Hi! Thanks for your great website. I hope you don't mind such e-mail questions as this, but I am researching my family history and am looking for information regarding my great grandfather Fred Hoyland (born in the 1890's and lived well into his 80s). I know he worked in mines rescue sometime probably after the WW1 (maybe a short time before).

He was from Rotherham area and so I suppose he worked in pits in that area. I believe he later went on to become involved in the Union, politics and eventually was a County Councillor.

I just wondered if the name had cropped up in any of your researches in connection with Mines Rescue in Rotherham area or if you have any contacts who are interested in that period and location. I have been using Ancestry.com and have managed to trace an unbroken line of coal miners all the way back to Silkstone in the late 1700's but I think I've now exhausted all I can do online however as I live in Denmark popping into the records offices is a bit difficult.

Any information you might have gratefully accepted :)

Best regards

Hi my name is Ryan Mansell and I am wondering if you can help me, my problem is that my grandad lost his life in 1957 at Treeton pit, now I’ve searched all over the internet but there’s no mention of him any where he’s not mentioned in any memorial sites or anything, which I think is a shame, and I’m hoping to change it.  All I know of my grandad is that he worked in the pit at a young age before ww2 then during ww2 he was assigned to the Maunsell forts for a while during ww2 still he was moved back to Treeton pit later its around then that he lost his life down the pit in 1957 now the only source of info was from my grandma who sadly passed away last week.

The reason I’m trying to find as much info as possible about my grandfather is so I can build a picture of his short life and fill in the blanks for my dad as he was only 5 at the time and to make sure he’s added to all the memorial sites just like the many other miners that sadly lost their lives to keep Britain going and every single one of them should be remembered.
I hope you can help with this because I’m at a lose end now thank you for taking the time to read this email

Treeton Colliery

Information from Treetonweb

Treeton mine was first sunk in 1874 it worked the Barnsley Seam until 1965 and the High Hazels seam until 1966. After nationalisation in 1947 a scheme was developed to increase the output of the Wathwood seam (1963-1982) and the Swallow Wood seam (1900-1947, 1972-1990). The High Hazels and Swallow Wood seams produced house coal.

The owner was Rother Vale Collieries Limited. The Company was set up in 1875 after a resolution was passed authorising the Directors of the Fence Colliery Company Limited to lease land in the area from the Duke of Norfolk. The Fence Colliery Company Limited was renamed Rother Vale Collieries Limited and owned Orgreave, Fence and Treeton collieries. The Company later became a branch of the United Steels Companies Ltd.

In the early 1990’s village life was to change for ever, the coal became uneconomic to mine,the pit was closed for good. Treeton Colliery ceased production on Wednesday 5th December 1990 and the process of erecting underground water dams, salvaging equipment and sealing the shafts and drift quickly followed. In common with many other closed collieries a great deal of equipment was left underground, it being too expensive to remove in terms of man hours and there being no market for surplus mining machinery. When the salvage works were completed in 1991 the land reverted back to the ownership of the Duke of Norfolk Estates from whom the land was originally released to the colliery owners.

Click here to go to Treetonweb for lots more information

Photo Darren Haywood

From:      Andrew Scott
Sent:      15 Mar 2015
Subject   Richard Mansell Death 1957

Hi, I have some information for Ryan Mansell regarding the death of his grandfather. Could you please let me have a contact for Ryan so I can pass it on.

A. Scott
Sent from my iPad

Message sent to Ryan

Andy Stevens - I am researching the men who came to work at Treeton Colliery, South Yorkshire

My grandad was a miner, also his dad was etc., etc., etc. I'm proud to of come from a mining family.
My grandad said if he had a son he would do everything in his power to stop him working down a mine, he stopped his younger brother from working down pit though. My grandads name was Charles Connelly he came from Newbottle Houghton Le Spring and moved to Ripley in about 1935 when he was about 18, then moved to Mansfield in 1960s. The moves were something to do with work, mines closing or something like that.

Keep up the good work.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on O2

Hi
I am not sure whether your interest in mining extends to the Durham coalfield.  If they do you may like to see some notes I have.

I am the last of a long line of generations of South West Durham miners.  According to the 1861 England Census two of my ancestors were coal miners.  My grandfather Fletcher got an Under Managers Certificate in 1899.  My father was a colliery manager.  I passed the colliery managers certificate.

I have a note of some recollections from the 10 years in total that I spent as a Student Apprentice Mining Engineer and a Directed Practical Trainee Mining Engineer.

Please let me know whether you would like to see 

1. More of my family's connections with mining 
2. A copy of my Coal Mining Memories.

Regards

Keith Fletcher

Not sure if I have the correct email address so I will keep this short - interesting article on mine management. Please can you tell me if the author, Keith Fletcher is contactable by email as I am gathering material for a history of Easington Colliery prior to 1939.

Look forward to hearing from you,