Josiah James Ilbery, who was ‘Principal Superintendent’ of Crown Street Station on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway when it opened in 1830 died in April 1869 aged 99.
Born in London on 16 September 1769, the son of James Ilbery, a Gentleman farmer from Turnford, Hertfordshire. He was apprenticed for seven years to George Dyson in March 1791 as a furniture maker. Together with George and John Dyson, Ilbery became an orange merchant with premises at Botolph Lane in Lower Thames Street, London. The partnership was dissolved in September 1811. He was in Liverpool by 1825 as in that year he was charged, but acquitted, for having issued a forged bill of exchange.
His obituary states he was the ‘presiding genius’ at Crown Street and Edge Hill Stations. He was employed by the Liverpool & Manchester Railway from August 1830 on a salary of £80, later £200. He came from a well to do background – his father being a gentleman farmer – and was respected by all who came into contact with him, altho’ early in his career the L&MR minutes record how he was disciplined by the Board for alleged rudeness to a well-to-do passenger who refused to show their ticket. Ilbery demanded he be shown the passenger’s ticket, but they refused and then made a complaint. Another complaint was made against him by one Henry Jacob esq of Manchester who did not appreciate being told he could not smoke on railway property, despite the fact he was breaking company By Laws by doing so!
Ilbery’s duties at Crown Street at first was to ‘see that the coaches are in good repair, and well oiled, each journey.’ Working with him was an ‘Inspector of Coach Wheels’ i.e. wheel-tapper. The Staff at Crown Street included The Chief Clerk was John Kyle; Principal Book Keeper Peter Tyson; Ticket Collector Ashlynn Bagster; Porter’s Collector John Holmes; ‘Principal Superintendent of Porters’ James Vardy. John Farrington was the Disbursement Cashier; Robert Moffat was the Forwarding Clerk and William Found was his Assistant.
From the Board minutes we see that his duties gradually expanded, including ensuring that trains ran to time; that sufficient carriages were available; that the guards and porters wore their badges and were properly dressed, and provision of guards’ livery coats and hats. As the ‘Principal Superintendent’ at Lime Street from 1836, he was in addition responsible for supervising the sale of tickets and their collection; ensuring all moneys collected were safely accounted for; supervise the clerks, porters and the guards. In other words, his job was that of what we would later understand as Stationmaster but by a different name.
In 1839 the L&MR put its station and supervisory staff into uniform: the Superintendent was to wear a dark blue frock coat with a braided collar and a hat. His Assistant was to wear a similar coat, minus the braiding.
He remained as ‘Principal Superintendent’ for the next nineteen years, retiring at the end of December 1855 aged 85. He was then considered one of the oldest, and longest-served railway employees in the country, having worked for the Liverpool & Manchester, Grand Junction and LNWR successively for 25 years.
He was in receipt of a handsome pension of £180 per annum from the LNWR. Whilst employed by the L&MR and LNWR he lived in a company-owned house on Gloucester Street. He was married and had two daughters. He was a staunch Congregationalist and not-quite a teetotaller, enjoying whiskey and cigars.
Upon retirement James went to live at Union Mills on the Isle of Man, and in June 1861 – aged 92 – returned to Liverpool to see the SS Great Eastern at Birkenhead. He apparently walked for two miles a day until about a month before his death. Sadly he caught a severe cold from which he died aged 99 on 11 April 1869
