Sometime during the summer of 1863, Ann and Joseph Cope of Derbyshire, England, welcomed their second child, a baby boy.
He was born in the adjacent county of Leicestershire, and when he was baptized in late August, he was given the name Leicester Railway.
Now, Ann and Joseph weren’t partial to inventive names. Their eldest child was named Ann Lucy, and their later children were named Eliza, John William, and Lucy. So they must have had a good reason to choose something as unusual as Leicester Railway.
I wasn’t able to find Leicester Railway’s birth record, or any mention of him in contemporary newspapers, but I do think it’s safe to assume that he was born at the Leicester railway station while his family (or perhaps just his mother) was traveling.
About a decade ago, an article about odd 19th-century baby names that ran in various British newspapers (e.g., Metro, Mirror, Daily Mail) claimed Leicester Railway Cope was born inside a train car specifically. While this could be the case, we have no way of knowing for certain.
P.S. Leicester is pronounced just like the name Lester.
Sources: FamilySearch.org, Family of Joseph Cope and Ann Wain – Glynn Roe’s Ancestors and Family
Image: Adapted from O&W Engine #143 (public domain)