Story
George William Hayes was born in South Normanton, Derbyshire in 1875, and was the son of a coal miner, George Hayes (1844-1920) and Amelia Hill (1847-1915) who married in South Normanton on 20th December 1863. The family left Derbyshire in 1881 to work at the Peckfield Colliery. George jnr. had an older sister, Eliza Hayes (1868-1891) who married a coal miner, Herbert Crosthwaite, and they lived at 8 East View. Herbert Crosthwaite’s brother Thomas was also a coal miner, living nearby at 49 Crescent. On 20th June 1891, it was reported that George Hayes snr. had been fined 5s in court, after a Constable found him very drunk and swearing in the street, challenging passers-by to a fight.
George William Hayes was single, and was a 20 years-old hurrier on the morning of the disaster, living with his parents at 2 East View. He is likely to have gone to the Stables, and taken a pony, and was making his way down the No.1 Dip when the explosion took place, around 965 metres from his location. There are two conflicting versions surrounding George’s death from the two Crosthwaite brothers, Herbert and Thomas. Thomas Crosthwaite was working in the pit, and managed to survive the disaster. Whilst escaping, and suffering from afterdamp poisoning, he recounted seeing George holding a pony by the head, and said that both had been burnt to ashes. This version is likely to have been a case of mistaken identity, and may have been either the body of Richard Shepherd or George Edwin Dunnington. According to the map, George was found close to pony drivers Alfred Wilson and Arthur Howson, and was not burnt. He was first seen by William Mills, who said “Then 150 yards farther on we came upon George Hayes, Alf Wilson, and Arthur Howson. They had not been touched by the fire; the after-damp had caught them, and they had just fallen all in a heap.”
George’s body was recovered at 3am on 1st May, and was identified at the Inquest by his brother-in-law, Herbert Crosthwaite, who had helped with the rescue efforts, along with another one of his brothers, Israel. Herbert stated that his brother-in-law was apparently swollen about the face, which was a consistent description of the miners who had died from afterdamp poisoning.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 