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Gifkins, Percy
From DARwiki
Percy Gifkins 1849-1925
Percy Gifkins served with the Windsor & Annapolis Railway and with the Dominion Atlantic Railway from 1871 (age 22 years) until retiring on November 1, 1915 (age 66). He was General Manager from May 1900 until retirement. He died May 23, 1925, and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Kentville, Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada. (The grave marker gives his year of birth as 1850.)
According to Marguerite Woodworth in her book History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway
Born at Harpenden, England, in 1849, Mr. Gifkins ran away to sea when he was a lad in his teens and for several years served as cabin boy and seaman on Her Majesty’s ships around the world. It was literally “by accident” that he entered railroading, for a fall from a ship’s mast seriously injured his knee and, realizing that his seafaring days were over, he took a position with the Windsor and Annapolis Railway that had been secured for him through his family’s intervention with the English directors. In 1871 he entered Peter Innes’ office as Audit Clerk; later he became Paymaster, then stationmaster at Annapolis and Halifax. Promotion to the positions of Auditor, General Passenger Agent and Passenger Traffic Superintendent quickly followed for Mr. Gifkins showed a decided aptitude for railroading and he possessed an inordinate talent for detail that characterized all his future administration of the Company's affairs.
The appointment of Mr. P. Gifkins in May 1900 to the post of General Manager was almost a foregone conclusion, for, besides having frequently assumed direction of the line during the absences of Mr. Campbell, he was peculiarly fitted for the task of directing the Company’s new steamship program.
Henceforth, the policy of the Company was directed by Mr. Gifkins instead of from London, and in the operation of the new boats he found a particular delight, reminiscent as it was of his seafaring days.
Gallery
References
History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway
The_Railway_and_Shipping_World_-_1900-08_-_P._Gifkins_-_Career_Details
The_Railway_and_Shipping_World_-_1902-04_-_General_Manager_Gifkins_Visits_England
