A warm tribute was paid to hospital staff after the Christmas Eve rail crash which killed 34 passengers near Kidlington 150 years ago.
The matron and nurses at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Woodstock Road, Oxford, pulled out all the stops to treat many of the 70 injured.
As we recalled (Memory Lane, December 16), the Oxford-Birkenhead passenger train, packed with passengers, was derailed on December 24, 1874 after a wheel fractured on the first carriage, causing the worst accident in railway history.
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In a letter to The Times after the crash, Dean Liddall wrote: “While all minds are full of the appalling accident which has marred the happiness of the season and praise is justly given to the zeal of the surgeons and others who assisted the poor sufferers, I should be glad to claim some acknowledgement for our excellent matron and nurses of our Infirmary.
“I went from the never to be forgotten scene at the station with a message to prepare beds etc, but all was ready prepared and beef tea, stimulants, hot bottles, hot blankets were all in readiness.
“I saw many of the sufferers brought in, provided with these comforts, undressed and laid on their beds to wait until the hard-pressed surgeons should come and attend to each in turn.
“There was no bustle, no excitement. Everything was done with a quiet gentleness and order.”
Historian John Amor includes the letter in his book, the Shipton-on-Cherwell Railway Disaster.
He tells me: “The Great Western Railway gave the hospital £250 for its response to the emergency.”
Up to 500 passengers were on the train, with many standing and with hardly room to move.
An extra locomotive and coach were added when it reached Oxford to cope with the heavy load, but the coach, third class No 845, was old.
As the train passed Kidlington on its way north, a passenger was seen waving a hat out of coach 845.
The train travelled a further mile and a half before the crew realised anything was wrong, but by then, it was too late.
Coach 845 derailed, sending other carriages plunging down a steep embankment into the Oxford Canal, littering it with wreckage.
Villagers from Shipton-on-Cherwell and Hampton Gay were first to respond and staff and guests at Blenheim Palace at Woodstock also helped.
The paper mill at Hampton Gay became a temporary mortuary and survivors took refuge from the wintry weather in the village church before a train took them back to Oxford.
The inquest jury concluded that the crash was a pure accident, chiefly due to the weather which affected the wheel on the front carriage. It recommended additional safety precautions.
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