Preston man killed after falling down platform as train departed

On the third Friday of December 1864 Henry Wilkinson, aged 26, a tile maker by trade who lived at Grimsargh was in Longridge where he visited a couple of inns.

After a few beers Wilkinson arrived at the Longridge railway station a quarter of an hour before the 7 o’clock train was due to depart.

Station master Thomas Seed who recognised that he was fresh in liquor, but quite steady on his feet, engaged him in conversation and he bought a ticket to Grimsargh.

There were only a few passengers for the train, amongst them John Bailey who saw Wilkinson get into a carriage and close the door behind him about five minutes before the train departed. Evan Seed, who was the guard on the train, noticed that Wilkinson did not alight from the train at Grimsargh and he checked all the carriages, but could not see any sign of him.

Puzzled as to where Wilkinson was he examined all the wheels of the carriages, and found something wet upon the last one, but could not tell whether or not it was blood.

Before the train carried on to Preston the guard communicated with Thomas Banks, the station master of Grimsargh, and consequently he and a couple of others went to search along the line of rails.

They did not observe anything suspicious until they were about five yards from the front of the Longridge booking office where they spotted a pool of blood.

They then noticed Wilkinson’s cap on the other side of the rails close to the entrance of an old carriage shed.

As they went inside they saw Wilkinson lying on the floor surrounded by blood. He was conscious but one of his feet had almost been severed just below the ankle.

He did not seem to know what had occurred and Dr. Eccles was called for and after treating his horrific injuries arranged for him to be taken home.

When he arrived home his wife Margaret exclaimed, “Oh dear Henry, whatever have you been doing? To which he replied, “ Hold thy noise; say nothing about it.”

Unfortunately, despite the best of medical attention, his health deteriorated overnight and he died on the Saturday morning.

On the following Monday the coroner Miles Myres took the train to Grimsargh where he held an inquest at the Plough Inn. It was apparent from the submissions given that what exactly happened was a mystery.

The feeling was that he might have got back out of his carriage for some unknown reason just before the train departed and then whilst attempting to board the carriage again missed the foot board and fallen down the side of the deep platform and been run over by the latter part of the train.

The guard testified that he did not notice anything untoward as the train left Longridge, although one passenger remarked that he had felt a jolt as the train departed.

After hearing all the evidence the coroner remarked that it was a mystery how the tragedy had occurred and that it was a sorrowful end for a young man who had left a widow and four children behind.

The jury after a short deliberation recorded an ‘open verdict ‘ to leave the puzzle unsolved.

The Preston to Longridge railway was a important link between the two places from early Victorian days and by 1857 was in the ownership of the Fleetwood, Preston & West Riding Junction Railway Company.

The passenger service to Longridge continued until 1930 when the increased popularity of travel by bus led to its closure, although it was used for goods traffic until 1967.