Durham Mining Museum - Newspaper Articles (original) (raw)

19th May 1910

The Whitehaven Colliery Disaster

The Mayor's Fund

The fund up to last night amounted to about £10,600.

The principal subscriptions received yesterday were £1,000 raised on the London Stock Exchange, Sir Thomas and Lady Brocklebank, Liverpool, £105 ; Bank of Whitehaven, £100 ; J. and W. Armstrong, Whitehaven, £52 10s. ; Mr. C. Vaughan, Millom, £50 ; W. Hinde (Ltd.), Belfast, £55 ; Mrs. W. J. Pollard, Ayr, £50 ; Mr. F. Clark, London, £50 ; St. Paul's Cathedral Chapter House, £50 ; Mr. Stanley Wilson, Town Clerk, Leeds, £50 ; Mr. R. Grice, Cross House, Bootle, £50 ; Mr. D. McGowan, Whitehaven, £50 ; Mr. T. Machell, Whitehaven, £30 ; Messrs. Walmsley and Smith, £26 5s. ; Mr. J. H. Jefferson, Cockermouth, £26 5s. ; Mr. R. Jefferson, Springfield, £26 5s. ; Mr. Angus Osborne, Egremont, £26 5s. ; Union Bank of Scotland, London, £25 ; Mr. Walter Holland, Surrey, £25 ; Mr. R. H. Hodgson, Workington, £25 ; Mr. Walter Wilson, Newcastle-on-Tyne, £25 ; Hunters, teamen, Whitehaven Branch, £25 ; Mr. G. Robertson, Whitehaven, £25 ; Mr. D. Burns, Whitehaven, £25 ; Hy. Burns and Sons, Whitehaven, £25 ; Mr. G. W. Wilkinson and family, Whitehaven, £25 ; Mr. T. J. Mitchell, London, £25.

At a meeting yesterday of the employees of the Parkside Miners, Frizington, the men unanimously agreed to give 5s. each man and 2s. 6d. a boy towards the Mayor's Fund.

Rescue Apparatus.

The Home Secretary has requested that the proprietors of the colliery at Whitehaven, where the disaster took place, shall at once instruct and exercise some of their men in the use of rescue apparatus. In consequence of this the Sheffield Mining Engineering Company, which sent two of its men down the pit in a forlorn effort to reach the entombed miners, has been asked to provide sufficient apparatus for half-a-dozen men and to instruct the men in its use.

Although the importance of providing ready means for rescue work has been emphasized by recent disasters, there are yet only six rescue stations in the country — at Tankersley, Wath, and Normanton, in Yorkshire ; Howebridge, in Lancashire ; and Aberavon and Crumlin in Wales. The first to be opened was at Tankersley, where a valuable lead in this matter has been set by Mr. George Blake Walker, managing director of the Warncliffe Silkstone Colliery Company. The Normanton station is due to the enterprise of Mr. W. E. Garforth, and his system is installed there. The Fleuso apparatus is in use at Howebridge, the Drager and Meco at Aberavon, and the equipment of the Crumlin station has not yet been decided on.

A Special Seat Fund.

With the object of assisting the widows and orphans and of relieving the distress caused by the disaster, a "special seat fund" has been established to be raised by the agreement of those who have let of will let seats to view the processions on Tuesday and to-morrow to contribute a certain percentage of the net proceeds from the sales of seats.

Of this fund the Mayor of Westminster and the Mayor of Paddington have consented to act as trustees, and the National Provincial Bank of England (Limited), 50, Finsbury-pavement, E.C., are the bankers, to whom donations should be sent. Many of the letters of seats have been canvassed and have formally agreed to set aside a percentage of their receipts.

It is understood that the proposal has the approval of Lord Lonsdale, and it is hoped that the appeal will be met by a liberal response.

The Mayor of Gravesend has started a shilling fund for the relief of the widows and orphans of those who were killed in the disaster.