Railway disaster remembered after being lost in time.
On the morning of September 1, 1905, a train left London Liverpool Street bound for Cromer.
As it approached Witham Railway Station, calamity occurred. The majority of its 14 carriages left the tracks, sliding up the platform on their sides or overturning completely.
The incident killed 11 individuals, including a 10-year-old girl, and injured more than 70. However, another train approached at high speed, straight for the wreckage, causing even more havoc.
A signalman and his colleagues’ prompt reactions saved many lives. More than a century later, their daring deeds – and the lives lost that day – will be remembered for the first time.
The 09:27 service derailed roughly an hour into its journey at Witham station, resulting in a catastrophic sight.
One vehicle collided with the platform and rolled on its side into a wooden hut, while a second carriage caught fire as the petrol tanks underneath broke.
A third flipped fully, with the weight of its hefty iron frame and wheels shattering the upper timber part and killing nine people. A tenth passenger in another carriage was slain, as was a porter.
Some of the victims could only be partially recognised by the letters they had in their pockets. Others remained unidentified. The incident also injured 66 passengers and five staff members.
However, the danger was not over.
Fred Spalding
Fred SpaldingAn oncoming train from Cromer to London approached Witham at high speed, unaware of what had occurred. Signalman Ben Sainty, along with his comrades Fred Parrish and Thomas Bannister, rushed into action.
Ben swiftly adjusted the lights from Clear to Danger, which the train driver gratefully saw in time to stop just a few hundred yards from the station. The passengers, including the Norwich City football team and its manager, disembarked and assisted the survivors.
An investigation first concluded that the collision was caused by plate layers removing a piece of track and failing to replace it in a timely manner.
According to local historian John Palombi, the train driver later stated that he saw persons working on the rails before jumping out of the way at the last second.
“Those plate layers were later discharged as nothing was proven that they had done anything wrong,” he informed me. “If it wasn’t for the really rapid and quick reactions… from those signalmen, it would have been a much worse disaster,” Mr.
Palombi said. Ben Sainty’s deeds, which included working as an oyster dredger and a ship’s cook before becoming a signalman, have not gone unnoticed by his great-great grandson.
“It makes me feel really humble in the sense that someone I’m related to did such a heroic thing,” said Mark Roberts of Wickham Bishops.
“I guess automatic pilot kicked in, and he was able to make those changes to the signals instinctively.” I’m incredibly proud of what he accomplished.”
‘Heroism’
Despite being the largest loss of life on the railways in the east of England, there has been little formal acknowledgement locally, with the exception of a modest residential street named for Ben Sainty.
However, on the 120th anniversary of the accident, an information board will be installed in Witham, allowing visitors to learn more about Ben and his colleagues’ daring deeds.
“Witham Town Council are proud to commemorate the heroism of three local railway workers whose quick thinking undoubtedly saved the lives of those travelling on the London-bound Cromer Express 120 years ago,” commented Councillor Paul Heath, the mayor of Witham.”
We hope that, by installing an information board close to where the incident took place, the names of Benjamin Sainty, Fred Parish and Thomas Bannister and what they did, will be remembered by Witham residents long into the future.”
Ben’s great-great grandson has welcomed the announcement, calling it “a shame” that earlier attempts to commemorate the events of 1905 had failed, despite best intentions. “I believe he would have asked, ‘What’s all the commotion about? “I was simply doing my job,” Mr Roberts told the BBC.
“His deeds elevated him to the status of hero and cemented his place in Witham history. I’m just glad everything is being honoured now with a tiny memorial.”
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