Hunt on for family of rail plunge driver

DESCENDANTS of the train driver who died in the Tay Bridge rail disaster in 1879 are being sought to help a Fife community erect a headstone in his honour.

David Mitchell was one of 75 people to die when the Dundee bridge collapsed as the train passed over, killing everyone on board.

He was buried in an unmarked grave in Leslie, Fife, and now a campaign has been launched to establish an inscribed headstone for him.

Ian Nimmo White, 62, a poet drafted in to write the inscription, said the descendants of Mr Mitchell had to consent to the headstone before it could legally proceed and some of them could be in the Capital.

Mr Mitchell had five children and his last surviving child was buried in 1972, aged 95. Her niece Beatrice Taylor - or maybe Mitchell Taylor - appears on the death certificate and lived in Bryce Avenue, off Portobello Road in Edinburgh.

Mr Nimmo White said: "We are very keen to ensure his grave is properly marked.

"We need the family's permission before the people of Leslie can erect a headstone for him."