station master (1853)

[Baker, John]

        An 1851 New Hampshire case actually provides further evidence for the likely British provenance:  "So in Rooke v. The Midland Railway Company, 14 Law & Eq. Rep., 175, a demand of goods made upon the station master, at the station where the goods were, and a refusal, was held to be evidence of a conversion by the defendants."  Arthur v. Balch, 23 N.H. 157 (1851).  I don't have the Rooke case, but there's a good chance that it's a further antedating.

John Baker