Coals on Rails, Or the Reason of my Wrighting

by P.E.H. Hair (editor), Anthony Errington

In the 1820s, Anthony Errington, a marginally literate working man, wrote an autobiography covering his life from birth at Felling-on-Tyne in 1788 up to his middle years, and his career from the age of thirteen, working in various Tyneside coalmines as a waggon and waggonway wright. A contemporary of George Stephenson, Anthony Errington was one of the early railwaymen who literally prepared the way for the age of steam locomotion. But his work also took him underground, and he narrowly escaped being one of the victims of the 1812 mining disaster at Felling Colliery. The anecdotes which form the autobiography deal with many curious episodes in his life, both underground and on the surface, and his selection of anecdotes to some extent expresses his faith, as a Roman Catholic, in "Divine Providence". A general introduction sets the autobiography within its historical and topographical context, and a series of commentaries provides the reader who wishes to explore further with an analysis of several aspects of the autobiography.
ebook from the Burnett Archive http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/...

91 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interested to find this as I had a similarly named ancestor from the same time as the author Anthony Errington, who was also a waggonway wright from County Durham. However, on reading it is unlikely that they were related. It is a rather fascinating account of life in and around Tyneside in the Georgian era. The typescript is not the easiest to read visually and despite being from the Northeast myself, I found some of the dialogue difficult to follow. Reading some parts aloud helped, and the introduction and annotations by the text are also valuable. Not sure what possessed Anthony Errington to write his autobiography, but it's good to get the opportunity to tap into his life and idiosyncrasies - he's very superstitious, although I'm not sure if this was just him or if it was general.