Chapter 2

ACCIDENTS, DISASTERS AND DISEASE

It is useful to be aware of the context and history of everyday accidents, disasters and disease rather than just concentrating on what happened to your particular mining ancestor. This chapter therefore aims to provide background information as well as practical suggestions for your research and concludes with information and guidelines about the important subjects of mines rescue and gallantry awards.

Everyday accidents and dreadful disasters

Working in a coal mine has always been regarded as a dangerous occupation. Ian Winstanley’s database of mining deaths (see below) has more than 100,000 searchable entries, but his complete listing extends to over a quarter of a million names, from pre-1840 to 1949. According to statistics extracted from HM Mines Inspectors’ Reports, annual deaths from accidents underground and on the pit top averaged 1,129 between 1873–1882. This level increased to 1,275 for the years 1903–1912 and climaxed at 1,753 in 1913.

It is highly likely that your coalmining ancestor will have had personal experience of one or more accidents, either to himself or to a workmate.

When a major disaster occurred, just about everyone in nearby communities was directly or indirectly affected by the event. Almost entire age groups of young and adult males were removed from streets, neighbourhoods and pit villages, leaving scores of widows and hundreds of dependant children. There are many cases where fathers died alongside sons. Five brothers, aged 17–32, were killed in the Oaks disaster of 1866, where twenty-seven rescue workers also died. Only a generation earlier, in 1838, at the Huskar pit near Barnsley, the nation was shocked to hear about the deaths of twenty-six children, trapped and drowned underground following a freak storm. The youngest, James Birkinshaw, was aged 7 and Sarah Newton was 8. The average age of the fifteen males and eleven females was only 10.8 years.

However, throughout the nineteenth century, and well into the twentieth, it was the day-to-day loss of life that was the main feature of the industry. So-called ‘safe pits’ usually meant collieries that did not experience major (i.e. multiple-death) accidents or disasters. Jim MacFarlane’s research concerning a typical Doncaster area colliery revealed that in the one hundred years of coal production at Denaby Main there were 203 fatal accidents, therefore an average of over two per annum. The worst year was in 1896 when there were seven deaths. Six Denaby miners lost their lives in 1904 and also in 1907; and there were five deaths in 1872,1906,1930 and 1932. In the twenty-two years after nationalisation (1947–1968) there were still only six years free of any fatalities, though the average annual death-rate had fallen to one per year. Accidents were ever-present in the minds of mining families. For the widow or children the loss of a loved one remained long after the wider public memory had faded.

A mine disaster widow: Mrs Sarah Hyde, whose husband, Thomas Hyde, lost his life in the Oaks Colliery disaster on 11 December 1866. Thomas’s body was not recovered until eighteen months later, his remains identified by a patch that Mrs Hyde had sewn on his trousers. Sarah is sitting in her small front garden, attired in mourning clothes and holding a small bible or prayer book. This striking image was taken in c.1900, about forty years later. The couple were both aged 25 and had two small children when disaster struck. They appear to have migrated to Barnsley from Swadlincote, Derbyshire. Thomas is described as ‘coal miner’ in the 1861 census for Swadlincote and was a collier at the Oaks at the time of his sudden death. Almost the entire male colliery-working population of Hoyle Mill, a small but thriving mining and glassmaking community where the Hydes lived, was lost in what remains England’s worst mine disaster.

Relatively minor injuries, keeping a miner off work for a few days or several weeks, were also common, even in relatively recent times. Growing up in a 1950s mining community, the sight of the NCB ambulance, though not unusual, sent shivers through our household. Would it be bringing Dad home again following a ‘pit accident’? ‘Ambulance men’ and ‘pit nurses’ were important pit-top staff, kept especially busy at the big pits. Dad was often grateful for their help. Keen to help colleagues in emergencies, some miners were involved in first-aid training, taking great pride in their skills when entering competitions.

Those miners who ‘won the coal’ at the coalface – the ‘hewers’ or ‘getters’ – were in most danger, injured or killed through falls of roof or side collapses. Accidents involving underground haulage – the movement of coal – was also a major cause of death, and one that usually involved young miners. Violent death through explosions was a far less common occurrence. Some pits and some regions, however, noted for their ‘fiery’ seams, stand out as ‘explosion black spots’ at various periods, none more so than at Whitehaven in Cumberland, parts of County Durham, Lancashire and Yorkshire, Somerset and Staffordshire and especially in the anthracite mines of south Wales.

Though employment on the pit top was regarded as an ‘easier’ and ‘safer’ job, in practice it was a noisy, dirty and dusty place to work, certainly not free from fatal accidents – for men and boys as well as women in some regions (see Chapter 4). Working on the screens (sifting ‘muck’ from the coal), and moving and emptying tubs accounted for one in ten of all fatalities at Denaby Main, which was quite typical of other mines.

The accident record at Denaby’s close neighbour Cadeby Main would have been ‘normal’ but for one single event: the explosion that killed thirty-five men towards the end of their night shift, early in the morning of 9 July 1912. A second explosion not long afterwards then took the lives of fifty-three men involved in rescue operations, including three HM Inspectors of Mines and the managers of both collieries. The death toll would have been far greater, but for the fact that many Cadeby miners had taken the day off on account of a royal visit to Conisbrough Castle by George V and Queen Mary. Whereas the day-to-day accidents at Denaby and Cadeby attracted only small amounts of local press, the 1912 disaster attracted massive media coverage, regionally and nationally, even internationally. A local reporter estimated that a crowd of 80,000 had flocked to the pit. Disasters had long been ‘tourist attractions’, with special railway excursions laid on to cater for a voyeuristic public.

‘Waiting for news’ is the caption for this postcard, one of several produced to commemorate the Cadeby Colliery disaster of 1912.

Under the 1911 Coal Mines Act those regarded as ‘killed’ in a mining accident were supposed to include those who died within a period of a year and a day of the date of its occurrence. In reality it is doubtful if this requirement was totally adhered to. And in earlier times there must have been many unrecorded deaths of miners who only survived for a few months after an accident or for those who died from ‘complications’. That is why it is important for researchers not to rely wholly on death certificate evidence.

Statistics will never demonstrate human stories, which is why our family histories are so important to social and industrial history as a whole. In 1936, when my father Fred Elliott was a teenage miner, part of the mine where he worked – Wharncliffe Woodmoor 1, 2 & 3 Colliery, near Barnsley – exploded and fifty-eight men and young lads, some not much older than himself, were killed. Dad was not working on that fateful nightshift, but of course knew many of those who died. Not surprisingly, years later, there were always moments of unease for my mother after Dad had set off to work; and this apprehension increased if ever he was late home. This almost unrecorded situation was repeated in countless households wherever coal was mined.

After the nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947 improved health and safety measures resulted in a marked reduction in mining deaths throughout British coalfields, though this also coincided with a great decrease in employment due to pit closures. But as late as 1968 there were 115 fatalities in British mines. In 1971, my cousin George Eastwood, aged 37, lost his life in an underground machinery accident, one of the last recorded deaths at Grimethorpe Colliery. My uncle, Frank Elliott, was a miner at Houghton Main Colliery in 1975 when an explosion killed five of his colleagues. Barry Hines’ two television plays and book The Price of Coal (Michael Joseph, 1979 and Pomona, 2005) were inspired by the Houghton Main – and the earlier, 1973, Lofthouse disaster. Although few working mines remain, occasional pit deaths continue to remind us of the dangers that our mining ancestors endured. This was no more apparent than in 2011 when four men perished in a flooding at Gleision Colliery, a small drift mine in south Wales. Single fatalities have also occurred in three UK Coal pits: Kellingley, Daw Mill and Welbeck; and at the Hargreaves Services’ Maltby colliery.

Occupational diseases and ailments

Although I have interviewed many sprightly former miners in their eighties and nineties (and several centenarians), occupational health problems often remained with them. For many unluckier younger men, years of breathing in large amounts of coal and stone dust led to debilitating and sometimes deadly respiratory problems, generally referred to as ‘miners’ lung’. Even so, sufferers may not always have pneumoconiosis, silicosis and emphysema – or chronic bronchitis – recorded on their death certificates. My father was an underground fitter for much of his working life. He installed, maintained and repaired machines and equipment such as coal-cutters, pumps and hydraulic props. I remember him being off work due to injuries to his legs, arms and back in particular. By necessity he had to work in places that were very cramped and hot as well as cold and damp. For ‘compensation’ when working in wet conditions he received ‘water money’, a pittance really. Dad, a great sportsman in his younger days, had to finish his employment before full retirement age, pretty well damaged by his work. When he was in his eighties and quite frail I helped him get a small amount of compensation following medical tests that confirmed respiratory disease.

By 2003, the Labour government via the Department of Trade and Industry ran two compensation schemes, one for respiratory disease and the other for Vibration White Finger (VWF). The number of registered claims from former miners and their dependants reached almost 400,000, some relating to men born as long ago as the 1880s.

