Epitaph of Thomas Port killed by a railway train in 1838

On the eastern side of the church our attention was arrested by a neat slate slab, the lettering as perfect as when erected sixty years since. The subject appeals to our sympathies and we give the inscription.

‘To the memory of Thomas Port, of Burton-on-Trent, who near this town had both his legs severed from his body by the railway train. With the greatest fortitude he bore a second amputation by the surgeon, and died from loss of blood, August 7th, 1838, aged 33 years. [Note 299.1]

Bright rose the morn and vigorous rose poor Port
Gay on the train he used his wonted sport, [Note 299.2]
Ere noon arrived his mangled form they bore
With pain distorted and o'erwhelmed with gore;
When evening came to close the fatal day,
A mutilated corpse the sufferer lay."

How many thousand bright spirits have passed in a like manner, as in the Vision of Mirza, through the broken arches, victims of railway working, it would be hard to say. [Note 299.3]
As the railway had in this case just opened to Boxmoor,  The case of this poor sufferer is touching. He could not have, had he wished, chosen fairer spot for his last home. [Note 299.4]