1885 Continued

Fatal Accidents, 1885

Included Albert, Sam Harrison (19), bringing a loaded tub down the stall when it got away and knocked out a prop that caused the roof to fall upon him 21 Mar 1885

• Annesley, Patrick Glynn (59) loader, crushed by a loaded tub on 17 Jul 1885, died 11 Aug 1885
  
• Bagworth, Peter Bateman (33) stallman, fall of roof whilst repairing the roadway 2 Feb 1885
  
• Bailey Brook, John Riley (14), coal fell down shaft and struck him 17 Mar 1885
  
• Bestwood, John Sharratt (25) holer, fall of coals whilst holing 19 Mar 1885
  
• Birchwood, Henry Hawley (38), incline man, riding on the buffers of a railway truck that came off the road and he was run over 20 Feb 1885
  
• Birchwood, Thomas Parnham (62), crushed by hoist on surface pit bank 10 Jul 1885
  
• Birley Vale, Joseph Orgreave (75) screen man, crushed by a steam hoist whilst attempting to remove a loaded tub from the cage 30 Oct 1885
  
• Birley West, Walter Mosley (15) driver, run over by full tubs 27 Nov 1885
  
• Boiley Lane, John Hall (55) (owner), standing at the bottom of the shaft when an iron pan fell down shaft and although not striking the deceased he fell forwards and died from shock 8 Feb 1885
  
• Boythorpe (Silkstone), Francis Rimmington (49), stallman, fall of roof 3 Nov 1885
  
• Boythorpe, John Harrison (42), (Secretary and Manager of Boythorpe Colliery Co) run over by surface loco in fog 24 Dec 1885 (see below)
  
• Brinsley, Thomas Kibble (29) loader, fall of roof 1 Oct 1885
  
• Brinsley, Freeman Walker (35) stallman, fall of coals whilst holing 19 Dec 1885
  
• Britain, James Wakefield (22), stallman, fall of roof having withdrawn timber to build a pack 24 Aug 1885
  
• Cinder Hill, Henry Smith (13) door boy, run over by tubs following his neglect to open the door soon enough 14 Sep 1885
  
• Clay Cross No2, James Reynolds (27), stallman, fall of roof 5 Sep 1885
  
• Clifton, Thomas Reynolds (26) holer, fall of coals whilst cleaning up 12 Mar 1885
  
• Coton Park, William Buckley (28) stallman, fall of roof 15 Aug 1885
  
• Coton Park, Thomas Cotton (17) driver, run over by full tubs 24 Oct 1885
  
• Granville, Thomas Wilkinson (26) datler, fall of roof repairing a roadway 23 Mar 1885
  
• Hartington, Thomas Smith (56), fall of roof 26 May 1885
  
• Hartington, John Macdonald (47), stallman, fall of roof whilst getting coals when the stall was inefficiently supported 12 Aug 1885
  
• Holmewood, George Bagley (35), fall of roof 25 Mar 1885
  
• Hornethorpes, Alfred Barker (15), driver, run over by a loaded tub and found dead at the bottom of an incline 15 Aug 1885
  
• Hundall, Charles Woodhouse (22), fall of coal 26 Mar 1885
  
• Ireland, John Gardner (66), datler, moving away from a set of empty tubs was run over by a set of fulls 16 Sep 1885
  
• Langwith, Thomas Barlow (15), caught in machinery on surface 2 May 1885
  
• Manners, Jacob Jackson (49), Enginewright, injured and fell whilst at work in a pumping shaft 23 Jul 1885
  
• Mapperley, Curtis Daniels (15), fall of roof 26 Jun 1885
  
• Markham, Isaac Turton (24), fall of coal 12 May 1885
  
• Markham, Benjamin Clark (17), run over by tubs 21 May 1885
  
• Mexborough (Mexbro’), George Coleman (47) onsetter, cleaning the pit bottom when the cage descended and crushed him 5 Jan 1885
  
• Nailstone, Thomas Hargreaves (21), holer, fall of coal from the side whilst setting holing sprag 10 Jun 1885
  
• Netherseal, William Wood (62) dayman, fell across a tub and died a few hours later from his injuries 15 Dec 1885
  
• New Hucknall, William Price (18) banksman, fell from a railway truck and was run over 19 Feb 1885
  
• New Hucknall, Joseph Haines (20) dayman, run over on an engine plane 31 Dec 1885
  
• New Langley, John Hardy (54), horse keeper caught in machinery when his hand was crushed by the unfenced cog wheels of a chaff-cutting machine worked by an underground steam engine 4 Sep 1885
  
• New Watnall, Sam Cresswell (23) collier, caught his foot against a pair of horses’ shafts and injured his knee on 24 Nov 1884, leg amputated in St Thomas’s Hospital, London and died a few days later 22 Jul 1995
  
