James Edward Clough 1905

 

By 1905 Midland Junction Technical School had achieved its very first scholarship winner in Practical Plane and Solid Geometry. Sixteen-year-old James Edward Clough must have been a model student as he went on to gain scholarships in Mechanical Drawing in 1907 and 1908. Had James not received exemption from fees through his scholarships, his recently widowed mother would not have been able to pay for his education, and he may not have experienced the stimulating career he had. At the time James completed his apprenticeship, electrical installations were very new and the Midland Workshops represented ‘state of the art’ technology.

The Clough name had been synonymous with the railways for several generations. James’ mother hoped that he might gain rapid career advancement by taking the foreman’s daughter out. But James had other ideas. His ‘life-time sweetheart’ was a young York woman who he met while working on the Spencer’s Brook to Albany line, and he was obviously confident in getting ahead on his own merit. His technical training not only put James in good stead in his railway work - it made him popular in Narrogin where he was the local technician for cinema equipment during the silent movie era.

In 1928 he returned to Midland to become the youngest person at the Workshops to gain foreman status. In his role as Foreman of the Electrical Shop he kept abreast of equipment and systems in use in other States for Railway Safe Working, and he was able to use this knowledge in his roles in the Railway Institute and as a representative on the Council.

Ironically one of his sons was to lose his life in an electrical accident while working for the State Electrical Commission many years later. He too had gained his electrical training through the railways.  During the war these skills were called upon when he was man-powered to work on the Beaufort Bombers. James’s three other children also had links with the railways. During the war his daughter Beryl was based at the Midland Workshops as a munitions inspector working on the 25 pounders in the Army inspection division. His youngest daughter worked for seven years in the Stores Branch in the Workshops after studying typing at the Technical School, while his other son was the National Railways Engineer for Special Works for the standardisation of the railways.

Thanks to Beryl and Julie Copeman for assistance with this profile.

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