Ghosts of Aberglaslyn

 

‘Ghosts of Aberglaslyn’ tells the amazing story of an electric railway project in North Wales that was never completed, involving a predecessor of the Rosyth based electrical engineering company Parsons Peebles, the inventor of Beechams Pills and father of the famous orchestra conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham, a Hungarian locomotive builder and the great great grandfather of Tara Palmer Tomkinson, the English socialite, "it girl", television presenter, model and charity patron. The book explains how James Cholmeley Russell, the Chairman and  Receiver of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company  played an instrumental role in causing the project to fail.

Some of the line was constructed between 1901 and 1909, but it never opened and the track bed eventually became part of the Welsh Highland Railway. The heady and fascinating story of political manoeuvrings, dashed hopes, obstructionism and technology is the subject of a new book, ‘Ghosts of Aberglaslyn’ - the brief life of the Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway by John Manners and Michael Bishop.

If the aspirations of the promoters of the Portmadoc, Beddgelert & South Snowdon Railway (PBSSR) had been realised, electric trains might now be carrying passengers between Porthmadog and Caernarfon in North Wales

In the book, John Manners examines the design, technology and building of the PBSSR and plans for electrifying the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways line from Rhyd Ddu to Dinas, near Caernarfon. This is set within the story told by Michael Bishop of the companies that were involved, including how some six electric locomotives were built by Bruce Peebles & Co Ltd but none delivered and how a power station was constructed that still generates electricity today.  The legacy includes the Leeds built steam locomotive "Russell"  - named after James Cholmeley Russell and the unused bridge by the Goat Hotel at Beddgelert and nearby bridge abutments. 
The book comprises some 120 pages of text and a rich collection of photographs, including several published for the first time.
‘Ghosts of Aberglaslyn’ is available direct from the publisher, the Welsh Highland Railway Heritage Group at for £18 post paid in the UK or via your local bookshop quoting:

ISBN number 978-0-9930821-4-6

The Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway (PBSSR) was a 1 ft 11 1⁄2 in (597 mm) narrow gauge railway intended to connect Porthmadog with the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways link terminus at Rhyd Ddu. Although some of the line was constructed between 1901 and 1906, it never opened and eventually became part of the Welsh Highland Railway, that now runs from Caernarfon to Porthmadog where it connects with the famous Ffestiniog Railway.

James Tomkinson PC (1840 – 10 Apr 1910) was an English landowner and Liberal politician and a director of the North Wales Power & Electric Traction Co. Ltd that built a power station originally intended to provide electricity to the Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway.

Born in 1840, Tomkinson lived at Willington Hall, Chester, He was the son of Battle of Waterloo veteran Lieutenant-general William Tomkinson and Susan, daughter of Thomas Tarleton of Bolesworth Castle, Cheshire. He was a High Sheriff of Cheshire, unsuccessfully contested Nuneaton for the Liberals but at the 1900 general election he was elected as Member of Parliament for Crewe, holding the seat until his death in April 1910. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Cheshire, became Second Church Estates Commissioner and was  a member of the Privy Council.

In 1871 Tomkinson married Emily Frances Palmer, a daughter of Sir George Palmer, 3rd Baronet.  Tomkinson died on 10 April 1910 from injuries sustained in a fall while participating in the House of Commons Steeplechase.

Descendants

Charles William Tomkinson (1877–1939); James Edward Tomkinson, later Palmer-Tomkinson (1879–1961); James Algernon Palmer-Tomkinson (1915-1952) ;Charles Palmer-Tomkinson (born 1940); James Palmer-Tomkinson; Santa Palmer-Tomkinson, now Santa Montefiore (born 1970); Tara Palmer-Tomkinson (1971-2017)  - great great grandaughter of James Tomkinson
 

Evelyn Mary Gordon Pangman 1926 - 2016

Evelyn Pangman who died on April 12, 2016, in Canada aged 90 was the younger daughter of Sydney and Margaret Saunders. Margaret, was the only child of James Cholmeley Russell and his wife Eleanor. She married Sidney Saunders in 1919 and their first daughter Elizabeth, always known as Betty, was born in 1922, she died a spinster in 1998. Evelyn was born in 1926 and grew up in Surrey, never knowing her father, who had died before she was born. Towards the end of the Second World War Evelyn met and married Peter Pangman a Canadian Navy Officer stationed in England. They subsequently moved to Canada. Peter died in the 1990s.

