Most of my male Dennis ancestors were coal miners, or worked at the pit in some capacity. This short post is to introduce a series about fatalities below ground. The chart below shows selected individuals from Andrew’s Kindred who were killed in or by mining incidents together with others to indicate how closely related they were.
During his lifetime, Henry (1814-1895), my 2nd great grandfather, knew or knew of, at least eight family members who died in sudden and/or excruciating ways. Some of them would still be at school today; the youngest would still be at junior school. These are just the ones I know about. There would also have been fatalities and terrible injuries among friends, neighbours and workmates. There can be few more desperate or desolate scenes in peacetime than distraught wives, mothers, children and neighbours waiting at the pit for news of their loved ones.
Key sources here are newspaper archives, via Findmypast, and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre (CMHRC), both of which appear in the sidebar under things I like.
Andrew's Kindred 