THIS WEBSITE, THE BRIGHTON BRANCH OF A.S.L.E.&F.
HAS NOW BEEN MOVED TO A NEW SITE CALLED
IGNITING THE FLAMING OF UNITY
http://ignitingtheflameofunity.yolasite.com/1881.php
PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO TRANSFER TO THIS NEW SITE
CLICK ON THE ABOVE IMAGE TO TAKE YOU
TO THE NEW UPDATED COMBINED AND WEBSITE
IGNITING THE FLAME OF UNITY WEBSITE
THIS WEBSITE COMBINES THE FOLLOWING WEBSITES
THE BRIGHTON A.S.L.E.&F., THE BRIGHTON MOTIVE POWER DEPOTS
& THE SUSSEX MOTIVE POWER WEBSITES
WHICH EXPLAINS THE EVOLUTION OF THE FOOTPLATE GRADES AND THE HISTORY OF THEIR TRADE UNIONS AND THE STRUGGLES TO IMPROVE THEIR WORKING LIVES
O' COME ALL YE FAITHFULL
From the Industrial Revolution onwards the churches had generally failed to successfully evangelise the working classes, from
whom the railways recruited most of its rapidly increasing work force, which was in the region of 350,000 at the time of the
formation of the Railway Mission in 1881. There were however professing Christians among this work force including three,
in particular, at Brighton station. These three, Messers Weller, Maple & Thynge (a ticket collector and two porters,
respectively) met together on Sunday afternoons in the Porter's Room for 'a little Bible study and a sing'. The three
railwaymen wanted to have a Gospel Service for the men on duty each Sunday and one of the porters invited a Miss Parkinson
to lead this meeting. She agreed but then personal illness and the death of her brother intervened and she approached another
lady, Mrs Elizabeth Gates, to substitute for her. Mrs Gates was already a well-known speaker at Christian meetings for
women, who with her husband, George(a Brighton solicitor), and young family (there were eventually 11 children) had moved
to Brighton from Steyning c.1861.
(It is interesting to note that the original invitation went to a woman, and had come from men. Was this a reflection of the
unpopularity of local clergy, and did it reflect a different attitude of the working class males to middle class women, from
middle class men?)
Mrs Gates considered and, it is understood, 'reluctantly' accepted the invitation. the first Sunday meeting, with a congregation
of three, was on 19th March 1876 in the waiting Room at Brighton Central Railway terminus station, curtsey of Brighton
Superintendent Mr Anscombe. However, the attendance soon began to increase and within six years the meeting had moved to
a larger venue. This was found in the Reading Room/Library of the Brighton Locomotive Works which could accommodate up
to four hundred people. This was thanks to Mr J P Knight, the then General Manager of the L.B. & S.C.R. The arrangement
was to last for eleven years and Mrs Gates stated that the directors had treated them with every kindness and had placed the
room at their disposal without charge.
In 1882 three meetings were held each week in the Reading Room/Library, on Sunday at 3.15pm for 'Men and Wives', on
Wednesday at 8.0pm for men only and on alternate Thursdays at 3.30pm for wives. In addition conversational Bible Readings
were held at the Coffee Palace, 67 Queens Road on the third and fourth Tuesdays at 8.00pm, with tea, for men, their wives
and friends.
By 1893 the Reading Room/Library was required by the railway company for other purposes, and after a search for suitable
premises, Mrs Gates apparently privately advanced some £2,500, whilst, in parallel, heading a public fund-raising effort, to
secure the purchase and adaptation of the Primitive Methodist Church in Viaduct Road (opened on 16 September 1876) ,
which was being vacated for larger premises in London Road.
