A HISTORY OF FEATHERSTONE
1884
THE INQUEST ON VIOLET FROBISHER
An inquest was
held at the Sun Inn in January on Violet Edith Frobisher age 14, a servant with
the Ottleys at Headingley, Leeds. Grace Frobisher, a widow, had received a letter from
her daughter saying she was ill. A few days later she was brought home by Miss
Mary Ottley by rail and cab. She told Mrs Frobisher Violet's illness had begun
with sickness and suggested this had been brought on by drinking six gallons of
beer which had gone from a cask in the house.
Dr Buncle
attended Violet and recommended brandy and milk for the pains in her stomach.
She died that night. Dr Buncle did a post mortem but was unable to determine
the cause of death, although there was an obstruction in the upper bowel. The
inquest was adjourned for Mrs and Miss Ottley to attend.
When it
resumed Mrs Jane Ottley said Violet had been in her employ for 11 weeks. She
had been well until a few days before her death when she had vomited on the
kitchen floor after being out to see her sister, also a servant in Leeds.
She was dismissed for drinking the beer and was taken home. They walked to the
station but she became worse on the journey so a cab was called at Featherstone
Station.
The coroner
said the master of a servant was not obliged to provide medical treatment for
her unless she asked for a doctor, and no doctor had attended her in Leeds.
A very lamentable error of judgement had been committed in the girl being
removed to Featherstone, but unless this had been taken against her wishes, or
a doctor's orders, they were not criminally responsible.
The jury
decided death was caused by obstruction and congestion of the bowel, and it had
been accelerated by her injudicious removal when in an unfit state.
SHOTFIRING WITH GUNPOWDER
In 1884 there
were no safe explosives for use in coal mines and gunpowder was the one most
frequently used. It produced a lot of flame and was very dangerous. Many
ignitions of gas (firedamp or methane) were caused and the Government
considered banning it, but the owners claimed it was necessary to provide the
increasing quantity of coal required for Britain's growing industries.
A compromise
was reached allowing gunpowder to be used in a place where no gas had been found
for three months and when only the shotfirer was in the pit.
In February the Pontefract Advertiser reported: George Senior, manager of
Featherstone Manor and Ackton Hall Collieries, was charged with allowing
shotfiring when men were working in the mine and within three months of gas
being found there. The prosecution was brought by the Home Office and Mr Gill
of Wakefield represented it.
He said the
offence was one of very great and paramount importance, and the offence which
was to be proved against the defendant was one of frequent occurrence, although
the Home Office was quite determined to put a stop to it. It would be clearly
and unmistakably shown there had been grievous mismanagement in the mine, which
was the property of George Bradley of Ackton Hall. The defendant had been
certificated manager not more than a year, and the practice complained of had
been carried out before he came into his position, and he had evidently fallen into
bad ways by bad example.
Last December
16 and 17 shots were fired in the mine in direct, open and wanton violation of
the law. Responsible persons known as underground viewers entered reports in
books kept for the purpose, and in these books it would be found gas was
reported in those very places where these shots were fired, although the Act
distinctly provided that within three months after the discovery of the
existence of gas no gunpowder or any inflammable substance whatever was to be
used, neither was it to be used at all when men were working in the mine.
When
Mr
Goddard, assistant inspector, visited the mine on December 17 there were
about
100 men in various parts of the workings, and he found a very large
accumulation of gas in another place. He then ascertained shots had been
fired
and saw four men almost within reach of the gas. Previously,
prosecutions had
been made against deputies and underlings generally, but now it was the
intention of the Government to prosecute the owners, agents and
managers. It
was hoped the effect of the prosecution being brought so prominently
before Mr Bradley and others would be salutary, and the law would in
future be better
regarded.
The opinion of
the Solicitor General was no shot whatever should be fired by day or night when
men were in the mines, and this rule must be regarded and abided by if the
lives of the men engaged in the precarious calling of coal getting were to be
protected.
Joseph
Chamber, underground viewer, said it was his duty to examine the underground
workings and to make a report in a book. On December 2 he found gas in
"No.4 bank" and withdrew the workmen. It was the custom of the pit
not to stop shotfiring if gas was found. The drills for boring were kept where
all men had access to them. They provided their own powder and no permission
had to be obtained for the firing of shots. Between December 2 and 17 about 8
or 10 shots a day were fired on average. He accompanied Mr Gerard on his visit
and they found gas in No.4 bank. There was also the smell of powder from a shot
fired 100 yards away. All the shots were fired by deputies.
Charles
Birchall, coal getter, said he worked in No.4 bank and confirmed a shot had
been fired. Hiram Walshaw, shotfirer, said he fired five or six shots a day in
No.4 bank. He had known of the discovery of gas but had not been told to
discontinue firing. (The Advertiser commented all the witnesses appeared
unwilling to give evidence against the manager.)
