THE ARMAGH RAIL DISASTER
12 JUNE 1889
Lest we forget
we will remember them…
These words are used in ceremonies all over the world to remember people who died and suffered in conflict and adversity. Armagh has its own unique tragedy that must not be forgotten. Wednesday, 12th June 1889 is a date committed to memory as one of Armagh's darkest days. It was on this day that the Armagh Railway Disaster occurred when the annual Armagh Methodist Church Sunday School Excursion was on its way by train from Armagh to Warrenpoint.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL EXCURSION 1889
Planning the excursion were Surgeon Major Lynn (retired army officer and church lay leader), Robert Gillespie (Justice of the Peace), J E Peel (local solicitor) and Samuel Steel (Sunday School Superintendent) as well as other leaders in the church. The Methodist Church Sunday School Excursion on 12th June 1889 was to Warrenpoint.
This was a major community event that attracted families from all sections of the Armagh and district community. The leaders had a reputation for good organisation of a real family fun day at the seaside and therefore attracted large numbers to the excursion.
Families across the city and district prepare for the day out at the seaside at Warrenpoint. The Methodist Church Sunday School excursion is a huge occasion that is looked forward to with joyous expectation. Buckets and spades and picnics would be the main order of the day. Tickets would have been purchased beforehand to secure a place on the train. Some would walk to the station in family or street groups, others coming in from the country would arrive by horse and trap, and many, as was the custom, would gather as a large group at the Church in Abbey Street in early morning to set off behind the military band to Armagh Railway Station.
PARADE TO THE STATION
On the morning of the excursion very many families assembled in Abbey Street outside the Methodist Church at 9-00am as was the tradition in readiness to march behind the Royal Irish Fusiliers, 3rd Battalion Military Band to the Railway Station to board the excursion train. Imagine the excitement, the gleeful noise and chatter amongst the music and splendour of the uniforms as the band formed up and they set off from the Church for one the biggest family days of the year. It was a warm sunny morning as all walked to the Armagh Railway Station with smiling faces and glowing hearts.
What started out as a bright joyous day turned out later to be dark fateful day.
THE STATION AND TRAIN
The Abbey Street parade arrived at Armagh Railway Station and there was a mingling with the crowds already there. It was a scene of intense excitement. The train with its engine and carriages was stood ready to receive these eager passengers. A light passenger vehicle, Engine Number 86, was chosen to pull the twelve carriages. It was green in colour.
Engine 86 chosen to pull 12 carriages
GNR station at Railway Street (now demolished)
THE COLLISION
The excursion train pulled out of the station at 10.15 a.m. on the one-hour journey to Warrenpoint. It was full to capacity with even the luggage and guard’s compartments accommodating fifteen extra people amongst some baskets of provisions and the band’s instruments. This was the heavy task that the little green engine had to cope with as it approached the steep gradient three miles out of Armagh.
Becoming ever slower with the strain of the load it eventually stalled 200 yards from the summit and close to Dobbins Bridge. The passengers would have been generally oblivious to the emerging problems, but in a short time their circumstances would change dramatically.
An exhibition several years ago included the following description of the incident
“Approximately 3 miles out of the city the engine and carriages reached a steep gradient and, due to the volume of passengers, stalled. The decision was taken to divide the train and take the first 4 carriages on to another station. The engine would then come back and take the remaining 8 and rejoin the train. Stones were put under the wheel of the carriages and as the carriages were split, the rear carriage crushed the stones and started back downhill towards Armagh. They collided with the 10.35am passenger train resulting in many fatalities and injuries. The scene was horrific.”
One of the last sounds heard by the excursionists before the loud noise of the fateful collision was the long shrill of the whistle from the No 9 Engine of the oncoming train which had left Armagh three minutes late at 10.38 a.m.
DEATHS, INJURY AND ESCAPE
The runaway carriages had gathered speed rapidly for the 1 ½ miles before the collision with the oncoming train and there was inevitably fright and pandemonium and eventually horror amongst the passengers. As the doors were locked, many children were saved by being thrown from the windows, which were too small for adults, who had therefore little chance for escape. The impact of the collision meant that some doors burst open and as a result some adults were able to throw themselves down the Killuney embankment on the right hand side of Portadown Road just outside the city boundary where the crash occurred.
Mrs Hamilton, the wife of an RIC Sergeant, claimed that she had thrown her own and other children to safety before jumping from an open door. Many others were not so fortunate and had no option but to resign themselves to a terrible fate. There was a horrific outcome that to this day is still virtually indescribable. Many died and many were injured. Surgeon-Major Lynn, the leading Methodist layman and one of the organisers, who had been travelling on the train, observed, “Many a bitter battlefield did not display such carnage.” This was a scene of utter devastation.
Help was summoned. The Army from Gough Barracks and the RIC quickly arrived to assist at the scene. Pieces of rail carriages and equipment were scattered around; the belongings of excursionists were strewn on the embankment – it was a place of carnage. People were dazed, parents were looking in desperation for their children, despair was prevalent, and in the midst of this chaotic adversity others were doing their best to help.
One witness, recounting his efforts to help amongst the wreckage, said he saw a dead child with little sisters standing nearby; he witnessed several bodies mangled beyond recognition and people walking around in a dazed state.
Another witness wrote that ‘the screams of the injured were heart-rending. I shall never forget the scene as long as I live’.
Surgeon-Major Lynn, Dr Palmer of the local infirmary and other local doctors worked with the injured. The Army brought ambulances and all kinds of conveyances were requisitioned to transfer the dead and injured. Some doctors came from Belfast and elsewhere to help as news of the scale of the tragedy spread. The Armagh Infirmary was extensively used to care for the injured.
