88-718: The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia . The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923. Formed in 1862 after the amalgamation of the Eastern Counties Railway and several other smaller railway companies the GER served Cambridge , Chelmsford , Colchester , Great Yarmouth , Ipswich , King's Lynn , Lowestoft , Norwich, Southend-on-Sea (opened by
176-624: A British mariner who was executed by the Germans for attempting to ram a U-boat in 1915. The Great Eastern name has survived, being used both for the Great Eastern Main Line route between London and Norwich, and also for the First Great Eastern train operating company which served much of the old GER route between 1997 and 2004. The Great Eastern Railway was made up of a number of constituent companies when it
264-461: A charter to Humphrey de Bohun and his wife to hold a weekly market in Enfield each Monday, and James I granted another in 1617, to a charitable trust, for a Saturday market. The market was still prosperous in the early eighteenth century, but fell into decline soon afterwards. There were sporadic attempts to revive it: an unsuccessful one of 1778 is recorded, and in 1826 a stone Gothic market cross
352-482: A direct Spalding to Lincoln link. Board unity was about to be shattered when a short paragraph in The Times reported serious differences of opinions existed between the directors. In August 1865 deputy chairman Jervis-White-Jervis issued an appeal raising concerns about the management of the railway. This prompted an internal investigation and in a board meeting at the end of the month, an absent Jervis-White-Jervis
440-426: A doctors' surgery – was the home of Joseph Whitaker , publisher and founder of Whitaker's Almanack ; he lived there from 1820 until his death in 1895. (Inscription on Blue Plaque on The White House, Silver Street, Enfield.) Enfield Town had the world's first cash machine or automatic teller machine , invented by John Shepherd-Barron . It was installed at the local branch of Barclays Bank on 27 June 1967 and
528-596: A goods station in 1881. In 1902 the Northern and Eastern Railway was finally absorbed by the GER, although it had been worked by the Eastern Counties Railway under a 999-year lease taken on 1 January 1844 whereby the Eastern Counties Railway would work the Northern and Eastern Railway in return for an annual rent and division of the profits. Despite several half-hearted attempts by the GER during
616-512: A growing nuisance to the inhabitants". The New River , built to supply water to London from Hertfordshire , runs immediately behind the town centre through the Town Park , which is the last remaining public open-space of Enfield Old Park . The Enfield Loop of the New River also passes through the playing fields of Enfield Grammar School, and this is the only stretch of the loop without
704-507: A horticulturist Uvedale earned a reputation for his skill in cultivating exotics, being one of the earliest possessors of hothouses in England. In an Account of several Gardens near London written by J. Gibson in 1691 ( Archæologia , 1794, xii. 188), the writer says: 'Dr. Uvedale of Enfield is a great lover of plants, and, having an extraordinary art in managing them, is become master of the greatest and choicest collection of exotic greens that
792-664: A hundred railway companies, large and small, and often, particularly locally, in competition with each other. The parallel railways of the East Midlands, and the rivalry between the South Eastern Railway and the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway at Hastings, were two examples of such local competition. During the First World War the railways were under state control, which continued until 1921. Complete nationalisation had been considered, and
880-548: A lack of progress on amalgamation. By February 1862 the bill had its second reading and was then followed by a lengthy committee process where various parties petitioned against the bill. On 7 August 1862 the bill passed as the Great Eastern Railway Act 1862 ( 25 & 26 Vict. c. ccxxiii) and the Great Eastern Railway was formed by the amalgamation of the Eastern Counties Railway and
968-504: A large marble memorial was installed at Liverpool Street station commemorating GER staff who had answered the call of duty to fight but died in action in the First World War. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Henry Wilson , who was assassinated by two Irish Republican Army gunmen on his way home from the unveiling ceremony. A smaller memorial to Wilson was later placed adjacent to the GER memorial, alongside one to Charles Fryatt ,
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#17327718063851056-603: A man called Ēana". At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, the manor of Enfield, spelt 'Enfelde', was the property of Geoffrey de Mandeville , a powerful Norman granted large estates by William the Conqueror . A priest is recorded in the Domesday Book as holding about 30 acres of land in Enfield, leading some to believe that a priest may have ministered there at St Andrew's Church in this period, although
