Railway Guard
Though employed as a guard Bert once had to drive a train himself from Waterloo to Hounslow.
Born in Petersfield in 1876, Albert married Florence née Switzer, the daughter of a heraldic artist, in 1900 – at the time she and her
family were living on the Isle of Wight. The couple moved to Edgell Road, Staines and in the 1911, 1921 and 1939 censuses they
were living on Hounslow Gardens, Whitton Road in Hounslow. They had three sons Albert and Walter (who worked as railway
messengers as teenagers) and youngest Gordon. Though father Bert was technically a guard he was once called upon to drive a
train from Waterloo to Hounslow. One of their children Sidney became a signalman and guard. Albert died in 1971, aged 95.