Mr Gerard said
he visited the mine on December 17. In one of the working places he found a
large quantity of gas and perceived a distinct smell of gunpowder. He
discovered a shot had been fired in a bank closely adjoining. He examined the
report book and found an entry of the discovery of gas on December 2. Shots
should be fired at night between shifts and nobody whatever should be in the
mine except the shotfirer.
Mr Kershaw, a Leeds
barrister, defended Senior. He said he had no doubt the Act prohibited the
firing of shots within three months of gas being found, but he contended the
defendant was not liable to any penalty on the principle that no one can be
made criminally responsible for the acts of his servants, unless connivance and
guilty knowledge was proved. The defendant had done all he could by posting the
rules and supplying all applicants with a copy. As no wilful or guilty
knowledge had been proved Mr Kershaw asked the Bench to dismiss the charge
against Senior.
Mr Gill said
it was not the intention of the Government to proceed against such persons as
underviewers and the like, as heretofore, but against the owners and managers,
who were now to be held responsible for the lives of the men placed in their
hands as it were. The defendant had the supervision of the book in which a
report of the existence of gas was entered, and although he must have known there
was gas in the workings, he allowed the man appointed for that duty alone to
fire shots several times daily; and now he pretended he had taken every
possible precaution. Could the defendant defend such conduct as this? The
prosecution asked that where as in this case
a flagrant breach had been
committed, the Bench would inflict such a penalty as would prevent them and
others from repeating such an offence in the future.
The
magistrates retired to consider their decision, and on their return the chairman
said "We have decided the defendant is guilty. The offence with which he
is charged is a very serious one, and he ought to have known better than to act
as he has done. He might very easily have caused a great and terrible calamity.
We have decided to inflict a fine of £10 and costs". (The maximum fine was
£20.)
A NEW WATER
SUPPLY?
A new
development brought the water supply situation back into prominence when it was
learned Wakefield Corporation had decided to build a reservoir in the hills to
the west and pipe the water to Wakefield. Featherstone Local Board decided to ask if the
supply could be extended to Featherstone. Mr Wardman said if they talked about
the matter in 12 months time it would be soon enough.
It was December before a reply was received from Wakefield saying it would be two years before the water works
were completed. Pontefract Corporation
also informed the Local Board they were seeking a new source of water and might
be able to supply Featherstone.
1884 NEWS ITEMS
JANUARY George
Bradley refused to sell the land the Yorkshire and
Lancashire Railway Company required to make improvements to the north side of
the station.
FEBRUARY The
Featherstone Local Board set a half-year rate of 6d in the £1. They agreed to
make a road crossing of setts at Purston School and Streethouse. A tender of £18 9s was accepted for
the two. (At this time the roads were made of dross and were very muddy
in wet weather.) There was also a rate
of 1s 2d for the poor, Burial and School Boards.
The Board of
Guardians issued a summons against the Ackton overseers because they had not
paid the call (the poor rates.)
MARCH Charles
Bennett was charged with assaulting Mary Ann Teasdale on what was know locally
as the "Saturday night drunken train" from Tanshelf to Featherstone.
There was a rush for the train at Tanshelf and Mary got into a carriage with
Joseph Shaw, with whom she had been living "tally" until the previous
week. She claimed those already in the carriage tried to turn her out, and in
the ensuing struggle she was struck by Bennett and her head knocked against the
window. Bennett claimed Shaw had offered to fight anyone in the carriage and
Teasdale, who was very drunk, rolled up her sleeves and said she would fight
him. He denied hitting her. PC Lee said the Saturday before he had been called
by Mr Dawson, the station master, to get Mrs Teasdale's name as he intended
reporting her. The case was dismissed.
A five year
old girl playing with matches set fire to an out-building containing straw and
hay on the premises of J White a cab proprietor in Station Lane. Volunteers put out the blaze before it could reach
benzolene and fireworks in the same building.
The Local
Board passed plans for Mr Maxwell's house and shop in Station Lane.
They were informed by Mr Bradley he intended working
the Winter and Stanley Main seams at Manor Colliery. This is probably
when he changed the name to Ackton Hall and Manor Collieries.
APRIL Nine
Featherstone men and women were fined for being drunk and disorderly. Mary
O'Connell, said to be one of the worst characters in South Featherstone, refused to pay and was sent to prison for 14 days.
Supt Whincup said he was making special efforts to prevent drunkenness on
Sundays.
JUNE Edward
Martin was arrested in West
Bromwich and brought to
Pontefract to be charged with deserting his wife and children in Featherstone.
They were compelled to apply to the Pontefract Union (the Board of Guardians)
for relief and had been given a total of £10 9s. Martin claimed he had gone
away after Dr Buncle said it would be good for his health. He was sent to
prison for one month with hard labour.
The Local
Board agreed to recommend to the Local Government Board that voting in Board
elections should be by ballot ie in secret. The current system was voting
papers were sent out and had to be returned within a few days. Some of these
were found to have been altered many times.
Richard Wright
was fined for the tenth time for letting his cattle stray on the highway. Supt
Whincup said the defendant had no land of his own so he sent them out in the
charge of a small boy, presumably to forage what they could.