1144-531: A marketplace, making the town of Enfield (also known today as Enfield Town), at the core of the parish, a market town . The parish was the largest in Middlesex (if one excludes from the parish of Harrow on the Hill its Pinner north-west corner, which broke away in 1766); Enfield measured 12,460 acres in 1831, i.e. 19.5 square miles (51 km ). Proximity to the megalopolis of London saw Enfield "engulfed" by
1232-719: A number of smaller railways (the Newmarket and Chesterford Railway , the Eastern Union Railway , and the Norfolk Railway ). Unsurprisingly the first GER board had a strong Eastern Counties flavour with Horatio Love in the chair and James Goodson the deputy chair. The board consisted of six former ECR directors with two Eastern Union Railway , two Norfolk Railway and one each from the Northern and Eastern Railway (still an independent body at this point) and East Anglian Railway. Operational costs were high on
1320-542: A number of sub-sheds and locomotives would work from these sheds for significant periods. For instance it is estimated that some 150 engines were outbased from Stratford at any one time. Railways Act 1921 The Railways Act 1921 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 5 . c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act , was an act of Parliament enacted by the British government, and was intended to stem the losses being made by many of
1408-527: A public footpath on at least one side of it. Enfield was the location of some of the earliest successful hothouses , developed by Dr Robert Uvedale (1642–1722), headmaster both of Enfield Grammar School and of the Palace School. He was a Cambridge scholar and renowned horticulturalist; George Simonds Boulger writes of Uvedale in the Dictionary of National Biography , 1885–1900, Volume 58: As
1496-520: A translation of the Aeneid . The school's building later became Enfield Town railway station , but was demolished in 1872. The current building was erected in the 1960s. In 1840 the first section of the Northern and Eastern Railway had been opened from Stratford to Broxbourne . The branch line from Water Lane to Enfield Town station was opened in 1849. The White House in Silver Street – now
1584-458: A tribunal. Part 2 dealt with powers and regulation of the railway companies by the Railway and Canal Commission , part 3 dealt with railway rates, charges and conditions of carriage with powers given to a Railway Rates Tribunal , and part 4 with employee wages and conditions. Parts 5 and 6 dealt with light railways and general clauses respectively, with the general clauses of part 6 including
1672-898: Is Enfield Town railway station , one of three northern termini of the Lea Valley lines to Liverpool Street in the City of London , with services operated by London Overground . On the Enfield Town branch line between Enfield Town and Edmonton Green is Bush Hill Park . The Southbury Loop separates from the Enfield Town branch line between Bush Hill Park and Edmonton Green stations, towards Cheshunt . The loop runs through Southbury and Turkey Street stations in Enfield, at which London Overground services between Liverpool Street and Cheshunt call. The West Anglia Main Line , also one of
1760-573: Is 156,858 as of 2018, counted from 10 electoral wards that make up Enfield. In the 2011 census, the Town ward (covering areas north from the Southbury Road) was 82% white (68% British, 10% Other, 3% Irish). The largest non-white group, Black African, claimed 3%. The District is also covered by the Chase, Highlands, Grange, Southbury, Lock, Highway, Turkey Street and Bush Hill Park wards. Of these,
1848-448: Is a large town in north London , England , 10.1 miles (16.3 km) north of Charing Cross . It had a population of 333,587 in 2021. It includes the areas of Botany Bay , Brimsdown , Bulls Cross , Bullsmoor , Bush Hill Park , Clay Hill , Crews Hill , Enfield Highway , Enfield Lock , Enfield Town, Enfield Wash , Forty Hill , Freezywater , Gordon Hill , Grange Park , Hadley Wood , Ponders End , and World's End . South of
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#17327718063851936-479: Is perhaps anywhere in this land. His greens take up six or seven houses or roomsteads. His orange-trees and largest myrtles fill up his biggest house, and … those more nice and curious plants that need closer keeping are in warmer rooms, and some of them stoved when he thinks fit. His flowers are choice, his stock numerous, and his culture of them very methodical and curious.' The poet John Keats (1795-1821) attended progressive Clarke's School in Enfield, where he began
2024-466: Is quite complex. In many cases the operation of the railway that built the line was taken over (usually by the Eastern Counties Railway before 1862 and the Great Eastern Railway after that date) although the original railway company often existed in legal form after that date. The Great Eastern Railway Act 1862 stated that the purpose of the legislation was "to amalgamate the Eastern Counties,
