Dendy Marshall, Chapman Frederick
Centenary history of the Liverpool & Manchester
Railway. London, 1930.
Ottley 6361 notes that Rastrick's Rainhill Notebook forms
an appendix in transcript form.
Early British Locomotives: a supplement to the first of the author's 'Two
essays in early locomotive history'. London: Locomotive Publishing Co.,
1939. 107pp.
Ottley 2866
A history of British railways down to the year 1830. 1938.
Author was President of' the Newcomen Society. The work is arranged
geographically. Bibliography. Glossary. Illustrations, maps.
History of the railway locomotive down to the end
of the Year 1831. London: Locomotive Publishing Co., 1953. 271pp.
Ottley 2887: KPJ Ottley may have misquoted title: this was
presumably based on the two earlier works.:
See
The chapters are as follows: Steam Power and its application to
locomotion; Richard Trevithick; Blenkinsop and Murray (an Internet correspondent
noted serious inaccuracies in this section); Taylor Swainson; William Chapman;
William Hedley; William Brunton; William Stewart; George Stephenson; Robert
Stephenson and Co.; John M'Curdy; Robert Wilson; Timothy Hackworth ...;
Braithwaite and Ericsson; Timothy Burstall; John Urpeth Rastrick; Bury and
Kennedy; Neath Abbey; Rothwell and Hick; Goldsworthy Gurney; George Dodds;
Miscellaneous British Builders; Early attempts on the Continent; Marc Seguin;
The United States of America
A history of the Southem Railway.
1936.
An officia1 history extending from the time of the earliest railways
until 1934. Treats each major company amalgamated into the Southern Railway
separately, then describes events between 1923 and 1934. Bibliography. Plates
(4 coloured), illustrations (including reproductions of early prints),
maps.
Two essays in early locomotive history, 1928.
Ottley 2854: "the first hundred railway engines"
Marshall failed to record where the great railway historian was born but according to Internet correspondent was in last quarter of 1873 in Brentford. He died at Wonersh on 14 June 1945. He was educated at Hurstpierpoint and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar at Inner Temple but did not practice. During WW1 he was a technical examiner at the Munitions Inventions Dept. He evolved a patented (see below) system of locomotive compounding applied to LNWR 4-6-0 No. 1361 Prospero (Locomotive, 1915 15 Oct., p. 219). He was a founder member of the Newcomen Society and major contributor to its Transactions. He wrote a history of the Post Office. Jack Simmons wrote a carping biography in his common place book alias Oxford Companion. He is especially damning of his history of the Author's Liverpool & Manchester Railway and uses the paragraph to plug his acolyte's study of this railway. The history of the Southern Railway is also condemned ("a large work of uneven value"). Simmons criticism is so damning that one may be forced to assess the critic's contribution (which borders on the unreliable in the case of motive power).
Preface to the Second Edition of A history of the Southem Railway. Ian Allan, 1962. 2v.
When Dendy Marshall's History first appeared in 1937, among the voices
acclaiming its magnitude and patient scholarship were a number referring
somewhat pointedly to certain errors, and over the years there was built
up a tradition among railway historians that 'you can't trust Dendy Marshall'.
Close examination by many experts, including H.V. Borley, M.D. Greville,
and J.G. Spence, did not in fact show up more than about fifty minor errors,
which in a book of 700 pages, compiled in days when historical railway research
was less keenly pursued than today, does not amount to a major indictment.
Moreover, the author had good reasons for trusting some of his sources which
later proved fallacious – indeed one incorrect date was actually given
by the South Eastern Chairman to a Company Meeting. Every effort has been
made in this second edition to put these mistakes right, but preoccupation
with these details must not be allowed to obscure the great value of the
work of the original author.
Some of the material which was included in 1937 for policy reasons has been
excluded as no longer relevant. The plans, which were a weak feature of the
original edition, have been redrawn. The multitude of photographs of seals
and emblems have been omitted to make way for pictures of the railways in
action.
I am aware that there is a great deal of detailed history about the constituent
companies now available which is not in this book. It could not be added
without both destroying the character of the original text and making the
work impossibly bulky. Where there might be misunderstanding, however, a
considerable number of interpolations in the text and some explanatory footnotes
have been added.
Dendy Marshall did not always give full dates for events. Rather than incorporate
all these in the text, they are covered in a remarkably complete list of
openings and closings of lines and stations which will appear in Volume II.
R.W. KIDNER. Lingfield November 1962
Locomotive improvements: patent
18805/1911 Improvements in steam engines. Applied: 21 August 1911. Published 21 August 1912
2006-10-19