W. Simons. Coal Mines. Is this casualty researchable?

Just to make a general point concerning tracing deaths such as this: if, as seems possible from the evidence so far, Willie Simons was not killed immediately but died later, then the registration disctrict of the colliery will not be relevant. The death will be registered in the district of the hospital or family home where he died.

I am gratified to be proved right in my inference that he must have been a Bevin Boy, which confirms my comment that, unfortunately, tne Bevin Boys Association rep was not as helpful as he might have been.

 

Dave, Harry & Drayton, this is all terrific stuff. I think at the moment there are quite a few 'ifs & buts' with regards to the specific colliery that claimed the life of Willie Simons and indeed the nature of his death.

I'm hoping to receive an email before too long from a Sutton resident who has offered to check out the local newspapers for the July-Sept 1944 time period. This will hopefully tie everything up and provide details of Willie's untimely death. I'll attached the newspaper snippet here, if and when I receive it.

Another Sutton (senior) resident has also written to me saying that as a youngster he lived 4 doors away from Willie Simons. He described Willie as a 'big boy' who used to let him play with his home-made punt and his air-gun!.

 

Here is the photo of Willie Simon's grave in Sutton-in-Craven.

Unfortunately, the person checking the newspaper reports from WW2 managed to find several articles for the other 14 casualties, but nothing for Willie. :mellow: That's not to say an article does not exist, but for the moment I don't have any more information on this man which is somewhat disappointing , regards Andrew

 

Great research Andrew on a little-studied subject.

 

Here is the photo of Willie Simon's grave in Sutton-in-Craven.

Unfortunately, the person checking the newspaper reports from WW2 managed to find several articles for the other 14 casualties, but nothing for Willie. :mellow: That's not to say an article does not exist, but for the moment I don't have any more information on this man which is somewhat disappointing , regards Andrew

Unusual not to state the actual date of death, although obviously confirming the year 1944. I have a feeling that the gravestone may not have been erected until Willie's mother's death.

 

Andrew, have you considered ordering the death cert for Willie Simons. It will cost you £9.75 but will confirm where he died and in what date. If he died at the hospital or at the colliery. Also the cause of death.

 

Andrew's in Adelaide, but no doubt has contacts in S-i-C who could do the necessary, now he's been able to add flesh to the lad's memory.

 

Wakefield Library has an archive section which apparently requires membership to access the archives.For an overseas request, they may investigate.The library archives also may contain articles from the now closed Yorkshire Evening News and the Yorkshire Post, which also may be referred to for its own archived material.

The other option is the archives local weekly newspaper,The Wakefield Express which is a member of the Express series newspapers covering the Five Towns,Wakefield, Pontefract,Castleford,Featherstone and Knottingley.A long established weekly series.

For the death to be registered in the Wakefield Registration District,death must have occurred within the district,either at the place of work or at a Wakefield hospital.

 

have you considered ordering the death cert for Willie Simons.......the cause of death.
Hi Phil, yes I will certainly source the DC if I am unable to find out more from local newspaper sources.

Quite right Kevin, I have contacts in Sutton and surrounding area who I haven't asked yet. I feel there has to be a newspaper report on Willie at the time of his death in the Skipton Craven Herald. Also in the Keighley News for that matter.

Also as Harry states, the Yorkshire Post may have something as may the Wakefield library.

I'm still waiting to hear from a contact in Canada who apparently knew Willie personally. I'm hoping he is going to come up with the bikkies!

Just chipping away at the old block, I'll get there pretty soon I'm sure!

 

Hi everyone

Finally managed to get 2 newspaper reports detailing the tragic circumstances of Willie Simons' death.

He was employed at Ingham's Colliery at Thornhill. Looks like he was dragged into the haulage wheel and 'disappeared'. He was found underneath the wheel, taken to Pinderfields Hospital but died from blood loss. He was 20 yrs of age.