In all 89 men, women and children died at the scene or from injuries sustained in the accident.
FATALITIES AND MOURNING
There were 89 fatalities. All denominations suffered – Church of Ireland (35), Presbyterian (19), Methodist (18), Roman Catholic (9) and others. Amongst the dead was the son of the Rev. William R McMullin, Minister of Abbey Street Methodist Church, who was attending the annual Methodist Conference in Cork. When he returned to Armagh, as well as the trauma of his son lying in a coffin in the Manse, he found that his Sunday School Superintendent, Samuel Steel, was dead and every member of the Abbey Street Church Choir either dead or injured. The loss included many young people - nineteen were under the age of 15, twenty-seven were between 15 and 20. The dead were from every walk of life and included several from the same family.
The next day the bells of the city Churches took turns to toll, businesses closed and the streets were deserted as the extent and pain of the tragedy bore down on the community. There followed a long succession of funerals with the last thirty-five victims buried on the Saturday. The scenes in the graveyards are recorded as heart-breaking with the Belfast Newsletter reporting:
“…especially when one hears the groans and sobs of not only women and children, but of strong men who have come to lay their nearest and dearest in their last resting place”.
The Armagh Rail Disaster had a known profound impact, not only within the city and district, but on the national stage as well. A special relief fund was quickly established to help the injured and bereaved. It was also this fund that helped establish a new ward in the Armagh infirmary as a memorial to the Armagh Rail Disaster.
Rev William R McMullin
Minister
Samuel Steel
Sunday School Superintendent
GNR officials were arrested and held in Armagh Gaol, and questioned by the RIC. Public Enquiries, Inquests and Trials took place and all recounted the stories of that fateful day.
Joseph Peel, as the coroner, conducted the Inquests. The Board of Trade produced a report and promised that it would bring in a Bill to improve rail safety. On August, 30th 1889 the Regulation of Railways Act came into force to ensure that such a catastrophe would not occur again.
Armagh families still recall through the generations the impact of the Rail Disaster. It is fitting that a Sculpture was unveiled on The Mall 125 years later to commemorate all those who died and were injured.
Armagh Railway Disaster Monument
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ARMAGH RAILWAY DISASTER REMEMBERED
Armagh Methodist Church continues with its Sunday School Christian witness and excursions, albeit in a different form. We will always remember the dreadful events of 12th June 1889 and continue to work for God’s intervening and redeeming love in all situations, no matter how challenging.
On the Sunday nearest to 12 June our congregation gather at the monument to remember those lost and pray for the families of the churches in Armagh both then and now.
Historical source: 250 Years of Methodism in Armagh, written by Dessie Mitchell.
List of names of those who lost their lives following the rail disaster of 1889
Mary Anderson age 19
Eliza Beale
Anne Bell age 27
William Bourke age 19
Maria Boyd age 17
Sarah Carroll age 24
James Cleeland age 55
Margaret Cleeland age 48, wife of James
Robert Cleeland age 8, son of James
Samuel Cleeland age 12, son of James
Charles Cleeland age 14, son of James
Mary Connolly age 38.
William Crozier age 25
Ellen Devlin age 20
Annie Edgar age 19
John Edgar, brother of Annie
David Edwards age 8, son of G.A Edwards JP
Minnie Edwards age 7, sister of David
Margaret Gibson age 18
Mary Hamill age 18
Thomas Henderson age 60
Thomas Hill age 16
Henry Hillock age 14
William Holland age 18
Agnes Hull age 12
Margaret Huston age 17
Edith Irwin age 12
Catherine Irwin
Robert J Irwin age 23
Henry Jenkinson age 72
Mary Jenkinson age 36, wife of Henry
Joseph Johnston age 45
Eliza Johnston age 40, wife of Joseph
Mary Johnston age 40
Joseph Kelley age 23, died September 1889
Mary Ann Kirkland age 15
Francis Latimer age 45
Ernest Logue, age 10
John Mallaghan age 50
Margaret Mason age 18
Mary Jane Mason age 12, sister of Margaret
Joseph McCann age 48
Martha McCann age 47 wife of Joseph
Margaret McClure age 37
Isabella McFarland age 22
Bethia McFarland age 20, sister of Isabella
William R McMullin age 20, son of Rev. McMullin
Eliza McVeigh
Margaret McVey age 9
Helen Middleton
Maggie Mills age 22
William R Mitchell age 40
Mary Mitchell age 35, wife of William
William R Mitchell Junior age 2 son of William
Thomas W Moore age 12
Minnie Murdock age 16
Patrick Murphy, train driver, died September 1890
Catherine Murray age 28
Charles Neill age 45
Mary J Neill age 40, wife of Charles
Eliza Neill age 11, daughter of Charles
James Orr
Jane Orr, age 18
Mary Orr age 15, sister of Jane
William Parks
Agnes Parks age 18
Maggie Patterson age 19
Mary Jane Quinn age 18
Mina Reilly age 16
Albert E Robinson age 16
Frederick C Robinson age 18, brother of Albert E.
Matilda Robinson age 50
Elizabeth Rountree age 18
Minnie Rountree age 18, sister of Elizabeth
Sarah Scott age 41
Eugenia Simpson
Eliza Sloane
Samuel Steel age 36, Abbey St Clerk of Petty Sessions
Sarah E Steele age 9, daughter of Samuel
Ethel Steel age 5, daughter of Samuel
Hettie Wolff age 10, niece of Samuel
Margaret Stinson age 11
Jane Thompson age 40
William J Twinam age 16
William Walker age 13
Robert Warnock
Helen Watt age 20
Anne Jane Wilkins age 54
John Armstrong age 74, Deputy Prison Governor