Thomas Chapman's gravestone, Christ Church, Dore

I thought you may be interested in the attached newspaper cutting which details the death of Thomas Chapman of Twentywell in a tragic incident in the Totley Tunnel. 

Monday 3rd September 1906 The Sheffield Telegraph and Star (page 5)
Killed in Totley Tunnel: Platelayer's Terrible Injuries
An inquest has been held at the Crown Inn, Totley, by the Chesterfield Coroner, touching the death of Thomas Chapman (31), platelayer, of Twentywell, Totley. He had been married about seven months. The evidence showed that Chapman was at work in Totley Tunnel on Thiursday, when an express from Sheffield to Manchester knocked him down, killing him instantly. The body was shockingly mangled. "Accidental death" was the verdict.

Thomas, a platelayer with The Midland Railway Co, had married my 1st cousin 2x removed, Gertrude Slater, only seven months earlier and the couple lived at Twentywell, probably Castle Row, where many of my brick maker ancestors lived. Gertrude never recovered fully from this tragic event, and died in 1934 at the Wadsley Lunatic Asylum. It was her brother, Wilfred Slater, also a platelayer, who had the grisly job of recovering Thomas’s body from the Totley Tunnel.
 
Thomas Chapman is buried in Dore Churchyard. A photograph of his grave is to be found in your database of Dore gravestones.
 
Regards
 
Michael Hardy
Dronfield

February 2015