Forgive me if this is an 'old' subject and already well discussed.
I am reading the current edition of Cheshire Life. There is an artical about the Village of Chelford.
Apparently there was a rail crash there on 22nd December 1894 and a number of passengers were killed, one of these was Margaret ELKS. Here I quote: 'One servant girl, Margaret Elks, was going home for Christmas to Shropshire. She was never claimed because there was no money to bury her, so, the Squire at the time organised a local collection and she is buried in Chelford churchyard'. I wonder if anyone doing their Family History has been looking for her? I can't find her on Shropshire Baptisms but there are a couple of Margaret Elks' on the Census for 1881/1891 in the Wellington area and the name in general seems to be prevalent in the Condover area, too.
Just thought someone might be interested. KMB
Oh right, that's interesting. I think the Cheshire Life article was from some work by a local person who knows about the village history.
Thank you for that. KMB
Kathleen,
As may be seen from the list of the victims names at page 94 of the BoT report at this link
http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/BoT_Chelford1894.pdf
the passenger who died is recorded as a Miss M ELLIS.
Peter
Additionally:
In Findmypast there is a newspaper report of the Inquest from the Cardiff Times issue of 29 December 1894 which records:
"Frederick Lee, of Wellington Salop, identified the body of Margaret Ellis, 21, a waitress at a Manchester restaurant. She was a relative of the witness and was on the way to her home to spend Christmas. She was to have brought a little child with her, but he had not been able to ascertain whether or not the child accompanied her"
However, nothwithstanding the foregoing:
Also in Findmypast there is another newspaper report relating to the accident from the Birmingham Post issue of 25 December 1894 which records:
"Among the victims of the Chelford railway disaster was Margaret Elkes (21), a domestic servant in Manchester, who intended spending her Christmas holidays with her sister, Mrs Lee, wife of a labourer living in Ladycroft Road, Wellington. Mr Lee went to bring home the body yesterday."
The deceased's surname is recorded variously as ELKS, ELLKS, ELKES & ELLIS - of which, the last seems the most unlikely to be accurate.