Midsummer murders
 

I have recently been looking at my tree again to see what new information has come on line. Yesterday I found another child for one of my branches. James Withers. I had seen him on the 1841 census but with no relationships given I was reluctant to claim him. However exploring further it soon became apparent why he was missing from the 1851 census. He died in 1847 aged just 11. The parish register has a note at the side "killed by falling stuff in the Wells way colliery."

Looking up this colliery I found a report of an earlier accident http://www.somersetlive.co.uk/dark-s...ail/story.html.

I think reading the report it seems to me that the crash was due to poor maintenance rather than sabotage but it must have been terrible sending your other children to work in a pit with that reputation. The somerset miners were a close knit group and I recognise several surnames of people who married into my family among the victims.

The vicar at the time seems to have been a radical and he recorded all deaths from colliery accidents in the register.

Sometimes this hobby changes from being a dull collation of census and baptismal entries to become living history. (My grandmother came from Midsummer Norton if any one wonders about the title of the thread.).

How terribly sad and so many affected by the tragedy.

4000 mourners at the funeral is a massive number.

My son is 11yo now. I could not imagine sending him out to work.

Awful. My ex's great-grandfather died in a mining accident, hit by a runaway tram underground - his son (ex's grandfather) was in the mine at the time. The inquest casually stated that someone had neglected to apply the brakes correctly. No recommendations for improving or checking the situation. The whole page was full of other inquests concerning other deaths in mines - I know we go on about Health & Safety gone mad, but at least deaths at work aren't regarded as an occupational hazard any more and people are held accountable.

When I was following the wrong line on my tree (oops) I found a report of a colliery accident and there were a number of young children killed including one I thought was mine aged 9.

If I find the link I'll post it.