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Home - The Village Today - History - Maps - Memories - Newspapers - Picture Gallery - World Wars |
The Mapperley Team Derbyshire - 1918 M. Hancock, T. Hartshorn and C. Robinson (Captain).
THE ABOVE photograph shows the Mapperley Team at Ilkeston Mines Rescue in 1918. It was submitted by Barbara Harrison to the Ilkeston Advertiser, her late husband David was given the picture in an album owned by his father. On the original picture there is a caption naming the men in the photo. Mrs Harrison said: "I've always been fascinated by the photographs. "It may be of interest to someone researching their family history or just looking into the town's past.
Nottinghamshire Guardian 13-Nov-1863 A few days ago one of the under viewers in Messer's Whitehouse's ironstone pits was descending the shaft to ascertain that all was right before the men began to descend for the day's work, when he found the firedamp was nearly up to the mouth of the shaft. He had a shovel full of burning coals with him, which he was taking down to light the fires with. The gas caught fire and flashed around him most fearfully, he called out to the engineman to "whip him out" which was done with all possible speed, and the man was landed safely on the ground; but before the men who were looking down the shaft could get away, a most terrible explosion took place, which seemed like the bursting of a volcano-the earth shook with the report, and the fire blazed for yards above the mouth of the pit, singing the hair and clothes of those who stood at the top. The only damage done, however was that some of the doors and woodwork was displaced; no one was seriously hurt. Although the shaft {100 yards deep} was full of gas and also a considerable part of the works, it having accumulated through shutting a door. Alan Beales
Fascinating Material But Quite Horrific.
It is equally horrific to think for each of these deaths attributed to accidents, there was probably a hundred more whereby lives were ruined/cut short through accidents and industrial disease over and beyond the lifespan of these pits. I certainly had family members who were maimed, crippled or who couldn't draw a decent breath at an early age by today's standards after time in the pit, it just seemed to be accepted. It seems that only major mining disasters prompted the more obvious reforms, whilst the underlying reasons for background casualties occurring in even greater numbers just didn't seem to have the profile for many decades. I was surprised by the amount of deaths due to "falling down the shaft" including a lot of young boys; looking at the dates this often seemed to be during shaft sinking so the working practices must have been appalling, presumably as you could fit more pairs of hands in the sinking bucket using kids. Nationalisation did a lot to address safety issues, and to do away with Victorian practices still prevalent in many private pits. It's sad to note the percentage of casualties has risen in recent years since the industry was re-privatised. Joe Henshaw
(Hover over faces to see names) Sarah Elizabeth Shaw (nee. Williams) who would have been my great grandmother. My mother remembers her father, George Birkin, routinely bringing home his pit tools, drills, mandrels, rammers etc. for safekeeping and maintenance, from the time when miners had to provide all. She never knew her grandfather, Bill, but remembers Grandad "Brock"(Lehurst) whom Sarah Elizabeth remarried. Next comes great aunt Nellie, who later moved to Nottingham (a bit like emigrating!), We're pretty sure that the picture would have been taken at Albion Place in Ilkeston around the turn of the C19th. As you see, the Birkin connection comes in with Lucy Shaw marrying George Birkin (my maternal grandad), a miner from Kimberley, who was badly crushed at Cossall Pit (Healeyhero.co.uk) (my mam remembers going to visit him in the old Ilkeston Hospital), this was years after Bill Shaw's demise. I remember being told about Bill (Shaw) having a broken back, seen above before the accident. I recall being told he spent his post-accident days paralysed lying on a settle, but I do not know for how long. Sarah Elizabeth re-married a fireman called Brocklehurst (my mam can recall him having a collection of medals for his work) who lived further up Albion Place; and that house was later occupied for many years by one of my mam's elder sisters Mildred, with her husband Stan Smith (locally famous Ilkeston Town and Derby County fans). They later moved to Dronfield Place in Cotmanhay, and Stan finished his working life as a deputy at Moorgreen pit. Another of my mam's elder sisters, Violet, won the competition to name the Ilkeston shopping precinct in the 1980s, suggesting "Albion Centre" after the street they were brought-up on, and where the precinct is built. Whilst escaping hard times by moving to Canada might have seemed enviable, things were not always good for great aunt Annie, whose son, Martin, who might well have ended up down the pit here, was instead killed at work by a combined-harvester over there. See Miners And Their Families Last Century Anyone wishing more detail should look the death date up in local newspapers, an inquest report will give a lot of information.
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