Thomas Edmondson

Infobox Person
name = Thomas Edmondson

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caption = Thomas Edmondson
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birth_date = 30 June 1792
birth_place = Lancaster
death_date = 22 May 1851
death_place = Manchester
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nationality = England
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known_for = Edmondson railway ticket
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footnotes = Thomas Edmondson (born 30 June 1792 in Lancaster, England died 22 May 1851 in Manchester, England) is the inventor of the
Edmondson railway ticket.

He was a member of the Religious Society of Friends and originally worked in the Lancaster cabinet making business of Gillow.

While working as a station master on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway he devised the idea of a new type of railway ticket: a small piece of cardboard, pre-printed with journey details (as opposed to the then current hand-written paper bill). The tickets would be numbered by hand, and validated by a separate date-stamping press when purchased. He also invented and built a foot-operated version of the latter device.

When the Manchester and Leeds Railway opened in 1839 Edmondson became the company's chief booking clerk at Manchester.

The invention which made Edmondson's fortune was his final development: a machine which would print tickets in batches complete with the serial numbers. He patented this machine, and was able to charge a royalty to railway companies amounting to ten shillings per annum per mile of the company's routes.

His machines and their improved successors quickly became the standard for British and other railways. He died a wealthy man; members of his family carried on the business for many years afterwards.

References

* [http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/data2/spcoll/brown/edmondlist.html biography and photographs of old Edmondson tickets] by Charlie Hulme, John Rylands University Library of Manchester.

See also

* [http://www.ministry-of-information.co.uk/blog1/0508/210805-01a.htm Birthplace of Thomas Edmondson] , corner of Moor Lane, Lancaster