• Oakwell, Richard Flint (37), stallman, fall of roof whilst taking out holing sprags to get the coal down 5 Jun 1885
  
• Oakwell, James Wheatley (32), stallman, having turned an empty tub over it fell back upon him 30 Sep 1885
  
• Pilsley (Hard Coal), George Savage (15) driver, run over by loaded tubs 11 Nov 1885
  
• Pleasley, John Sims (41), stallman, fall of roof whilst withdrawing back timber 28 May 1885
  
• Rawdon, John Hunt (14), driver, run over by a full tub 13 Jun 1885
  
• Renishaw Park No2, Joseph Munday (13), driver, run over and crushed by loaded tubs 5 Mar 1885
  
• Renishaw Park, John Henry Ashley (14), run over by tubs 7 May 1885
  
• Reservoir, Henry Wileman (15), driver, run over by full tubs 12 Jan 1885
  
• Shireoaks, Henry Richardson (20) trammer, fall of roof 12 Jan 1885
  
• Silver Hill, George Chadwick (23) loader, fall of roof 4 Aug 1885
  
• Southgate, Thomas Hopkins (22), fall of roof 25 Mar 1885
  
• Southgate, John Wood (14), crushed by a wagon on the surface 20 May 1885
  
• Southgate, Jabez Crooks (30), stallman, fall of roof whilst drawing timber by hand instead of using a ringer and chain 23 Oct 1885
  
• Springwell, James Taylor (32), loader, crushed between a tub and a prop on 20 Jan 1885, died 9 Aug 1885
  
• Teversall, Thomas Tranter (56) day man, fall of roof 11 Dec 1885
  
• Underwood, John William Simpson (13) driver, run over by full tubs 12 Dec 1885
  
• Unstone, Joseph Hancock (60), deputy, whilst travelling down an incline he was run over by empty tubs that had been wrongly started from the top 8 Jun 1885
  
• West Hallam, Alfred Potter (14), crushed by wagon on the surface 6 May 1885
  
• Whitwick, Henry Chambers (28), stallman, fall of roof 2 Mar 1885
  
• Whitwick, Edward Fewkes (56), fall in a roadway whilst doing some repair work 24 Jul 1885.

With reference to above, Boythorpe colliery. On Christmas Eve 1885 John Harrison (42) newly appointed Manager from September to succeed GJ Wood was fatally injured on the colliery surface. The 2 shafts at the mine were up to 300 yards (270m) apart and connected on the surface by 2 railway lines. A small loco was employed to transport trucks from one pit to the other and on that foggy day John Harrison was run down by the loco and killed.

Following an explosion at Blackwell there was a tightening up of safety at the mine following a Coal Mines Act. A 45 feet dia x 12 feet wide (13.71m x 3.65m) Guibal fan was installed at Blackwell A Winning and a 36 feet x 12 feet (10.97m x 3.65m) fan at B Winning.

• 115 boys aged 12 to 13
• 2,213 boys 13 to 16
• 20,518 above 16
• total: 22,846 underground workers

Surface workers

• 20 boys 10 to 13
• 731 boys 13 to 16
• 5,460 above 16
• total 6,211 surface workers.

• 56 boys 12 to13
• 834 boys 13 to 16
• 11,073 above 16 underground workers

Surface workers

• 12 boys 10 to 13
• 274 boys 13 to 16
• 3,084 above16
• total  3,370 surface workers.
  

• 1 boy aged 12 to 13
• 302 aged 13 to 16
• 3,112 above 16
• total of 3,415 underground workers

Surface workers

• 1 boy 10 to 13
• 150 boys aged 13 to 16
• total of 1,203 surface workers.

The Countess of Chesterfield died in 1885 and the mines and estates passed down to Lord Porchester the eldest son of her daughter Evelyn who had married the 4th Earl of Carnarvon (George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert) who would succeed his father as the 5th Earl of Carnarvon in 1890. The Earl leased his mining rights to JD Wragg of Swadlincote.

The collieries owned by the Chesterfields and then the Carnarvon’s were bought by Hall and Boardman who owned
Cadley Hill and Swadlincote collieries.

The last Toll gate was removed during 1885. They had generally been sited at places where horse drawn carts had to pass and pay a fee for using the road and invariably there was no way round it as other Toll gates were strategically situated to prevent anyone trying to bypass a particular road.

Output for Derbyshire pits in 1885 was 8,581,001 tons produced by a total manpower of 29,057 of which 22,846 were below ground
Nottinghamshire pits, 5,091,603 tons with a total manpower of 15,338, including 11,963 below ground.
Leicestershire there were 4,618 men and boys above ground.