Many miners also suffered from arthritis and rheumatism in later life. Conditions such as dermatitis and nystagmus (an eye impairment) were also officially recognised as occupational diseases in mines inspectors’ reports. Relatively minor but painful conditions such as ‘beat knee’ (or beat hand, wrist or elbow) were also prevalent, though less easy to claim damages for. One veteran miner told me about his difficulty in getting compensation for his ‘bad knees’. On his application form he estimated that he usually crawled about 300 yards in order to reach low workings – three times a shift – and had done this for fifty-one years, covering several thousand miles. Miners were easily recognised by the wider public in swimming baths and when shirtless at the seaside. The small blue marks embedded in the skin were evidence of old cuts containing coal dust that later healed. For young haulage lads (and lasses) who pushed trams or tubs of coal through low roadways, their ‘badge of office’ was a line of small scars along their vertebrae, occasionally known as ‘trammer’s scab’.

I never knew my paternal grandfather, also called Fred Elliott, as he died aged 60 in 1948 when I was 2 years old, ostensibly of cancer, but he was pretty well worn out by a life of mining. Fred worked at Dodworth and Monckton collieries in Yorkshire and had a hard life by all accounts, finding solace, as many miners did, through his working men’s club, pigeon racing and allotment. Earlier, before the introduction of the compulsory retirement age of 65 for men, it was not unusual to find some miners working in their late sixties, seventies, or occasionally even older, employed on ‘lighter’ jobs. Fred, due to his health situation, worked as an ‘engineman’s attendant’ on the pit top. Older and disabled miners were often employed on the screens.

During much of the the nineteenth century the life expectancy of miners was about ten years below the national figure of about 49 for a male worker. It was only after an Act of 1918 that compensation for those miners who could prove disability or partial disability by silicosis was possible.

Tip

If your recent relative was involved in a miners’ compensation claim his employment details will have been obtained by a solicitor, so try contacting the relevant law firm in order to access information that otherwise would be difficult, costly or impossible to obtain.

RESEARCH GUIDE

Parish and chapel burial registers, and from 1837 death certificates, are the basic sources for fatalities and deaths of coalminers, though the information provided is usually minimal – and occasionally incomplete or missing.

Burial registers

If your ancestor was killed in a coalmining accident after 1812 the ‘cause of death’, albeit brief, should be recorded in the standard burial register for Church of England parishes, on printed forms, easily accessible via your local studies library/record office, family history society/Church of Latter Day Saints’ (Mormon) research centre; and via online sources. Although nonconformity, especially Methodism, was a major influence in mining communities, details were usually recorded in parish registers even after civil registration commenced. Do take stock of other mine fatalities around the time that your miner died, so as to give some context to your ancestor’s demise. Before 1812 any reference to the cause of death of a single miner in registers is extremely rare and likely to be limited to a few words such as ‘killed in a coal pit’. For multiple fatalities there may be a little more information. Peculiar to Yorkshire, the Archbishop instructed clergy to record the occupations, ages and cause of death of parishioners in 1777, though not every incumbent obliged, even diligent ones stopping by 1779. However, the practice was resumed between 1796–1812. If you have a Yorkshire mining ancestor for these periods the registers are worth a check.

Civil registration

Death certificates are available for England and Wales from 1837 and from 1855 for Scotland. But, once again, only brief details of the cause of death will be recorded. Do bear in mind that your mining ancestor may have lost his life at or in a colliery located in a different registration area to that of his place of residence.

By far the most useful sources of information on coalmining injuries and fatalities are:

• mines inspectors’ reports

• newspapers and periodicals

• internet websites

HM Mines Inspectors’ Reports

1850–1855

In the wake of growing public concern over the number of deaths in coalmining accidents, a Bill ‘for the inspection of coal mines’ was passed by Parliament in 1850. The Home Secretary, Sir George Grey, on behalf of the Crown, created four inspection areas, each controlled by a qualified engineer:

• Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland and Scotland (Mathias Dunn)

• Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire (Charles Morton)

• Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and North Wales (Joseph Dickinson)

• South Wales, Monmouthshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset (John Kenyon Blackwell, replaced by Herbert Mackworth).

It was soon realized that the areas were too large and the number of inspectors insufficient for the job. Three new appointments were made during 1852/53: Thomas Wynne (for Staffordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire) and Robert Williams and William Lancaster (for Scotland). The 1850 Act, which was only meant to last five years, was extended in 1855 for a further term and inspectors’ powers were increased. By 1856 the inspection districts were increased to twelve. These and their respective inspectors, soon to be known as ‘Blackcoats’ (you can imagine the smartly-dressed visits to a pit), were:

• North Durham, Northumberland and Cumberland (Matthias Dunn)

• South Durham (John Atkinson)

• West Scotland (William Alexander)

• East Scotland (Robert Williams)

• Yorkshire (Charles Morton)

• Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire (John Hedley)

• North and East Lancashire (Joseph Dickinson)

• West Lancashire and North Wales (Peter Higson)

• North Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire (Thomas Wynne)

• South Staffordshire and Worcestershire (Lionel Brough)

• Monmouth, Gloucestershire and Somerset (Herbert Mackworth)

• South Wales (Thomas Evans).

It is useful to be aware of these and later districts and inspectors when accessing the reports.

Under the new Act any fatality had to be reported to the inspectors who had the right to enter every mine. It was an almost impossible task as the pioneer inspectors were grossly overworked, underpaid and had no clerical assistance. Thomas Wynne, working in a geographically compact district, travelled 10,000 miles in a year. Just think of the time and logistics of this in the mid-1850s. In 1877, Frank Wardell, responsible for 543 mainly Yorkshire mines, travelled 16,000 miles to visit seventy-one collieries, investigate nineteen complaints and attend seventy-one inquests. Wardell also had to write 4,000 letters, probably late in the evening and when nearly exhausted. Not surprisingly many collieries operated for years without inspection: the black-coats just could not get round to them all. Very few miners knew the name of their district inspector. But there is no question that the inspectors were very able and conscientious men and this is reflected in the great care that was expended in producing their annual reports.

The Reports of HM Inspectors of Mines (January 1851-December 1855) were published as irregular reports until mid-1852 and then as half-yearly reports, though due to an oversight the following were overlooked for publication: Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland and Scotland (June–December 1851 and December–June 1852); Scotland (January–June 1852); Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and North Wales (June–December 1851, January–April 1852 and May–June 1852); Thomas Wynne: Lancashire, Cheshire and North Wales (January–April 1852); Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire (May–June 1852); and South Western: South Wales, Gloucestershire and Somerset (December 1851–July 1852). The originals can be found in The National Archives: HO 87/53.

A one-off volume appeared in 1853: Coal Mines: Return of the number of accidents in coal mines during the years 1850, 1851, and 1852, specifying each particular accident …

Although all notified fatal accidents were listed there are small discrepancies when entries are compared with the half-yearly reports.

A tabular list of fatal accidents for each district included columns for the date of the accident, colliery details (name, location and owners), persons killed, cause of death and the basic type of accident (statistically entered under falls of roof, explosion, shaft and miscellaneous). The cause of death entry is usually quite brief, as can be seen in the 1853 report page illustrated (p. 48), taken from Joseph Dickinson’s report for Lancashire, Cheshire and North Wales. Interestingly, this includes a reference to the death of a female ‘pit-brow lassie’, Elizabeth Jolly, who was ‘killed on the surface by a chain breaking’ at the Ince Hall pit in Wigan.

Tip

For all of the reports do read the whole text for the district in which your ancestor was killed as inspectors often commented and made recommendations about a particular accident or type of accident. Do this and you will be better placed to appreciate the context and social conditions of the death. And cross-reference the death using other sources such as death certificate, parish register entry and inquest/newspaper report.

Extract (p. 70) from HM Inspector Joseph Dickinson’s Report for Lancashire, Cheshire and North Wales for the half-year ending 31 December 1853.

An interesting statistical page from HM Inspector Thomas Williams’ Report for the Eastern District of Scotland, for April-July 1860.

Unfortunately for family history research, not all accident victims are named. Vague entries such as ‘a boy’, ‘a person’ and ‘2 men’ might appear – or even a dash signifying the person’s name was unknown when reported. Ages are not always given. Also bear in mind that occasional fatalities, especially where the person died a few hours or days after the accident, may not be recorded, and that despite the legal requirement, some fatalities were probably not reported during these early inspection years.

1856–1915

From 1856, Reports of H.M. Inspectors of Mines were published annually. There remained some variances in the way each Inspector commented about safety issues, but the Annual Reports assumed a more common form from the 1860s.

Furthermore, the addition of ‘remarks’ to the cause of death listings meant more ‘death details’, especially after the 1890s. A table was also added for occupations: names such as ‘drawer’, ‘haulier’, ‘horse-driver’, ‘door boy’, ‘sinker’, ‘engineman’ were used, as well as more the more generic ‘collier’ (or ‘collier boy’) – and ‘pitman’.

Robert Williams’ Eastern Scotland report, for 1860, includes an entry for the death of Margaret Patterson, a ‘pitheadwoman’ killed ‘by falling off a scaffold at pithead’ at Townhill colliery, near Dunfermline, on 25 June. Some inspectors, such as those representing Scotland and Yorkshire, continued to omit the age at death but others, for example in the south Wales and Midland districts, were more diligent.

