Hello
I had been looking through your site where you have details of all colliery accidents. I wanted to show my dad, who is now 97, details of his dad’s accident, he was of course very young when his dad was killed, he was 2 and his younger brother was only 6 months old.

My dad’s father was called Joseph Saw and he was killed on the 29th December 1922 at Barnburgh Main Pit when he was only 24 years old. He is listed as Joseph Shaw which is incorrect but a very common mistake. I thought you would want to know the correct name.

Kind regards
Denise Bentham (born Saw)

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Hi, I note on the surname listing for an accident at Aldwarke Main on 23.02.1904 that you have got Thomas Marsden when his surname is actually RAMSDEN of Nottingham Street, Rotherham.

Regards Ron.

I have been reading the report on the disaster and have noticed that 35 miners lost their lives that day but only 34 have been listed on this site. I believe that Henry Wyatt was also on shift that day and was killed along with his brothers James and Jacob.  Is there any way I can check this fact?

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Death

1893 • Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England
Name: Charles Rusby (my husband’s 2nd Great Uncle)
Birth Year: abt 1853
Event Type: Death Event Year: 1893
Death Age: 40
Date: 4 Jul 1893

Place: Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England
Colliery: Coombs Owner: ET Ingham Notes: Explosion of gas 139 killed.

Charles, living at Crigglestone at the time, left a wife and 6 children, aged from 3 to 16.

His sons Fred, aged 13 and Henry aged 17 were also killed in the same disaster.

Charles’ mother, Sarah Rusby was widowed in 1849, Charles was born in 1852, they were living with Andrew Booth, but because they weren’t married, Charles and 2 further children were baptised and registered Rusby.  Sarah married Booth in 1860 and had a further child, Arthur Bingley Booth. So although Charles’ father was Andrew Booth, he was called Charles Rusby (sometimes Booth)

Ann Rusby

Yesterday I was browsing Facebook and came across details of an open day at Bestwood Colliery to be held on 01 July 2017 celebrating 50 years since the pit closed.

Googling for some additional information I have now come across your web site listing all of the pit fatalities. I am interested as my father was the last fatality at Bestwood Pit on 11 July 1967.
I have copied below the details you have recorded.

Walter W Hazeldine
Long Lane
Attenborough
58
11-07-1967
16-08-1967
Nottingham Coroners Office
Crushed by tubs

The details of my father's name and age are incorrect. Would it be possible for you to amend these details?

The correct details are as follows:

William HAZZLEDINE, Age  49

For interest I have attached a press cutting (surname still incorrectly spelt).

Thank you in anticipation.

Maureen Weldon (nee Hazzledine)

See also Robert Bradley's History of Mining entry

ATTENBOROUGH MAN KILLED BY RUNAWAY TUB
"Open" verdict

AN Attenborough man working at the Bestwood Colliery was killed by a runaway tub, Mr. C. A. Mack, the Nottingham District Coroner, was told on Tuesday.

The dead man was Mr. William Hazledine, aged 49, of Long-lane, Attenborough, a miner for 20 years.

The inquest jury were told by the coroner that Mr. Hazledine was one of two men taking laden tubs along a track with a pony. He was following the tubs and at the same time two other men manhandled another laden tub to the top of an incline.

They tried to chock the wheels to control the descent but one of the men failed to get his chock secured and the tub broke away crashing into the tubs pulled by the pony pushing them forward five yards.
Mr. Hazledine was trapped beneath the runaway tub.

SECOND TIME

Mr. Robert MacGowan, a ripper, of Coronation-road, Bestwood, who witnessed the incident, said that it was the second time he had known of a tub running away.
Mr. Mack directed the jury that there was no degree of negligence to justify criminal responsibility for the man’s death.

It was more difficult to fit safety devices to the rails concerned because they were used for pony haulage, but it was significant that they had been installed since the accident.

Traffic procedure notices too, had since been posted at the colliery.

The jury returned an “Open” verdict.

Looking for information on Robert Middleton Fail who died in June 1940 at Rossington Colliery, near Doncaster in South Yorkshire.

I have tried the local press without success . . . He is believed to have died a month after his son (Frederick Amos Fail) was killed in France.

Any information would be terrific.

Thanks and Regards

John Cowie

• Photos and Information, Rossington Colliery - Chris Sampson

Regards Norma
Sent from my iPad.

The Accident =>

Memorials Page (Non at Rawmarsh)

Durham Mining Museum Memorials (Non at Rawmarsh)

Public Art Research Archive, Sheffield Hallam University (Non at Rawmarsh)

Hello from America. My grandfather - whom I never met - was Roland (Duke) Langrick.

Do not know if there is anyone around that would remember him but if there is I would love to hear from them.

Also my grandfather - Roland Duke Langricks’ father was Lloyd Langrick and he, I am told, was one of the managers of the mine in Warsop Main

Thank you
Deborah Kane, USA

See also Bob Bradley History of Mining

Your Grand Father, Lloyd (5068 / 2nd class certificate) was an undermanager at Warsop Main from 1908-1921

Nottingham Journal - Wednesday 06 March 1929

A verdict of “Accidental death” was returned at the inquest in Mansfield yesterday on Roland Langrick thirty, a colliery corporal, who died in Mansfield Hospital on Sunday as a result of injuries he received in Ollerton Colliery on Friday. Langrick was engaged in coupling empty tubs, at a junction when a full tub became uncoupled and ran into him. He was severely injured about the head and body. Patrick Murphy, 15, Burns Avenue, Mansfield Woodhouse, a deputy, said that about a quarter to one in the morning he noticed the endless rope had stopped. He went to investigate and at a junction found Langrick lying across the road where the empties ran, with his feet towards a full tub which was off the rails, having become uncoupled. The spring point had thrown the tub of the rails, as it ran away, by the tub continued off the rails and struck him. Wilfred Seeds, 183, Walesby Lane, New Ollerton, a clipper, said that Langrick was walking towards him when he (Seeds) saw the tub coming down the gradient. He shouted a warning but Langrick was caught.

Alan

Sue Baxter

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Thank you Sue, the date should be 22/08/1930

Hi ALAN, I am the Chairman of Yorkshire Main Commemorative Trust, in Edlington, we constructed a memorial garden in the village in 2013 we did lots of research in to miners killed finding 133 killed at Yorkshire Main Colliery. Just looked at your list we have a few you don't have, you also have ones not on our list.

We can't trace Albert Creaser 39 - 1912, Isaac Beddington 1933, Thomas Carr 1920 or Robert Hill 1920, even using burial records / inquests / newspapers / m&q reports.

• William Cocking - 34 1916 – found him
  
• F Ward and J Powell 1972 – 1973, I was a Union Official at this time and have no recollection of these two, also asked and checked records and can’t confirm.
  

I wonder about the background of original checks

I can send you our list some of the names are spelled different but same guys

Thanks Frank Arrowsmith

Yorkshire Main Commemorative & Heritage Trust