JULY One
morning eight men went into the Railway Hotel and ordered rum and beer. When
they left, empty porter bottles were found which were normally stored in the
cellar. Three of the men were arrested and warrants were issued for the others.
They were charged with stealing the porter while the bar was unattended, but
the Bench decided there was not enough evidence to convict.
The Local
Board accepted a tender of £49 6s 5½d for the flagging of Green Lane, Pontefract Road and Whinney Lane. A tender of £34 was refused because it arrived after
the deadline.
At a Board of
Guardians meeting the assistant clerk said he expected all the calls would be
paid except for that at Ackton, and the overseers would have to be proceeded against
as usual for non-payment.
AUGUST The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company informed the Local Board they were still
unable to buy the land to improve Featherstone Station. The Board was of the
opinion the company already owned sufficient land to build a subway and provide
better accommodation. Mr Denton said because the Featherstone people were only
colliers the company thought anything would do for them.
The 7th annual
athletics meeting (Purston feast) was held in a field on Pontefract Road. The Pontefract Borough Band marched from the station
to the field to give an afternoon concert.
The Goole to Wakefield passenger train hit a heifer at 5.30pm belonging to Alfred Copley. The engine was not derailed and after a ten minutes delay it continued its journey.
The Goole to Wakefield passenger train hit a heifer at 5.30pm belonging to Alfred Copley. The engine was not derailed and after a ten minutes delay it continued its journey.
William
Gittins, acting overseer for Ackton, was summonsed for not paying the call
of £234 12s 2d due to the Pontefract
Union. The Bench ordered the payment of the money forthwith.
OCTOBER The
Local Board fixed a half-year rate of 10d. The magistrates signed for a rate of
1s 1d for the poor, Burial and School Boards.
NOVEMBER John
Kirkbride sued George Bradley for a week's wage of £1 7s and a fortnight's
wages in lieu of notice. He was employed as enginewright at Ackton Hall
Colliery and he had ordered a cast iron pipe to fit a boiler. Although he said
he had ordered the correct length it arrived too short, and in attempting to
make it fit it snapped. The manager, George Senior, was not on the premises so
he could not report it immediately, and the next morning he was sacked.
For Mr Bradley
it was said Kirkbride had ordered the pipe a foot short, and because of other previous
faults and errors he was dismissed for wilful neglect. The Bench decided the
sacking was justified. Kirkbride would receive his week's wages but not pay in
lieu of notice, and he would have to pay £1 damages to Mr Bradley for damage to
the pipe.
Mr Kirkbride was then fined £1 for not
reporting a crack in a crank on the pumping machinery which kept the mine clear
of water. If the pump had broken down hundreds of pound of damage would have
been caused by water flooding into the mine.
A complaint
was made to the Local Board that George Bradley had enclosed a public well at North Featherstone. The Board told the surveyor to make inquiries and he
reported the old residents said the well had been used by the public for at
least 80 years. It was what was originally the parish pinfold, and Mr Bradley
had erected a wall round it but he had left a doorway in it and the public were
not prevented from getting water.
DECEMBER
William Gittins had not paid the money owed to the Pontefract Union and
a warrant was issued for his arrest but he could not be found in Ackton.
The Local
Board chairman, Joseph Fearnley, complained about the bad smell of gas in
church on Sundays. Mr Cowling said it was because all the lamps were fed by a
common meter and gas was allowed to escape until all the lamps were lit.
The clerk
reported George Bradley had enclosed the North Featherstone well in 1880, and the water was now polluted by
sewage matter from nearby cottages and this would have to be remedied by the
owners. Mr Bradley could be ordered to remove the wall and rebuild the pinfold.
It was unanimously agreed he be requested to do this, and Mr Bradley was given
three months notice.
Henry Slater, William Luckman and Jeremiah Bradley were playing cards for money in Slater's house. Bradley was accused of not playing fair and was assaulted by the other two. In court they were fined £1 each plus costs.
There was a letter in the Yorkshire Post from a man who simply signed as Rufus saying he missed the 1.30pm train to Wakefield on a Saturday afternoon and had to wait until 3.45 for the next one. He said it was wage day for the miners, and their wives had to wait until they returned from work, and then wait for the 3.45 train or walk it to Wakefield, which a great number did in the summer months. A train at about 2pm would be a great boon to the Featherstone public, and probably a financial success for the railway company.
Henry Slater, William Luckman and Jeremiah Bradley were playing cards for money in Slater's house. Bradley was accused of not playing fair and was assaulted by the other two. In court they were fined £1 each plus costs.
There was a letter in the Yorkshire Post from a man who simply signed as Rufus saying he missed the 1.30pm train to Wakefield on a Saturday afternoon and had to wait until 3.45 for the next one. He said it was wage day for the miners, and their wives had to wait until they returned from work, and then wait for the 3.45 train or walk it to Wakefield, which a great number did in the summer months. A train at about 2pm would be a great boon to the Featherstone public, and probably a financial success for the railway company.