Evelyn had recently enjoyed her 90th birthday and is happily remembered by son Michael, daughter Wendy, five grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Russell's trophies

James Cholmeley Russell competed in both rowing and shooting competitions in the early part of his life and this is illustrated by the trophies he won. 



Harrow School Trophy  - J C Russell

Russell was at Harrow School from Easter 1855 to  Christmas 1859. Here on the 7th April 1859
he won a prize for either shooting or archery,note the arrows on the coat of arms. The motto on the tankard (see picture) reads  'Stet Fortuna Domus' - Let the Fortune of the House Stand - the motto of Harrow School.



Russell's Rifle Challenge Cup Trophy

In 1860 Russell went up to Magdalene College, Oxford as a Commoner. Here he remained until June 1864, graduating with a BA, 3^rd class Moderations and 2^nd class in Law and Modern History. Whilst at  Magdalene he was a member of the Rifle Club and in 1863 won third prize in the Rifle Challenge Cup competition.



Magdalene College 'Scratch Fours' Trophy

Russell was also a rower and following graduation he subsequently competed in the Magdalene College 'Scratch Fours Competition in 1868.
 

Handicap Prize Third  Class

As a barrister, Russell joined the 23rd Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps and while a Sergeant won the Handicap Prize Third  Class in 1876. He was later commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant and was subsequently promoted to Lieutenant in 1877. The motto on the trophy reads Salus populi suprema lex esto ‘The health of the people should be the supreme law’
 

 

 
 

Russell's London Railway Promotion

In 1892, Russell was involved in promoting a railway in London, between Royal Exchange and Waterloo. 

An article in The Electrical Engineer of January I, 1892 titled, New Electric Railways For London described a number of proposals introducing them as follows:

‘The comparative success of the existing electric railway in London has evidently given an impetus to the movement for providing still further means of locomotion of a similar kind. For consideration during the forthcoming session of Parliament there are no fewer than five Bills which propose either the construction of new electric railways or the extension of lines already authorised.’ 

The full article is here . Among the schemes it describes are: 

Great Northern and City Railway

 

A proposal for the incorporation of a new company with powers to construct a line of railway from the Canonbury branch of the Great Northern line near Finsbury Park to the City.
 

Islington and the City
 

The City and South London Railway Company, a Bill repeating their proposal of 1891 for the construction of a line extending their system to The Angel, at Islington.
 

Central London Railway
 

A proposal to extend their powers by the making of a line from under Mansion House Street, near the junction with Queen Victoria Street, to the Liverpool Street Station of the Great Eastern Railway Company.
 

Baker Street and Waterloo 
 

There are no less than three new railways projected from and to Waterloo, one of which is an underground railway to be worked by electricity.
 

Royal Exchange and Waterloo 

 

‘In addition to the intended Waterloo and City Electric Railway, it was also proposed to extend the London and South Western and London, Brighton, and South Coast Railways to a terminus in the City, for which purpose it is sought to incorporate a new company, consisting, among others, of the Hon. F. S. A. Hanbury-Tracy, Major John Eustace Jameson, Mr. Campbell Praed, and Mr. James Cholmeley Russell, with a capital of £2,700,000, divided into 270,000 £10 shares.
 

