Story
Frank Newby Wardell was the most senior official in attendance at the Peckfield Colliery Disaster. He was born in 1843 at the Winlaton Rectory, where his father, Henry Wardell (1800-1884) was the Rector. Rev. Wardell married Mary Newby (1805-1868) on 16th October 1826. Frank was educated at Rossall School, and opted to study for a career as a mining engineer, serving his articles at a colliery near Newcastle after his education, and then became manager of Flashets Colliery, Northumberland, He became a member of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, and was appointed Chief Inspector of Mines in 1867, at the age of 24, and moved to Pontefract. Frank married Frances Maria Wood (1845-1936) on 8th April 1869 in her home town of Harrow, Middlesex. Frances was the granddaughter of an artist John George Wood (1766-1837). The couple moved to Sandal House, Wakefield, and had a daughter, Sylvia Frances Wardell (1870-1950) and a son who also became a mining engineer and manager of Rockingham Colliery, Henry Newby Wardell (1871-1953). The family then established their home in Wath upon Dearne, near Rotherham, and had their third and final child, Geoffrey Francis Wardell (1874-1963) who became a Lieutenant in the Army, serving in Burma.
In 1868, there were 568,020 people employed in the coal industry, including 5,725 women working above ground. 1,051 miners were killed during 1868 from 581 recorded accidents. As such, Frank was frequently in attendance at hundreds of fatal accidents involving miners, and several coal mining disasters, including Morley Main on 7th October 1872 which killed 34 men. He was at Altofts, Thornhill, Carlton and Wharncliffe. By September 1874, Frank had 401 mines and 1,200 pits under his supervision, and was paid a salary of £625 p.a (around £50k in today’s monetary value). He also claimed travelling expenses of £210 6s 10d, and personal allowances of £151 1s 11d. His deputy, who also attended the Peckfield Colliery Disaster, was John Gerrard, who was paid £65 p.a, but also claimed £16 16s 10d travelling expenses and £14 10s personal allowances (around £7½k p.a today). They made 156 underground inspections and 326 visits between them in 1874. Frank also served as a Churchwarden at Wath for 20 years, was a fellow of the Geological Society, and established the Wath Choral Society of which he was President. He was also a governor at the Yorkshire College, which later became Leeds University. In 1891, Frank was promoted to Senior Chief Inspector. The same year, on 8th December 1891, there was a fire in Wheldale Pit, Castleford, apparently caused when a paraffin lamp was knocked over in a wooden cabin some 450 yards from the bottom of the shaft. Despite the efforts of the deputy Joseph Goodall, the cabin, sheets of brattice, and some coal tubs were alight, and the fire could not be contained. Joseph Milner, his brother John, George Goodwin, William Oakey and William Tilley were all missing in the pit, and rescue efforts failed to locate them. With the fire still burning in the pit, Frank was consulted and he recognised there was no chance the 5 missing men could have survived, so recommended flooding the area, which he knew was at a lower level than the rest of the pit. This finally extinguished the blaze.
As Chief Inspector of Mines in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, plus the Advising Inspector to the Secretary of State, Frank was advised of the Peckfield Colliery Disaster, and arrived at 11:30pm on 30th April via Leeds. At midnight, he went down into the pit, and gave the searchers the benefit of his extensive knowledge and long experience. The press reported that he was emphatic in his declaration that in all his experiences he never knew an explosion where so much damage had been done. During the early hours of the morning Frank, in consultation with the manager of the colliery, Charles Houfton, decided that the most practical method would be for the explorers to concentrate their energies upon one district, and on coming up the pit after making his personal preliminary inspection, he wired to the Home Offices further particulars of the disaster. About one o’clock he received from Sir Matthew White Ridley, Home Secretary, the following telegram:- “Secretary of State much grieved to hear the loss of life is so serious. Please convey expression of his deepest sympathy to the relatives of those whose lives have been lost.” Frank gave a comprehensive testimony and report at the Inquest into the Disaster.
Frank succumbed to a lingering illness on 10th November 1901, aged 58, and was laid to rest in Wath on 13th November 1901, during torrential rain and wind. His Deputy, James Mellors, who was with him at Peckfield, was also present at his funeral. His replacement, Mr. W. H. Pickering was killed in July 1912 at the Cadeby Pit Disaster. Frank’s obituary is shown below:
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 