2112-653: The Hertfordshire border and M25 motorway , it borders Waltham Cross to the north, Winchmore Hill and Edmonton to the south, Chingford and Waltham Abbey , across the River Lea , to the east and north-east, with Cockfosters , Monken Hadley and Oakwood to the west. Historically an ancient parish in the Edmonton Hundred of Middlesex , it was granted urban district status in 1894 and municipal borough status in 1955. In 1965, it merged with
2200-644: The Long Island Railroad in the USA. The Railway Executive Committee was set up in 1912 after an incident between France and Germany in the Moroccan Port of Agadir and would take directions from the military and liaise with the railway companies. As it adjoined the North Sea the GER undertook a significant role in the war. Had there been an invasion then the railways had evacuation plans for
2288-857: The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway (S&DJR), a joint LMS/ SR line in south-western England. The London suburban railway companies, such as the Underground Electric Railways Company of London and the Metropolitan Railway , were also excluded. Later, the London Passenger Transport Act 1933 amalgamated them, along with London area bus and tram operations, into the London Passenger Transport Board (see List of transport undertakings transferred to
2376-731: The 1920 white paper , Outline of Proposals as to the Future Organisation of Transport Undertakings in Great Britain and their Relation to the State ( Cmd. 787). That suggested the formation of six or seven regional companies, and suggested worker participation on the board of directors of the company. The white paper was opposed by the Railway Companies' Association (RCA) and by MPs representing railway companies' interests. The move to greater worker participation
2464-466: The 2016 young adult novel Timekeeper by Tara Sim. The Enfield poltergeist (a claim of alleged poltergeist activity in Brimsdown , Enfield between 1977 and 1979), was dramatized in the 2016 horror film The Conjuring 2 . The story also attracted press coverage in British newspapers, and has been mentioned in books, and television and radio documentaries. The Barclays Bank in the main town
2552-797: The East Anglian, the Newmarket, the Eastern Union and the Norfolk railway companies, and for other purposes". This suggests that despite the fact that some of these railway companies had been taken over by the Eastern Counties Railway prior to the 1862 act, they still legally existed. The table below shows the building dates of the railways that made up the Great Eastern and the companies that built them. Abbreviations from above list. Other railways Notes The Great Eastern had one of
2640-474: The GER in 1889), and East Anglian seaside resorts such as Hunstanton (whose prosperity was largely a result of the GER's line being built) and Cromer . It also served a suburban area, including Enfield , Chingford , Loughton and Ilford . This suburban network was, in the early 20th century, the busiest steam-hauled commuter system in the world. The majority of the Great Eastern's locomotives and rolling stock were built at Stratford Works , part of which
2728-586: The GER may be about to appoint a receiver. Early April saw daily negotiations with the Union Bank although agreement was reached with the drivers by the middle of that month. May saw the company trying to raise further funds via a parliamentary bill. However, by 25 June the House of Lords had rejected the bill and the board took steps to protect the company's property from its creditors. Matters were hardly helped when deputy chairman Samuel Laing resigned to become
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2816-593: The Great Northern Railway as far as Wakefield and with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway to interchange traffic at Lincoln and Retford. The crisis continued into 1867 and by March it was apparent that the preference share payments due in April could not be paid. The board also received a letter from the drivers seeking improved working conditions. Additionally The Times suggested
2904-903: The Lea Valley lines, runs through Ponders End , Brimsdown and Enfield Lock stations. Services are operated by Greater Anglia to Liverpool Street, Stratford , Hertford East and Bishop's Stortford . Enfield Chase railway station on Windmill Hill, west of the town centre, is on the Hertford Loop line , with services to Moorgate , Hertford North , Watton-at-Stone and Stevenage operated by Thameslink . Also on this line are Crews Hill , Gordon Hill and Grange Park . London Buses routes 121 , 191 , 192 , 217 , 231 , 279 , 299 , 307 , 313 , 317 , 329 , 349 , 377 , 456 , 629 , W8 , W9 , W10 , night routes N29 and N279 , and non-London routes 610, 611 and 629 serve Enfield. Enfield and its clock tower are important locations in