Case study 1

John Cardwell (‘a boy’) was ‘crushed by corves’ in Earl Fitzwilliam’s Low Elsecar pit in Yorkshire on 10 May 1860, according to Inspector Charles Morton’s report. The Barnsley Record of 19 May 1860 described the inquest, though Cardwell’s first name is now given, more correctly, as ‘George’, and we now learn that he was only 10 years old, the minimum age for working underground since the 1842 Mines Act:

FATAL COLLIERY ACCIDENT

On Saturday, an inquest was held before Mr Badger, at the Ship Inn, Elsecar, on view of the body of George Cardwell, miner, aged ten years, son of John Cardwell, miner, Elsecar, who was killed in the Lower Elsecar pit on Thursday. Deceased was a trapper, and it was his duty to sit behind a trap-door, which he opened by means of a string when corves passed to and fro. About noon, instead of opening the door with the string as usual, he seems to have got up to do so, when the corves forced him against the door and crushed him so seriously about the head and body that he died almost instantaneously.

‘Killed by being crushed against a Trap Door’ is the cause of death on George Cardwell’s death certificate and a little more information is provided about the name and location of the colliery: ‘Elsecar Low Pit near Tingle Bridge’. Tingle Bridge was a canal-side hamlet situated just to the north of Elsecar village, at Hemingfield. Earl Fitzwilliam, the aristocratic mine owner, lived nearby in one of the largest country mansions in the country, Wentworth Woodhouse. His colliery, employing 150–200 men and boys, was managed by the Earl’s ‘servant’ Joshua Biram. Inspector Charles Morton had visited the pit some eight years earlier, following the death of ten miners who were killed in an explosion. One of the injured, 22-year-old George Lindley, a trammer, was partly blamed for the disaster, as he had left a trap door open, an error that led to a build-up and deadly ignition of methane gas.

The Elsecar colliery manager and his ‘fire-trier’ were therefore well aware of the importance of closing trap doors. But picture this lonely boy trapper sat for hours and feeling sleepy in almost pitch dark with only an occasional light of a candle or dim lamp; and then, rather than using his string to tug open the door, jumping up to attend to the approaching tubs. This sort of children’s work was described in Commissioners’ evidence collected for the 1842 Report, eighteen years earlier, when girls worked underground:

I’m a trapper in Gawber pit [near Barnsley]. It does not tire me but I have to trap without a light, and I’m scared. Sometimes I sing when I have a light, but not in the dark … I don’t like being in the pit.

(Sarah Gooder, aged 8: 1842 Mines Report, vol. XVI, pp. 252–3)

Lord Londonderry, one of the most wealthy and influential of the coal-owners, was a major opponent during the course of the ‘Children in Coal Mines’ bill passing through Parliament. He scoffed at the way in which evidence was collected from ‘artful boys and ignorant young girls’ and presented a petition which included the following:

The trapper’s employment is neither cheerless, dull, nor stupefying; nor is he, or can be, kept in solitude and darkness all the time in the pit… The trapper is generally cheerful and contented, and … occupied with some childish amusement – as cutting sticks, making models of windmills, waggons etc., and frequently in drawing figures with chalk on his door …

(Hansard, House of Lords, 24 June 1842)

A more realistic portrayal of a trapper, in verse, appeared not long after Cardwell’s death:

Beside the ventilating door
The Little Trapper lay,

And sleep had closed his weary eyes
As night shuts out the day.

He left his home before the sun
Had filled the earth with joy.

And to the pit did wend his way
An English Trapper Boy

(The British Miner, 1862)

To re-emphasise: do combine sources whenever possible as this will put the fatality in its historical context.

There were several changes in the names of inspectors over the next few years and in 1874 assistants or sub-inspectors were appointed for each district. From 1889 District Reports were issued. In 1908, a former ‘mines apprentice’ and Northumberland pit manager, Richard Redmayne, was appointed HM Chief Inspector of Mines, a new post, and an annual overview of the work of the inspectors began to be published. Aged 43, it was Redmayne who was the main author of the Royal Commission on Accident in Mines’ Report, which appeared in 1908. The Report’s recommendations formed the basis of the landmark 1911 Mines Act or ‘The Miners’ Charter’ as it became generally known. Redmayne’s period of office, to 1920, coincided with six major colliery disasters: Maypole (Wigan, 1908), Wellington (Cumberland, 1910), Pretoria (Bolton, 1910), Cadeby (Yorkshire, 1912), Senghenydd (south Wales, 1913) and Podmore (Staffordshire, 1918). His autobiography, Men, Mines and Memories (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1942) is well worth reading as he was such an important figure in the coal industry, especially concerning accidents and safety.

As can be seen in the illustrated example (p. 53) for the year 1908, taken from Appendix I of Gray’s District Report for South Wales, comments had become far more detailed. Even so, cross-checking with newspapers is still well worthwhile.

Page 44 of HMI Gray’s Report for the South Wales District, 4 January to 3 April 1908, showing in more detail the circumstances of death, mostly relating to haulage accidents.

Case study 2

In Inspector Gray’s District Report for South Wales, for 1908, an entry for 4 February 1908 records – under miscellaneous – the death of Mark Hudd, aged 42, ‘a collier’, who worked at ‘Eastern [Pit], Glamorgan [owned by the] Ocean Coal Co., Ltd’, in the Rhondda. Hudd’s death is described as follows:

Deceased, who was standing near the shaft top as a cage filled with men began to be lowered, jumped forward to get in, and was crushed to death against the collar boards. It was a mad act to attempt, and if he had succeeded in getting in the cage he would not have gained more than a minute’s time.

Note the inspector’s comment concerning Hudd’s apparently foolhardy act. His death certificate, obtained from Pontypridd RO, confirms the date of death as 4 February but states that he was aged 48 years, six years more than that recorded by the Inspector. The cause is given, quite factually, as ‘Accidental death from being crushed between a descending pit carriage and the framing at the pit head’.

By referring to the Rhondda Leader (15 February 1908), a more detailed account of the accident and the Hudd family circumstances becomes apparent, although his pit is named as Bwllfa Colliery:

On Tuesday last, the coroner, Mr. R.J. Rhys, held an inquest at the Workmen’s Hall, Ton, touching the death of Mark Hudd, collier, who met his death at the Bwllfa Colliery on Tuesday in attempting to enter a bond [cage] whilst in motion. Jenkin Thomas, assistant banksman, said deceased and three others were waiting to descend the mine in the last bond, and after the signal had been given to lower a full complement of men, Hudd made a dash for the cage and was struck by it, and killed instantly. A verdict of ‘Accidental death’ was returned. The body was removed from his residence, 143 Ystrad Road, to Ystrad Station en route for Bristol, where interment took place. Deceased was a widower and leaves 8 children to mourn his loss.

Thus Hudd’s demise may well have been due to him not wanting to miss the last descent of the cage, therefore losing a day’s pay and letting his mates down. A daft thing to do, yes, but this context needs bearing in mind. Perhaps the Inspector did not receive the full story. The reference to Bristol suggests that Mark Hudd was one of the thousands of men and their families who migrated from the West Country to work in the Valleys during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Ton Pentre Workingmen’s Hall and Institute (where the inquest was held) closed in 1989 and was derelict for two years until it reopened as ‘the Phoenix Cinema’ in 1991. It is a Grade II listed building. The ‘Eastern Pit’ was sunk near Ystrad in 1877 and was one of the mines in the ownership of David Davies and the Ocean Steam Coal Company. Eastern appears to have had mixed fortunes, employing over 800 persons in 1923, but less than 200 a decade later.

Detail from the death certificate of Mark Hudd, collier, 1908.

The annual Reports of HM Inspectors of Mines continued to be published until 1914 after which they were suspended due to the First World War. A retrospective and summary 1915–20 report was published by the Chief Inspector but this has little value for family history research as it is mainly statistical. From 1920, now via the Board of Trade and the new Mines Department, the status of the mines inspectorate changed, and the annual reports were no longer issued as Command (i.e. parliamentary) Papers. Names of fatalities and details were not given in the reports, though they can still be useful to read because of the background information contained in them.

For family history research, the great advantage of the reports published up to and including 1914 is that most fatalities are actually named and the cause of death given.

Accessing annual mines inspectors’ and disaster reports

The Annual Inspector of Mines reports (seventy-five volumes) are in HO 87/53 and POWE 7 and POWE 8 (search using keyword ‘11’) and POWE 8 (keyword ‘7’ and ‘12’) at The National Archives. Other national and major libraries, museums and archives have complete (or near complete) runs of mines inspectors’ reports. Part-runs and district reports are also held in the regions: see the national and regional reference sections in Part Two of this book.

