William French

William French (1839-1913)

b. 4 Jan 1839 at St Botolph without Aldgate, Middlesex, England.
d. 20 Jan 1913 in Jubbulpore, Bengal, India

Railway Employment in India

• c. 1870, assumed recruited by ‘East Indian Railway’(EIR) in London for posting to India
• 1873, Buxar, Bengal India, ‘Driver EIR’ on marriage to first wife, Catherine Eliza Coombs.

Buxar is a station on the EIR Mainline ‘Banikpore - Mogul Sarai Section’ shown on the map ‘Howrah-Delhi EIR Main Line’, this section of line opened in 1865. At that time there were many coaling and watering stations as the locomotives were not very efficient and required frequent refuelling stops.
Buxar is mentioned in the Imperial Gazetteer as ‘411 miles from Calcutta and a considerable centre for trade’ , being close to the Ganges and could well be a EIR staging post at that time where drivers might be exchanged on the long haul from Howrah (Calcutta) to Delhi

• 1874-75, Buxar, birth of two children
• 1877-82, Allahabad, birth of four further children.

The Imperial Gazetteer states that ‘its position on the main line of the East Indian Railway gives direct access to Calcutta with a branch towards Bombay’

• 1884, Buxar, birth of one child
• 1886, Allahabad, birth of last child, ‘Driver EIR’
• 1891, death of Catherine French, Sabarmati , Bombay. In her Will, her estate is left to her husband William French of Tundla in the North Western provinces of India.
• 1894 March, Agra, second marriage to Jane Evelyn Stacey, ‘Driver EIR’
• 1894, Tundla, birth of their first child - George Leslie French (Grandfather to the provider of this biography)

The Imperial Gazetteer states that ‘it is a junction for Agra on the main line of the East Indian Railway, and is an important railway centre’

• 1896, Berar,, birth of their second child
• 1897-1900, Jubbulpore, birth of their third and forth children, ‘Driver EIR’

The ’Jubbulpore Branch Line’ had opened in 1867, connecting Jubbulpore to Naini Junction (just south of Allahabad). Jubbulpore was a terminus station of the EIR where it directly connected to the Great Indian Peninsula Railway(GIPR). So again would have been a location where Locomotives with their Drivers would change. By this time rolling stock (carriages and wagons) would transfer by agreement between the EIR and the GIPR

• 1913, Jubbulpore, death of William French

References

Information provided by Ms. Gloria Jeffs , Fibis Member - William French being her Great-Grandfather.