2992-594: The Lock ward had the highest minority proportion, 45.1% of its population. Highlands ward had the highest male and female life expectancies from 2009 to 2013, 82.5 and 87.2 years respectively. The lowest was 76.7 years in Enfield Lock, and 81.4 years in Chase, respectively. Enfield Lock is the only ward where most houses were rented, 50.1%. At the opposite end, in Bush Hill Park 78.5% of houses were owned by
3080-572: The London Passenger Transport Board ). Other exempted railways were light railways authorised under the Light Railways Act 1896 , and similar lines, although some of those lines still chose to join the groups. The lines which remained independent were principally those under the influence of Colonel Stephens , who had been instrumental in securing the necessary exemption. Enfield Town Enfield
3168-475: The London and Blackwell line and a cattle plague seriously affecting that traffic. By March the board was meeting most days in an effort to keep the railway running. The financial crisis of 1866 saw loan interest rates rise to 10% on 12 May. On 8 June the board approached Parliament for the right to borrow more money and raise additional money through new shares to fund the expansion programme outlined above. This
3256-495: The Queen Elizabeth II Stadium. North Enfield Cricket Club was formed in 1886, and has been based at Clay Hill since 1945. Enfield Town is 10.1 miles (16.3 km) north of Charing Cross - the centre point of London - and is about 4 miles (6.4 km) south-west of Cheshunt , 5 miles (8.0 km) south-east of Potters Bar , and 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Barnet . At the centre of Enfield Town
3344-747: The Railways Act 1921 is sometimes seen as a precursor to that, but the concept was rejected, and nationalisation was subsequently carried out after the Second World War , under the Transport Act 1947 . The form of the act was developed by the Minister of Transport , Eric Geddes , who was a former North Eastern Railway executive. Geddes favoured using amalgamations to create privately owned regional monopolies, and suggested increased worker participation from pre-war levels. Geddes viewed
3432-532: The River Lea and Lee Navigation , is renowned for its industrial heritage. The Royal Small Arms Factory , at Enfield Lock, produced the famous Enfield rifles . The Brimsdown Industrial Estate is home to heavy industry , warehousing and retail, and Wright's Flour Mill , at Ponders End, is Enfield's oldest running industrial building. Forty Hall , on the site of the Tudor Elsyng Palace , is in
3520-807: The Scottish businesses. After consideration of the Railways Bill, it was decided that the Scottish companies, originally destined to be a separate group, would be included with the Midland/North Western and Eastern groups respectively, in order that the three main Anglo-Scottish trunk routes should each be owned by one company for their full length: the West Coast Main Line and the Midland Main Line by
3608-478: The T&;H and Great Northern Railway at Crouch Hill , Both links remain part of the national network in 2019. When the war started several jobs fell to the railway – reserve troops and naval personnel had to be returned to their units and this saw an upsurge in usage of normal services. Various units were moved to the coast for defensive purposes and at the same time the government had started buying horses throughout
Great Eastern Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
3696-491: The area leading to additional trains. There were also then the units that were being moved to the front line. The Royal Navy was using coal as its primary source of propulsion and additional coal trains would have been operated through the area as well. In August 1914 the Germans disguised a passenger steamer (the Königin Luise ) in GER colours and deployed it as a minelayer. This ruse was spotted on 5 August 1914 and
3784-659: The basis of standardisation over its disparate inherited fleet), carriages and wagons under construction. More ships were being ordered for Antwerp and Rotterdam traffic and proposals for 28 miles of new metropolitan lines and a new city terminus. In March 1864, a joint committee of the House of Commons and House of Lords approved the East London Line which would link the North London , Great Eastern and London and Blackwall railways. The parliamentary bill for
3872-429: The board were not pleased with this and it was not until 3 January 1868 that a reduced board of eleven members met with six new members including Watkin and Viscount Cranbourne MP who was elected as the new chairman. The new directors were all allocated specific roles and a number of changes were made to reduce costs and improve profitability. Cranbourne also approached the London & North Western Railway to report on
3960-412: The capital in the inter-war period of the 20th century. The parish church, located on the north side of the marketplace, is dedicated to St Andrew . While some masonry from the thirteenth century remains, the nave, north aisle, choir, and tower constructed of random rubble and flint, date from the late fourteenth century. The clerestory was added in the early sixteenth century , and the south aisle