Inquiries into major disasters were published as separate Special Reports (as Command Papers) by the mines inspectorate, and most recently by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Most major disaster reports, printed as Parliamentary Papers, can be accessed online free of charge at The National Archives. Parliament’s website is www.parliament.uk/business/publications/parliamentary-archives where a useful family history guide can be downloaded via their Learning Resources scheme. However, searching the catalogue is not straightforward. The papers are contained in HL/PO/JO/10/9 (for 1850–1899) and HL/PO/10/10 (1900–1949). The Chadwyck Healey (CH) Index to House of Commons Parliamentary Papers offers alternative and has an excellent search feature, but is a subscription website (accessible via some libraries). If you visit the Parliamentary Archives in person you can use the CH site and download reports that can then be burnt to a CD/DVD for a small charge. However, many of the national and regional libraries and museums also hold disaster reports. Again, please refer to information listed in Part Two of this book.

Newspapers and periodicals

Local newspapers in coalfield regions often contain a wealth of information about accidents, disasters and inquests. Although roof falls were the most common causes of death, a variety of other mishaps become apparent, both above and below ground. Several pre-1850 single-fatality accident examples, pre-dating inspection reports, are shown below, perhaps the only detailed accounts available:

On the 4th instant. William Knighton, a coal miner of Ilkeston, was unfortunately killed by the fall of a piece of timber in the shaft of a coal delph which is sinking at Hallsworth, in the neighbourhood.

Derby Mercury, 12 May 1814

W. Joiner, coroner. On the body of John Morton, a coal-miner, who fell to the bottom of a coal-pit (nearly 8 fathoms) at Siston-hill, from the untwisting of a rope, by which he was descending.

Bristol Mercury, 15 November 1824

On Thursday, a man of the name Emery, who was employed at the foot of the shaft at Hetton, to attach the corves [tubs] to the rope by which they are drawn to bank, was killed by a corfe slipping from the rope and falling upon him … The deceased was a married man, and has left a wife, and a family of three children, to lament his premature end.

Durham Chronicle, 22 April 1826

On Friday last, a boy, about fifteen years of age, son of George Lowrey, of Easington Lane, whilst attempting to place himself on a rope to descend Elemore Pit, unfortunately missed his hold, and fell to the bottom, a depth of 135 fathoms. He was of course dashed to pieces …

Durham County Advertiser, 3 April 1830

Here are two later examples, taken from a short-lived Barnsley area newspaper:

About half-past one o’clock on the afternoon of yesterday, a serious accident occurred at the Oaks Colliery, near Barnsley, to a married man named William Gaunt, residing at Ray wood Row, Barnsley. Gaunt was employed as the cupola tenter, and was going down the pit to commence his afternoon work. When he had got within fifteen yards of the bottom of the shaft he fell out of the cage into the pit bottom. He was removed to his home in a cart, where he was attended to by Mr Ibbeson, surgeon, who found that the unfortunate man was very severely injured in his back, and we understand has since died.

Barnsley Record, 31 December 1864

We regret to announce that a melancholy and fatal accident occurred on Thursday morning at the Oaks Colliery, to a young lad about fifteen years, named Hewitt, living at Barebones. He was engaged greasing some corves at the pit hill, and whilst doing so accidentally fell down the shaft and was killed instantly.

Barnsley Record, 25 November 1865

From early to mid-Victorian times the Oaks Colliery was one of the most dangerous workplaces in the north of England. Operational from 1841–2, an explosion killed three miners in 1845 and the whole pit fired at the end of the same year, flames issuing from the shaft ‘as if from a volcano’, though, luckily, only nine men were underground at the time, every one of them escaping serious injury. But then, on Friday 5 March 1847, seventy-three (of ninety) men and boys still underground in the late afternoon lost their lives in a massive explosion which blasted debris from the bottom of the 290-yard deep shaft some 50 yards above the surface headstocks. But that was far from the end of the story. On Thursday 12 and Friday 13 December 1866, two explosions killed 361 men and boys, including twenty-seven volunteer rescue workers. Statistically, this was Britain’s worst mining disaster, until the Universal Colliery, at Senghenydd in south Wales, exploded in 1913, with a death-toll of 439.

The really big disasters decimated the nearby communities that served ill-fated pits. There were only about sixty houses at Hoyle Mill, near the Oaks Colliery, in 1866. From these alone 103 men and boys lost their lives in the disaster, leaving 167 widows and 366 children under the age of twelve. Every house in Ash Row – apart from the policeman’s – was directly affected by one or more fatality. There were scarcely any adult males that survived. The funeral and mourning-wear businesses of Barnsley were kept busy for several years, and the bereavements were much prolonged as bodies were still being found up to four years afterwards.

Local newspapers often contain reports of smaller accidents from neighbouring, even distant areas, so it is always useful to widen your search and not rely on a single newspaper source. Here are two, sadly gruesome, examples:

Shocking Catastrophe – Robert Moore, a coal-miner at the Dry Clough Colliery, near Royton [near Oldham], being too late to descend with the coal tubs, which had just left the shaft on Friday morning, was enraged and took the desperate resolution of slipping the rope to the tub, when he was so unfortunate as to be precipitated head-long down the pit, nearly 130 yards. His head was severed from his body, and also was a mass of bruises.

The Examiner (London), 18 August 1833

On Wednesday, an inquest was held before Mr Busby, coroner, at Clay Cross [Derbyshire], on the body of two colliers named Augustus Cubit and George Holmes, who were killed in the No.4 pit, Clay Cross, on Monday last. The men were at work lengthening a siding in the pit, when a large piece of bind, weighing three tons, fell upon them and killed them instantly. The men had used timber to support the roof but the bind slipped between the props. A verdict of ‘accidental death’ was returned.

Barnsley Record, 16 June 1866

Even national newspapers such as The Times occasionally reported mine accidents involving a single or small number of fatalities, so it is well worth a search via digital or microfilm sources (see below pp. 63–4).

When a serious accident involving one or a small number of persons occurred (and certainly in a disaster) it was a natural tendency for a respectful ‘downing of tools’ to occur, albeit for a short period of a shift or a day. But there were also technical, repair or safety reasons why pits or parts of pits closed after an accident. The following are fairly typical examples from the south Wales and Durham coalfields:

Over 500 men were thrown out of work on Wednesday night at the No. 7 Pit [Tylorstown] through an accident by which two repairers, named W. Rowe, married with one child, 17 Donald Street, Tylorstown, and William John Hughes, single, 9, Frederick Street, Ferndale, lost their lives. It appears that the unfortunate men were doing special work, timbering, when a journey of trams became unhitched near the spot where they were engaged, the heavy vehicles running wild; and before they had an opportunity of gaining a place of safety, the poor fellows were buried alive, the staging being knocked away and tons of rubbish falling on them.

Rhondda Leader, 21 March 1908

On Wednesday morning, a lad named Henry Potter, engaged as a driver at Beamish Air Pit, was crushed by some tubs and fatally injured. Deceased, who was sixteen years of age, resided at Stoney Lane, near Beamish. The pit, according to custom, was laid idle on account of the accident.

Consett Chronicle & West Durham Advertiser, 5 January 1912

Even during the NCB era it was not always possible for miners to be given ‘official leave’ to attend the funeral of a work colleague. Those that did usually lost a day’s pay.

Serious injuries are also occasionally reported. The following two examples, taken from the Barnsley Record, are fairly typical of the mid-Victorian period, both persons apparently surviving, and certainly not mentioned in the mines inspector’s reports:

COLLIERY ACCIDENT

On Friday last an accident occurred at the colliery belonging to Messers Day and Twibell, at Old Mill, to a young man named Thomas Woofinden, employed as a hurrier at the colliery. While at work a corfe ran over one of his legs, the flesh being torn from the leg, and the bone quite bared for three or four inches. Mr Ayre, surgeon, was sent for, and the lad is doing as well as can be expected.

Barnsley Record, 26 February 1859

SHOCKING COLLIERY ACCIDENT

Another fearful colliery accident happened on Wednesday last, at the Edmunds Main Colliery, to a young boy named Thomas Ratcliffe, aged fourteen years. He was engaged … as a horse-driver, and was following his usual calling when the corves were descending … when by some means the full ones ran him down and ran over one of his arms, nearly severing it from his body. He was conveyed to his lodging in Howard’s Square, Worsbro Dale, and Dr Smith was sent for and found it necessary to amputate the arm; up to yesterday at noon he was still alive but in a very very precarious state. He was an orphan and a native of Lancashire, and has only been at the colliery three weeks.

Barnsley Record, 31 March 1860

The big disasters provided spectacular copy for most newspapers and were reported in great detail. Eyewitness descriptions were used alongside a reporter’s interpretation of the scene at the pit head. Journalists compiled and helped each other with a huge amount of oral information and, not surprisingly, there were inaccuracies. Many local newspapers were weeklies, published on Saturdays, so the immediacy of the report depended very much on the disaster day in respect to copy deadlines. Yet some of the larger local newspapers provided a massive amount of detail, even publishing two or more editions, updating their readers with more detail. Fatality lists and lists of injured were hurriedly published, but these should always be checked against other, more official sources whenever possible, as errors involving names and ages understandably occurred. For many early nineteenth-century disasters reporting was limited to regional and national press in the absence of a local newspaper.