'Junctions would be formed with the main, Windsor, and other lines of the London and South-Western Company at Waterloo Station, and with the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway in the parish of St. John, Horseleydown, where it crosses Bermondsey Street by means of a bridge; and the new lines would run by way of Southwark Street to a point in the City close to the junction of Crooked Lane with Arthur Street, crossing the Thames by means of a bridge, in connection with which a free public footway would be constructed. Three years is the time fixed for the compulsory acquirement of land, and five years for the completion of the works. It is also sought to enter into working agreements with the London and South Western and the London, Brighton, and South Coast Companies, and to pay interest out of capital during construction.'

 

James Szlumper was to have been the engineer. The line was never constructed

The Engineer magazine of 4th December 1892 illustrated the proposals as follows:



Proposed Waterloo and Royal Exchange Railway

 

The magazine commented as follows:

'So much interest attaches to the projects for railways from Waterloo to the City that we publish above small map of the over head railway project which will come before Parliament during the next session.

 

'This project must be distinguished from the proposed tunnel from Waterloo to near the mansion House, which has the objection that the passengers will have to be taken down to the proposed deep tunnel by a lift from Waterloo station and thence under the River Thames; and when the Mansion is reached another lift will be required to take the passengers up to the surface. Besides the unpleasantness of travelling in a tunnel, the scheme entails no less than three changes for the passengers.

 

'The other scheme, of which we give a route map, is called the Royal Exchange and Waterloo Railway. It will have four lines of rails, and has the distinct advantage of being above ground. Mr J W Szlumper MInst.C.E is the engineer of the scheme and proposes to construct a continuous and unbroken line of railway  from Waterloo Station to the City, so that the London and South Western Company’s engines and carriages would after calling at Waterloo, proceed direct to the City above ground for the whole distance. It will be seen from the map that the scheme also contemplates a line from London Bridge Station of the Brighton Company to the City, a most important facility. Another feature in this scheme is the construction of a free public footway over a new bridge proposed to be erected across the Thames, and which it would it is believed considerably relieve London Bridge of the enormous foot traffic passing over it. Another, and very important advantage of this scheme is that independent of the pleasantness of travelling above ground, passengers would reach their destination in less time than it would take them to change and descend by lift to a tunnel.'

Southwark St John Horsleydown was a small parish on the south bank of the River Thames in London, opposite the Tower of London. 

 

In the metropolitan re-organisation of 1855 it was grouped into the St Olave District. The civil parish became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey in 1900 when the St Olave District was abolished, and in 1904 Southwark St John Horsleydown was absorbed into the Bermondsey parish. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Southwark (Wikipedia)

In addition to Russell, the promoters were the following gentlemen:



F. S. A. Hanbury-Tracy
Spy cartoon 1884 



F. S. A. Hanbury-Tracy was the Hon. Frederick Stephen Archibald Hanbury-Tracy (1848 - 1906), a younger son of Thomas Hanbury-Tracy, 2nd Baron Sudeley, and his wife Emma Elizabeth Alicia, daughter of George Hay Dawkins Pennant. Charles Hanbury-Tracy, 4th Baron Sudeley, was his elder brother. He succeeded the latter as Member of Parliament for Montgomery in 1877, a seat he held until 1885, and again from 1886 to 1892.
 

Hanbury Tracy lived at 116 Queens Gate, South Kensington, Russell living at 86 Queen’s Gate for several years in the 1880s and 1890s

 



Major John Eustace Jameson 
National Portrait Gallery



Major John Eustace Jameson (1853-1919 was a politician, businessman and Army officer. He was the MP for West Clare and at one time was a factory inspector. He was the subject of both a photographic portrait now in the National Portrait Gallery collection and a Spy cartoon ‘The Major from Clare’



Arthur Campbell Bulkley Mackworth-Praed 1876
John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland
 

 

Campbell Praed was Arthur Campbell Bulkley Mackworth-Praed (1846–1901), the husband of the Australian novelist, Rosa Campbell Praed. He was a member of an English banking and brewing family. For more on the Campbell Praed brewing family see The Brewing Industry: A Guide to Historical Records edited by L. M. Richmond, Alison Turton

Welsh Highland Railway Heritage Group

The Welsh Highland Railway Heritage Group has now published their excellent newsletters online and the article on JCR from September 2004 can be found here as a pdf . Since then of course a great deal more information has been uncovered about James Cholmeley Russell.