4048-460: The chairman of the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway on 1 July. On 2 July a suit was bought before vice-chancellor Sir Richard Malins and the GER was placed into chancery . Regrouping after this, the board pursued Edward Watkin , an MP with many other railway interests, as chairman. He did advise that the board that it needed to reconstitute itself in order to rebuild confidence in order to acquire new capital. Some existing members of
4136-530: The civilian populations. The GER did require some upgrading to deal with the increased levels of traffic – lines were doubled, additional passing loops provided, platforms extended and watering facilities improved (for both the iron and more conventional horses). A number of link lines were provided including the link between the Tottenham and Hampstead at Gospel Oak to the Midland Railway and between
4224-528: The country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four large companies, dubbed the " Big Four ". The intention was to reduce inefficient internal competition between railway companies, and retain some of the benefits which the country had derived from a government-controlled railway system during and after the Great War of 1914–1918. The provisions of the act took effect from the start of 1923. The British railway system had been built up by more than
4312-451: The earliest written evidence of the parish church in Enfield dates from when the parish of Enfield (dedicated to St Andrew ) and St Andrew's Church were endowed to the monastery of Walden Abbey in Essex in 1136. In 1303, by charter of King Edward I , nobleman Humphrey de Bohun and his heirs were granted a licence to hold a weekly market and two annual fairs, one on St Andrew's Day and another in September. The village green became
4400-428: The end of steam on the Great Eastern in 1959. Coaling at engine sheds was generally done by hand with the coaling stages constructed of wood. At a busy engine shed such as Stratford, each individual coaler employed on the coaling stage was expected to empty the contents of a 10-long-ton (10 t) coal truck during his shift. Turntables were generally small – in 1900 the longest was 50 feet (15 m) – enough to turn
4488-433: The following board meeting in February, Charles Turner was elected as the new chairman. The new board, facing a financial crisis, had identified a number of issues including the provision of a new terminus station at Liverpool Street , Bishopsgate (the existing terminus) was to be converted to a goods terminal and a new coal depot to be built in Whitechapel. The financial environment was still proving difficult with losses on
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#17327718063854576-424: The former group, and the East Coast Main Line by the latter. The opening paragraph of the Railways Act 1921 states: Part 1 of the act dealt with the terms and procedure of the amalgamations of railway companies. The constituents and subsidiaries of the four groups were set out in the first schedule of the act. Companies that had not formed an amalgamation scheme by 1923 would be amalgamated under terms decided by
4664-436: The grouping in 1923. Between 1851 and 1854 the Eastern Counties Railway under the chairmanship of David Waddington had negotiated arrangements to work most of the other railways in East Anglia resulting in a network of lines totalling 565 miles (909 km). Whilst Parliament favoured competition it was also aware that the ECR was constantly at war with its neighbours and whilst these working arrangements were approved there
4752-399: The household. The town is home to two association football teams: Enfield Football Club , formed in 1893, reformed in 2007, and currently based at Bishop's Stortford ; and Enfield Town Football Club , a breakaway club of Enfield F.C. formed in 2001 and currently based at Enfield's Queen Elizabeth II Stadium . Enfield Town L.F.C. is Enfield Town's women's football club, also based at
4840-555: The largest engine sheds in the country at Stratford which in January 1923 had an allocation of 555 locomotives. At the other end of the scale, small engine sheds at the end of country branch lines had perhaps one or two locomotives in their charge. At this time the locomotives were generally allocated to the major shed in the area and the smaller sheds had no actual allocation. Before 1914 the engine sheds were organised into districts, with sheds at: Stratford; Ipswich; Norwich; Cambridge; Peterborough; King's Lynn; and Doncaster. In 1914 this
