Friday 7th September, 2007
James Taylor was killed in the King Pit explosion at Pemberton Colliery on 11th October, 1877. This would have been a great tragedy for any family but the Taylors suffered a double blow - their son Luke also perished in the disaster.
Family history
James was born in Pemberton near Wigan in about 1832. He was the youngest of five children. His father, John, was an agricultural worker. In the 1851 census, however, he is described as a "pumper". This sounds more like a job associated with mining than agriculture. It seems, therefore, that James's father was one of many workers, at that time, who left the land to take advantage of the higher wages available in the mining industry.
By 1851 James had joined his father and two brothers in the dangerous task of gaining coal from deep mines. He was then aged 18 and was working as a "collier's drawer". A drawer, usually a young person, took the loaded coal trucks away from the coal face and returned them once they had been emptied. James may have been directly employed by one of his brothers, as it was the custom for colliers to employ their drawers from their own family.
He must have been a diligent worker, as by the time of the King Pit explosion he had reached the important rank of fireman. A fireman was in charge of a section of a mine and was primarily responsible for the ventilation and safety of the area under his supervision.
He was now married to Ellen, and by 1871 they had five children, Luke aged 12 - already a drawer in the same mine, Jane aged 7, Ellen aged 5, William, aged 2 and John, aged 2 months. Ellen and John were named after James's mother and father.
King Pit Explosion
As James was killed in the explosion, it is safe to assume that it occurred in his area of responsibility. The inquest jury, however, did not apportion blame, stating:
"...there is no evidence of neglect on the part of the owners, managers and workmen, but on the contrary, the evidence proves that everything has been done regardless of expense for the proper working of the mine and the protection of the workmen."
After The Explosion
Most of the funerals took place on Thursday 14th October, just three days after the explosion. Once the trauma was over James's wife, Ellen, was faced with the prospect of bringing up her remaining children without the support of the two bread winners who were lost in the disaster.
She may have turned to the "Lancashire and Cheshire Permanent Relief Society" which was formed in 1873, just a few years before the explosion. They were willing to pay those who were widowed in the tragedy 5 pounds for funeral expenses, as well as 5s weekly for themselves and 2s 6d for their children. Colonel Blundell, the colliery owner, increased the allowance by 25% and promised to pay the children's school expenses.
The money was promptly paid from a room especially set up in the colliery school, and it must be assumed that Ellen took advantage of the handout. She, therefore, would not have been destitute but life must have been very difficult for her.
I'm not sure what happened to her next, but as she is not mentioned in the 1881 census it may be assumed that she had died before that time. This left Jane, her eldest daughter, now aged just 18, as head of the family. The only income, apart from the charity payments, was from the wage of her sister Ellen, who was a 15 year old "spinner in a cotton mill". On this meagre income 18 year old Jane and 15 year old Ellen had to bring up their three young siblings.
And
Jane, still unmarried, now had a baby son - just two weeks old at the time of the census.
Of course she named him James after his recently deceased grandfather.