent at 121 Stamford Hill. As said she must have been training for domestic service, then got a job in Sussex by the 1911 census.

From the Hackney area she could have got a train due south to Wapping. Through the London tunnel to Rotherhythe, one of Brunels doings, then down to the eastern route via Tonbridge etc. Although it became part of the underground in 1913. It has recently been refurbished and put into mainline use again.

John915