My Family Tree

Possible Christening
Name: Mary Simmons
Gender: Female
Baptism/Christening Date: 03 Mar 1777
Baptism/Christening Place: SEAFORD,SUSSEX,ENGLAND
Father's Name: William Simmons
Mother's Name: Ann
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: K14848-1
System Origin: England-ODM
Source Film Number: 1067360
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Death GRO 2nd qtr 1851
CHATFIELD, Mary Lewes &c 7 311
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Find A Grave Memorial# 190727825
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Buried as Non-Conformist.

Died with daughter, Sarah, by a fatal railway accident which occurred in the Great Exhibition year (6 Jun 1851) on the line between Brighton and Lewes near Falmer. The victims of the calamity were interred in the Hanover chapel Ground, where also repose the remains of her husband.

"On Friday the 6th instant, a train consisting of four carriages, on first-class, two second, and one third-class, drawn by an engine with the tender foremost, left the Brighton station for Lewes at 5 minutes past 12; it stopped at the Falmer station, and then proceeded to run down the incline as the driver had been accustomed to do, with the steam shut off, but without any breaks being applied. It swept round the curve... at a speed which was certainly not less than 27 miles an hour, and at the end of the curved cutting came in contact with a wooden sleeper, the end of which rested upon the left-hand rail; this threw the train off the line to the opposite or right-hand side, and the centrifugal force, due to the combined effect of the speed and the curve, tending in the same direction, the train ran onwards, taking an oblique path, crossed the opposite line of rails, and, about 85 yards from where it had left its own line, came in contact with a parapet-wall of a bridge which carried the railway over a public road. The parapet-wall was swept away, and the tender, the engine, and two of the carriages fell over into the road; the other two carriages had fortunately become detached when the train crossed the opposite line. Of the two carriages which fell into the road, one was a second-class in which there were no passengers; the other was a third-class, and there were in it four passengers, three of whom were killed; the fireman of the train was killed on the spot, and the driver so seriously injured than he only survived 48 hours."

Records not imported into INDI (individual) Gramps ID I19314:

Tag recognized but not supported Line 616414: 2 _SCBK Y
Tag recognized but not supported Line 616416: 2 _TYPE PHOTO
Tag recognized but not supported Line 616417: 2 _SSHOW Y