Scrapbook of Samuel and Elizabeth Logan and family

Samuel Logan grew up in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. He established a boat building business and he and Elizabeth had six children including my great grandfather, John Maxwell Logan.

Making History on the Railways

Who ARE these people?

Click to find out.

Depicting the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830. (From Wikipedia)

The proposed Liverpool and Manchester Railway was to be one of the earliest land-based public transport systems not using animal traction power. Before then, public railways had been horse-drawn ,,, (Wikipedia)

We know that both Thomas (1789-1863) and Benjamin Jolley (1791-1876) were members of the 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment of Foot but mostly do not know what their movements were within the Regiment. We do know that Benjamin was in Ireland in 1834 when he received his discharge and had served the vast majority of his years in the East Indies. Around 1831 Thomas transferred to the 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot and spent his remaining two years of service with the 46th until he was pensioned off in 1833.

So it may well have been either one or both of them to make this short historic journey by train from Manchester to Liverpool and embark for Ireland.

The conveyance as depicted in the image at the top isn't exactly awe-inspiring like the huge beasts of later times belching steam and coal dust - a time when women were advised by doctors not to travel by train or stand on the platforms as the speed and sudden rush may cause their wombs to be expelled from their bodies.

Imagine the impact that the trains had on the individual serving members and the army as a whole. I said earlier it was a short journey from Manchester to Liverpool and it was about 31 miles (50 km) and it took around 2 hours.

Whether it was awe-inspiring or not to the troops I can only imagine it was a great relief not to have to march in formation for this part of their journey - they would have marched from wherever to get to Manchester in the first place.

Just a doddle from the barracks at Albany in the Isle of Wight to Edinburgh in Scotland via at least one stop in London. An overall march of around 465 miles. (London Evening Standard - Thursday 13 August 1829)

Another march from Gosport in the south via Southampton on their way to Northampton - around 124 miles (200 km). (Salisbury and Winchester Journal - Monday 12 July 1830.)

Once in Ireland, the Regiment was sent from Castlebar south to Galway. A short trip of 72 km or so.

There were other similar marches that I found in the newspaper archives and there would be many similar marches from A to B including from one country to the next when serving overseas. That was the life of a foot soldier and his only means of conveyance across land.

And then to look at the logistics of the army as a whole of moving large numbers of men across the country with very limited forward communications available. Finding billets and bivouacs, food and foraging for men and horses. The advent of the railways would have made life somewhat easier than it had been for all concerned.

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The combined photos in the heading are believed to be Samuel and Elizabeth Logan nee Charles. This was the second marriage for Samuel having married Hester Rutt who had been widowed with young children under tragic circumstances.
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