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The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Thomas Tunstall was born in 1822 at Senely Green, near Ashton-in-Makerfield, between Liverpool and Manchester, where he was surrounded by collieries. In 1845 at the age of 23 he left home to join the Great Western Railway at Paddington and in August 1848 was transferred to the South Devon Division (i.e. the South Devon Railway), which extended from Exeter to the then temporary station at Laira Green. He is credited with having driven the first locomotive from Laira Green to Plymouth, when the line was extended in 1849 to what became Millbay Station. He subsequently drove trains between Exeter and Plymouth. Thomas Married Selina Chubb, from Eggbuckland, at St Andrew's Church on April 15th 1849. At the time of the 1851 census, when he was 28 and she was 19, they were living at Adelaide Street, Stonehouse, from where it was but a short walk to the engine shed off Harwell Street. When in August 1856 the Royal Yacht carrying Her Majesty Queen Victoria and Prince Albert was forced to take shelter in Plymouth during bad weather, it was Thomas Tunstall who was selected to drive the train carrying the Royal couple from Millbay to Exeter on their return journey to Windsor. To him was entrusted the duty of running the first trial trip across the Royal Albert Bridge (probably the one on April 11th 1859) and the official trip when HRH the Prince Consort, Prince Albert, came to open it on May 2nd 1859. He retained with great care the instructions issued to him on that occasion: 'The line must be cleared half an hour before the Royal train is due, and must not be occupied afterwards until the Royal train has passed.' It was signed by Mr Francis P Cockshott, the superintendent of the line. Much later, Thomas had driven HRH the Prince of Wales (later to become King Edward VII) on his official visit to the West of England. In April 1901 he was given a Special Award in recognition of his services to the Royal Family and in March 1902 he was present at North Road Station for the visit of HM King Edward VIII, who made a special presentation to him of a gold pin, the head of which was formed by the letters "VRI", surmounted by a crown set in diamonds and rubies. His last eighteen years were spent as running shed foreman at Newton Abbot, where he also became a Poor Law Guardian for the parish of Wolborough. When he retired in 1894, at the age of 72, he moved to Lostwithiel in Cornwall. A man of robust constitution, he was generally of good health and had been ill for only three weeks when he passed away, on Monday February 28th 1912, at the age of 89. He was buried alongside his wife at Eggbuckland parish church, the body having arrived at Millbay Station at 12.30pm on a train from Par. Family members present at the funeral, on Saturday March 2nd 1912, were his son and daughter-in-law, Mr & Mrs T H Tunstall, his son-in-law and daughter, Mr & Mrs C Brown, of Par, with whom he lived, his second son-in-law and daughter, Mr & Mrs F J Farrant, of Julian Street in Plymouth, and a grandson, Mr T Tunstall. Other mourners representing the Great Western Railway were ex-Inspector Bibbings of Plymouth, Inspectors Bolton, Prosser and Pope of Newton Abbot, the latter representing Mr B Giles, the Divisional Superintendent of the Locomotive and Carriage Department, and Messrs W Northmore and W Whitley, late guards. Mr Tunstall would have been quite pleased to know that also there was his first fireman, Mr W R Coleman, then a driver.
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