I think this answers all my initial queries into this WW2 conscript who was side-lined into the mines as a Bevin Boy. The only thing I don't have is a photo of him, but am hopeful that one will emerge from one source or another.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and contributions, much appreciated. Regards Andrew

 

No doubt one of the many boys who lost their lives due to underground haulage system accidents.

Inghams Colleries was in fact composed of three shafts.Ingam 1,Ingham 2 and Combs situated in Thornhill,Dewsbury. As regards ventilation air flow,some were arranged as downcast and upcast shafts.

It appears to have been a long established family business prior to nationalisation in 1948.After nationalisation,the three colleries were amalgamated to form Thornhill Colliery but by 1971,the colliery was closed probably on uneconomic grounds.Larger collieries were the order of the day.

Its main seam was the Beeston seam,a well known seam in the Yorkshire coalfield which ran to about 6 feet thick in the best parts of the coalfield.The colliery was quite close to the Yorkshire Electric Power's Thornhill Power Station and I would have thought that the power stationwould have been the main customer of the colliery.

 

Thanks for the additional information on the Inghams' collieries Harry. I can add this to Willie Simons' profile.

The accident sounds to have been pretty horrific, eventually dying of blood loss at Pinderfields Hospital.

I'm glad that the name W. Simons on the Sutton-in-Craven war memorial is now more than just a name. The story of Willie's contribution to the war effort in WW2 has now been uncovered, so I can put together a small profile on him. This will be downloaded onto the Sutton (free) website along with profiles of the other 14 WW2 casualties sometime this year for all to see.

 

Inghams' Thornhill Collieries Ltd

Extract from the 1944 Colliery Year Book and Coal Trades Directory

 

Extract from the 1944 Colliery Year Book and Coal Trades Directory.

Review of the Coal Trade and Coal Mining Industry in 1943.......Man-Power

 

To think that Bevin Boys were sometimes slighted as having landed a cushy number.

It is to the credit of the local community that they ensured that Willie was included on the memorial.

 

Hi, I've finally managed to locate a photo of Willie Simons, albeit when he was a youngster. Well in actual fact he was still only 20 when he was killed in the coal mine.

The photo was sent to me by Lynda Blundell (nee Phillips) in Vancouver, Canada who added the following:

"When my parents, Constance Tingle and Frank Phillips, married in September 1935, Willie Simons, boy soprano, sang at their wedding. My mother was a singing teacher and Willie was one of her pupils. I have a newspaper clipping which gives all the details of their wedding."

So it's nice to finally put a face to a name in recognition of this young WW2 Bevin Boy casualty. Regards Andrew

 

By chance revisiting this discussion,I am reminded of a friend of mine who has since died.

He used to say that the Prince of Wales saved my life...he went on to explain that on call up he was drafted to the "Ponty Prince",the Prince of Wales Colliery, Pontefract as a Bevin Boy and while his contemporaries were called up into the services and some were killed,he survived the war.

Coal mining returned the highest statistical dead rate in Great Britain among heavy industry in the 19th and 20th centuries.It has been recorded that from 1852 to 1972, deaths in mining were in the order of 120000....some years in the early 29th century saw the largest number of annual deaths from coal mining.

 

Hi everyone, I have just stumbled across this site and unbelievably you have done the most amazing thing. You have given me the background on my Great-Uncle George's son - Willie whom I have been trying to find how he died and in which colliery. A death certificate was my next option. Willie's death has always been a mystery and I thank you all for the sharing and caring for someone who until now has been a stranger.

 

Pleasing to hear that Pam as a relative has been able to gain information on how one of her relatives died in a colliery accident,an occupation he would have hardly entered had it not been for the war.

A thorough researched story of a personal tragedy which was unearthed by a name on a memorial....well done Andrew for having the perseverance to reveal the story behind a name on a memorial.

(Just seen a typo in my post # 37...."early 29th century" should read "early 20th century".....appears that there is not the facility to edit the post

 

Just reading through these messages - a fantastic bit of research from everyone involved!
I am struggling to identify a few people on local war memorials, but this is now giving me hope that it will be possible to identify these casualties too.
Thanks everyone for your efforts!