There's 'Ancestry Gold' in Wingate's Grange Colliery (14th, October 1906) coal mine disaster, if ....

.. if you're in your late, late Seventies

like I am;

.. if you've been holding onto a 1919 photo taken at Station Town School

like my Mom did, second row from the front, second child to the right of the Teacher.

Sta III    Station Town School   1919

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Would tonight be a good time to read 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens (February 7, 1812 - June 9, 1870)?   Not really.   Maybe Dickens didn't get it right when it came to the coal mines.

 

Check out the Durham Mining Museum (online) where volunteers have assembled a wealth of information on coal mine disasters.  Documented investigations backed up with testimonies.  More importantly, the 1901 census, listing off the family unit.

For example:  James Morrison

James (39) and Catherine (29) and their Children: 10y, 8,y and 10 Months.

 

 

 Highlighted in red above is my Grandmother, Catherine

However ......

James Morrison  is not my Grandfather because at the Age of 44 he:

Died:	14th Oct 1906
Accident:	14th Oct 1906 11:40 PM
Year Born:	abt. 1862
Colliery:	Wingate Grange  Colliery

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Widowed, Catherine married Joseph H., who is my Grandfather, a coal miner, and a soldier who didn't return from The Great War.

Joseph

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 The Morrison sons, James Jnr. and Thomas, moved their Mother and children to Vancouver, and eventually into this home at 1076 East 11th

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Vancouver City Hall has moved the Fire Hydrant closer to the intersection. 

and Home owners have moved the stairs for their Secondary suite tenants.

 

2022  And another Reno.  Would Grandmother H be surprised? NO!!

The Fire Hydrant isn't going anywhere

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Catherine's Maiden name?  Whitwham, from the town of  Whitwham, which leaves me wondering if it was a requirement by the 1901 Census to provide a Surname rather than just plain  .....  Catherine.

 

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The Durham Mining Museum

Information on working conditions: Children workers: boys only; starting at 12 years;  jobs, ages, hours and pay scale in the Pits and its all here: 

Source: http://www.dmm.org.uk/names/index_19.htm

 

 http://www.dmm.org.uk/mindex.htm

Durham Mining Museum

In Memoriam  

 The data has been gleaned from a number of sources, those details that have been verified by newspaper reports etc. are shown in bold face, the remainder have yet to be verified. In some cases we have obtained the names of the sufferers from the sources we have consulted - these can be viewed by following the link in the right hand column.

Collecting and updating this information is an ongoing exercise - any help or information would be greatly welcomed.

The above graph shows the number of fatalities recorded in our database for the period specified. This database covers the northern counties which constitute our primary focus: County Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland etc. It is not representative of the fatalities across the UK - that is outside the scope of this web site.

Disasters - 1900-09 

http://www.dmm.org.uk/names/d1900-09.htm

only those accidents where 5 or more lives were lost are shown in the tables