Story
Alfred was the first child, born in 1867, to James Norton (1842-1916), a colliery underground repairer, and Mary Hannah Dunwell (1849-1882), who married in Leeds in 1867. The family lived on Well Lane in Kippax, but were beset by tragedy. In 1873 their second son John William Norton passed away at the age of three, followed by their third child Isabella in 1875, and their fourth child Oswald in 1879, all before their fourth birthdays. James and Mary had one more daughter, Paulina who died in 1900 aged 23, and a son Ephraim, born in 1880. Mary passed away just two years after Ephraim was born, at the age of 33, and James did not re-marry.
On 29th April 1896, Alfred stayed at home with his father and two younger siblings. He was 28 years old, but hadn’t married, because he was helping to support his family. The following morning, Alfred left his home at 70 Well Lane, Kippax at 6am, and set off for Peckfield Colliery, with Louis Pickard and Louis’ uncle Fielding Pickard, meeting the Bellerby brothers as they walked through Peckfield. After the 2.3 miles walk, the party arrived at the pit at 6:45am, got in the lift and descended down. At the bottom, they split up, with Alfred Norton and Harry Bellerby walking West passed the underground offices and the stables for the pit ponies, then heading North West up the Old North Road. They passed the turn off to No.3 Rise Return on their right, and West Bord Jinney on their left, then split up, with Harry Bellerby turning North East to work up Sam Goodall’s Bord with Robert Westerman, and Alfred continuing up Old North Road towards Sam Goodall, father and son Herbert and Henry Martin, Thomas Everett and George Moakes. He did not reach them. He was standing 362 metres from the explosion, alone, on a straight path with no side path or means of protecting himself for quite a distance. The explosion created a wall of fire which Alfred would have seen come straight towards him. He had nowhere to go, and was killed in the blast.
Alfred’s body was eventually recovered and brought out of the pit on the 2nd May, along with Harry Bellerby. Alfred’s father, James, had come from Well Lane, Kippax to attend the inquest on 5th May. He testified that he had seen the dead body of his son in the colliery shed. He stated that his son was bruised and burnt all over, to the extent that he could only identify his son by the boots he was wearing.
Alfred was brought back to Kippax and buried the same day. His resting place is close to Francis Rainbird Edwards, and a little further away from the two Bellerby brothers in the old Churchyard. In 1969 there was an outcry in Kippax, particularly from long-time Kippax resident Samuel Cheesbrough, after the grave of Alfred was found to have been vandalised. Samuel had been one of the youngest visitors to the Peckfield Pithead during the disaster, as he was only two months old, and retained a keen interest in the disaster all his life. Alfred’s grave is still standing (below), but much of the upper structure is missing:
Alfred’s father, James Norton, later moved in to live with his youngest son Ephraim, before James passed away on 20th August 1916 aged 74, having outlived his wife and all his children except Ephraim. Ephraim himself married Elizabeth Chambers Tasker in 1902, and went on to have seven children, including their first son, James Alfred Norton (1905-1964) named after his father James and brother Alfred. James Alfred Norton achieved the rare distinction at the time in Kippax of achieving a Batchelor of Honours degree from Leeds University, in English Literature in July 1927. In addition he was awarded the Ripon English Literature prize for his essay on the novels of Henry Fielding.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 