Mining History + Mining Accidents

http ://www.
cmhrc.co.uk/site/home/index.html

A useful site for anyone researching Miners. Includes a database of recorded accidents and deaths.

 

An excellent resource and well worth bookmarking if you have miners in your family history.

All the best,
Malcolm Webb
Lincoln UK

 

Have used that frequently in the past - it's a really good resource.

 

This is an excellent resource. Sadly I have a GGgrandfather on the casualty list.

 

Me too.

Malcolm Webb
Lincoln UK

 

Very sad isn't it to read of all the casualties, there's so many.

 

The saddest thing, I found, was visiting a churchyard looking for a g-uncle's plot, where so many of the old graves were victims of mining disasters. Whole families - fathers, sons, brothers - all wiped out together. Pony boys no more than children. And the headstones were huge and ornate, far bigger than an ordinary family could afford to pay for, and so I assume that the mine owners paid for them.

 

It depends who the mine owners were. Some of them were callous enough to turn the widows and children onto the streets a few days after the funeral to make way for new miners.

To be fair, some monuments were paid for by Mine Owners. The "Oaks Memorial" at the crest of the hill opposite Kendray Hospital near Barnsley (South Yorkshire) was erected by a colliery owner in memory of the rescuers who were amongst the 380 people who died in the Oaks Colliery explosion in 1866, still the biggest single colliery disaster in England and the second biggest in the UK (the biggest was at Senghenydd Colliery in Glamorgan, South Wales in 1913 killing 439 miners). An ornate memorial to the Oaks Disaster was also erected by coal owners in the nearby Ardsley Cemetery and was maintained by British Coal until the coal industry was privatised in 1994.

Another national mining disaster was the "Husker Pit Disaster" at Silkstone near Barnsley when 26 children were killed when the mine flooded in 1838. This disaster led to a Royal Commission and a new Act of Parliament in 1842 which prohibited the employment of women and girls underground completely and boys under 10 from being employed underground. The superb "Husker Memorial" in Silkstone Churchyard was erected by public subscription.

All the best,
Malcolm Webb
Lincoln UK

 

This is also a very interesting resource. Women in mining. freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~stenhouse/coal/pbl/coalmain.htm

 

While searching for my Sidney Fry (Banwell Somerset), I came across this site http://www.
welshcoalmines.co.uk/DisastersList.htm
I thought there may have been a Fry killed in Wales.
It makes very sad reading. Some killed where just children. Rosemary

 

It is an excellent site. Yes I agree Woodhorn Museum is well worth visiting The archives are there too.

 

It gives the ages of the youngest and oldest persons to be killed in a mining accident. I think one was a toddler who had gone in with its mother. I remember seeing a childs shoe in a mining museum, it was so tiny and had been found at a cave-in site. They went to school in the mornings (if they were lucky) and downt'pit in the afternoons. In the 1930's mum remembers the sirens going off at the pit nearby, everyone knew there had been an accident and they all left what they were doing and ran to the pit. I have not found any of my lot in the lists. mum said her uncle was killed in a mining accident but I have found no trace of his name.

 

When you see the ages of those going down the pit it is so sad. cheers Rosemary

 

Have we lost this website? I used it regularly, but can't seem to be able to access it now.

 

It does seem to have disappeared Bay Horse, but is available on Ancestry.

http://search.
ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=9735

 

What a shame. (Had to check it wasn't 'just me'...)

Thanks, Mealymoo.

 

I found an explanation for its disappearance here:

www.
pasttopresentgenealogy.wordpress.com/2016/10/18/another-family-history-website-bites-the-dust/

 

The Oaks Memorial to the rescuers was erected by Samuel Cooper, not a mine owner, in 1913. He bought the ready made "Gloria Victis" sculpture from its French creator in Paris. The memorial in Ardsley Church was raised by subscription of parishioners, not mine owners. Many of the dead (@160) remain underground, several are in a collective grave in Barnsley cemetery. The first public monument to all the victims will be unveiled on May 7th this year (there is dispute about the actual number - happy to give more information if anyone is interested, and invitations to the unveiling)

 

Thanks for the info about the upcoming event, Steve - welcome to Top Dog. I am sure those with links to Barnsley will be very interested in the unveiling ceremony.

I discovered just recently that a family member was killed in the Gresford disaster (1934). The mine was sealed - 254 victims remained underground. I have driven past the pit wheel memorial so many times without realising its significance.