It is often said that the local station master was the ‘first citizen’ in his local community and George Wakefield (1822-1889), station master at Blythe Bridge 1873-1889, certainly lived up to the ideal. George was born in Uttoxeter in August 1821, the son of George Wakefield, a joiner, and his wife Margaret. He had a twin sister, Hannah. According to the 1841 Census George Wakefield was an ‘apprentice shoemaker, living with his parents in Carter Street, Stafford. In 1844 he married Sarah Ann Kidd at Marchington and gave his occupation as a cordwainer, ie shoemaker. George also became active in the Chartist Movement during 1842 and would continue to hold reforming political and religious beliefs until his death, no doubt further shaped by being a Wesleyan Methodist. Ten years later,…