Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and IrelandTatlow, Joseph
History
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland
Tatlow, Joseph
Railroads -- Great Britain -- History
In the year 1880 a Scotch branch of the Railway Benevolent Institution
was established. Mr. Wainwright was made its chairman, and I was
appointed secretary. He and I had for some time urged upon the Board in
London the desirability of a local committee of management in Scotland.
The Institution had a great membership in England, and was generously
helped there in the matter of funds by the public. The subscription
payable by members was small, and the benefits it bestowed were
substantial; but railway men in Scotland looked at it askance: "the Board
in London kenned little aboot Scotland and Scotch claims wouldna get vera
much conseederation." Well, all this was changed by what we did. Soon a
numerous membership succeeded to the few who on Scottish railways had
previously joined the Institution, and we had much satisfaction in
finding that we were able to dispense substantial aid to many old and
needy railwaymen and to their widows and orphans. Mr. Wainwright
remained Chairman of the Branch till his death, and I continued Secretary
until I left Scotland.
In 1883, after my return from Paris, I grew restless again, with a
longing for more responsibility and a larger and freer life; with,
perhaps, an admixture of something not so ennobling--the desire for a
bigger income. Never was I indifferent to the comforts that money can
bring, though never, I must confess, was I gifted with the capacity for
money making or money saving. The pleasures of life (the rational
pleasures I hope) had always an attraction for me. I could never forego
them, or forego the expense they involved, for the sake of future distant
advantages. What weighed with me, too, was the fact that I was
undoubtedly overworked and my health was suffering. It was not that my
railway duties proper were oppressive, but the duties as Secretary of the
Railway Benevolent Institution in Scotland added considerably to my
office hours, and at home I often worked far into the night writing for
the several papers to which I contributed. Too much work and too little
play was making Jack a very dull boy. I envied those officers, such as
John Mathieson, whose duties took them often out of doors, and gave them
the control and management of men.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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