Robert Lee
Joseph Hewitt
JOSEPH HEWITT
Staithman, Locke and Co., Kippax Colliery
Died 5 November 1868 · Buried 8 November 1868
1. Life
Age and residence
Frank N. Wardell, the Yorkshire inspector of mines, recorded Joseph Hewitt as aged 66 in November 1868, which implies a birth about 1802. The burial register at St Mary’s, Kippax, three days later, gives age 60. Alan Beales’s compiled list gives birth year 1803 and age 65. The three figures are not reconciled without a baptism or a GRO certificate. What is certain is that he was an elderly surface worker living at Kippax.
The burial entry is no. 347 on page 130 of the Kippax register for 1868: Joseph Hewitt, abode Kippax, buried 8 November, age 60, E. D. Bland, Vicar. West Yorkshire Archive Service reference P47/26. DMM still prints the burial as not known; the register supplied with this research fills that gap.
Work
He was a staithman for Locke and Co. at Kippax Colliery. A staithman worked the coal staithe — the riverside or canal-side wharf where tubs were tipped into barges. From 1858 coal from the Owl Wood / Haigh Moor shafts was carried south on a tramway over the road to the coal staithe on the Aire and Calder Navigation. That tramway is the line on which he was killed.
He is not the same man as Robert Hewitt of Kippax (baptised 1803, coal miner, buried 1877), nor John Locke Hewitt who heads a Kippax household in 1871. No baptism naming Joseph’s parents has been produced for this note, so the household is not reconstructed.
2. The accident
On Thursday 5 November 1868 Joseph Hewitt was killed on the surface incline that joined the Kippax Colliery staiths to the pit. He was not underground. He was not killed by a fall of roof.
Wardell printed the case as accident no. 67 in his 1868 Yorkshire report (narrative at page 155; table at page 161). The Durham Mining Museum transcript of that narrative is as follows.
There is a tramway connecting the staiths with Kippax Colliery, on which this accident occurred. The colliery is the property of Messrs. Locke and Co., and is situated near Normanton. The deceased, Joseph Hewitt, was riding up to the pit in one of the tubs on this incline, — the men having permission so to do, — when he lost his stick into the tub next that in which he was seated, and during his attempt to regain it his head came in contact with a bridge, thereby dislocating his neck. The tramway at this bridge passes under the highway. There was no violation of any rule, and the accident can only be attributable to the poor man’s forgetfulness of the danger, he having constantly travelled in the same way before.
My opinion was that if men were allowed to travel in this manner, they should only do so at stated times, and then under the charge of one steady and careful man who would be responsible for their taking proper precautions to avoid similar accidents.
The short DMM note on the individual page is the same event in one line: while riding in a tub on an incline his head came against a bridge underneath which the tubs ran. Occupation: staithman. Age: 66.
The commercial Coal Mining Accidents index and Beales both print Fall of Roof. That is a classification error. Wardell’s own words are the authority.
3. Coroner, newspaper and conclusion
No separate coroner’s transcript and no Leeds or Pontefract newspaper paragraph naming Joseph Hewitt have been found in the open indexes searched for this note. Wardell’s printed opinion, written after he had seen the place, stands in place of those missing texts.
Conclusion. Accidental death. Joseph Hewitt, staithman, Locke and Co., Kippax, 5 November 1868. He was riding in a permitted tub on the staith-to-pit incline, reached for a dropped stick, and struck his head on the highway bridge that the tramway passed under. His neck was dislocated. No rule of the colliery was broken. Wardell thought the practice of riding the incline should be confined to set times and placed under one responsible man.
He was buried at St Mary’s, Kippax, on Sunday 8 November 1868.
4. Sources and citations
West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds: Kippax St Mary burial register, 1868, p. 130, no. 347. Joseph Hewitt, Kippax, 8 November 1868, age 60; E. D. Bland, Vicar. Reference P47/26.
Frank N. Wardell, H.M. Inspector of Mines, 1868 Mines Inspectors Report, Yorkshire District, p. 155 (narrative) and p. 161, accident no. 67.
Durham Mining Museum, individual page and disaster page: Joseph Hewitt, age 66, died 5 November 1868, Kippax, Locke and Co., staithman; riding a tub on the incline, head against a bridge.
UK, Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths Index: Joseph Hewitt, age 66, born about 1802, 5 November 1868, Normanton, Locke and Co., staithman — description Fall of Roof (corrected from Wardell).
