Following the Coroner’s Inquest, the bodies of the deceased miners could be buried. The majority of interments took place on Sunday 3rd May, as reported by the Leeds Mercury:
Twenty-six of the victims of the colliery explosion were interred yesterday afternoon in the little churchyard at Micklefield. It was a melancholy spectacle. Fathers, brothers, sons, and neighbours were snatched away so suddenly that not until the bereaved saw their loved ones placed beneath the turf could they fully realise their terrible loss; and there were many pitiable incidents at the services and at the graveside. In the churchyard twenty-four separate graves had been dug, in addition to a long trench large enough to accommodate ten coffins. Eight of the graves, however, will not be required until today. It was arranged that the interments should be carried out in three batches, the first two, of ten and seven respectively, including miners who were members of the Church of England, and the third batch of the remaining nine, including those who had attended the Wesleyan Chapel in the village. The first batch arrived at about three o’clock. The coffins containing the bodies of those ten miners were brought in hearses from the village, each body being followed by a procession of mourners. At the gate of the churchyard they were met by the Bishop of Beverley and the church choir, who preceded the mourners into the church. As there is only seating accommodation in the church for about 150 people, preference was given for admission to the church to the spaces that remained unoccupied after the relatives of the deceased miners were seated to the inhabitants of Micklefield. The service was conducted by the Bishop of Beverley. After the singing of the hymns commencing with the lines, “O God our help in ages past,” and “Brief life is here our portion,” and the usual Church of England burial service, the Bishop delivered a short and appropriate address. He was there, he said, not simply to express his deep sympathy with those that mourned, but to help them to think of the sympathy of the Lord Jesus Christ in the beautiful life He had lived on earth. The Saviour came from Heaven for more than one purpose. He came to make known to us and to help us to realise the love of the Almighty. Let them remember that God was always the same; that he never changed. Better than any other phrase did the words “God is love” express His attitude ever towards us. God gave us His only begotten son, and in that gift He showed us what He was. As we looked back and thought of the many mercies we had enjoyed, the many blessings we had shared, it was a consolation to think He never changed, and that in days of our trial and affliction He loved us even as in the days of our joy and happiness. Let the beloved ones think of those precious words, “God is love,” and be brave. Let them be “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” As the mourners left the church the organist played the “Dead March” from “Saul.” The scene in the church during the service was a sad one. Sturdy miners wept bitterly, and now and then the sorrowful wail of some bereaved mother or widow would be heard loud above the voice of the preacher. At the graveside the sight was even more harrowing, many of the near relatives of the deceased breaking completely down.
Service at the Wesleyan chapel
As the time approached for the funeral service in the chapel, the bereaved relatives of the men whose earthly lot had been brought to so sudden and tragical a close, silently filed into the building, which was soon filled to overflowing. The Rev. W. H. Maude, of Selby, conducted the service, and delivered an impressive, though necessarily brief, address. The families, he said, which were prostrated under the crushing weight of bitter sorrow might feel assured that the public sympathy with them was deep and widespread, and was already taking the practical form. Pecuniary offerings were flowing in from all quarters and throughout the circuit of Selby active steps would be taken to raise funds to alleviate the distress. He would exhort the afflicted to remember that when human sympathy fail to comfort, Devine sympathy was ever all powerful. The lesson of that sad calamity would not have been learnt aright unless it led the mourners to see the need of, and be assured of the certainty of, Divine help. He would implore the widow and orphan to accept the proffered friendship of the Saviour, which they would find all sufficing in this their time of need. At the close of the service, the nine coffins containing the remains of the deceased miners were removed from the chapel where they had been laid, and placed again into the hearses, and the mournful procession wended its way to the churchyard. Deeply pathetic was the scene at the graveside, when the last rites were performed, and the corpses reverently laid to rest. Irrepressible sobs burst forth from the bystanders, and many of the female relatives seemed as if they could hardly tear themselves away the graves which contained their loved ones. The enormous throng of spectators who encircled the graveyard could not remain unmoved in the presence of grief so heartrending, and on all sides expressions of sorrow and sympathy were audible. The brilliance of the sunshine seemed only to accentuate the prevailing misery by the painful sense of the incongruity that it inspired. It is but right to acknowledge the courtesy shown to his Nonconformist brethren by the Vicar of Micklefield at this distressful season. It had proved quite impossible to give the legal 40 hours’ notice required in the case of burials, and under the circumstances every consideration was extended to the Wesleyans by the rev. gentleman of the funerals took place at Garforth, Aberford, and Kippax.