4928-588: The later B12 Class 4-6-0 locomotive . By 1932, with the advent of bigger locomotives and the working of other companies' locomotives onto GE territory, turntables had grown, with the major sheds generally having 60-or-65 ft (18-or-20 m) turntables. In 1922 the GER locomotive allocation across its sheds was: Cambridge - 178; Colchester - 47; Doncaster - 5; Ipswich - 131; King's Lynn - 37; Lincoln (Pyewipe Junction) - 12; Lowestoft - 22; March - 97; Norwich - 119; Parkeston - 20; Peterborough East - 86; Stratford - 555; Wisbech - 7; and Yarmouth - 20. Each main shed had
5016-405: The latter part of the nineteenth century, it was the Midland Railway (MR) that finally bought the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR) in 1912 with the MR offering a better deal for the LT&SR shareholders than the GER ever had. The agreement was ratified by the LT&SR shareholders on 26 June 1911. During the following parliamentary session, the official parliamentary bill allowing
5104-495: The municipal boroughs of Southgate and Edmonton to create the London Borough of Enfield , a local government district of Greater London , of which Enfield is the administrative centre . Enfield Town, a market town chartered by Edward I in 1303, is the commercial centre of Enfield and the location of St Andrew's Enfield , the original parish church . The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The east of Enfield, adjacent to
5192-427: The new freight line failed although other bills including the construction of a new London terminus were approved. Later that year the GER was in talks about expansion northwards with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) which lead to the deposition of a bill in early 1865. The board meeting of February 1865 saw passenger receipts outstripping goods receipts. Fish traffic from Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth
5280-422: The new railway and new sources of revenue needed quickly. Work at improving suburban services was put in hand and trains from London to Norwich speeded up to give businessmen and merchants more time to conduct their business. A new suburban line to Enfield Town via Seven Sisters was proposed as well as a new London terminus to replace an inadequate Bishopsgate . By August 1863 receipts were increasing and many of
5368-550: The north, with Enfield Chase , the former royal hunting ground, and Chase Farm Hospital , in the west. The New River runs through Enfield from north to south, with the bypassed New River Loop encircling the town centre, through Enfield Town Park . In Anglo-Saxon times, the manor of Enfield was held by Ansgar the Staller ( c. 1025-1085), a nobleman and staller to King Edward the Confessor ( r. 1042–1066 ). The name 'Enfield' most likely came from Old English Ēanafeld or similar, meaning "open land belonging to
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#17327718063855456-617: The pre-amalgamation disputes were being settled. The GER and Great Northern Railway each submitted bills for a line from March to Spalding and although the GNR was successful the GER was awarded running rights over the new line which would later become part of the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway . Steamboat services were also seen as a new source of revenue with services running from Harwich to Rotterdam, Flushing and Antwerp. A change of leadership also occurred with Horatio Love being replaced by James Goodson as chairman with Captain Henry Jervis-White-Jervis as his deputy. Love
5544-471: The pre-war competition as wasteful, but was opposed to nationalisation, on the grounds that it led to poor management, as well as a mutually corrupting influence between railway and political interests. In his 9 March 1920 Cabinet paper, "Future Transport Policy", he proposed five English groups (Southern, Western, North Western, Eastern and North Eastern), a London passenger group, and separate single groupings for Scotland and Ireland. Geddes' proposals became
5632-465: The railway was extended westwards from an earlier temporary terminus in Devonshire Street , near Mile End . The station was renamed Bishopsgate on 27 July 1847. The Great Eastern attempted to obtain a West End terminus, alongside the one in east London, via the Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway , formed by an act of Parliament , the Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway Act 1862 ( 25 & 26 Vict. c. cc) of 28 July 1862. Plans to extend
5720-460: The requirement of the railway companies to provide the Minister of Transport with statistic and financial reports. The third reading of the act in the House of Commons took place on 9 August 1921, and was passed with a majority of 237 to 62. The House of Lords made various amendments, which were accepted by the Commons on 19 August, and royal assent was given. The state control of the railways which began under war conditions during World War I
5808-537: The ship sunk by the British light cruiser HMS Amphion and destroyers HMS Landrail and HMS Lance . The GER employed significant numbers of women during this period as many men had joined the army. By 1916 unnecessary travel was being discouraged to conserve coal supplies. The company set up a section dedicated to the movement of military traffic and between 1914 and 1918 nearly 10.5 million men were moved on GER services as well as significant numbers of horses and supplies. Specific military traffic
