A 26-year-old conductress hailed a hero when she died days after trying to stop a tram from overturning in Burton has been immortalised at an historic tourist attraction.
 
Lilian Parker, who lived in Newhall, is represented on one of five permanent structures on display at Crich Tramway Village dedicated to those who worked on the trams around the First World War.
 
It is the latest in a series of stories in the Burton Mail following an appeal for families of victims of tram car 19 to come forward.
 
It is part of plans for a memorial to be erected commemorating the 100th anniversary of the tragedy next year.
 
It is hoped some of the original tram tracks recently pulled up from Burton Bridge following a recent revamp could be used in the memorial.
 
Miss Parker died after the Burton and Ashby Light Railway tram heading from Burton to Swadlincote slipped on leaves on the tracks and slid back down Bearwood Hill Road before overturning.
 
She tried to help driver Charles Insley apply the brake but was trapped under the tram as it overturned.
 
Her leg had to be amputated but she died six days later.
 
Passenger Caroline Hughes died en route to hospital.
 
Following her death, the community of Newhall paid for Miss Parker's headstone at St John's Cemetery.
 
In a list of employees of the Burton and Ashby Light Railway stored at the Magic Attic, in Swadlincote, it records Miss Parker living in Main Street, Newhall, at the time of her death.
 
She had been an insurance agent for Britannic Assurance Ltd. before she joined Burton and Ashby Light Railway on 6 Nov 1918.
 
She was later recorded as having "died (on 14 Oct 1919) from injuries received from Bearwood Hill Road disaster."
 
Miss Parker became a conductress during a shortage of male conductors as a result of the First World War.
 
Now, Crich Tramway Village, in Derbyshire, has used her tragic story in its own memorial to those working in the industry during the war.
 
Jan Barratt, learning and participation manager at Crick Tramway Village said, "In 2014 we commissioned a temporary exhibition on the First World War and wanted to have something that was a permanent legacy. We wanted to have something on tramway workers and their families affected by the First World War. We had funding from Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund to work with local communities including children from schools such as Granville Academy in Woodville, St Edwards Catholic Academy, and Sharpe's Pottery Museum, both in Swadlincote. We managed to get international artists Musson+Retallick so we are really lucky to have them. They did a lot of work in the community and ran workshops with a lot of children, staff, and visitors having input. There were lots of ideas and they researched the archives. They wanted something that looked like a tram rail as part of the structure so we got some track from our stockyard and formed five different pieces and one is Lilian Parker. She has a piece of structure with an enamel plaque. When we get some more funding we want a website so you can click on her name and find out more about her. She tried to get the brake to help the driver and became trapped under the tram. She lost her leg and several days later she died. We chose Lilian because the war meant that women were doing the jobs of men. For the first time, they were in a position of authority and in uniform. It was a big change in women's lives and there was a lot of resistance to it."
 
Musson+Retallick used the museum's archives and community engagement to inspire the final artwork, which consists of abstract figures, standing in different locations around Crich.
 
Each group of figures represent different stories relating to material in the national collection.
 
In total, the project has cost £27,000.
 
Laura Smith, fund-raising co-ordinator at Crich Tramway Village said, "The sculptures represent the heartbreaking and evocative stories of real individuals, such as Lilian, a conductress on the Burton and Ashby Tramway who died doing her job, and Ernest, who was born in Crich, became a driver with Leeds City Tramway, and survived the front line to return to a career on the tramways."
 
The permanent installation, "Conversations and Memories" is a legacy to the tramway men, women, and their families whose lives were lost or changed by the Great War.
 
Artistic duo Musson+Retallick were winners in the 2017 International Civic Trust Awards for their Somme Memorial Artwork in Barnsley.
 
Tramways throughout the UK lost many men to the war effort.
 
The tramway industry was also host to significant social change.
 
Female tram workers became very visible in positions of authority, yet it was a decade before emancipation.
 
Recruitment trams were the scene for life-changing moments.
 
It could be the second memorial Miss Parker may be part of if proposals to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the tram crash are given the go-ahead in Burton.
 
Mrs Barratt said, "I think the memorial will be brilliant. We took the artists to Sharpe's Pottery Museum and I deliberately went to where the accident happened and they took a lot of photographs. They were fascinated by her story and she was a major part of their research."
 
How the Incident Was Reported in the Burton Mail
 
Death of unknown woman injured in Burton tramcar smash today.
 
One of the women injured in the Light Railway car smash at Burton this afternoon succumbed to her injuries at the Infirmary.
 
Her name is unknown at the time of writing, but the police have the case of her identification in hand.
 
A profound sensation was caused in Burton and South Derbyshire today by a serious incident on the Burton and Ashby Light Railway at the Derbyshire end of Trent Bridge (Burton Bridge).
 
A car leaving Burton for Swadlincote and Ashby commenced running backward when about halfway up Bearwood Hill Road, an extremely steep gradient with an abrupt curve at the bottom, and rushing down the slope, left the metals and overturned.
 
Several People Injured
 
Several persons were injured, some very seriously, and it was at first feared that some had been killed on the spot.
 
This, however, was happily not the case, although in certain cases the injuries were such that fatal consequences were considered possible.
 
The most serious injuries were suffered by the conductress, Miss Parker, of Newhall, who was imprisoned beneath the car and very badly injured about both legs.
 
The ill-fated car was the 11:20 from Burton to Swadlincote due at the Swan Hotel at 11:32.
 
How it Happened
 
It was driven by Charles Insley, of Nelson Street, Swadlincote, an experienced and reliable motorman of several years' service with the Light Railway, and conductress, Miss Parker, of Main Street, Newhall, who volunteered for such work during the shortage of male conductors occasioned by the war.
 
The car had mounted the steep Bearwood Hill Road, and was about 170 to 200 yards up the incline when the wheels began to skid, whether owing to pressure of the leaves on the metals, or what cause is unknown for certain at the moment.
 
However, the vehicle suddenly ceased to go forward, and commenced to travel backwards down the slope.
 
Despite the utmost efforts of the driver it got out of control.
 
Quickly gathering momentum it dashed down the hill towards the bridge, and at the curve at the foot left the rails, and with a fearful crash smashed onto the pavement near River House, and there overturned on its side, crashing through the palings and hedge.
 
Thoroughly alarmed as the car rushed down, passengers, both inside and out, endeavoured to leave the vehicle, and some appear to have jumped off.
 
Aftermath of the Accident
 
Most, however, of the passengers who are variously stated to have numbered between 16 and 27, the latter is probably near the mark, were either flung from the top of the vehicle or imprisoned and injured inside.
 
The side of the car which came in contact with the pavement was smashed in, the windows shivered to atoms, and the seats uprooted, and those who escaped serious fractures of limbs, were badly cut and shaken.
 
Very few people were about at the time of the smash, but the noise naturally attracted many to the spot, and within an almost incredibly short time relief measures were in operation.
 
Many of the passengers were able to crawl out from the wreckage, but some were picked up in a practically comatose state.
 
Colonel Goer was one of those who were thrown right into the grounds of River House, as were another man and a woman.
 
He was able, eventually, after treatment to be taken home.
 
Helen Kreft.