Crossing the line : women and the Railway Mission 1881- 1901 MALLERY, Ann Available from Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/21510/ This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version MALLERY, Ann (2018). Crossing the line : women and the Railway Mission 1881- 1901. Doctoral, Sheffield Hallam University. Copyright and re-use policy See http://shura.shu.ac.uk/information.html Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive http://shura.shu.ac.uk Crossing the Line: Women and the Railway Mission 1881-1901 Anne Mallery A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Sheffield Hallam University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2018 Abstract This thesis explores the lives and work of the women who worked for the Railway Mission during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. The Railway Mission was established in 1881 with the aim of evangelising the large railway workforce of the late-Victorian period. Significant numbers of women worked for the Mission: they have, to date, been hidden from history. This thesis combines Mission records with census and related data to give an unprecedented insight into their lives and work. The thesis adds a new dimension to the study of women’s religious and philanthropic work. Whereas previous research has focused mainly on women’s work with other women and with children, this thesis explores women’s work within the male- dominated environment of the Victorian railway industry. The study contributes to current debates about the flexibility of ‘separate spheres’ in its examination of the ways in which women moved fluidly between the home and the industrialised spaces of Victorian railway infrastructure. Moreover, it questions the adequacy of a class conflict model for interpreting the working relationships which developed between middle-class women and working-class railwaymen. Previous research has emphasised the extent to which women, as both employees and as passengers, were marginalised in Victorian railway culture. This thesis shows how women, as religious workers, were, in contrast, able to gain legitimate access to railway spaces denied to other women. Finally, while there has been a significant amount of research into the synergies and tensions between aspects of Victorian railway and religious cultures, this has centred around the railway as a corporate entity and religion as an institutionalised cultural force. The thesis provides an alternative focus in its discussion of the ways in which religious women and railwaymen worked together as individuals to create areas of commonality. Contents List of Figures 1 Acknowledgements 2 INTRODUCTION 4 Aims and Scope of Thesis 5 Historiography and Conceptual Framework 9 1. Gender and Class in Victorian Britain 2. Evangelical Religion in Victorian Britain 3. Railways and Railway Culture The Original Contribution of the Thesis 32 Methodology and Sources 34 Chapter Outline 39 CHAPTER 1: THE RAILWAY MISSION IN CONTEXT 43 Part 1: Aspects of Railway Culture 1881-1901 46 Part 2: Aspects of Religious Culture 1881-1901 57 Part 3: The Railway Mission 1881-1901 68 Railway Mission Origins and Aims Early Mission Leadership The Railway Mission Christian Association The Growth and Development of the Railway Mission Conclusion 80 CHAPTER 2: WOMEN AND THE RAILWAY MISSION 84 Part 1: Women’s Roles 84 Railway Signal Agents and Contributors Branch Superintendents, Leaders and Presidents Missioners and ‘Silent Messengers’ Mission Supporters and Benefactors Accommodation, Entertainment Providers and Drawing Room Meeting Hosts Part 2: Mission Women’s Lives 98 Section 1: Marital Status 99 Section 2: Age Profiles 114 Section 3: The Personal Networks Within Which Women Carried 125 Out Their Work for the Mission Conclusion 143 CHAPTER 3: WOMEN’S MISSION STRATEGIES 145 Part 1: Evangelical Strategies 145 Section 1: Spirituality, Respectability and the Power of Prayer 146 Section 2: Benevolence, Kindness and Maternalism 153 Part 2: Reaching the Men 163 Section 1: The Agency System 163 Section 2: Speech and the Written Word 168 Part 3: Technological Modernity and Women’s Mission Strategies 176 Section 1: Networking 176 Section 2: Special Missions and Travel 181 Conclusion 183 CHAPTER 4: WOMEN AND MISSION CULTURE 184 Part 1: Women’s Motivations and Experiences 185 Section 1: Evangelical Religion and Mission: a case-study of 185 Caroline Head Section 2: Evangelical Life-Writing as an Influence 191 Section3: Mission Work as a Source of Identity and Belonging 193 Section 4: Railway Mission Work as a Career Choice: 196 The Casswell Sisters Part 2: The Influence of Culture on Men’s Views of the Railway Mission 199 and it’s Female Workers Section 1: Railwaymen’s Praise of Women’s Mission Work: Mary Noyes 200 and the Ashford Branch of the Railway Mission Section 2: The Intersections of Mission, Railway and Working-Class 205 Cultures Section 3: The Diminution of Women’s Work 216 Section 4: Contrasting Attitudes towards Voluntary and Paid Women 219 Mission Workers Conclusion 222 CONCLUSION 224 BIBLIOGRAPHY 233 