George Nugent Tyrrell

George Nugent Tyrrell was born to John Tyrrell, private secretary to Sir George Nugent[2], and his wife Clarissa (née Merle) in London.

The family moved to Sidmouth in 1823, and Tyrrell attended Mount Radford School in Exeter. At the age of 16, he suffered a long illness and, in order to aid recovery, at the age of 21 he travelled to New South Wales for an "outdoor life".[3]

After a drought and commercial depression, he returned to England and started his railway career[1] as the stationmaster for the Great Western Railway in Keynsham in 1842, and by 1848 was a Superintendent based in Cirencester, Gloucester, Paddington, and then finally the Northern Division at Shrewsbury, and Chester.

In January 1864, the Chairman of the GWR, Richard Potter, defined a new role in the company, "Superintendent of the Line", whose duties were to "conduct the passenger business of the Railway". He proposed George Nugent Tyrrell for this role.[4]

Early in the role, Tyrrell looked to improve reliability, and this involved increasing scheduled journey times for some fast servies. Journey times between London and Birmingham increasing between 5-10 minutes. Tyrrell planned the new services through the Severn Tunnel which opened in 1886.[4]

Despite being initially a passenger-focused role, Tyrrell became involved in all aspects of train operation, including deployment of Telegraph Block Signalling[3], and gathering information on all accidents.[5]

Tyrrell held the position for 24 years, retiring in June 1888.[1]

The position of "Superintendent of the Line" continued in the GWR until nationalisation.