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.
Authors
