- England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
Name: Gladys Alice Mottershead Death Age: 97 Birth Date: 9 Jul 1908 Registration Date: Nov 2005 Registration District: West Surrey Inferred County: Surrey
Register Number: D21J District and Subdistrict: 761/1D Entry Number: 13
England and Wales, Death Index, 1989-2021
Name: MS Gladys Alice Mottershead Gender: Female Age: 97 Birth Date: 9 Jul 1908 Last Residence: Farnham, Surrey, England Postal Code District: Gu10
Death Date: 8 Nov 2005
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- England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005
Name: Gladys A Cox Registration Date: Apr 1929 Registration Quarter: Apr-May-Jun Registration District: Barnet Inferred County: Middlesex Spouse: William H Mottershead
Volume Number: 3a Page Number: 990
London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938
Name: Gladys Alice Cox Gender: Female Record Type: Marriage Banns (Marriage Bann)
Marriage Banns Date: 26 May 1929 Marriage Banns Place: Holy Trinity, Finchley: Church Lane, Barnet
Spouse: William Henry Mattershead
- Gladys' son, Graeme was killed while playing with other boys on a railway line. It is only a short walk from where the family lived at Nethercourt Avenue to the railway line. See https://goo.gl/maps/wC2MiynvJGbqV4YLA.
The People, Sunday 24 October 1948, p.1
Their new game was with death
Death struck suddenly at a group of twelve laughing children playing in a railway cutting at Hall-lane, Hendon, London, last night.
They had discovered a fine new game, "jump the sleeper", and were joking and tumbling on the lines when the express from Bradford to St Pancras crashed into them at sixty miles an hour.
Some of the children managed to jump clear; others were not so fortunate.
Two were killed; thirteen-years-old Graham Mottershead, of North Finchley, and another boy, not yet identified, aged between eight and then.
Two others, both from North Finchley, were injured, thirteen-years-old Michael Whant, who sustained a fracture in the right arm, and is detained at Redhill Hospital, Edgeware, and David Harrington (thirteen) sent home after treatment for shock.
David Harrington told the police that the boys were putting pennies on the line when the slow train approached from one direction and the express from the other.
"I had the presence of mind to stand perfectly still between the two tracks as the trains passed," he said.
The driver of the express said last night: "I saw two boys jumping on the sleepers, and one standing on the line. I applied my brakes, but it was too late.
"I stopped the train at the first signal-box to inform them of the accident and to summon aid."
First on the scene was the Hendon stationmaster. He dashed to the cutting in a light engine, and was quickly followed by police, ambulances and the staffs of Mill Hill and Hendon stations.
Hall-lane residents were already rendering what aid they could.
They had learned of the accident when a boy, crying and laughing hysterically, staggered down the embankment and cried out, "two boys - my pals - smashed up on the line..."
"We are always warning children to stay away from the cutting, a railway official said.
Dundee Courier Friday 29 October 1948, p1.
Engine ran down boys at play
Verdicts of accident death were returned at the inquest at Hendon yesterday on two boys who were killed by an express on Saturday.
They were Graeme Howard Mottershead (13), of Nether Court Avenue, North Finchley, and Graham Rookley (9), of Woodcote Avenue, Mill Hill.
They were two of a party of boys who had climbed an embankment on to the railway track.
Gordon Halsey (11), said one of the two boys was standing on the fast line when the express came along.
He was watching a halfpenny he had put on the slow line. The slow train was going by at the time.
John Harland (9), said the goods train was going past when the express was coming. One boy was looking at the fast line for a halfpenny. Three others jumped. He jumped out of the way.
Henry Twitchell, driver of the express, said that he was travelling at 65 miles an hour at least.
He saw boys 60 to 80 yards away. By the time the whistle sounded the engine was practically on them. He applied the brakes, but it was useless.
Asked why he could not see the boys earlier, Twitchell said there was a curve in the line.
Police Inspector S.Stewart said boys had made holes in the fence practically every week.
They got telephone message that boys were trespassing on the line about the spot.
Some went engine-spotting to take the numbers, and names of engines.
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1908 - 2005 (97 years)
