Fred Kirby

Ancestors

Descendants

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Biography

Frederick James (Fred Kirby) was a stoker on the foot plate of a railway train. In his day during the war effort he and his driver were determined to take his cargo of munitions as far as they could to the front line. Whilst under heavy fire, Fred was bombed off his train but endeavoured to return to push on, such was his sense of duty. He suffered thereafter from nervousness. He drafted his son John aged 14 to the noisy Boiler Room of the Great Western Railway works Swindon to undertake hot rivetting on the Boilers for Steam Engines. Later, as a strong man and at his peak both mentally and physically John worked in Industry to improve conditions and pay for his workforce. He was a well liked, trusted and respected works Convenor and member of The AEWU Trades Union. During which time he worked along with Eric Heffer and Barbara Castle, both powerful figures at the time, to create better standards at the work place along with better safety conditions for the workers. John spent his last remaining years giving good and long Service to The Military College of Science at Shrivenham in Wiltshire (now known as Cranfield School ) where his knowledge of the Military College was found to be invaluable and his popularity with the young Officers, captivating. He died aged 75. ^[1]

Sources

No sources. The events of Frederick James's life were Recorded by his granddaughter Deborah

Footnotes

1. ↑ Entered by Sir William Arbuthnot, Sunday, December 1, 2013.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Sir William Arbuthnot for creating Robertson-4373 on 1 Dec 13. Click the Changes tab for the details on contributions by Sir William and others.