I have discussed in a previous newsletter the job descriptions of those of our ancestor’s who worked in the mines, but how many of those men paid the ultimate price for the dangerous tasks they undertook?  There were many, and I want to tell you about some of the local men who lost their lives underground.  At one time there were about twenty pits of various sizes around our area, although some were just holes in the ground.
In 1896, William Harrison Limited started the sinking of Brownhills No 3 Colliery in Slackey Lane (now Hazel Lane), Great Wyrley, known locally as Harrison’s No 3 or The Sinking.  In May 1900, James Davenport, a Mining Engineer, aged 48 years, who lived in Slackey Lane, was lowered down the water pit shaft at the New Sinking Colliery to make an examination to enable alterations to be made to allow workmen to work on the other side.  There was a workman actually in the cage with James, however, the cage was lowered too fast and the bottom of it struck water (sump), both men were flung around and their lights went out.  When the cage was returned to the surface, James was missing.  His body was recovered later and he is buried in Great Wyrley Cemetery.
In the same year that James lost his life at Harrison’s pit, two local men lost their lives at Hawkin’s Old Coppice Colliery, Lodge Lane.  In May 1900, William Eli Brough, the son of Charles and Mary Brough of Station Street, Cheslyn Hay, was only 16 years of age when he received severe injuries and died after becoming crushed between some tubs.  In September of that year, Joseph Edwin Lawson aged 29 years, of Hatherton Street, Cheslyn Hay, lost his life at the colliery when the cage plunged to the bottom of the shaft.  Both men are buried in Great Wyrley Cemetery.
The following four deaths also occurred at Hawkin’s Old Coppice Colliery.  In October 1904, Isaiah Hinks, aged 28 years, of Upper Landywood, was loading a tub, when a quantity of coal and rock fell on him and partially buried him.  Isaiah died of a fractured skull and left behind a wife and four children.  Isaiah is buried in Great Wyrley Cemetery.  In December 1927, Joseph James Turner aged 44 years, of Coppice Lane, Cheslyn Hay, lost his life when he was overcome by gas.  He left a wife and five children and he is buried in Cheslyn Hay Cemetery.  In July 1931, Albert Hawkins, aged 41 years, of Station Street, Cheslyn Hay, died in Wolverhampton Royal Hospital from injuries he had received while working as a foreman at the colliery.  He is buried in Great Wyrley Cemetery.  In September 1944, Harry A. Hemingsley, aged 48 years, of High Street, Cheslyn Hay, was also killed at Hawkin’s Old Coppice Colliery.  He is buried in Cheslyn Hay Cemetery.  Tragedy struck this family twice, Harry’s son, Kenneth, was killed in a pit accident in Kent.  However, Joseph Hawkins, the Colliery Proprietor, suffered his own personal tragedy when in September 1876, his 23 year old son, William Jabez Hawkins, was burnt to death in this very pit.  The Old Coppice Colliery closed in 1960.
It was in April 1927, that local man, Thomas Walter Doughty aged 29 of Littlewood Cottages, Cheslyn Hay was killed in an accident at East Cannock Colliery.  He is buried in Great Wyrley Cemetery.  In January 1932, Stephen George Whitehouse, son of Josiah Whitehouse of Cross Street, Cheslyn Hay was killed at Mid Cannock Colliery.  In August 1935, Bernard Bloomer aged 29 years of ‘Sunnyside’, Littlewood Lane, Cheslyn Hay, a Colliery Blacksmith, was killed in an accident at The Nook Colliery, Cheslyn Hay.  He is buried in Great Wyrley Cemetery.  The Nook Colliery, situated close to the Wyrley and Essington Canal, was The Great Wyrley Colliery Company’s No 2 Pit and had been purchased from The Wyrley Cannock Colliery Company in 1874.
It must be remembered that there was little compensation for loss of, who sometimes was, the ‘bread winner’ of the family.  The Compensation for Injury Act of 1906 proposed a scheme put forward by the South Staffs and East Worcester Mining District Compensation Fund as follows:
Workmen were to contribute one penny per week and employers were to contribute six pennies, per man, per week.  The compensation received for a fatal accident (where workman leaves dependants wholly dependant upon his earnings) would be £15 funeral expenses, six shillings per week for the widow and one shilling and six pence per week for each child until 14 years of age.
In the early days of mining there was no need of education, in fact most people could not read or write.  The majority of the work called for manual skills, which would be passed down from father to son by word of mouth or trial and error.  It was only as technology was introduced that machine skills and knowledge became important.  The Coal Mines Act of 1911 raised the minimum age for workers to 14 and provided a wide range of safety regulations.

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