The Last Journey of William Huskisson by Simon Garfield, Faber and Faber, £14.99, ISBN 0571210481 Reviewed by Roy Herbert
AS accident-prone as a rival Oliver Hardy, Simon Garfield introduces us to William Huskisson, MP, the first man ever to be killed on the railway. Present at the opening of the line from Liverpool to Manchester in 1830 he failed to scramble out of the way of Stephenson’s Rocket and he fell under its wheels. Like all early locomotives, the Rocket had no brakes. Huskisson’s right leg was crushed and he died a short time later. His gruesome Injuries are gratuitously…
