William Huskisson was the British politician fatally struck by a locomotive at the 1830 opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
The railway opened on 15 September 1830, linking two major industrial cities and inaugurating regular steam-powered passenger service. Huskisson, then Member of Parliament for Liverpool and a former cabinet minister, attended the ceremony as a distinguished guest.
During a scheduled water stop at Parkside, passengers were told to remain aboard, but many—including Huskisson—alighted. As he spoke with the Duke of Wellington, the locomotive Rocket approached on the adjacent track. Huskisson tried to climb back into the carriage but fell, and the train crushed his leg. He died later that day at Eccles vicarage.
Huskisson is often called the first railway fatality, but that wording is too broad: earlier deaths had occurred on railway lines. His death was instead the first railway fatality to receive widespread international publicity, helping make the dangers and possibilities of steam rail travel known to a mass audience.