Victorian
On the afternoon of 1 April 1898, a small gang of railway workers was carrying out repairs on the line close to Hildenborough Station. The men were platelayers, the labourers responsible for keeping the track in good order, and all three lived in the village. At their head was George Goldsmith, the foreman of the gang, who worked alongside his son James, aged just nineteen, and with them George Upton, a man of thirty.
As they went about their task, a London bound train went by without incident. But moments later another train came into view, travelling in the opposite direction from London. The line here curves, and by the time the men spotted the approaching engine it was a mere 40 yards away. George Goldsmith, realising the danger, shouted a warning to his companions. It came too late for the other two. Both James Goldsmith and George Upton were struck by the train and killed instantly, leaving their families to mourn men taken at the very start of a working day.
The tragedy moved the village deeply. At the inquest, the jury launched an appeal on behalf of the bereaved families, and the Hildenborough Gardening Association threw its weight behind the effort. Generosity followed: more than 150 donations were received, and not a single person approached declined to give. The money raised was intended in part to pay for a headstone over the graves. The Tonbridge Free Press reported on the progress of the fund in its edition of 7 May 1898, by which time it had reached £71-6s-6d — a sum worth roughly £7,096 in today's money. That figure is all the more striking when we remember that Hildenborough's population was far smaller then than it is now, and that most villagers earned only agricultural wages.
The two men were laid to rest side by side in the village churchyard, beneath a stone paid for by their neighbours. Time, however, has not been kind to it: The headstone's face has largely crumbled away, taking the two men's dedications with it; its repair has now been organised by the Hildenborough History Society, and the inscription is to be reinstated in the original style. A memorial plaque at Hildenborough Station is also planned, so that the men's story will not be forgotten.