The new illustrated periodicals, most notably the Illustrated London News (ILN, 1842 onwards), covered many of the larger pit disasters, and prominently so from from the late 1850s. The ILN’s main rival, The Graphic (1869–1932) is also worth consulting. Shorter-lived examples such as the Pictorial Times (1855–72) and Illustrated Times (1855–72) are also useful. The periodicals dispatched talented artists to disaster sites within hours of the event. Some sketches and engravings were based on early photographs. Reconstructed images of exploding pits, shattered cages, floods, anxious relatives rushing to the scene and crowded pit-heads made spectacular copy; as did images relating to rescue, recovery of bodies and funeral scenes.

The local newspaper is the obvious place to start your search if you know the date of the disaster. But do check other local, regional and even national newspapers as well. It is not exceptional for a relatively small accident to be reported in a national newspaper; and although news copy was often obtained from a single ‘master’ report, there may well be extra information included in other newspapers. For many coalfield areas it is the regional and national papers that will be the only news report available for the earlier, say pre-1850, disasters.

Patrick Johnson was pinned to the ground by a piece of rock weighing over a ton, in partly flooded workings at Skellington Colliery, near Glasgow Despite frantic efforts, his mates were unable to free him before he drowned in rising water. The dramatic scene was reproduced in the Illustrated Police News of 17 August 1912.

From 1857 the larger mining disasters often made the front page of the Illustrated London News. This example from 1880 shows tenacious explorers descending Seaham pit in a hoppit ‘to rescue the men below’. Over sixty men survived but the death toll was horrendous: 164 men and boys killed, after an explosion on 8 September.

Images relating to pit disasters had great impact in the Illustrated Police News as their artists produced montages such as this spectacular example, which relates to the disaster at Diglake Colliery, north Staffordshire, in 1895. An inrush of water from an underground reservoir resulted in the deaths of 77 men and boys.

Tip

The Illustrated Police News (1864–1938) was voted ‘the worst newspaper in England’ in 1886, because of its often lewd and dramatic images. Nevertheless, its melodramatic pages often included quite detailed reports as well as graphic illustrations of mine disasters. It’s a much underused source.

Where to find newspapers

Start by accessing newspapers in the relevant coalfield area in which your ancestor lived and worked, usually in a local studies library or record office. Check online for their holdings. Local Newspapers 1750–1920 England and Wales, Channel Islands, Isle of Man: A Select Location List by Jeremy Gibson, Brett Langston and Brenda W. Smith is a very useful index. Reprinted many times by the Federation of Family History Societies, its best to use the third edition, published in 2011. Unfortunately papers with a run of less than four years (and there were many) are not included; and do bear in mind that there may be gaps in some editions as the originals may not have survived. For Scotland see Joan Ferguson’s Directory of Scottish Newspapers and Periodicals 1800–1900 (National Library of Scotland, 1984) but far more up-to-date is the National Library of Scotland’s online Guide to Scottish Newspapers: http://www.nls.uk/family-history/newspapers; and the database Guide to Scottish Newspaper Indexes: http://www.nls.uk/family-history/indexes.cfm. Also available to search free online is the Scotsman Digital Archive (1817–1950), private subscriptions ranging from £7.95 for a 24-hour ‘archive pass’ to £159.95 for a year.

It is becoming exceptional to be allowed to use original bound volumes of newspapers as microfilmed (and, increasingly, digitised versions) are now commonly available. Relatively few microfilmed ones are indexed. However, most libraries have cuttings files and these can be extremely useful for mine accidents, disasters, inquests and obituaries. Thanks to the huge Newsplan project (see www.bl.uk/reshelp/bidept/news/newsplan/newsplan.htlm) involving public libraries, the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales, the National Library of Ireland and the newspaper industry itself, hundreds of titles have been filmed, details described in their regional reports, published by the British Library. The most relevant coalfield ones are Northern (1989), Yorkshire and Humberside (1990), East Midlands (1989), West Midlands (1990) and Wales (1994).

The British Library’s Newspaper Collection (formerly at Colindale in north London, now relocated to Boston Spa, West Yorkshire), is one of the best and biggest in the world. From 2014 researchers will be able to access newspapers and periodicals via a new Newspaper Reading Room at the BL’s St Pancras (Euston Road, London) site. The resources guide at httt://www.bl.uk/welcome/newspapers.htlm is the starting point for information on newspapers, periodicals, and visits. For admission/registration details see http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/inrrooms/blnewspapers/newsrr.htlm. Search-Explore the British Library http://explore.bl.uk to find the newspapers and periodicals that are available. Still very useful is the the BL’s 19th-Century Digitalisation project (http://www.newspapers.bl.uk/blc) that allows access to a small sample (currently forty-nine) of newspapers and magazines published between 1800 and c.1900 (about half of them ‘local’). Access to the Penny Illustrated Paper, The Graphic and Illustrated Police News is free so you can search, view and print coalmining related items from these via your home computer using key words. For viewing the rest you need to pay (£6.99 for a day or £9.99 for a week) but access is free of charge at many subscribing public libraries. Furthermore, by visiting the Newspaper Reading Room in person a huge number and variety of titles – local, regional and national – will be available to view via microfilm or digital means. Titles not yet scanned – providing they are not too fragile for travel – will be supplied from Boston Spa on a 48-hour order basis. UK national newspapers are only available via microfilm and/or digital versions.

A massive digitisation project will transform access to British newspapers over the next few years, and the process is well advanced. This is through a partnership between the British Library and Brightsolid Online Publishing. The first phase is accessible at www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk. It’s free to search but for home access you need two-day, seven-day and thirty-day packages (for £6.95, £9.95 and £29.95 respectively) or you can subscribe and have unlimited access (for £79.95). The scanned collection (growing daily) is free to search on computer terminals at Colindale/St Pancras.

For mine disasters, some accidents and a variety of other mine-related items, the Guardian and Observer Digital Archive is well worth accessing (http://archive.guardian.co.uk). This large resource currently covers the period 1821–1990 (Guardian) and 1791–1990 (Observer). The charges are £7.95 (twenty-four hours), £14.95 (three days) and £49.95 (one month) for home computer convenience. Many libraries also subscribe. A ‘pay-to-view/use’ internet source for most national titles is ukpressonline (www.ukpressonline.co.uk), for an annual fee of £50, but it may also be accessed at subscribing public libraries and institutions.

Wikipedia has a ‘List of Online Newspaper Archives’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:list_of_online_newspaper_archives) that includes UK titles.

Tip

Many of the main public libraries in coalfield regions allow you to register for online reference, and you don’t necessarily have to be a local resident. Lancashire Library (www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries), for instance, provides an excellent online service. It gives free access to the British Library’s nineteenth-century newspaper archive and seventeenth-eighteenth-century Burney Collection of early newspapers; and also free use of The Times Digital Archive that would otherwise involve payment. You can also access other useful sources, including the Dictionary of National Biography.

Finally, there are many private holdings of newspapers still kept in original or other formats by existing newspapers/newspaper groups, and you can access ‘newspapers and publications’ via major family history internet sites such as Ancestry.com. Original pages from Victorian illustrated periodicals such as The Graphic and Illustrated London News are listed for sale on internet auction sites.

Internet sources

The Coalmining History Resource Centre (www.cmhrc.co.uk).

Founded and developed by Ian Winstanley, this is the most detailed and comprehensive website for accidents and deaths in the coal industry of Great Britain. It is now in the care of Raleys, Barnsley-based solicitors with a long record of dealing with miners’ compensation claims. Click on the accidents/disasters page and you can freely search the National Database of Mining Deaths [and some injured miners] by surname. If you can also enter the name of the colliery, year of the accident or town/county that will narrow your search. By entering ‘Cardwell 1860’ the following information was found:

Name:	CARDWELL George
Age:	0
Date:	10/05/1860
Year:	1860
Occupation:	A Boy
Owner:	Earl Fitzwilliam
Town:	Rotherham
County:	Yorkshire
Notes:	Crushed by corves in the mine.

However, despite its huge 164,000-entry database there will be some omissions, understandably so given the number of accidents and the errors, even in official sources. For data protection later twentieth-century injuries and deaths are not accessible.

You can also access, print and if you wish download files relating to UK mining disasters, arranged chronologically from 1707 to 1979. Again, these are based on personal research by Ian, inspection reports, inquest and inquiry reports, and extracts from useful sources such as the Colliery Guardian (from 1858).

Durham Mining Museum (www.dmm.org.uk)

This site is especially useful for northern England (County Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmoreland). It is best to start by searching their Memorial Roll (under ‘Disasters’), selecting the first letter of a surname, and then the second letter to narrow the field. As in the Raley site, basic information, such as age, date of death, date of accident, name of colliery, name of colliery company, occupation of deceased, notes (i.e. basic circumstances of the death) and date of burial, all if available, is provided. For many entries you can also, via ‘Quick Links’, access a variety of web pages providing further information about the mine – with a useful set of icon codes by way of reference and acknowledgement. Access to the actual entry from the mines inspector’s report (and where to find it) is particularly useful. For disasters, again use ‘In Memorial’ for names and reports, the former via ‘Entrance’ (under ‘Museum’) and the latter via ‘Reports’. This online resource welcomes further information from family historians and you can upload basic family information that can be viewed by someone researching the same name/person. It is therefore a growing site well worth revisiting from time to time. The site also hosts Pitwork.net, which also has lists of names of those killed and injured in some mine disasters.