Alan Beales, England, Mining Disaster Victims: Joseph Hewitt, born 1803, age 65, 5 November 1868, Kippax, fall of roof (corrected from Wardell).
Allerton Bywater Parish Council, Kippax Colliery: from 1858 coal carried south on a tramway over the road to the coal staithe on the Aire and Calder Navigation.
5. Corrections
Cause. Not a fall of roof. That wording in CMA&DI and in Beales is wrong. Wardell: riding a tub on the staith incline; head struck the highway bridge; neck dislocated.
Place of work. Surface / incline, not underground. Occupation staithman is the clue the compiled indexes kept while mis-labelling the cause.
Age. Burial register 60; inspector and CMA 66; Beales 65. All three are recorded. The inspector’s 66 is the figure used in the official table.
Place-name. Normanton in the commercial index is Wardell’s nearest town. The pit and the burial are Kippax. The tramway ran from the Aire staithe up to Kippax Colliery and passed under the highway.
Burial. DMM “not known” is filled by Kippax no. 347, 8 November 1868.
Identity. Not Robert Hewitt (d. 1877) and not John Locke Hewitt of the 1871 census.
A GRO death certificate would settle the age given to the registrar.
Amos Jackson
IN MEMORIAM
Amos Jackson
Hurt about October 1867 · died 19 April 1868 · age 25
Fall of roof while preparing a blast
Allerton Bywater · T. R. Carter, Wakefield · of Glass Houghton
His life
Amos Jackson was baptised at Castleford on 20 March 1843, entry No. 778, son of Robert Jackson, coal miner, and Ann, of Glass Houghton. The curate was R. H. Kempsey. West Yorkshire Archive Service D147/1/3.
On 30 March 1851 the family was at Glass Houghton, in the ecclesiastical district of Castleford. Robert Jackson, 52, agricultural labourer, born Glass Houghton, was head. With him were George, 18, coal miner; William, 13, coal miner; David, 10, agricultural labourer; and Amos, 7, at home. All born Glass Houghton. HO 107/2330, folio 224. The census age is a year light. Baptised in March 1843, he was eight that week.
On 7 April 1861 he was a lodger in the house of John Hepworth, coal miner, 24, of Glass Houghton, in Castleford township. Amos was unmarried, a coal miner, born Glass Houghton. The schedule gives him 17. He was 18. RG 9/3438, folio 89, schedule 25. No marriage has been found. A wife is not invented.
By 1867 he was employed in the Allerton Bywater pit of Mr T. R. Carter, of Wakefield. That is the owner named by the Leeds Times. The older indexes often print the firm as Carter and Co.
The accident
No paper gives the day of the fall. The Leeds Times of 25 April 1868 says it was about six months before the inquest, so about October 1867. He was preparing a blast. A portion of the roof fell on him and fractured his spine.
He was taken to the Infirmary and remained there eighteen weeks. He was then removed to his friends. He lingered, completely paralysed, until Sunday 19 April 1868, when he died. The inquest sat on Friday 24 April. “Sunday” in a Saturday paper of the 25th is the 19th, not the 26th.
The Leeds Mercury of the same day says he died from injuries received through a fall from the roof of a pit at Allerton Bywater, some six months ago. “Fall from the roof” is the Mercury’s phrase. The Times is the fuller account, and it says the roof fell upon him.
Coroner’s report and conclusion
Mr Emsley, borough coroner of Leeds, held the inquest. It had been adjourned so that the Government inspector might be present. The jury’s verdict was accidental death.
Yesterday, an inquest was held at Leeds, by Mr. Emsley, on the body of Amos Jackson, a coal miner. Deceased had been employed in the Allerton Bywater Pit, of Mr. T. R. Carter, (Wakefield), and about six months ago while preparing a blast, a portion of the roof fell upon him and fractured his spine. He was taken to the Infirmary, where he remained for eighteen weeks, at the expiration of which period he was removed to his friends. He lingered in a completely paralysed condition until Sunday, when death resulted. A verdict of “Accidental death” was recorded by the jury.
Leeds Times, Saturday 25 April 1868, page 5. “Yesterday” is Friday 24 April. “Sunday” is 19 April.
