Hello my grandfather John Buckler was involved in the rescue after the Marine Colliery disaster of 1927. I have found a newspaper with a photo of the rescuers my grandfather being one of them.

I was hoping someone could tell me more about the award they received from the Daily Herald. It is the Order of Industrial Heroism given by the Daily Herald Newspaper which is now the Sun. I have a copy of the newspaper with the photo with my grandfather and the other recipient but it is quite faded and yellow. I think anyone around in 1927 would be thankful for putting my email on the site.

Thank you

The Order of Industrial Heroism was a private civil award given in the United Kingdom by the Daily Herald newspaper to honour examples of heroism carried out by ordinary workers from 1923-1964. Many of the 440 awards were posthumous. The medal was popularly known as the "Workers' VC"

The medal of the Order was designed by sculptor Eric Gill and issued in bronze with a burgundy ribbon. The medal bears the image of St Christopher bearing the Christ Child.

Wikipedia

Hello,

I?ve just come across your webpage regarding this incident and was especially interested in the message left by Kevin McCormack and Ceinwen Scales.

Bert and Wilfred Button were my great Uncles.

I have a book at home, kept by my Grandfather (their brother) of newspaper cuttings of the day and events following. If anyone would like more info on what I have, I can scan the cuttings.

Kind Regards

Huw Button

Hello Fionn,
 
Enjoying your web site. I was searching for information about the Miner’s Institute in Cwm where there used to be a memorial to the men who died in the disaster.

I lived in Cwm until the early 70´s but spent a lot of time there until the 90´s. I was intrigued by the photograph of Bert Button since it includes my grandfather Tom Dixon – I have a copy of the same photograph. Somewhere I also have the names of the other men in the photograph. I remember the Button’s living in Cwm and I guess they were relatives of Bert.

My father worked as a miner for most of his life in the area and he used to tell me about the day of the disaster in the Marine Colliery – of course he was a small boy at that time.
 
Anyway enjoying the site and thanks for the work you have put in to it.
 
John Dixon PhD CGeol

Dear Fionn

I have just come across your very interesting site.

I was wondering whether you would be prepared to forward my email to Ceinwen Scales who emailed you re-the Marine Colliery disaster and her grandfather Bert Pitts.

I have recently started researching my family history and found that Ceinwen’s grandfather and mine were sent to war on the same date, 21st August 1914, and my grandfather’s address was 12 Bailey Street, Cwm whilst Ceinwen’s grandfather lived at 10 Bailey Street.

They both joined the 20th Field Ambulance RAMC so I am assuming that they were together in the war. They both survived the war.

There is a photo on your website of the Territorials from Cwm in Aberystwyth and I am intrigued as one of them could be my grandfather!

His name was David George Griffiths - I have his Territorial Efficiency Medal.

There is also the possibility that he worked at Marine colliery.

Many thanks if you can help by forwarding this email?

Best wishes

Fionn
I came across your site whilst searching for information on the Marine Colliery and saw the email on there from Kevin McCormack about his relative Bert Button.  There isn't any way to contact Kevin directly via your site and I was wondering if you could perhaps forward this to him on my behalf.

The photo shown next to Kevin's email shows and mentions in the caption Bert Pitts - my grandfather! I was so surprised to see this picture, especially as I also have a copy of it! I didn't know which one was Bert Button though as my Dad has now passed away and he'd never captioned the picture for me!  I only knew which one was my Dad Bert Pitts.  Bert P and Bert B were, according to my later Father and my Aunt, best friends and grew up together in the Cwm and then went through the war together, with Bert's (P) brother-in-law Jack Barnfield. 

My Aunt remembers how my grandfather was devastated when Bert B died in the disaster.  The story goes that they had swapped shifts that night, Grandad was supposed to be working the night shift and Bert B the morning shift the next day.  Bert B asked Grandad to swap shifts with him as he was due to go to a wedding the next day in the Cwm.  My Grandad felt guilty for the rest of his days even though he had swapped at Bert B's request.  Apparently he looked after Bert's family from then on, particularly sharing his monthly coal allowance with them as they lost this allowance as soon as Bert died.

On Ancestry, if Kevin has a subscription, he will find Bert Button's WW1 service record.  There are also records at Gwent Archives about the disaster and funerals. 

Don't know if this is of any help to Kevin but thought I would pass it on anyway.  I'm happy for you to pass on to Kevin my email address if he so wishes to get in touch. 

Regards

Ceinwen Scales (Mrs)

Email sent to Kevin McCormack