Thomas Port
Published by Rick on Friday, July 11, 2008.In the churchyard at Harrow-on-the-Hill is a gravestone with the following inscription:
TO THE MEMORY OF THOMAS PORT
SON OF JOHN PORT OF BURTON UPON TRENT IN THE COUNTY OF STAFFORD, HAT MANUFACTURER, WHO NEAR THIS TOWN HAD BOTH LEGS SEVERED FROM HIS BODY BY THE RAILWAY TRAIN. WITH GREAT FORTITUDE HE BORE A SECOND AMPUTATION BY THE SURGEONS AND DIED FROM LOSS OF BLOOD AUGUST 7TH 1838 AGED 33 YEARS
Bright rose the morn and vigorous rose poor Port
Gay on the train he used his wonted sport
Ere noon arrived his mangled form they bore
With pain distorted and overwhelmed with gore
When evening came to close the fatal day
A mutilated corpse the sufferer lay
The accident happened on the London and Birmingham Railway, which runs about a mile away from Harrow-on-the-Hill. The railway had only opened on the 20th July the previous year.SON OF JOHN PORT OF BURTON UPON TRENT IN THE COUNTY OF STAFFORD, HAT MANUFACTURER, WHO NEAR THIS TOWN HAD BOTH LEGS SEVERED FROM HIS BODY BY THE RAILWAY TRAIN. WITH GREAT FORTITUDE HE BORE A SECOND AMPUTATION BY THE SURGEONS AND DIED FROM LOSS OF BLOOD AUGUST 7TH 1838 AGED 33 YEARS
Bright rose the morn and vigorous rose poor Port
Gay on the train he used his wonted sport
Ere noon arrived his mangled form they bore
With pain distorted and overwhelmed with gore
When evening came to close the fatal day
A mutilated corpse the sufferer lay
The train hit an obstruction on the track, Thomas was thrown from the train by the impact, fell between the carriages, and lost both legs by being run over. The railway company accepted liability.
However, a quite different story is told by Thomas’ descendants. The Port family had extensive canal interests and had started to feel the effect of competition from the railways. Although Thomas had travelled by train, it was earlier during the day, and at the time of his injury, he and some accomplices had constructed a barricade across the railway line, expecting to stop the train in the way that such a barricade might stop a stagecoach on the highway. When the train was unable to stop in time, it struck the barricade and pushed it out of the way and fatally injured Thomas. The train did not derail and after a delay, continued on its way. Everybody assumed Thomas had fallen from the train and his accomplices did not correct them. Also, Thomas still had the train ticket from his earlier journey in his pocket that was taken as confirmation that he had been aboard.
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