The equivalent of a stone laying ceremony was the first blow to take down an internal dividing wall between the Front (Main)
and Back Halls, to enlarge the meeting area, on 15 May 1894. Present at this ceremony were Mrs J P Knight, widow of the
former General Manager of the L.B. & S.C.R., Mr and Mrs Sykes, Dr Morgan and Mr George Gibbins, a Brighton architect
who had donated his services. The official opening of the Brighton Railway Mission was held on 4 July 1894 with £2, 250 of
the £2,500 purchase/adaptation cost being raised by public subscription by that date. The work continued to grow and in
response to the need for a Sunday School work additional property was purchased behind the church in 1895; the new
classrooms being opened on 16 February 1896. There were initially 15 children, but by 1901 the average Sunday attendance
was 194 children and the West side passages from ?
the Back Hall was now removed and an Upper Hall with seating, library and offices, together with a connecting stairway to
the ground floor, constructed and opened on 20 December 1902 at a cost of £1,100. The house next door to the church in
grown to 50 workers looking after 364 children.
Mrs Gates worked hard among the railway workers and their families, and as the ticket collector, once commented "She had
some hard nuts to crack, I can tell you. But she was the means of converting hundreds and hundreds of men and women too”.
Mr Weller was still alive well enough to attend the 64th anniversary meetings of the Mission in 1940, at the age of 93 Mrs
Gates died on 23rd July 1911, and the local newspapers were full of her praise for her faithful ministry. Pastor Charles
Spurgeon, son of the famous Charles Haddon Spurgeon (of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London), conducted the service.
The National Railway Mission was founded in Brighton
in 1881 (and in its early years had its headquarters in
Brighton). In 1888 approximately 3,000 people attended
each of the the two anniversary meeting at the Dome. By
1900 the Brighton Mission was one among 270 groups of
converted railwaymen and their families throughout the
country registered with the Railway Mission, many with
their own premises. the Brighton mission still exists as
'Calvery Evangelical Church, but along with other former
Mission Halls no longer formers part of the Railway
Mission, which has gradually shed its properties
concertrating on the provision of chaplains to the railway
industry.
Extracted from an article
Written by Chris Fry
The Railway Mission is located at the bottom of viaduct road in Brighton.
Left Klaus Marx Collection
I am trying to finding out if there is any connections between the monthly meetings (3rd & 4th Tuesdays) of the
Railway Mission at Brighton and the formation of the Brighton Branch of A.S.L.E.F., which held their meetings on
the 4th Tuesday of each month?
THE BRIGHTON BRANCH OF A.S.L.E.&F. WEBSITE.
HAS NOW BEEN MOVED TO A NEW SITE CALLED
IGNITING THE FLAMING OF UNITY
https://ignitingtheflameofunity.yolasite.com/
PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW
TO TRANSFER TO THIS NEW SITE
CLICK ON THE ABOVE IMAGE TO TAKE YOU
TO THE NEW UPDATED COMBINED AND WEBSITE
IGNITING THE FLAME OF UNITY WEBSITE
https://ignitingtheflameofunity.yolasite.com/
THIS WEBSITE COMBINES THE FOLLOWING WEBSITES
THE BRIGHTON A.S.L.E.&F., THE BRIGHTON MOTIVE POWER DEPOTS
& THE SUSSEX MOTIVE POWER WEBSITES
WHICH EXPLAINS THE EVOLUTION OF THE FOOTPLATE GRADES AND THE
HISTORY OF THEIR TRADE UNIONS AND THE STRUGGLES TO IMPROVE
THEIR WORKING LIVES
CLICK ON THE ABOVE IMAGE TO TAKE YOU
TO THE NEW UPDATED COMBINED AND WEBSITE
IGNITING THE FLAME OF UNITY WEBSITE
https://ignitingtheflameofunity.yolasite.com/
THIS WEBSITE COMBINES THE FOLLOWING WEBSITES
THE BRIGHTON A.S.L.E.&F., THE BRIGHTON MOTIVE POWER DEPOTS
& THE SUSSEX MOTIVE POWER WEBSITES
WHICH EXPLAINS THE EVOLUTION OF THE FOOTPLATE GRADES AND THE
HISTORY OF THEIR TRADE UNIONS AND THE STRUGGLES TO IMPROVE
THEIR WORKING LIVES