John Price - Funeral 1924

The Trainmakers Wolverton Works
by Bill West

The LNWR Company, by 1871, had an insurance fund for accident benefit. Benefits ranged from 5s to 20s per week. Contributions were lower than those of the Friendly Societies, as it was subsidised by the Company. Provision was made for permanent disability, this being a lump sum ranging from £15 to £50. Any man killed on duty was afforded a funeral.

All services were provided by the Works – the coffin by the joiners’ shop and trimming shop, the pall bearers from the workmates, the burial taking place and the ground purchased by the Company wherever the next of kin designated. The last man to have this service at Wolverton was John Price of Castlethorpe, in 1924, who was killed by a fly shunt while wheeling coke into the smithy.