Story
Henry Edward Tallett was born in 1855 in Hartshill, Worcestershire. He was the son of Henry Tallett (1818-1870) and Caroline Wilden (1820-1895) who married in 1845. The family lived in Stourbridge in 1861, but whilst his parents remained living in the Midlands, Henry Edward moved North to work in Coal Mines before he married Mary Ann Brownsword in Castleford on 21st January 1879, and they moved to Swillington. They later moved to West Garforth, and had 8 children, with only their first daughter Caroline, passing away in 1888, aged 7. By 1896, their 7 surviving children were aged between 6 months and 13 years. But by the end of 1896 both the 6 month-old baby Thomas had died (on 31st May 1896), and their 13 years-old daughter Sarah Ann passed away shortly after.
On 30th April 1896, Henry Edward Tallett was 41 years-old, and left for work at 5:55am, leaving Mary Ann in bed. He was working with Thomas Longdon near the top of New North Road, so they were only 80 metres from John Goodall Gate, where the explosion occurred. Their bodies were found by Robert Routledge’s rescue party, as they made their way up New North Road, Routledge recorded his findings:
“We went forward up the North bord and found a pony and boy just past crossgate to the left. The boy, [John] Simpson, and his horse, being badly burnt. The horse had evidently been driven inbye with the force. The horse’s body was struck against a prop the boy laid, with his head outbye. Going forward the next bodies we discovered were H Tallett and Tom Longdon who were in their own gate and 35 yards from the face. A hole had been drilled in the ripping, but evidently not fired.”
Henry Edward Tallett’s body was recovered from the pit on 2nd May, and identified the same day at the Inquest by his widow Mary Ann, who gave no comment upon her husband’s injuries, but stated that she had seen him in the Joiner’s shed. Henry Edward was buried in Garforth on 3rd May. Mary Ann moved in with Joseph Walker and married him in Hunslet on 16th February 1901 after giving birth to her last child, Mary. Mary Ann later moved in with her daughter Ethel who had married Arthur Shaw and moved to 7 Bond Street, Kinsley, Hemsworth. Mary Ann may have passed away in Hemsworth in 1932.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 