P5 - 1978 - Bob Bradley

1978 - Page 5

Langwith Continued

Agents:

JB Smith pre 1883-1886 (to Glapwell)
Jonathan Piggford (1084) Agent 1886-1893
John Bennett (372) 1893-
TH Elliott (3056) 1909-1918
G Wharton Agent 1918-1922
G Nicholson Agent 1922-1927
Jack A Tankard (3946) 1927-1942
Tom O Wrightson (2952) Agent 1942-1946
Jack A Tankard (3946) Agent 1949-1951

Sub-Area / Group Managers:

WES Peach (….) Sub-Area Manager 1949-
JS Rayner (3077) Sub-Area Manager
Ben Kendall (1944) Sub-Area Manager 1953-
A George Douthwaite (….) Group Manager 1957-1958
Jim H Stone (4524) Group Manager 1958-1961
Len E Fletcher (3059) Group Manager 1962-1966
Frank T Murphy (4644) Group Manager
Des Stringer (5143) Group Manager 1966-

Managers for Langwith:

Chas Beevers pre 1883-1888 (salary £180 - £250 p.a.)
John Bennett (372) Manager 1888-1898 and Agent 1893-
William Elliott (399) 1898-1908
TH Elliott (3056) Manager 1908-1909 and Agent 1909-1918
Thos Wharton (2875) 1917-1924
Jack A Tankard (3946) Manager 1924-1927 to Agent 1927-1942
FG Glossop (1970) 1928-1932 (previously apprentice Surveyor Sheepbridge Coal and Iron Co, then apprentice with Mining engineer Guy Nicholson, transferred to Manager Rossington 1932, later General Manager, St Helens Area eventually Deputy Chairman EM Division 1961, OBE 1959)
Douglas Hubert Ormand Bishop (2507) 1932-1945, whilst Manager received the Edward medal from King George V for saving a man’s life following a mining accident, (previously at West Hallam and Manners)
Arthur W Baddeley (2543) 1945-1951
Fred Ford (3979) 1951-1955 (later becoming Deputy Director Mining in South Nottinghamshire Area in 1972, replacing Jack Wood)
Peter I Allsop (5283) 1957-1963 (transferred from Ramcroft, transferred to Williamthorpe)
American born Charlie L Round (5437) 1963 (promoted to Group Manager)
Percy Blunt 1963-1964 (joined HMI Durham, began at Staveley, Markham, Oxcroft, Grassmoor shotfirer and Deputy, Overman and back shift Undermanager Glapwell No3, Undermanager Glapwell No1, Undermanager Bramley Vale, Acting Manager Whitwell 1962)
Des Stringer (5143) 1965-1966 (promoted to Group Manager)
H David Saywood (4701) Agent/Manager 1966-1967
Len Harris (7388) Agent Manager 1967-1968 (transferred from Manager Markham No4, transferred to Colliery General Manager Shirebrook, later Area Director)
John E Hancock (6205) Colliery General Manager 1968/69-1972 (transferred from Glapwell)
Frank G Hicken (7868) Agent/Manager 1972-1975
Charlie Hawkesley (4442) Agent/Manager 1975-1977 (transferred to Whitwell)
Terry McAllister (9142) Agent Manager 1977-1978 (transferred from Langwith, transferred to Pleasley at closure).

Deputy Managers:

HS (John) Haslam 1938-1942 (articled to Guy Nicholson Sheepbridge Coal and IronCo 1929, promoted to Agent Doncaster Amalgamated Collieries 1942, General Manager Dalton Collieries (Silverwood) 1945, General Manager Manvers (No3 NE Division) 1947, resigned from NCB 1949 to go to EnglishChina Clays, Cornwall)
Don R Wilson (7715) 1961-1966
Jim Clark (6986) 1966-1969
Frank Rimmer (3649) 1969-1970
Frank G Hicken (7868) 1970-1971 (promoted to Manager)
A Eddie Boulton (6970) 1971-1976.

Assistant Managers:

Don R Wilson (7715) 1971-1977
Brian Bell (9848) 1977-1978.

Undermanagers at Langwith:

Sam Ord (2nd) pre 1887-1898
G Walker (382) 1898-1899
J Nevins (383) 1899-1900
John Noble (2687) 1900-1902
J Ward (806) 1902-1915
A Greasley (2nd) 1915-1918
H Meddlycutt (2nd) 1919-1939
Joe Wallace (1711 / 2nd) 1940-1959
J Trolley (….) -1958 (to Area Mechanization Engineer No1 W Midlands, to Mechanization and Strata Control Engineer -1981
Don R Wilson (7715) 1961-1969 (promoted to Assistant Manager)
Harold Glasby (7387) 1961-1962
RD Lewis (....) 1962-1964
Keith J Otter 1964-1965 (transferred to Glapwell)
Don Hunt (4595) 1966-1967
Les Hayes (5679) 1967-1977
Eric Hall (9482) 1970-1973
Alan Cuthbert (8447) 1968-1970
John W Harrison (10188) (promoted from Clipstone 1974-1976, transferred to Shirebrook 1975-1976)
Harold Smedley (5356) 1977-1978.