North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company

For more information on the history of the NWNGR company with which J C Russell was so involved see the Festipedia site here

Russell to steam in 2011

The Welsh Highland Heritage Railway intends to steam Russell in 2011. Donations are being sought and every donation of £5 or more will earn an entry into the prize draw for a rare replica Russell nameplate. A donation form is available on the website.Russell website

JCR as Executor

A search of the Great Western Railway Shareholders Register that has been made available on http://www.findmypast.co.uk/ shows that JCR acted as an executor for several relatives who were holders of GWR shares as follows.

The Reverend Robert Cholmeley, JCR's maternal grandfather died 30 August 1880 at Findon, Sussex. JCR was joint executor with Mrs Constance Mary Cholmeley. These shares had been jointly held with Anthony Adey (deceased) .

JCR's brother, Robert Bruce Russell died 18 March 1887 at Queen's Gate London.

George Buchanan McClure the brother in law of JCR's sister Charlotte died 11 July 1888. He had emigrated to Australia and is listed in the Register with addresses in Scotland and New South Wales. The other executor was GBM's twin brother, James Howe McClure (Charlotte's husband).

William Cholmeley MDST FRCP, a maternal relative of JCR's died aged 73 on 18 June 1896 with addresses in Grosvenor Street London and Notting Hill. WC was a well known doctor who rated an obituary in the British Medical Journal 4 July 1896

NWNGR Company - Extension Bill 1885

The NWNG Company desperately wanted to extend its line from Dinas into Caernarvon to avoid the problems of transhipment and to give it access to the harbour. The Company promoted a Parliamentary Bill to this effect in 1885. A contemporary newspaper carries an account of the proceedings of the House of Commons Select Committee on the subject and includes the evidence of among others of James Cholmeley Russell. It was opposed by the LNWR.

Thanks to David Allan for tracking down the cutting.

James Chomeley Russell's Funeral Report

The report on JCR's funeral from The Farnham, Haslemere & Hindhead Herald for September 7th 1912 is shown in these two pictures.

Friends of James Cholmeley Russell

In his will of 1897 JCR made bequests of £20 each (around £1700 at 2008 prices using the RPI measure) to some of his friends. They included the 'great and the good' of the time:

John Heywood Johnstone was MP for Horsham (1893-1904) and lived at Bignor Park, Sussex and also at Trewithen, Cornwall, famous its gardens. He was usually known by his middle name of Heywood.1 He was a Justice of the Peace was a Deputy Lieutenant John Heywood Johnstone's son George Horace Johnstone (1882 -1960) took over Trewithen on his father's death heralding Trewithen's Golden Age of Gardening.

Sir Edward Fry GCB, GCMG, FRS (1827-1918), was a judge in the Court of Appeal (1883-1892) and also an arbitrator on the International Permanent Court of Arbitration. He was a Quaker, son of Joseph Fry (1795-1879) and Mary Ann Swaine.

He was called to the bar in 1854, took silk in 1869 and became a judge in Chancery in 1877 and was raised to the Court of Appeal in 1877 retiring in 1892.

In 1897 he accepted an offer to preside over the Royal Commission on the Irish Land Acts. He also acted as an arbitrator in the Welsh coal strike (1898), the Grimsby fishery dispute (1901) and between the London and North Western Railway Company and its employees (1906, 1907).

He was also involved in international law including acting as the British legal assessor on the commission to investigate the Dogger Bank incident where the Russian navy accidentally attacked a British herring fleet in the North Sea.

Besides law he was on the Council of University College London and was interested in Zoology (elected to the Royal Society in 1883).He wrote two books on bryophytes, British Mosses (1892) and, with his daughter Agnes, The Liverworts: British and Foreign (1911). Sir Edward lived at Failand House just outside Bristol.

