Hi Graham- Sadly I think you have correctly pointed the finger at the right man-
my great grandfather -Thomas Pratt Catley (TPC). The consular report I had seen
did not give a first name.
I am almost 100 % certain that there were not any other Thomas Catleys of engine
driver age in India in 1885. The only other adult Thomas C I came across was an
army sergeant born c 1833 - but he died in 1856!! In any event at that time in
India most of the Catleys around appeared to be descended from our tree.TPC did
have a son with the same name but he was only 1 year old at the time.
Liz and I did a thorough trawl through the indexes at the British Library , and
I have no record of us coming across any other Thomas of the right age. I have
also just run a check on the IGI, FIBIS and BL websites - with no result.
I suppose there could have been a European born Thomas Catley who worked in
India but did not marry, have children or die there- but I assume this is
unlikely.
Our man definitely worked for the GIP railway in 1885 so I think we may conclude
he was the fall guy!! I had pinned my hopes on his half brother Edwin Ernest
Catley, another GIP driver - but your newspaper report rather squashes that
idea.
Do you have a pdf of the Newspaper article, or even a transcript - if so could
you email me a full copy.You may have to do this off list.
What is it about my great grandfathers - TPC is the second revealed to have done
time! - the other was a convict sent to Tasmania!!
Kind Regards
Nigel
Quoting Graeme Simpson <gsimpson(a)netspace.net.au>:
According to a report in The Times of India, 8 Aug 1885, Page 3.
"PROSECUTION OF A EUROPEAN ENGINE DRIVER
The papers in this case were sent for in order to see whether the
sentence passed by the magistrate should not be enhanced. The accused
Thomas Catley, an engine driver on the G.I.P. Railway, was charged..."
There are a number of reports on this incident, but here it names him
as Thomas Catley - now is this Thomas Pratt Catley born 1844? or
another Thomas we don't have in our database?
Graeme Simpson
At 13/01/2011 03:07 AM, nigelb(a)bulrush.me.uk wrote:
>It appears that in 1885 , an engine driver for GIP Railway named Catley (no
>first name given) was held responsible for a fatal rail accident caused by
his
>failure to react to danger signal.
-------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
CATLEY-request(a)rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in
the subject and the body of the message