5896-416: The state of the permanent way and rolling stock. By August 1868 the tide was turning with increased receipts and some debts being paid off. The GER had done a deal with the Midland Railway to route their coal traffic via their lines and a new coal depot at Whitechapel opened in December further improving profitability. By August 1869 the financial position had improved enough to restore a dividend and this
5984-447: The stone cross, by now decayed. The market is still in existence, administered by the Old Enfield Charitable trust. The charter of 1303 also gave the right to hold two annual fairs, one on St Andrew's Day and the other in September. The latter was suppressed in 1869 at the request of local tradesmen, clergy and other prominent citizens, having become, according to the local historian Pete Eyre, "a source of immorality and disorder, and
6072-416: The successor companies. They included the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GN), a London, Midland and Scottish Railway / London and North Eastern Railway joint line in eastern England, the largest of the joint railways in terms of route mileage; the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC), LMS/LNER joint line in Lancashire and Cheshire , largest in terms of both passenger and freight traffic; and
6160-423: The takeover by the MR was passed on 7 August 1912 although it was legally backdated to 1 January 1912. At the time of the sale the LT&SR was one of the most prosperous railways in the UK but too small to fund the changes it needed to make. In 1914 the GER became the first UK railway company to employ a general manager from overseas, Henry Worth Thornton . He had previously worked as the General Superintendent of
6248-471: The western end of this line via a proposed 'London Main Trunk Railway', underneath Hampstead Road, the Metropolitan Railway (modern Circle line ) and Tottenham Court Road, to Charing Cross , were rejected by Parliament in 1864. A new London terminus at Liverpool Street was opened to traffic on 2 February 1874, and was completely operational from 1 November 1875. From this date the original terminus at Bishopsgate closed to passengers, although it reopened as
6336-463: Was a condition that a bill for full amalgamation was presented by 1861. Waddington departed under a cloud in 1856 and was replaced by Horatio Love. By 1860 many shareholders were unhappy listing several grievances they saw as getting in the way of their dividend payments. These included continual conflict over working of other lines, suspicion and distrust of the joint committee, inadequate services to and from London, on-going litigation and law costs and
6424-450: Was confirmed on 4 July. By this time there was little money available for dividends and the company looked very carefully at their expansion programme and unprofitable branch lines. By December 1866 little interest was being shown in the new shares, so the board went unsuccessfully to the Bank of England and Union Bank for further loans. The GER did, however, manage to agree running rights via
6512-473: Was considered too cautious and some on the board still resented his role prior to amalgamation at the ECR. Various directors were allocated specific responsibilities (generally running these through committees) leaving Goodson free to develop new schemes and represent the GER on lines where they had a financial interest. Following an accident at North Wootton in early August 1863, where the deaths of five passengers
6600-413: Was erected to replace the octagonal wooden market house, demolished sixteen years earlier. In 1858 J. Tuff wrote of the market: "several attempts have been made to revive it, the last of which, about twenty years ago, also proved a failure, It has again fallen into desuetude and will probably never be revived". However, the trading resumed in the 1870s. In 1904 a new wooden structure was built to replace
6688-553: Was formed in 1862. The most notable was the Eastern Counties Railway, which had taken over most of the main companies by this time. After 1862 there were still a number of companies operating independently in East Anglia, but most of these were eventually taken over by Great Eastern, although some such as the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway survived until 1923. The history and exact status of many of these railways
6776-427: Was generated at Brimsdown , Ponders End and Stowmarket . Because of attacks on east coast shipping, traffic previously moved by sea was also carried on the GER (and more specifically the Great Eastern and Great Northern Joint Railway). The GER also suffered from a number of Zeppelin attacks with, amongst others, the dormitory at Stratford engine shed and the royal shelter at King's Lynn both being hit. In 1922,
