Mrs Merwood, Whippingham, IOW, 1908
Above: Station mistress Jenkyn in 1910, with her niece and nephew, their father and some railway workers.
She is standing next to her ‘request-stop’ signal post. Photo courtesy of Anita Nicholls.
Latchley Halt was opened in 1872 as Cox’s Park, on the Callington branch of the East Cornwall Mineral Railway,
a goods line which was taken over by the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway, which later
amalgamated with the LSWR. Mrs Jenkyn — born Sarah Jane Thomas in 1890 — grew up in a house opposite
Latchley Halt. When the line was opened to passenger traffic
in 1908 she was invited to be station mistress. According to a Board of Trade Inspection
Report, ‘There is a home signal in each direction worked from the platform whenever it is
required to stop a train’. Although she married and raised four children she stayed in her
post till the line closed in 1966. In connection with her 48-year railway career, Mrs Jenkyn
has been mentioned in several local history books and in later life appeared twice on
television. She died in 1979.
Left: Station mistress Emily Merwood of Whippingham station, IOW, 1908. Whippingham was the nearest station to the Queen's residence, Osborne House.