Scottish Mining (www.scottishmining.co.uk)

Under ‘Mining Accidents’ this superb site run by volunteers has lists of c.14,000 ‘fatality names’ compiled from a variety of sources that you can access from indexes from pre-1840 to 1960 onwards for the whole of Scotland. Details from the inspector’s report are included where possible and there are also newspaper items and ‘extra details’. You can also complete a submission form if you have details of a fatality not recorded. There is also a ‘non-fatal accident’ listing on a surname basis and a list of ‘disasters and major accidents’ (1760–1973) includes lists of fatalities in most cases. Do check their Frequently Asked Questions page regarding fatalities and other family history information.

Fife pits, Scotland (www.users.zetnet.co.uk)

Michael Martin’s site includes an A-Z Memorial Book of miners killed in accidents, currently containing 2,322 entries, information provided from a variety of contributors, the original held by Fife Council Libraries.

Welsh Coal Mines (www.welshcoalmines.co.uk)

Under its Collieries page this site has a list of disasters (arranged A-Z) where there were five or more fatalities, along with names of the c.6,000 victims. It also has a useful Mines Rescue page.

Healey Hero (www.healeyhero.co.uk)

Fionn Taylor’s site in memory of Philip Healey (1928–2000) has a list and details of mine disasters and fatalities and has information regarding mines rescue.

There are many other internet sites that relate to regional or single mining disasters, so just by searching for a particular disaster one or more will usually appear. As with all information from above it is really important not to rely on a single source but to use a variety of records about a particular accident or disaster.

Other useful sources

Mining Deaths in Great Britain 1850–1914

Printed listings of persons who have died as a result of a mining accident can be consulted at the National Coal Mining Museum for England’s (NCM’s) library. Based on the work of Ian Winstanley, the information is arranged chronologically by (pre-1974) county and there is a good surname index. The name of the colliery and its location is included as well as the occupation and age (where known) of the deceased person. To make an appointment contact the NCM via email: curatorial.librarian@ncm.org.uk or telephone: 01924 848806. Also see Part 2 (regional) section of this book for other repositories.

Coroners’ Records (England and Wales only)

Where coroners’ records survive they are certainly worth consulting, though bear in mind that newspapers reported inquests in great detail and contain much more contextual information. See Jeremy Gibson and Colin Rodgers, Coroners’ Records in England and Wales, Family History Partnership, third edition, 2009, for background information and the whereabouts of records. There are legal restrictions on access to records less than seventy-five years old, though you can make a request to view (see Gibson and Rodgers, p. 7). How do you know if an inquest was held? Well, for the civil registration era it should state so in column 7 of the death certificate. Coalfield area family history societies may have items relating to coroners’ records either in their journals or publications. Pontefract FHS’s Index to the Inquest Notebooks of Thomas Taylor, Yorkshire County Coroner, for the years 1844—1885, for example, is an excellent searchable source on CD containing over 11,000 records, many of them relating to mining deaths. ‘Accidental death’ was by far the most common verdict of inquest juries relating to the coal industry.

Scottish fatal accident records

There is no inquest system for Scotland. Sudden deaths are investigated through an official called the Procurator Fiscal. Fatal Accident Inquiries (FAIs) were held for industrial accidents – such as those in coal mines – only after 1895. For information about pre and post-1895 accidental deaths (including the location of surviving records) see the National Archives of Scotland’s guide, printable via http//www.nas.gov.uk/guides/FAI.asp. But again, due to the paucity of pre-1895 records, local newspapers remain the best source.

Compensation and accident records

Compensation records, where they survive (see the reference sections in Part Two of this book), are useful to the family historian as they provide the name of the person, date and cause of the accident, the colliery name, occupation and details of compensation. Many miners took out ‘accident insurance’ from local companies, paying a penny or two a week. There were also philanthropic associations and friendly societies that provided basic financial help in case of serious accident or death. The miners’ associations themselves also operated schemes for its union membership. Paying a penny a week to a burial club also provided reassurance that a basic funeral could take place. There were also specific relief funds (and mayoral funds) established to provide financial assistance to widows and orphans after a disaster. It was the Permanent Relief Funds that attracted the greatest support. Some, like the West Riding Permanent Relief Fund, became well established and old disaster-specific relief funds were often integrated into general accident funds. Newspapers are a good and reliable source relating to accident and relief funds in the first few weeks following an accident, and in the case of major disasters, for many years afterwards. Accident books were kept at collieries but with some exceptions few have survived. The same is true for wages books, which contain references to compensation relating to an accident and any subsequent absence, including hospital care. It is also worth knowing that many responsible colliery companies cooperated with ‘butties’ (sub-contracted miners) and miners, providing sick pay and widows’ allowances, and also help with burial costs.

Public monuments and monumental inscriptions (Mis)

Unlike war memorials there is no national database of mining monument but if your ancestor was killed in a major disaster it is likely that there is some form of public memorial. Many of the historic memorials are ‘listed buildings’ so will be recorded in some detail (including photographs) by the local authority’s planning department database. Local libraries should have some information about the disaster and its aftermath. Disaster memorials were usually financed through public subscription and/or via a benefactor, so information will be found in local newspapers in the weeks and months following the tragedy. In recent years there have been many new memorials established (and re-dedications/restorations) thanks to a great deal of hard work by local groups, including the process of accessing funding sources. In addition, there are many new memorials commemorating all deaths at a particular colliery; and in some cases individual names are then inscribed.

Individual memorials and monuments, if they exist or have survived, are of course important to the family historian researching a mining ancestor. Most of my mining ancestors have unmarked graves, as families were unable to afford a headstone. But I found it contextually useful to record a few others relating to the same disaster or from a similar period. Researchers from family history societies have carried out excellent work over many years transcribing monuments in churchyards and cemeteries. ‘Mis’ are usually available for purchase either in printed form or on CDs, by post, online or at meetings and events such as family history fairs, and may also be accessible in local studies libraries.

Accident and disaster ephemera and mementoes

Anyone researching a major mining disaster will come across a variety of printed material, often hurriedly produced, and sometimes described as souvenirs. It was the Victorians who started the fashion of disaster and death mementoes, but examples continued well into the twentieth century, including:

• Picture postcards

• Poems

• Newspaper supplements

• Serviettes and napkins

• Funeral cards (mass and individual)

• Bibles/prayer books

• Church service programmes

• Fund-raising event programmes

A wartime boy miner’s funeral card, produced after his death ‘through injuries caused at Bentley Colliery’ (near Doncaster) on 23 December 1916.

A typical Warner Gothard montage illustrating the fire at Hamstead Colliery in 1908. It is interesting that a rescue team from as far away as Tankersley, near Barnsley, attended the incident, perhaps due to their specialist knowledge and skills.

Some were sold for a penny or two, or given away free. Perhaps the most innovative and enterprising of the postcard publishers was Warner Gothard, who, with his sons, produced a series of montage-style cards from c.1905–16, from his main studio and works in Barnsley. Known examples are for Barrow (1907), Hoyland Silksone (1907), Washington (1908), Hamstead (1908), Midsomer Norton (1908), Maypole/Wigan (1908), West Stanley (1909) and Wharncliffe Silkstone (1914). Mark Fynn’s website www.warnergothard.com provides background information. There were many other notable and enterprising postcard photographers, including Glasgow’s W. Benton, who produced a series relating to Senghenydd (see Simon Barnett’s US site www.senghenydd.net) in 1913.

Research projects and publications

It is worth checking via regional libraries and record offices whether anyone is undertaking research on mining accidents and deaths. Ray Ditchburn, for example, using sources such as miners’ compensation/relief fund records and miners’ union minutes, has built up a large database of information on mining fatalities and injuries in Northumberland. He also has details of mining deaths for Durham. Ray welcomes information from family historians to add to his research and for enquiries can be contacted via rayditchburn@hotmail.co.uk.

For coalmining in the Llanelli area of south Wales see Malcolm V. Symons, Coal Mining in the Llanelli Area: Sixteenth Century to 1829 (Llanelli Public Library, 1979), which includes collated information from all known accident data, using parish records and newspapers (from 1804). Inevitably this will still represent a minority of actual deaths. Volume 2 (Carmarthen County Council, 2012), covers the period 1830–1871.

Tip

Family historians should check all available sources on accidents and deaths in mining as there are many discrepancies, for example when comparing mines inspectors’ reports, newspaper reports and death certificates. For multiple fatalities/disasters do look at several reported viewpoints whenever possible. The information from a rescue worker, eyewitness, manager, interrogated miner at an inquest, and so on, may vary considerably – and do check more than one newspaper account. Also find out if there are any oral history recordings or published memoirs relevant to a particular event via sources held at the national coalmining museums and British Library.