Sir Fleetwood Isham Edwards (1842-1910) was educated at Harrow School and went to Sandhurst in 1861. He received a commission in the Royal Engineers in 1863. In the 1870s he was Inspector of Works at Woolwich Arsenal, then aide-de-camp to General Sir John Lintorn Simmons, inspector-general of fortifications. Following his contributions to the Berlin Congress, in 1878, he was appointed Assistant Privy Purse and Assistant Private Secretary to Queen Victoria. He later became head of the Queen's personal household, a privy councillor, and a close personal advisor. He was an executor of her will in 1901.

He was a member of the M.C.C. from 1870, and at Harrow, just failed to get into the Eleven. In his time he made some scores for the Royal Engineers, and in 1865 began to play for Gentlemen of Kent.

Aubrey St John Clerke, (1843-1923), had a brilliant career as a scholar and medallist in mathematics and science at Trinity College, Dublin and later became a Chancery barrister in London. Amon other books, he wrote The law and practice under the Settled land acts, 1882-1890. With the statutes and the rules and forms issued under the Settled land act, 1882

Ernest E Lake (1844 -1917)
See next post

Russell and Wilson Saunders the botanist

William Wilson Saunders

JCR had it seems an interest in botany. He arranged for the Herbarium of some 20,000 specimens which belonged to Mr. Wilson Saunders to be presented to Oxford University on Saunders' death. William Wilson Saunders FRSA 1809-79 was an underwriter at Lloyds of London, which is probably how Russell came to know him and was primarily an entomologist as well as a botanist. He was president of the Entomological Society on two occasions, 1841-1842 and 1856-1857.
See also Wikipedia entry here

Russell's home in Scotland

Russell's Scottish house is now a charming family run Lochside Hotel called Creagmhor Lodge. Picture shows JCR with Blackie, "the dog that owned its master". Click the post title above for the hotel link

Russell's household in 1881 at Queen's Gate, London

At the time of the census in 1881 Russell was unmarried and living at 86 Queens Gate, London. The house was occupied as follows:

James C. Russell - Barrister At Law In Practice
Francis Penelope Russell - Sister
Lucy Janet Russell - Sister
Jessie Russell - Sister
Elizabeth Beer - Servant - Cook - from Tiverton, Devon, England
Elizabeth Dyer - Servant - Nursemaid - from Taffent, Wiltshire
Catherine Wilson - Under Servant - from Yerdham, Essex, England
Charles Walker - Servant - from - Peters Hereford

Russell as expert on family law

Russell was the editor with Robert Bruce Russell, one of his brothers, of several editions of a classic of family law "The Rights and Liabilities of Husband And Wife" originally written by John Fraser Macqueen (1803-1881).

James Cholmeley Russell 1841 – 1912

Longdene House Haslemere Surrey

Curiously, Longdene House at Haslemere in Surrey, now used as offices, has a connection with the Welsh Highland Railway in North Wales. A locomotive from the railway, called 'Russell' is named after James Cholmeley Russell, who used to live at Longdene, and who was intimately involved in one of the precursors of the Welsh Highland, the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company.

James Cholmeley Russell was the eldest son of James Russell QC. (1790 – 1861), and Maria, the daughter of the Reverend Robert Cholmeley. He was born at 40 Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London on 26th June 1841, some two years after his parent's marriage and christened James Cholmeley, thus perpetuating his mother’s maiden name. His parents later had two further sons and five daughters. James Russell senior had a large chancery and bankruptcy practice and this may give a clue to his eldest son's future activities.

In Easter 1855, at the age of 13, James Cholmeley Russell was sent to Harrow School leaving in Christmas 1859 and going up to Magdalene College, Oxford as a Commoner. Here he remained until June 1864, graduating with a BA, 3rd class Moderations and 2nd class in Law and Modern History. During his time at Magdalene, Russell was a keen rifle shooter, and his grand daughter, Evelyn Pangman still has a number of pewter mugs awarded as prizes in shooting competitions.