Good evening Fionn,

My name is a Darren Parkin, I'm a writer who today stumbled upon your website. In particular, I happened upon the sections about the 1893 disaster at Thornhill where my great-grandfather - Wroe Parkin - became a bit of an unwitting local hero as a member of one of the first rescue parties.

I spent hours looking through the information, and much of today thinking about it.

The reason I am emailing you is that I have now thought about looking at the possibility of writing a screenplay about the disaster and events surrounding it. I'm currently tied down with writing a book which will take up much of the next twelve months, but was curious to discover if you might be able to assist with a few of the details that I would require?

Is this something that may interest you?

Regards,

Darren Parkin.

DARREN PARKIN (darrenparkin) on about.me

Lists of those killed in the Combs disaster even in the Reporter newspaper published at the time, consistently name my great grandfather’s brother as Walter Henry Oxley Wilcock. He was registered and christened as WALTON not Walter. 

See also Alan Beales Data Base

Dear Fionn
On page 7 of the Reporter article submitted by John Swithenbank is an article regarding the birth of Mercy Wilcock on the day of the Combs colliery disaster. Her mother went into labour on the morning of the explosion prompting her husband to take the day off work thus probably saving him from being killed. A happy outcome for one family among the tragedy of that day, or so it might seem. Mercy’s mother Sarah Ann was in fact the daughter of Walton Henry Oxley Wilcock and her husband Arthur was also her cousin and Nephew of Walton. Sarah Ann had lost her father, Arthur his uncle and Mercy a grandfather she would never know. A bitter sweet day for my family.
Regards

Hi Fionn
I know of three more miners who were killed in the disaster, although I don't know when or where they were buried.

They are:-

• William Wood age 45
• Friend Wood age 15
• John Wood age 13

Regards
Francine

Attachments: Combs Pit - Current list

Hi
I live in Thornhill and am currently researching the names of those who died, especially as some of them were distant relatives of my husband. I was interested to read your list on your website, but I have discovered a few amendments. I have attached the list of what I have found out so far; as you already know, most of the casualties were buried at Thornhill Parish Church, and I have seen the Parish burial records held at Dewsbury Library.

Some of spellings you have are incorrect or possibly typos, and some of the names were aliases eg Rufus Scargill was really Rufus Summerscales; Robert Scargill was actually his stepfather. Curiously, his death is recorded on BMD under both Scargill and Summerscales!

Another odd two are Joseph and James Noble, not Nobel - the parish records show their ages as you have listed ie Joseph aged 44 and James 16, but they have recorded the ages the wrong way round. I have checked both BMD and the 1891 census; James was the father and Joseph the son: in 1893 therefore it was James who was 44 and Joseph who was 16!

Also I had already discovered in my husband's family tree that Willie Coates was really Willie Oates - I'm not sure when he and some of his family seemed to have changed their surname to Coates, but from the information I have, he was actually 14, not 12!

You will notice that I have highlighted in bold the amendments on the attached list, and I have also added a few other names which were not included on your list, such as Willie Brooke aged 14 - the son of the 45 year old Charles Brooke - his name was misspelled on the burial record as Brook, not to be confused with the otherCharles Brook aged 33.

I have also been to Whitley Parish Church graveyard and found an additional few names; sadly some of the gravestones are covered in moss/too worn/vandalised to find the extra that are possibly buried there, but a proposed trip to Huddersfield Library may yield a few more names. 

It is a sobering thought to think that although 139 men and boys died in this tragedy, I have only been able to track down 118 of them so far. I would like to know who the other 21 were.

Kind regards
Catherine Webster 

Hi
One thing I forgot on my last email is that James Sheard, buried at Thornhill Parish Church on 7 July 1893 was NOT one of the Combs Pit casualties - the burial record specifically states that he was 'not in colliery disaster'. He just happened to die in Dewsbury Infirmary and to have been buried the same day as several of the casualties. 

13 April 2011

Hi Fionn,
Since I emailed you, I have found some more names, from my visit to Huddersfield Library, where they have an excellent local & family history section, with microfiches of loads of parish records. I have attached the updated list. Unfortunately they did not have the burial records from Thornhill Baptist Chapel though, and although I went to the graveyard today, I did not find any which clearly resulted from the Combs Pit disaster. However a few graves either did not have a headstone or the headstones were extremely worn/vandalised, so maybe they were the ones I was looking for! If I ever find where the records are I will satisfy my curiosity!

Kind regards
Catherine

Does anyone have information on money raised for a mining disaster in a Thornhill pit which was then paid out to dependants of victims? I remember one dependant still claiming in the 60's, (it was a very small amount), and as I am just reading a book called Black Diamonds, I wondered which disaster it might have been?

So far as I can see the only disaster at Thornhill was in 1893 however there have been numerous miners killed there in accidents but I could not find any after 1915. E.g.

• Henry William Walshaw, aged 36, died 1915. He was a Coal getter at Ingham No.2 Colliery owned by Thornhill Collieries Ltd. His check was in the pit at the end of shift and a search found him dead under a fall of bind. It appeared that he had knocked out a prop with a hammer.
• Albert Barber, aged 52, died 1915. He was a miner at Ingham No.2 Colliery owned by Thornhill Collieries Ltd. and was working ironstone with a hammer when he strane his shoulder which became inflammed. Died from blood poisoning 17th Mar.
• Edward Robert Horpe, aged 18, died 1912. He was a Haulage hand at Combs Colliery owned by Inghams Thornhill Collieries Ltd.
• Harold Charles Littlewood, aged 20 a bye worker killed in 1913 at Ingham Colliery owned by Inghams Thornhill Collieries Ltd. Harold and a deputy bored into a miss-fired shot in a stone drift and a violent explosion occurred killing Harold instantly and injuring the deputy. No one appeared to be aware of the miss-fired shot, which most probably had occurred through the shot-firer attempting to fire two shots in parallel with a faulty cable, a weak battery, and the connections to the detonator incorrectly made. The shot-firer neglected to mark the direction of the two shots on the roof.

- Check Alan Beales Database -