The Glasson Dock Railway Station was opened in 1883 by the London and North Western Railway. Via an online search I have obtained the records of its early Station Masters. Images of these records are presented below. I have transcribed the essence of these entries and for some of the individuals I have added information from censuses.

Henry Preston was the first Station Master at Glasson Dock taking up the post on 9^th July 1883. He’d been born on 9/10/1859 to John and Sarah, both from Kendal. His father was also in the railway business being a “Railway Goods Agent” and probably at Windermere as Henry’s younger sister Ann is only 3 months old on the 1861 census and like Henry had been born there. By the age of 21 Henry is a “Railway Clerk” and boarding at Skerton on the north side of Lancaster on the 1881 census. He may have met his wife Sarah there as she was from that neck of the woods. His move to Glass Dock from Lancaster Goods Dept gained him a pay rise from £65 to £75/yr. He stayed until 9^th March 1890 when he moved onto Lancaster Coaching Dept and the 1891 census has him as a Railway Inspector living in Lancaster. Ten years later he is sadly a widower with no mention of children. By this time he is a Station Master again, probably at Oxenholme, as he was living at nearby Natland.

According to these records John Bowness was the second Station Master at Glasson Dock, but after a gap of three years following the departure of his predecessor. He was born at Staveley in Westmorland, now Cumbria, on 14^th May 1860 and entered railway service on 23^rd October 1874, i.e. aged 14. His father James was a Bobbinturner from Applethwaite. His mother Lydia was from Staveley. He was their fourth child. By 20 he was an Apprentice at Kendal Goods Dept and from there on 1^st March 1886 he moved to Barbon, on the Ingleton line, as Station Master, where on the 1891 census he is also recorded as being a local preacher. From there he moved to Glasson Dock on 17/2/1893 with a pay rise from £70 to £80. Unfortunately he had to leave on the 15^th July 1895 due to illness and died just two months later on the 19^th September. His pay though was continued up until the end of that month.

W. Taylor arrived at Glasson Dock on 4^th October 1895, just short of 3 months after the untimely departure of his predecessor. He was born on 22/6/1867 and entered railway service on 21/12/1881, aged 14. The move to Glasson from Galgate Carriage & Wagon Dept raised his pay from 27 shillings/wk (£70-2-0 per year) to £80.  When pay is quoted per week it usually signifies an hourly rate, whereas if quoted as an annual figure it implies that the person is salaried and expected to work more flexibly as responsibilities and  circumstances require. He left Glasson on 24/7/1900 for the Coaching Dept at Gildersome.

The records then suggest a 2 year 3 month gap before the appointment of the next Station Master. M. Robinson. He came to Glasson Dock on 1^st November 1902 on a salary of £100. He stayed for almost 6 years leaving on 1^st October 1908 to Middleton Coaching Dept. In December 1914 he is recorded as Station Master at Hest Bank.

There was then a gap of almost a further year before the appointment of Robert Raffles who took up the post of Station Master at Glasson Dock on 19th July 1909 having moved from Lancaster Coaching Superintendents Dept. His pay was initially held at £80 but increase to £90/yr on 1st January 1910. He was born at Westward, Cumberland (Today’s Cumbria) on 9th December 1879. He was from a railway family. On both the 1881 and 1891 censuses his father, from Scotland, was Station Master at Curthwaite on the Maryport and Carlisle line. Robert himself entered railway service on 27th April 1896 and on the 1901 census is described as a “Railway Clerk”, aged 21, living as a boarder in Lancaster. The 1911 census, taken on 2nd April, has him at Glasson Dock, aged 31, and married to Flora. However on 1st May that year he moved on to Carnforth Rolling Stock Dept. By 1921 he was Station Master at Southwaite.

The final Station Master at Glasson Dock prior to WW1 was John Joseph Taylor who took up the position on 17th July 1911. This was just two months after the departure of his predecessor with whom he had a childhood connection; both had spent their early years at Curthwaite where John had been born on 3rd August 1876. He’d entered railway service 1/7/1892. His move to Glasson brought a pay rise from £80 to £90 with a further increase to £100 on 1/8/1914. He left on 31st May 1916 to take up the position of Station Master at Kirby Lonsdale where he is recorded on the 1921 census aged 44 married to Margaret 3 years his senior; a lass from nearby Cowan Bridge.