John Ollie

Mary, Florerence, John

After the Gold Rush

The Stationmaster with gold in his veins

What has the frenetic Australian gold rush got to do with the relatively calm backwaters of James Deeping station? You may well ask.

From a small sheep settlement Ballarat had grown into a major town, news spreading quickly of rich alluvial fields where gold could be easily extracted. Unlike many other gold boom towns, the Ballarat Fields sustained high gold yields for decades. Within months 20,000 migrants had rushed to the district. Francis Olle was one who had gone out to join his brothers with the six children from his marriage to Hannah Liles, who had sadly died in 1854. He married Mary née Durrant in 1857 and it was here in Ballarat that John Durrant Olle was born, their first son. This new family returned to England on the Lincolnshire in 1862 and settled near Bury St Edmunds. In 1871 the census showed that Francis, now a man of some means, was a publican, the owner of the Bear Inn, Beyton, Suffolk, as well as running an export business. John was educated at the King’s Grove Hall College in Ipswich.

Much later, in a newspaper interview reflecting on his career, John said ‘I took a fancy for railway work and joined the Great Eastern Railway as a Clerk at five shillings a week. I worked from 7.00 am till 8/9.00pm daily and Sundays 10.00 am to 7.00pm. I had nearly two years there, left and went to London to seek work. I went to try the Midland Company but they wanted me to go to Derby, but I wanted London life so I went and asked at King’s Cross Goods (Mr Yard) and started work the next day. The Farringdon Street offices were then about being opened and I was asked to go there as Clerk on night duty and remained there for five years. Then I came to Sleaford as Goods Clerk and have been in the Lincolnshire district ever since – Clerk and Stationmaster for the Great Northern Railway Company for 25 years.’

According to the 1891 census John Durrant Olle was the Station Master at Sutton in the Marsh before his promotion to Station Master at St James Deeping. When asked, ‘Do you like the Railway?’ John answered ‘Oh yes, I like railway work only the tie is too great.’ He then went on to say, ‘What’s my opinion of the staff at country railway stations? Well, speaking honestly and fairly it’s not worked fairly; or should I say not staffed fairly… if this was a joint station I would have double the staff. But there I am transgressing. I will not say more. I have no animosity whatever against the railway Company. I have two sons still with the Company, and might have more in time.’

John went on to reveal that he was a local agent for The Railway Passengers Assurance Company. He had already paid out two claims under the Farmers and Workmen’s Compensation Act and most of the farmers in the district were insured with him. He was also agent for Messrs Fattorini & Sons of Bradford and The Liverpool and Victoria Insurance Company. John was keen ‘to work hard and get a bit of money. I have been ill myself and had no end of illnesses in my family and this has kept me a poor man.’ John was undoubtedly a go-getter; as Secretary of the Deeping Foal and Root Society for two years he was proud of the £20 balance in hand from this year’s show and in the future he was keen to open out the classes. As well as specimens having acreage prizes in root classes, he was hoping it would be a first class show in a few years’ time.

Mindful that GNR would want another 16 years work out of him before he got a pension, John was using his experience on the railways to good effect and was taking up a position as Manager and Clerk for Mr John Needham, general provender, cake, hay, straw, coal merchant of Market Deeping. He explained, ‘Most of these big businesses are clerked by railway officials and it makes all the difference what experience a man has had on the railway. What about railway rates? … The new rates entailed no end of extra work on the clerkage staff generally in the country and we reaped no benefit whatsoever.’ Politically John ‘would gladly rejoice to see all railways under Government. There would be no more red tape than now.’ But John was keen to work for his new master, giving him all the benefit of his railway experience. He was planning to attend markets, visit farms and get out amongst the farmers. ‘Yes they are a jolly lot of men, the fen farmers, no false pride.’ On leaving the Company the railway Superintendent, Mr Shaw from Boston, spoke very highly of John, ‘I am having a testimonial from the Company and mean to have it framed.’ He had also been presented with a testimonial by the farmers and traders when he left Hubberts Bridge. John was to start his new position with John Needham on the first day of the new century and was to reside at St James Deeping. At this point a sudden call for Mr Olle had interrupted the interview and it was terminated.

Five years later the Lincolnshire Free Press reported that Claude Olle, the son of John, had resigned his appointment as Clerk at Boston passenger station and was sailing for Canada. Claude had been employed by GNR for ten years, joining the telegraph department in Retford in 1896 and appointed Clerk at Mapperly in 1898. He had acted as Clerk at Deeping, Skegness, Horncastle and Sleaford going to Boston the previous October. At Horncastle he had been an enthusiastic member of the Rifle Corps and had joined the Artillery Battery in Boston and had been quickly promoted from Bombardier to Corporal. The Boston staff had collected for him and the Stationmaster, Mr Halliday, presented him with a set of razors, a silver watch chain and matchbox attached, a pipe and a supply of tobacco.

Research: Joy Baxter, Tom Fidler Photographs: Tom Fidler, Ian Baxter

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