On the afternoon of March 31st in the year 1876, a sleepy little village on the outskirts of Bristol was almost home to a tragedy on a large scale. Without the intervention of a local quarry worker, John Chiddy, The Flying Scotsman would have derailed causing the deaths of many passengers. John leaped into action when a large rock landed on the rails and using brute strength and great effort managed to dislodge it from the track, allowing the train to pass without any loss of life but his own. Sadly, he was unable to get out of the way in time and died immediately, leaving a widow and seven children.
The passengers had a whip round, and raised (even for those days) a paltry amount of money. Francis Richard Charteris, who was Lord Elcho and a Whig member of parliament was so angered by this that he brought the case of John's death up in the house. He was told there weren't funds available to stop John's dependants living in poverty, even though he perished in carrying out a heroic deed to save the lives of others.
Thankfully, the outrage didn't end there, and the public raised the sum of £400 which allowed for a cottage to be built at Hanham for the family. We certainly know John's eldest son James was living in Memorial Cottage in the 1911 census.
The cottage is still there today, the road it stands in, is named Memorial Road, and there is also a street named for John Chiddy, local hero.
John Chiddy is the fourth great uncle of my husband. We were so proud to have heard his story.
