JOHN TOWES
1872-1970
ENGINE TIMEKEEPER
John Charles Towes, was the son of Martha and William Towes, a railway fireman and later engine driver.
John was one of seven children born to them at 15 Garlands Road not far from Redhill Junction as it was
called in 1871. In 1891, nine people living at No 15. John’s brothers William and Frederick worked as a
stoker and engine shed labourer. John was 19 and was a railway engine timekeeper – arrivals and departure
times, hours worked, rest periods fulfilled, and generally making sure an engine crew were available to
work. A complicated task at a busy junction.
It’s hard to believe but local times across the country varied slightly from one end to the other. Train arrivals
couldn’t always be predicted accurately, accidents were being caused and passengers might not make their
expected connections. It wasn’t until the countrywide telegraph network made it possible for Greenwich to
transmit a time signal ‘London Time’ for stationmasters to set their station clocks by. This began in 1847 but
it wasn’t until August 1880 that an Act was passed that unified Great Britain’s standard time as GMT.
John’s wife Adelaide Entecott was a timber dealer’s daughter from Deptford who found herself in a poor
school in Sutton before getting work as a parlour maid in Godstone in 1891. They were married in 1896