6864-402: Was growing and money was being spent on stations, replacing wooden bridges and upgrading the track. However, a number of shareholders voiced concern. The following month the House of Commons rejected the joint GER/L&YR bill forcing the GER to restart negotiations with the Great Northern Railway. The chairman of the parliamentary committee suggested to the board that the next bill should include
6952-468: Was on the site of today's Stratford International station and the rest was adjacent to Stratford Regional station. The GER owned 1,200 miles (1,931 km) of line and had a near-monopoly in East Anglia until the opening of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway in 1893 although there were a number of minor lines, such as the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway that stayed resolutely independent until after
7040-652: Was opened by actor and Enfield resident Reg Varney . Enfield Town houses the Civic Centre , the headquarters of the Borough administration, where Council and committee meetings are also held. Neighbourhoods and villages of Enfield include: Botany Bay , Brimsdown , Bulls Cross , Bullsmoor , Bush Hill Park , Clay Hill , Crews Hill , Enfield Highway , Enfield Lock , Enfield Wash , Forty Hill , Freezywater , Gordon Hill , Grange Park , Ponders End , and World's End . The official estimate of Enfield's population
7128-456: Was partially attributed to the poor state of the rolling stock, a large rolling stock order was placed. By December 1863 the financial picture was looking better and in early 1864 the GER started looking a new railway to move coal from South Yorkshire to London via Spalding and the GN link from Spalding to March. The Great Eastern was clearly in an expansionist phase with further locomotives (forming
7216-577: Was rebuilt in brick in 1824. Adjacent to the church is the old school building of the Tudor period, Enfield Grammar School , which expanded over the years and became a large comprehensive school in the late 1960s. A sixteenth century manor house, known since the eighteenth century as Enfield Palace, is remembered in the name of the Palace Gardens Shopping Centre (and the hothouses on the site were once truly notable; see below). It
7304-592: Was reduced to five with King's Lynn and Doncaster being abolished. By 1915 they were organised onto four districts (primary sheds in parentheses): Southern (Stratford); Eastern (Ipswich); Northern (Norwich); and Western (Cambridge/Peterborough). The Great Eastern did not see the maintenance of engine sheds as one of its top priorities. Many original structures it inherited from constituent railways struggled on in various states of disrepair, not only through Great Eastern days, but through its successor company London & North Eastern Railway from 1923 until 1947 and indeed to
7392-455: Was replaced by William Shaw as deputy chairman. The internal investigation concluded that many of Jervis-White-Jervis's concerns were relevant including borrowing more money than authorised and the poor deal the GER got on leasing the London and Blackwell Railway. In a meeting in January the following year many of the directors were duly replaced (by members of the investigating committee) and at
7480-559: Was strongly opposed by the RCA, but supported by the Labour Party . Worker-directors were not included in the final act, being replaced by agreed negotiating mechanisms. In 1921, the white paper, Memorandum on Railways Bill (Cmd. 1292), suggested four English regional groups and two Scottish groups. Scottish railway companies wanted to be incorporated into British groupings, and the RCA proposed five British regional monopolies including
7568-622: Was to continue for a further two years under the Ministry of Transport Act 1919 . The act took effect on 1 January 1923. On that date most of the mergers took place, although some had taken place during the previous year. The February 1923 issue of The Railway Magazine dubbed the new companies as " The Big Four of the New Railway Era". A number of joint railways remained outside the Big Four, continuing to be operated jointly by
7656-482: Was used as a private school from around 1670 until the late nineteenth century. The last remains of it were demolished in 1928 to make way for an extension to Pearson's department store, though a panelled room with an elaborate plaster ceiling and a stone fireplace survive, relocated to a house in Gentleman's Row, a street of sixteenth- to eighteenth-century houses near the town centre. In 1303, King Edward I granted
7744-538: Was whilst the Walthamstow line (now the Chingford branch line ) was under construction. In the same month, Deputy Chairman Charles Turner resigned due to suspected fraud which was to lead to his bankruptcy later in the year. Although proceedings were initiated no prosecution resulted. The original London terminus was opened at Shoreditch in east London by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) on 1 July 1840 when
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