Plaque honours a saviour of the railway line
A PLAQUE in memory of Douglas King, a solicitor instrumental in the campaign to save the railway line to Birmingham, has been unveiled at Wilmcote station.
Mr King’s children, racehorse owner and trainer Anabel King-Murphy and her sister Roz Wyles, were at the station on Tuesday (8th February) along with Michael Brockington, the veteran railway campaigner, for the unveiling.
Mr King, who died in 2008, practised as a solicitor in Birmingham. As a regular user of the train service in the 1960s he became involved in the campaign to stop British Railways from closing the line between Birmingham and Stratford, which was announced in 1966.
He acted as solicitor for the North Warwickshire Line Defence Committee, known today as the Shakespeare Line Promotion Group.
Mr King’s dedication led, within just three days of the line’s proposed closure, to the Court of Appeal granting an injunction against the British Railways board that effectively saved the line.
He had acted on information from Mr Brockington, who at the time was the financial director at the Stratford Herald and had learned that British Railways had asked for the publication of a schedule of the alternative bus services and confirmation that the railway line would close to passengers in May 1969.
Mr King needed a copy of the proposed public notice immediately and Mr Brockington got the Herald’s typesetters to pull out all the stops, produce the plate, and print a copy off. Mr Brockington then boarded a train at Stratford and took the copy to Mr King, enabling him to start court proceedings.
Fraser Pithie, secretary of SLPG and John Philps, one of the lead volunteers at Wilmcote station, were also present for the unveiling.
Mr Pithie said, “This plaque is long overdue, and we wanted to put that right. It is fabulous that Michael Brockington and Douglas’s daughters Anabel and Roz were there to unveil this plaque and remember and commend Douglas King’s tenacity as a solicitor, which undoubtedly stopped Stratford-upon-Avon and towns and villages along the railway route from losing their train service.”