Mines rescue

If your coalmining relative or ancestor was involved in mines rescue (or was a pit ‘ambulance man’ or ‘pit nurse’) you may already have some knowledge of this through oral information passed down over several generations. If he was an official member of mines rescue there may be surviving photographs of the team, usually displaying equipment ranging from canaries to breathing apparatus. If he was involved in a twentieth-century disaster then he may be named in reports and/or shown in news photographs. Service awards in the form of badges or certificates may also have survived in family and public archives. However, well into the twentieth century it was far from unusual for what might be called unofficial rescuers to be involved in accidents and disasters: men – and even boys – called upon or self-volunteered into assisting with the rescue operations in several ways, for example in the recovery of bodies.

Like war veterans, several miners that I have interviewed were reluctant to talk in detail about their rescue and recovery experiences; and it was always an emotional response, a great deal of clarity usually emerging, as though the incident had happened the day before and not many years earlier. I’ll never forget the testimony of Ron Palmer. When he was aged 16 he was woken in the early hours of the morning on 6 August 1936 and told to rush to his pit, Wharncliffe Woodmoor 1,2 & 3 Colliery, at Carlton near Barnsley. When he arrived, in pouring rain, hundreds of people had assembled in and near the pit yard as an explosion had occurred in the early hours. Scared, he reported to his deputy who instructed him to go down and wait at the pit bottom. His dreadful job was to record the names of the dead bodies as they were stretchered into the cage. Fifty-eight men lost their lives. He was allocated this task as he was ‘used to writing production figures’ for his deputy in an underground office known as the ‘box-hole’. Understandably, Ron was badly affected by this memory for the rest of his life, becoming a passionate union member and union official.

Bentley’s ‘ambulance man’, Tom Hopkinson, was one of the forty-five miners who died as a result of the 1931 disaster. Speaking to me in 1997, his daughter Doris Kitchin recalled the sad day and its aftermath, when she was aged 11:

Dad was at work on his afternoon shift. Granddad and I were playing Ludo. Suddenly he looked up and listened. There was the sound of pit boots on the road … there had been an explosion at the pit. The street was filled with fearful people who were anxious to gain news of loved ones or friends. Mum and Gran rushed home after hearing the news when out shopping. As the men were brought out dead she scanned each one anxiously, each name chalked up on a board. Dad was the last to be brought out, badly hurt. He had insisted on staying behind to give first aid … he just managed to say a few words, asked about me but died a few hours later. The whole village was in mourning. All the coffins were placed side by side in St Philip’s church and most were buried together in a big grave in Arksey cemetery. Our house bore such grief and sadness and I was bewildered by it all … many miners who survived never worked there again, it shocked them so much. The piano stood silent in our front room … no more laughter, no singing … I cried a lot but when I went to bed I looked through the window at the moon and felt happy because I thought I saw Dad’s face and it made me feel safe.

Thomas’s widow was presented with the Order of Industrial Heroism award by the Daily Herald in 1932.

Tom Hopkinson dressed in his ambulance uniform.

Was your mining relative or ancestor in the mines rescue service?

Miners always rush to help trapped and injured colleagues, risking their own lives, but for much of the nineteenth century there was little or no training given and safety equipment was minimal. It was not until 1902 that the first dedicated mines rescue station was established, at Tankersley, near Barnsley (Yorkshire). Others were built in the major coalfields, at Howe Bridge (Lancashire, 1908); Wath-upon-Dearne (Yorkshire, 1908); Abercam and Crumlin (south Wales, 1909); Mansfield (Nottinghamshire, 1909); Altofts (Yorkshire, 1909); Elswick (Durham, 1909); Cowdenbeath (Fife, 1909); New Tredegar (south Wales, 1910) and Stoke-on-Trent (Staffordshire, 1910). But it was the Coal Mines Act of 1911 that ensured rescue stations had to be provided within 15 miles of most mines. By 1918 there were forty-six Central Rescue Stations, as they were known. Former miner-soldiers involved in tunnelling companies on the Western Front were able to pass on a wealth of experience and a more regimented system of training evolved. The new stations needed to be staffed by a corps of at least six or eight men on a permanent basis, under the leadership of a supervisor. At least one and as many as four (according to the size of the colliery) rescue brigades had to be established at each mine, recruited from its own workforce. The men had to be ‘carefully selected on account of their knowledge of underground work, coolness and powers of endurance, and certified medically fit, a majority of whom shall be trained in First Aid …’ If you know the approximate period that your mining relative or ancestor worked in mines rescue (usually as a young man under the age of 45) it should be fairly straightforward to build a context file of background information from newspaper reports of accidents and disasters at his colliery and neighbouring pits. There’s also a range of memorabilia, photographs and ephemera that are well worth searching for and collecting. Although many rescue stations have been demolished, others have been converted to a variety of uses. In most cases photographs will exist. He may also have received an award, usually a medal for five, ten or fifteen (and exceptionally twenty) years’ service, inscribed with his name. Do check the major coalmining museums for examples if you can’t find a personal one.

The Philip Healey website www.healeyhero.co.uk provides an overview of the history and development of mines rescue; also useful are Les Hampson’s Lancashire-based notes via COLSOL (Communities Online in Salford) at www.lancashireminesrescue.colsol.org; and Philip Clifford’s www.heroes-of-mine.co.uk.

The Scottish aristocrat and gas-mask inventor John Scott Haldane (1860–1936) carried out many experiments concerning safety measures for exploring post-explosion underground workings and gas pockets. He even created a special cage for canaries – subsequently known as ‘the Haldane’ – that had its own oxygen supply to revive the birds, which continued to be used for locating gas pockets right up to the 1980s. Air quality was a major hazard to safe rescue and if your ancestor was in a mines rescue team from the early years of the twentieth century he would have been trained in the use, or certainly aware of, breathing apparatus with trade names such as ‘Drager’ and ‘Meco-Briggs’, but it was the ‘Proto’ brand that became internationally renowned, developed by R.H. Davis (later Sir Robert Davis) for his Siebe-Gorman company. So if your relative or ancestor was in the mines rescue service he would have been either part of a colliery’s brigade, basically a volunteer, or a permanent member of a rescue corps at a Central Rescue Station.

The present-day mines rescue service (Mines Rescue Service Limited [MRSL]) is based at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and functions via seven training sites. For further information visit www.minesrescue.com.

Did your coalmining relative or ancestor receive a bravery or gallantry award?

Great numbers of miners have performed acts of courage in the course of their working lives, and occasionally their bravery was acknowledged by some form of award. The range was considerable, from small commemorative items to substantial monuments. A silver teapot engraved and presented to William Washington ‘by 645 admirers at Swaithe Main Pit for heroic daring on 6 December 1875’ is a rare surviving Yorkshire example, and remains a family heirloom. A spectacular public example in the same area is the Gloria Victis sculpture and obelisk sited at the top of a hill at Kendray, near Barnsley, overlooking the ‘valley of tears’ where the ill-fated Oaks Colliery once functioned. It was commissioned by local businessman Samuel Joshua Cooper in the wake of the 1912 Cadeby disaster when fifty-three men involved in the search and rescue operations were killed. Retrospectively, however, the monument commemorates the bravery of mining engineer Parkin Jeffcock and ‘other heroes of the rescue parties’ who lost their lives forty-six years earlier in the 1866 Oaks disaster, and pays tribute to ‘the signal bravery’ of John Edward Mammatt and Thomas William Embleton when rescuing the sole survivor.

The most prestigious awards for bravery and saving life in the coalmining industry were the Albert and Edward medals.

The London Gazette was the official medium through which medal awards were announced. Now digitised, you can search via http://london-gazette.co.uk/search. Do look up local, regional and national newspapers for more information. Here is an early follow-up example from the Manchester Gnardian of 20 August 1879:

Albert Medal for Abercarn heroes

Last night’s Gazette announces that the Queen has been pleased to confer the ‘Albert Medal of the First Class’ on Henry Davies and John Harris; and the ‘Albert Medal of the Second Class’ on William Simons, Thomas Herbert, Miles Moseley, Charles Preen, William Walters and Lewis Harris. All the men are employed at the Abercarn Colliery.

On the 11th September, 1878, an explosion of firedamp occurred in the Abercarn Colliery, in the county of Monmouth, whereby 260 persons perished, and on that occasion the greatest possible gallantry was exhibited in saving about 90 lives. The force of the explosion was terrific, doing great damage to the roadways and to the bottom of the shaft; and setting the coal and timber on fire in several places. The men named, without hesitation descended the pit, and although they discovered that the fires were raging in the mine, and that the chance of another explosion was considerable, they remained at their humane work of rescue, not re-ascending the shaft until they had satisfied themselves that no-one was left alive. Henry Davies, after being down the Abercam pit all the afternoon with those recommended for the second class medal, volunteered to descend the Cwmcarn pit (a shaft two miles distant) with a view of conveying to the explorers who had attempted to enter the workings from that side an order from those in charge of the operations to come out as, in consequence of the fires underground continuing to bum fiercely and large quantities of gas pouring out of the workings, a second explosion was deemed to be inevitable. After being deserted by two men who refused to accompany him further, and when he must have felt that there was little or no chance of his coming alive out of the pit, pursued his course alone for 500 or 600 yards, and heroically accomplished the object of his mission. John Harris went down the pit with those recommended for the second class medal. Having descended to a depth of 295 yards, the progress of the cage was stayed by the damaged state of the shaft. John Harris got off the cage, and sliding down a guide rope reached the bottom, where, although he knew well that at any moment might be his last, he remained for many hours until all who were alive, some of whom were badly burnt and otherwise injured, reached the cage by his assistance, and were taken to the surface in safety.

