THE first meeting at Worcester with reference to railway communication
between that city and the metropolis, _viâ_ Oxford, was as follows:
1844—MARCH 19—The Mayor presided at a very respectable gathering of
tradesmen of the city in the Guildhall, and Mr. F. T. Elgie made a
statement of the proposal by the Great Western Company to construct what
is now known as the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway, and
requested the support of the citizens to the scheme. Mr. W. S. P. Hughes
said the Grand Connection Railway would answer all the purposes of the
city of Worcester, and that was to be brought before Parliament again
immediately, with every prospect of success. A resolution in favour of
the line proposed by Mr. Elgie was, however, carried unanimously. The
merits of the two lines were discussed at a public meeting at
Kidderminster, on the 4th of April, at which Mr. Elgie and Mr. Hughes
supported their respective schemes, and the Oxford line had a majority in
the meeting of three to one.
1844—MAY 9—Another railway meeting was held in the Guildhall this day,
with the Mayor in the chair, to support one or other of the schemes for
connecting Worcester with London. Mr. Elgie and Mr. Brunel appeared for
the Oxford line, and Mr. Taunton and Mr. Addison for a line from
Worcester through Evesham and Leamington, to join the London and North
Western Railway. This was to be only a single line of rails. Mr. Brunel
assured the meeting that the Oxford line was supported by the Great
Western, and that £1,000,000 would be sufficient for its construction.
Mr. Hughes, on behalf of the promoters of the Grand Connection Railway,
said the cost of the line from Worcester to Wolverhampton alone would be
above a million; and proposed, as an amendment, that it would be
premature to express an opinion in favour of any particular line till
they had more details before them. The meeting, however, almost
unanimously expressed itself in favour of the Great Western project.
1844—The great town’s meeting at which the Great Western and London and
Birmingham projects for a Worcester Railway were brought into competition
for the approbation of the citizens, was held in the Guildhall on the 4th
November, William Lewis, Esq., Mayor, presiding. It was first assembled
in the Crown Court, but afterwards there was an adjournment to the outer
hall. The proceedings were commenced by Mr. Waters’s moving “That until
the Parliamentary plans were deposited, the citizens were in no position
to decide upon the eligibility of the schemes proposed to them.” Mr. J.
W. Lea seconded this proposition. Mr. Leader Williams denied that the
Great Western were _bonâ fide_ in their scheme, and until the plans were
deposited they could have no security that they would go on with it. Mr.
Elgie retorted that Messrs. Waters and Williams wanted no railway at all.
The motion was negatived by a very large majority. Mr. Alderman
Matthews, Mr. Francis Rufford, and Mr. Barlow spoke on behalf of the
Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton line, which again received the
almost unanimous adhesion of the citizens, Mr. E. Shelton, of Thorngrove,
alone putting in a word for the London and Birmingham Company’s line.
1845—FEBRUARY 4—The Railway Commissioners of the Board of Trade reported
in favour of the Tring line, and against the Oxford, Worcester, and
Wolverhampton.
1845—FEBRUARY 22—A general meeting of the Oxford and Worcester Railway
Company’s shareholders was held in the Guildhall, Worcester, at which
they determined to proceed vigorously with their own measure, in spite of
the unfavourable report of the Board of Trade. The report of the
provisional committee, read at this meeting, stated that the project had
been set on foot in the previous February, by the influential mining and
commercial interests of South Staffordshire, who afterwards applied to
the Great Western Railway Company to support and lease a line from
Wolverhampton to Banbury; but this was ultimately changed for the line to
Oxford.
On the 26th of March a common hall was convened at Worcester, at which
the citizens unanimously agreed to petition in favour of the Oxford,
Worcester, and Wolverhampton line. A series of resolutions in favour of
the Tring line was transmitted to the Mayor, who presided, as having been
agreed to at a private meeting of its supporters at Messrs. Hyde and
Tymbs’ offices, with Mr. Francis Hooper in the chair, the day before; and
this was assigned as the reason for the non-attendance of the friends of
the London and Birmingham scheme.
1845—APRIL 10—The inhabitants of Droitwich assembled in public meeting on
the railway question, and on the motion of W. H. Ricketts, Esq.,
petitioned in favour of the Birmingham and Gloucester Company’s deviation
line, refusing to support the Oxford and Wolverhampton scheme.
THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE GAUGES.—The Parliamentary Committee to whom had
been intrusted the duty of reporting on the various railways proposed for
this district, commenced their labours on the 5th of May. The members of
the committee were the Right Honourable F. Shaw (Dublin University),
chairman; Messrs. Bramston, Horne, Drummond, Villiers, Stuart, and
Lockhart. The lines brought before them were: