Family of Emily Worsdell

[1844-1937]

Emily Worsdell married Thomas Collinson. She came from a railway engineering family:

• Emily's grandfather Thomas Clarke Worsdell [1788-1862] joined the Society of Friends as a young man.

  He moved from London to Lancashire and assisted George Stephenson to construct carriages for the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway [1827]. He also built the wooden tender for Stephenson's Rocket. He was the first man to build a railway coach in England and Germany.

• Emily's father Nathaniel Worsdell [1809-1886], eldest son of Thomas Clarke Worsdell. He assisted his father as a coach maker to the London & Manchester Railway. He worked for 52 years with the company and its successors Grand Junction Railway and London & North-Western Railway mainly at Crewe. He is known for having invented a patent in 1838 which was a device for the automatic pick-up and setting down of mail from trains at speed. He is reputed to have designed the first true railway passenger vehicle for George Stephenson's Rocket
• Emily's brother Thomas William Worsdell [1838-1916] was known as Billy or William. He went to Ackworth School, Pontefract. He worked at Crewe for London North-Western Railway under John Ramsbottom. In 1865, he moved to Pennsylvania Railroad in America. In 1871, he returned to Crewe and was appointed Locomotive Superintendent of Great Eastern Railway. In 1885, he moved to North-Eastern Railway. He retired from NER in 1890 and was replaced by his younger brother Wilson. He designed and built many locomotives
• Emily's brother Wilson Worsdell [1850-1920] followed his brother to Pennsylvania Railroad becoming a pupil at the Altoona Works. He returned to England in 1871. He worked for the London North-Western Railway and then North-Eastern Railway for 20 years from 1883. He succeeded his brother as Locomotive Superintendent in 1890, retiring in 1910. He designed and built many useful engines

Page Ref: MMW2707

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