John Robert Seiles (1885 - 1925)
My cousin's husband has told me that the first man to die at Clipstone Colliery was John Robert Seiles born 1885 Marston, Lincolnshire. I've been told he died in a "scalding accident" during the sinking of Clipstone Pit in 1925. I have found a death registration from the Jul-Sep quarter of 1925.
Do you have any details? Or have any suggestions of a source for more information?
Samuel Shooter (1819 - 1889)
My 2nd great grand uncle, Samuel Shooter was one of eleven men sacked by the Butterley Company for organising a strike in 1874
From "History of Nottinghamshire Miners Part 1" by Alan R Griffin:-
"According to the men, there were five points in dispute. Firstly, the company had taken off a premium of 2d. per ton without consulting the conciliation board [setup in 1873 by the company to settle disputes]; secondly, at Britain Colliery, a new, wider screen had been introduced which "robbed" the men of at least 1 cwt. per ton of coal raised; thirdly, payment for heading and gate ripping had taken off the amount of 4s 6d per yard and upwards; fourthly, the payment of 1s 3d per ton for slack had also been taken off; and finally, the company had started to fill Cannock Chase trucks with the intention of defeating the miners' strike in that district"
The men returned to work on 7 May 1874 "but the eleven committee men who had taken a prominent part in the dispute were .... refused employment"
There is a photograph of the eleven sacked men at the front of Mr Griffin's book. The same photograph is available on various websites. Apparently the photograph was used on a postcard that was used to raise money for the men's campaign for reinstatement.
[Samuel had an interesting life: His mother was Elizabeth Dent born abt 1800 Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She married William Shooter (a British soldier/miner b abt 1786 Tibshelf, Derbyshire) on 30 June 1819 in the Quebec City Army Garrison shortly before the two sailed for England. Elizabeth was evidently heavily pregnant at the time of the marriage - Samuel Shooter was born at sea on 6 July 1819.]
I think there have been other Shooters involved with the activity of the Nottinghamshire mining unions - are there any good sources of information?
Regards
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Mark Poxon |