Surveyors included: …

Arthur A Booth (300)? (Sheepbridge Coal and Iron Co), William Scattergood 1945-1951 to Glapwell
Stan Coe (973), for Co, then Group Surveyor
Jack Watts 1951-1969 (to Group Planner later Deputy Area Planner -1986)
Arthur W Clarke (1354) 1969-1979.

Fatal Accidents Langwith:

Charles Cooper (42) fall of coal 20/11/1878
Joseph Nichols (24) shotfiring accident 23/11/1879
James Hatton (36) fall of roof 20/12/1881, died 13/2/1882
William Wordsworth (28) fall in a roadway 1/3/1882
John Day (28) fall of roof 15/4/1882
John Humphrey (14) run over by tubs 18/4/1882
William Burrows (56) fitter, crushed by the cage 28/4/1882
James Wood (44) fall in a roadway 5/12/1883
Thomas Barlow (15) caught in machinery on the surface 2/5/1885
Aaron Longden (29) fall of roof 7/2/1889
James (Jaz) Lakin (45) fall in a roadway 17/5/1890
Richard Haines (52) fall of roof 7/10/1890
George Henry Millward (36) 12/4/1892
Charles Edward Rogers (32) fall of roof 30/9/1892
Walter Crookes (..?) 8/6/1893
James Russell (37) fall of roof 27/1/1894
John Thomas Musson (20) fall of roof 5/2/1894, died 15/2/1894
Walter Pearson (21) 20/6/1894
William Partlett (29) crushed by wagons on the surface 12/2/1895
William Henry Dovey (28) fall of roof 5/6/1895, died 15/6/1895
Sam Fretsome (34) side fell over 19/11/1895, died 22/12/1895
George Sawrey (..?) 18/12/1895
Joseph Brain (..?) 9/4/1896
George Alborn (33) ripper, roadway fall at 1.30am on 70s Cross gate, Tues 12/5/1896
H Walker (15) 18/6/1896
William Hoult (29) fall of coal 8/3/1897
Edward Mould (20) fall of roof 22/4/1899, died 14/5/1899
David Blagg (67) fall in a roadway 16/11/1900, died 20/11/1900
William Wells (?) 10/11/1901
Joseph Kiddy (32) fall of roof 17/6/1902
Robert Osborne (36) injured by a ringer 13/3/1902, died 14/10/1902
Aaron Severn (22) fall of roof 2/3/1903
Ernest Chadbourne (26) fall of roof 19/2/1904
Leonard Robert Todd (21) fall of coal 11/4/1904
Joseph Burton (68) run over by wagons on the surface 18/5/1904, died 15/5/1904
William Pitchfork (38) 26/10/1905
John William Owen (34) strained himself lifting a stone 13/5/1906
Walter Dobbs (20) 4/7/1906
George Taylor (18) fall of roof 31/1/1907, died 25/2/1907
Alfred Bennett (54) fall of roof 9/9/1907
William Riley (57) 16/1/1908, died as a result of falling from the screening belt
Hugh Walter Dunn Addelton (38) 7/2/1908
Albert Collins (63) 26/8/1909
Thomas Newton Higgs (30) 30/8/1909
Joseph Winson (62) fall of roof 6/1/1910
James Butler (40) fall of roof 11/4/1910
Amos Buxton (70) run over by tubs 21/6/1910
George Northage (27) fall of roof 6/12/1910
James Burton (38) fall of roof 11/4/1911, died 18/4/1911
Albert William Jackson (27) fall of roof 15/7/1912
Bertram Betteridge (14) electrocuted 5/3/1913
George Fone (44) fall of roof 22/7/1913
Joseph Timmins (60) 13/2/1914
George Wilson (16) crushed by tubs 1/4/1914
Joseph Lee (50) fell off the lamproom roof when it was on fire 25/7/1914
William Milligan (35) fall of roof 12/1/1915
Edward Dorrill (36) caught in machinery 3/2/1915
Herbert William Wragg (18) run over by tubs 30/3/1915
Eli Jones (14) injured by a tub 12/4/1915, died 24/4/1915
Fred James Plater (44) fall of roof 7/6/1915
Richard Straw (61)?(34) fall of roof 9/8/1915
Richard Ashall (51) fall in a roadway 14/8/1915
Joseph Henry Fowler (35) 15/8/1916
William A Broadhurst (81) scalded by boiler on surface 30/12/1916, died 31/12/1916
John Fowler (51) 28/1/1917
Thomas Burgin (17) caught in machinery on surface 17/5/1917
Joseph James Ashman (34) fall of roof 6/6/1917
John Arthur Cotman (19) crushed by the cage 20/8/1918
Arthur Edward Beresford (15) a pony driver, kicked by a pony, 4/11/1919, died 16 days later 21/11/1919
Richard Charlesworth (26) object fell down shaft and struck him 10/1/1922, died 14/1/1922
Sam Henson (17) caught in a haulage rope 13/12/1922
William Stacey (34) fall in a roadway 25/9/1922, died 1/1/1923
Edward Wilson (58) crushed by tubs 21/4/1923
Wilfred Hardwick (17) caught in a haulage rope 13/2/1925
John James Hardy (34) fall of roof 23/7/1925
Robert Arthur Cutts (42) fall in a roadway 27/8/1925
James Henry Morris (41) fall of roof 16/9/1925
John George Winter (40) fall of coal 14/10/1925
Percival Herbert King (34) fall of coal 15/8/1927
Frank Lucas (23) injured ankle 30/12/1927, died from toxaemia 6/1/1928
Alfred Brown (32) fall of roof 18/5/1928
George Hills (52) fall of roof 16/4/1929
James Dickinson (58) run over by wagons on surface 16/10/1930
Sam Bardin (43), screen hand, 2/6/1931, trapped between the screen deckings and killed next day
George William Riley (52), a bank foreman, 3/6/1931, run over and killed by a coal wagon
Henry James Neal (30) fall of roof 21/3/1932
William Jones (25) injured foot 5/10/1932, died from toxaemia 1/11/1932
Reginald Skinner (23) fall of roof 6/5/1934
Robert Stead (34) fall of coal 5/11/1934
Herbert D Booth (47) fall of roof 21/7/1936
John W Holland Smith (62) fall of roof 25/3/1937
John Mole (46) fall of roof 9/3/1937
William Ward (55) fall of roof 16/7/1937
Henry Northedge (50) injured his hand 20/5/1938, died 24/6/1938
William Charles Lane (44) fall of roof 24/6/1938
Bernard Harry Elliott (27) fall of roof -/6/1938, died 26/3/1939
William Swales (52) fall of roof 8/12/1939
Walter Wright (32) caught in a conveyor 15/4/1940, died 17/4/1940
Edgar Dobson (58) fall of roof 3/11/1941, died 2/3/1942
Benjamin Deakin (54) crushed by tubs 17/7/1942
William Maddison (61) fall of roof 17/2/1945
Charles Arthur Draycott (54) fall of roof 14/8/1946
Joseph Wharton May (67) crushed by tubs 10/9/1956
Stanley Fowler (47) 23/9/1959
William Glendon (57) fell off a building on the surface 3/9/1961