First instituted in 1861 for gallantry in saving life at sea, the Albert Medal was extended to gallantry on land in 1877. The change coincided with what many regard as the most extraordinary rescue in British coalmining history, after the inundation at the Tynewydd Colliery in the Rhondda on 11 April. Its first First Class (gold) recipients were William Beith, Isaac Pride, John Howell and Daniel Thomas, for their courage when rescuing four men and a boy, trapped underground for nine days at Tynewydd. Twenty-one other rescuers received the Second Class (bronze) medal, one withdrawn later. The Albert Medal was last awarded to a living recipient in 1943 and the gold version was abolished six years later, replaced by the George Cross. Posthumous bronze medals continued to be issued until the award ceased entirely in 1971.

The Edward Medal for Mines was instituted by Royal warrant on 13 July 1907 in recognition of life-saving in mines and quarries and was of two grades: First Class (silver) and Second Class (bronze). The name of the recipient was engraved, as was the date (and sometimes the location of the mine) after 1930. The first recipients were Frank Chandler, for his heroics during a boiler explosion in Hoyland Silkstone Colliery, Barnsley on 23 November 1907, and Henry Everson, for saving the life of of a workman during the sinking of Penallta Colliery, south Wales, on 12 September 1907. Both got First Class medals. Photographed at the presentation in Buckingham Palace, Chandler sported a beard almost identical to that worn by the King, who had a similar stature, and it is hard to distinguish the two on the official photograph but for Chandler’s ceremonial bowing. For years afterwards Frank Chandler enjoyed his ‘celebratory’ status locally, medal proudly pinned to his jacket, a familiar figure in and around his pit village. The Edward Medal or ‘miners’ VC’ was greatly respected in the coal industry. The First Class version was only awarded on seventy-seven occasions and bronze recipients numbered 320. Living holders were invited to exchange their Edward Medal for the George Cross in 1971 and only a small number declined. A George Cross database can be accessed via http://www.marionhebblethwaite./gc.index.htm. Kevin Brazier’s book The Complete George Cross (Pen & Sword Books, 2012) is a new reference guide to the medal and its holders.

Yorkshire miner Frank Chandler (right) being presented with the Edward medal in Buckingham Palace. To his immediate left is the other recipient, Henry Everson, a Glamorganshire pitman. King Edward VII is doing the honours.

The silver (First Class) version of the Edward Medal (for mines).

The other what might be called official gallantry awards were the Empire Gallantry Medal (instituted in 1922 and functioning until 1940 when it was replaced by the George Cross) and the George Medal (instituted in 1940, for bravery, but not as outstanding as the George Cross). Further information about gallantry awards can be seen via Philip Clifford’s site already referred to above (http://heroes-of-min.co.uk) and there are lists of recipients for several of the awards. D.V. Henderson’s books, listed below, are also useful reference guides. Go to http://dmm.org.uk/gallantry/names (Durham Miners’ Museum site) and there are lists of named recipients arranged alphabetically by surname; there’s also a useful link to Bill Riley’s www.pitwork.net where Edward Medal holders are listed by colliery.

The Order of Industrial Heroism (medal and certificate) was instituted by the Daily Herald newspaper in 1923 (ceasing when the newspaper closed in 1964). Designed by Eric Gill, this award, usually issued posthumously, is also known as the ‘workers’ VC’ (see further reading below and web sites/links referred to above). In all, 444 ‘OIH’s’ were awarded. The Carnegie Hero Fund Medal (via the British Carnegie Hero Fund Trust, administered from Dunfermline, Scotland from 1908) was another notable life-saving award relevant to miners. The Order of St John Life-Saving Medal was awarded ‘for bravery in mines and quarries’ and was first awarded in 1875 (see www.orderofstjohn.org). The Royal Humane Society (www.royalhumanesociety.org.uk) also awarded medals to miners for exceptional bravery in rescuing persons from asphyxia, drowning, etc; and also testimonials and certificates of commendation. Their records are held by the London Metropolitan Archives (accessed online via www.cityoflondon.gov.uk). A less well-known bravery medal was presented by the Royal and Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes. In some cases miners received awards from from more than one organisation for the same act of bravery. So it’s worth a check.

The Manvers Main (Yorkshire) mines rescue brigade with a range of their equipment, including breathing apparatus, photographed in February 1926.

Examples of medals and awards are housed and catalogued at all British national museums and/or at the mining museums for England, Scotland and Wales. Although relating to Wales, Edward Besly’s guide, For Those In Peril. Civil Decorations and Lifesaving Awards at the National Museums & Galleries of Wales (National Museum of Wales, 2004), is also useful background for other coalfield regions. In addition to the London Gazette, quotations relevant to particular Albert/Edward Medal holders can be checked within the H045 series at The National Archives. In addition to the reading list below, the annual Medal Yearbook (Token Publishing) is the authoritative reference guide to medal values.

Further reading, video and film

Maureen Anderson, Durham Mining Disasters c.1700–1950 (Wharncliffe, 2008)

Maureen Anderson, Northumberland & Cumberland Mining Disasters, (Wharncliffe, 2009)

Keith Armstrong and Peter Dixon, Still the Sea Rolls On. The Hartley Pit Calamity of 1862 (Northern Voices Community Projects, 2012)

James Beechill, The Terrible Yorkshire Pit Disaster (Cadeby Main Colliery Memorial Group, 2012)

Alan Davies, The Pretoria Disaster. A Centenary Account (Amberley, 2010)

Helen & Baron Duckham, Great Pit Disasters. Great Britain 1700 to the Present Day (David & Charles, 1973)

Julie Dexter and Dennis Chedgy, Mines, Safety and Rescue in the Somerset Coalfield (Five Arches Special Issue, November 2002: Radstock, Midsomer Norton and District Museum Society, 2002)

Brian Elliott, South Yorkshire Mining Disasters, Volume 1. The Nineteenth Century (Wharncliffe, 2006)

Brian Elliott, South Yorkshire Mining Disasters, Volume 2. The Twentieth Century (Wharncliffe, 2009)

W.H. Fevyer, J.W. Wilson and J.C. Cribb, The Order of Industrial Heroism (The Orders and Medals Research Society, 2000)

Amanda M. Garaway, 104 men. The William Pit Disaster (Hayloft, 2007)

Martin Goodman, Suffer and Survive. Gas Attacks, Canaries, Spacesuits and the Bends: The Extreme Life of Dr J.S. Haldane (Simon & Schuster, 2007)

Henderson, D.V., Heroic Endeavour: Complete Register of the Albert, Edward and Empire Gallantry Medals and How They Were Won (J.B. Hayward, 1988)

Henderson, D.V., Dragons Can be Defeated: A Complete Record of the George Medal’s Progress, 1940–83 (Spink and Son, 1984)

Fred Leigh, Most Valiant of Men. Short History of North Staffordshire Mines Rescue Service (Churnet Valley Books, 1993)

Jack Nadin, Lancashire Mining Disasters 1835–1910 (Wharncliffe, 2006)

Matt O’Neil, Lanarkshire’s Mining Disasters (Stenlake, 2011)

David Owen, South Wales Collieries. Volume Six: Mining Disasters (The History Press, 2005/2010)

Roy Thompson, Thunder Underground. Northumberland Mine Disasters 1815–1865 (Landmark, 2004)

Lesley Hale, John Colledge and Michael Wileman, Banded Together. Leicestershire’s Worst Mining Disaster in 1898 (Whitwick Historical Group, 1997)

Stanley Williamson, Gresford: The Anatomy of a Disaster (Liverpool University Press, 1999)

Ian Winstanley, Weep Mothers Weep. Wood Pit Explosion, Haydock, 1878 (Landy Publishing 1989)

Ian Winstanley, With Hearts so Light. The Story of the Queen Pit Explosions at Haydock, 1868 and 1869 (Picks Publishing, 1990)

Ian Winstanley, Hell under Haydock. The Lyme Pit Explosion, Haydock, Lancashire, 26 February, 1930 (Landy Publishing, 2000)

DVDs/Film

The Brave Don’t Cry, [Knockshinnoch, 1950 (Group 3, 1952 [Philip Leacock, Dir] Escape From the Dark/The Littlest Horse Thieves (Walt Disney Productions, 1976 [Charles Jarrott Dir])

Historical Disasters. Black Christmas [Pretoria, 1910] (Reel Vision Films, 2006)

The Huskar Disaster 1838 (Roggins Local History Group, Silkstone, 2008)

Sneyd Pit Disaster. January 1 1942 (Staffordshire Film Archive, n.d)

The Terrible Price. Gresford 1934 (Panament Cinema, 2004)