An adjourned inquest was held yesterday before the Leeds borough coroner, on the body of a man named Amos Jackson, who died recently from injuries he had received through a fall from the roof of a pit at Allerton Bywater, some six months ago. The jury returned a verdict of “Accidental death.” The inquest had been adjourned that the Government inspector might be present.
Leeds Mercury, Saturday 25 April 1868, page 8.
Sources and citations
Castleford parish baptism register, 20 March 1843, entry 778. Amos, son of Robert and Ann Jackson, Glass Houghton, coal miner. D147/1/3.
1851 census, Glass Houghton, HO 107/2330, folio 224. Robert Jackson and sons George, William, David and Amos.
1861 census, Castleford, Glass Houghton, RG 9/3438, folio 89. Amos Jackson, lodger, unmarried, coal miner, in the house of John Hepworth.
Leeds Times, 25 April 1868, page 5. Leeds Mercury, 25 April 1868, page 8.
Corrections
- Date. 19 April 1868 is the day he died, not the day of the fall. The fall was about six months earlier, about October 1867. No exact day has been found.
- Age. 25, from the baptism of 20 March 1843. The 1851 age of 7 and the 1861 age of 17 are each a year light.
- Cause. Fall of roof while preparing a blast, spine fractured. He was not killed on the spot. Eighteen weeks in the Infirmary, then at home, paralysed, until 19 April.
- Owner. The Times names Mr T. R. Carter, of Wakefield. Home was Glass Houghton, not Allerton Bywater.
Samuel Coates
IN MEMORIAM
Samuel Coates
5 January 1868 · buried 8 January · age 35
Fall of roof
Allerton Bywater · T. M. Carter and Co. · of Adwalton
His life
Samuel Coates was a coal miner, of Adwalton, in the township of Drighlington. The name is Coates on the 1861 schedule and on the burial. He was born at Leeds. Age 28 on 7 April 1861, and 35 at burial in January 1868, put the birth about 1833, which is the year the accidents index prints.
On 7 April 1861 he was head of a household on Wakefield Road, Drighlington, in the ecclesiastical district of Adwalton. Schedule 55, RG 9/3308. With him were his wife Sarah, 21, and their son Albert, one month old, born at Adwalton. Sarah’s birthplace is written on the schedule as Eddesone. That place has not been identified, and is not guessed. No baptism or marriage has been matched in the papers supplied. Parents are not invented.
He was working at Allerton Bywater, some eight miles from Adwalton, for T. M. Carter and Co. The index spells the colliery Allerton Byewater, and the place of death Castleford. Castleford is the registration district. The pit was Allerton Bywater. Home was Adwalton.
The accident
The accidents index is the only account of the death. It says Samuel Coates, collier, aged 35, died on 5 January 1868 at Allerton Bywater, T. M. Carter and Co., by a fall of roof. No newspaper cutting and no inspector’s narrative have been found. The day of the week fits the burial. 5 January 1868 was a Sunday. He was buried at the district church of Drighlington on Wednesday 8 January, entry No. 984, abode Adwalton, age 35, ceremony by J. Horsfall, incumbent. West Yorkshire Archive Service D124/10.
Nothing more is known of the place in the pit, the hour, or whether he died on the spot. The index does not say.
Coroner’s report and conclusion
No coroner’s paper and no newspaper report have been traced. The burial three days after the indexed date of death is the check on that date. Verdict not known.
Sources and citations
1861 census, Drighlington, Wakefield Road, ecclesiastical district of Adwalton, RG 9/3308, schedule 55. Samuel Coates, 28, coal miner, born Leeds; Sarah, 21; Albert, 1 month, born Adwalton.
Drighlington district church burial register, 1868, page 172, entry No. 984. Samuel Coates, Adwalton, 8 January, age 35. J. Horsfall, incumbent. D124/10.
UK Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths Index: Samuel Coates, 35, born about 1833, 5 January 1868, Castleford, collier, Allerton Byewater, T. M. Carter and Co., fall of roof.
Corrections
- Name. Samuel Coates, as the census and the burial both write it.
- Age. 35, from the burial and the index. The 1861 age of 28 agrees, within a year.
- Place. The pit was Allerton Bywater. Allerton Byewater is a misspelling. Castleford is the registration district. Home was Adwalton.
- Owner. T. M. Carter and Co., as the index prints it. The firm is the Carter pit.
- Dates. Death 5 January 1868, from the index. Burial 8 January, from the register. No inquest paper has been found to confirm the hour or the verdict.