Incidents included: A fire broke out in the lamp room on Sat 25th July 1914 and the whole building was completely gutted along with the loss of around 1,000 oil lamps. Unfortunately a joiner Joseph Lee was killed when he climbed onto the roof and fell off when flames shot through the hole in the roof. Lamps had to be borrowed from neighbouring collieries to allow work to continue.

On Sat 3rd Feb 1934 there was a large fall of roof in the Cotton Mill district of the pit. After cleaning up, and setting wooden legs, chocks and steel girders, 2 men began to resume getting coal under the fall area when a further tremendous large fall came and one of the men Joseph Stevenson (40) was trapped and pinned by an ankle under one of the girders. Tim Fretwell (Overman) and William Kinsey, a ripper set about trying to rescue him. The Manager Douglas Bishop (2507) was summoned to the scene. After some time a jack was able to be got under the girder and raised it sufficiently to allow Stevenson to be released finally after 4 hours and taken to hospital with a broken ankle. The Manager was awarded the Edward Medal and £20 and a clock awarded from the Carnegie Fund. William Kinsey and Tim Fretwell were awarded £15 and an Honorary Certificate. However Kinsey was very upset about the award and stated that it was he who had done most of the rescue work and that it was he who should have been awarded the medal. He carried on working at the pit until he was 74 years old completing 60 years underground, having starting work on the surface aged 11 in 1894 in the Ashby-de-la-Zouch area.

In 1956/57 2 boreholes were drilled from the surface to determine the thickness of deeper seams in the area and one borehole to the north of Norwood Farm had problems when the drill rods snapped at about 650 yards (595m) and numerous attempts were made to fish to try to recover same, even contemplating blasting them out, an idea soon abandoned. It was decided to move the drill rig some distance away and drill another hole instead, which eventually reached a depth of 875 yards (800m). Unfortunately the drilling team failed to notify the Surveyors/Geologists of this move. It was assumed there was only one borehole as no one at the colliery was aware of the old position, thereby some years later a panel was set out to miss the original borehole site position but the face cutting machine cut into the steel pipe left in the second borehole causing a mass of sparks with the danger of an explosion. It was quite a shock for the men because precautions had been taken to take care in cutting at the position underground as marked by the Surveyor. Fortunately no one was injured. The pipe had to be cut out by hand before further cutting operations could be continued. The other hole went down to 875 yards (800m) also but no economical seams were found.