Story
George Moakes was born on 18th February 1845 in Birchwood, Alfreton, in Derbyshire. He was the first child of Hannah Moakes, and was born illegitimately, as were his brother William in 1851 and his sister Mary in 1856. The family lived with Hannah’s parents, Thomas Moakes (1791-1862) and Mary Bamford (1795-1877), until Hannah married John Halhead in Birchwood Chapel on 29th October 1859. George supported the family as a coal miner, and married Fanny Elizabeth Gregory (1849-1919) also in Birchwood on 23rd April 1867. The couple had seven children before they moved to Micklefield around 1885, and then had two more children. Sadly their second son William died in 1891 at the age of 17, and early in 1896, their second son Albert passed away aged 25, having married Ann Elizabeth Bedell (1872-1946) in 1891, leaving behind his three young children.
On 30th April 1896, George left his home at 15 East View, after spending the previous night at home with his wife and seven children. George was 51 years-old, and was working in the North West section of the mine, at the far end of the Old North Road, beyond Capell’s Bord, and he was about 500 metres from the site of the explosion. Close by him were father and son Henry and Herbert Martin, Samuel Goodall, and Thomas Everett. The explosion travelled up the Old North Road, killing Alfred Norton. Samuel Goodall was further up the North Road, and was injured by roof-falls. Thomas Everett, George Moakes, and Henry and Herbert Martin were in a side path, behind doors. The four survivors of the explosion could not escape down the Old North Road, as the roof-falls had been too substantial. George was the only one of the four men to make it to the Intake, but all four died when the afterdamp gas overwhelmed them.
George Moakes was identified at 6pm on 3rd May at the Inquest, by his third son who was also called George Moakes (1873-1904), and was a pony driver in the Beeston Bed. He stated that his father’s face was swollen, but he had no injuries.
George’s widow, Fanny, didn’t remarry, but as an example of how widespread the families of Micklefield were affected by the disaster, one of their sons Ernest Moakes (1880-1954) married Florence Wallis (1881-1963) whose father John Thomas Wallis was also killed in the disaster. Their daughter Agnes Moakes (1882-1963, pictured below) married George William Winfield (1882-1957) whose father Joseph Winfield was also killed.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 