Clement Edwin Stretton b1850

About

  • Summary:
     

    Clement married Alice Hannah (Née Thompson) on 14 February 1878 and then soon had two children Clement and Alice. Sadly Alice Hannah died less than seven years later leaving Clement with two young children to bring up. He put huge energy into investigating and writing on railway history and Freemasonry, producing some 150 books and pamphlets. It has been observed in recent years that probably no single figure in nineteenth century Britain did more to promote and preserve knowledge about the railways development than Clement although the accuracy of his material has been sometimes questionable.

  • No of documents: 9
  • No of Images: 1
  • Born: Thursday, 03 October 1850
  • Birthplace: Leicester
  • Died: Saturday, 20 February 1915
  • Bio:
     

    Family:
    Clement was the eldest of two children, born to Clement and Julia Stanbury Stretton. His father, Clement, was a prominent member of the Leicester community, having been Mayor in 1877 and 1888. He was to have two children, the eldest also being called Clement, which was quite confusing when researching this part of the family!

    Early days:
    Clement grew up in Saxe Coburg House on Fosse Road on the west of Leicester. Surrounded by fields and not far from the half-forgotten terminus of the Leicester and Swannington terminus at West Bridge. No doubt it was this that helped give Clement an early interest in railway history.

    Education:
    Clement was educated at Rugby school before. at the age of 16, becoming Articled to Mr Montford, Civil Engineer where he learned the theoretical and practical aspects of civil engineering.In 1866 As part of his training, he was sent for a month to a quarry at Cromford, Derbyshire, in order to learn something of the masons’ trade.

    Career:
    Clement was employed in the railway works at Leicester and became a consultant in his own right in 1878. There is little evidence of him working much as a consultant, other than for the early unions to defend their members in legal cases. It seem he lived mainly by private means.

    As one of the early railway historians he had little existing material to research and the veracity of his interpretations and writings has been widely questioned since publication. His career and output is reviewed in this paper, presented by Robert F Hartley, B.A.,A.M.A on 25 October 2001 and entitled: “Why spoil a good story…..”

    Notable aspects:
    • One of the first railway historians
    • Prolific writer and lecturer on railway history from the late 1860s for 35 years: some 150 books and pamphlets published
    • Much of his work focussed on safety of the railways
    • Active Freemason and Master of his Lodge in 1877 and 1887
    • Donated much of his collection of railway memorabilia to the Science Museum and the Leicester, Glasgow, Holyhead and Liverpool Museums. Some now in the National Railway Museum
    • One-man display at the Paris Exhibition of 1889
    • One-man display at the Chicago Exhibition of 1893 (1500 photos, 10 tons of artefacts etc) A diary of the two month trip was written by his son Clement and can be seen here.

    Death:
    Having been in frail health for some time, Clement died in 1915 from pneumonia and is buried in Welford Road Cemetery. In 1886, five years before his father’s death, Three generations of the family are interred here, as can be seen from these pictures taken in 2016.

  • Place of Death: Leicester
  • Marriage Date: Thursday, 14 February 1878