APPENDICES 243 Appendix 1: Women Working in the Railway Mission 1881-1901 Appendix 2: Single Women Working in the Railway Mission 1881-1901 Appendix 3: Married Women Working in the Railway Mission 1881-1901 Appendix 4: Widowed Women Working in the Railway Mission 1881-1901 Appendix 5: Age Profile of Single Women Working in the Railway Mission 1881-1901 Appendix 6: Age Profile of Married Women Working in the Railway Mission 1881-1901 Appendix 7: Age Profile of Widowed Women Working in the Railway Mission 1881-1901 Appendix 8: Railway Mission Women with Paid Employment 1881-1901 Appendix 9: Women Employed by the Railway Mission 1881-1901 List of Figures Figure 1 Elizabeth Gates, Superintendent, Railway Mission, Brighton 3 Figure 2 Railway Mission Hall, Brighton 3 Figure 3 Railway Mission Hall, Horsham 42 Figure 4 Coffee Tavern and Railway Mission Hall, Westbourne Park 82 Figure 5 Interior of Railway Mission Hall, Westbourne Park 83 Figure 6 Mary Ann Crosher, Superintendent, Railway Mission, 109 Melton Mowbray Figure 7 Harriett Gardiner, Superintendent, Railway Mission, Hastings 117 Figure 8 Frances Ellison, Superintendent, Railway Mission, West Kirby 129 Figure 9 Railway Mission Hall, Bury St. Edmunds 144 Figure 10 Sketch of Railway Mission Hall, Bury St. Edmunds showing 144 proximity to Railway Line Figure 11 Lavinia Grayson, Superintendent, Railway Mission, Bradford 147 Figure 12 Emma Saunders Memorial Plaque, Temple-Meads Station, Bristol 158 Figure 13 Mary Cambie, Leeds Letter and Packet Mission 171 Figure 14 Hannah Heal, Superintendent, Railway Mission, Wavertree, 180 Liverpool 1 Acknowledgements I have incurred many debts of gratitude in the research and writing of this thesis. Thanks go to the staff at the National Railway Museum in York who have been exceptionally helpful in retrieving records and answering my questions during my frequent visits to the Museum. I am also grateful to Dudley Clark, the Railway Mission archivist, for his help and his enthusiasm for all aspects of Railway Mission history. Thanks also go to the administrative staff of the Faculty of Development and Society at Sheffield Hallam University who have answered all my questions patiently and promptly and who have been so helpful in pointing me in the right direction through the administrative processes of the University system. I am indebted to Alison Twells for the help and information she has provided during the research for this thesis and for her enthusiasm for the project. I am particularly grateful to Clare Midgley, my supervisor, who has shown endless enthusiasm and support for my research and who has painstakingly and meticulously reviewed my drafts and given me so many helpful suggestions. Finally, my husband deserves huge thanks for his constant and continuous support throughout all the ups and downs of this research project. He has listened to my stories of Railway Mission women, accompanied me to museums, universities and churches and done his best to help with difficulties in all things technical in the processing and formatting of this thesis. 2 Fig. 1 Elizabeth Gates, Superintendent, Railway Mission, Brighton www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk Fig. 2 Brighton Railway Mission Hall www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk 3 Introduction ‘Our Miss Go-Ahead – womanly, modest, straightforward, nervous but kindly’ – this was the description of the Railway Mission’s ideal lady missionary. The fictional Miss Go-Ahead was the subject of an article in the Railway Signal, the monthly journal of the Railway Mission, in November 1888. This was one of many appeals made by the Railway Mission to attract women, frequently referred to as ‘lady friends’ in the Railway Signal, to work with the Mission in order to bring religion to the railwaymen of Victorian Britain. According to the article, the Railway Mission wanted their ‘lady friends’ to be a ‘quiet sort of person, charming and womanly with a quiet manner.’1 The thesis will compare this stereotypical ideal with the realities of life for the actual women who worked for the Railway Mission during the late-Victorian period. The Railway Mission was one of a large number of evangelical organisations which emerged during the latter part of the nineteenth century. An inherent part of evangelical belief was the need to convert people to active Christianity. Evangelicals had strong religious beliefs both about their own behaviour and about the beliefs and behaviour of others and failure to convert others to share their evangelical belief was to condone what they considered to be the sinful behaviour of others. Sin led to eternal damnation and the aim of the Railway Mission was to convert the large railway workforce of late-Victorian Britain and to lead its men to salvation. The Railway Mission, founded in 1881, developed from the Railway Boys’ Mission. This was established as an attempt to keep the large number of boys working in London’s railway industry from the dangers and unsavoury attractions of the city’s streets and to provide them with alternative, worthy activities.