The Leeds Mercury reported again from Micklefield the following day, as more miners were laid to rest. The reporter added that on each of the coffins was a handsome wreath sent by the colliery proprietors, and supplied by Messrs. William Brotherton and Sons, Covered Market, Leeds:
The burials. The widows and orphans
The deeply affecting scenes which the grief-stricken villages of Micklefield presented on Sunday, when thirty-eight of the dead miners were interred, were again witnessed yesterday, when some seventeen additional bodies were laid to rest in the churchyard. The number of persons whom curiosity drew to the village was much smaller yesterday than on the previous day, and it was just as well, for the crushing and crowding that characterised the first day’s interments, whilst indicating the mournful interest which the disaster had awakened, were to be deprecated, though there was, of course, no intentional disorder. As on Sunday, it was pitiful to watch the long funeral cortege as it wended its way slowly towards the burial ground, each section of mourners following on foot, two abreast, the hearse conveying the remains of the unfortunate relative or friend. Some of the widows were in the most distressed condition, and more than one or two had been borne up by the strong arms of male friends. Not less pathetic was it to see the orphans toddling behind their sorrowing mothers. […] With the exception of the bodies of Henry Martin and Herbert Martin, father and son, and of [William] Naylor Whitaker, who died in Leeds infirmary, the whole of the remaining victims of the explosion were buried yesterday afternoon. In all there were seventeen interments, of which eleven took place at Micklefield, four at Kippax, one at Garforth, and one at Aberford. During the afternoon the road from Micklefield to the churchyard was thronged with sympathetic onlookers, and as the procession of hearses passed along some painful scenes were witnessed. The heartbroken widows, mothers, and sisters of the dead miners followed on foot, and the brilliant sunshine not only made this mournful duty very trying, but likewise gave, if that were possible, a deeper tinge to the melancholy of the scene. On the way some of the bereaved women almost fainted, and had to be supported by friends, themselves suffering keenly. In one instance a police-constable kindly carried a chair along the whole of the way, stopping at intervals to provide the seat for some half fainting woman, who felt herself unable to walk a step farther. At the church yard, which was crowded with mourners, the spectacle was distressing in the extreme. Round the grave, where several of the coffins were to be laid, and round the private graves, into which others of the dead were to be lowered, were congregated groups of sorrowing women and little children, whose grief was pitiable beyond expression. Inside the church care had been taken to reserve all the seats for the relatives and friends of the deceased. The following is a list of those whose remains were interred according to the rite of the Church of England:- Charles Noble, Thomas Longdon, William Sheldon, Robert Westerman, George Moakes snr., Samuel James, Thomas Everett, and William Varey. The burial service was read by the Vicar of Micklefield (the Rev C. D. Farrar), by whom the funeral procession was met at the entrance to the churchyard, the cross-bearer walking before the rev. gentleman. It was about four o’clock when the first of the coffins reached the church, and as the procession passed in, the choir sang “O God, our help in ages past,” and afterwards “Brief life is here our portion,” both of which were marked by much feeling. At the graveside “Thy will be done” was sung. The vicar delivered a brief address in the church, basing his remarks on the words, “Jesus wept.” These words, he said, were the expression of the perfect love, sympathy, and humanity of Christ. A great lesson was taught by the words he had quoted. It was that they should try to exercise control over their grief, however great their grief might be. A Christian’s grief should be like the gentle April shower, not like the wild storms of December. These words convey another truth: the end and purpose of grief were that they might be conformed more and more to the life and image of Christ. Grief was sent to them as a punishment for sin, and likewise as a warning against falling into sin. There are many purposes for which all sorrow is sent by God, and among them is that of enabling us to be sharers in the sufferings of Christ. Your resolve should be to take up the light sorrows and burdens which God lays upon us from time to time, so that when, as on this occasion, some great and overwhelming cross is laid upon us, then you might be able to take it readily, willingly, and cheerfully, saying these words with which we are all so familiar, although it must be very hard for you: “Father, not my will, but Thine be done.”
The Yorkshire Post reported a similar story, and added that “a movement is on foot to erect a large monument in memory of the victims of the explosion” although it is thought that this was not completed until the early 1930s.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 