Earls Court Underground Gets First Escalator 1911

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When London Underground installed it's very first Escalator in 1911, wary passengers were so apprehensive of this never seen before, monster, that they continued to use the stairs. It is reported that, to waylay their fears and demonstrate the safety of this 'new fangled contraption,' a one-legged employee of LU,namely Bumper Harris, jumped onto it and rode up and down, until tentative passengers joined him, on the moving staircase. Harris later went on to become Clerk of Works, on the second installation of an escalator at Charing Cross. During the excavations, a very ancient Oak Tree was discovered, this great tree was not discarded, but used to make Admiralty furniture, and a special, ornamental walking stick for their 'mini-hero' Bumper Harris, presented to him in 1913...the stick and Harris’s LU pocket watch are now housed in the London Transport Museum.