Story
Harry Hague was born in Whitkirk in 1874, the son of Major Hague (1837-1894) and Harriet Stead (1837-1922), who married in 1855. Harry was a coal miner, who lived in Garforth, and worked at Peckfield Colliery. It was reported that Henry Hague was a fitter, and was one of the eleven miners who escaped from the lower seam, the Black Bed, along with Robert Henry Nevins. There is an unattributed interview between a reporter and a miner from the Black Bed, which may have been with Henry Hague or William Camply:
“It was about seven o’clock when I and my mate went down the shaft, and made our way to the workings, which were nearly a mile distant. At that time there were only about 12 men in the pit altogether. We had got to our work – I and my mate – when the explosion took place. We at once set off towards the down shaft, but had great difficulty in making our way on account of the strong afterdamp, which was very near overpowering us several times. We managed, however, to get to the bottom of the shaft, and there we called out for help. There was a crowd of men at the top, and they shouted down to us that they would liberate us as soon as they could. I found George Hicks and the bottom with his head badly burnt, and I took off my shirt wrapped it round his head. It would be about eight o’clock when we got to the shaft, and about ten when we were taken up. Perhaps there were fourteen or sixteen in all taken up. They were taken up three or four at a time, the men who were suffering the most from the afterdamp being got out first. At the Black Bed, where we were working, there were some who fainted away just after the explosion, if it had been 20 minutes later they would have been 30 more men and boys in the pit.” The narrator of this experience a door evident signs of having passed through a severe ordeal.
Harry Hague married Mary Hannah Gray (1877-1904) in Garforth on 15th February 1899, and then re-married in 1904 to Eliza Ann Ingham (1877-1931). He passed away in Allerton Bywater on 11th November 1937. His nephew also called Harry Hague (1907-1963) would also go on to work at Peckfield Colliery as a winder. He married Annie Whitaker (1909-1977) on 20th November 1927 in Micklefield, and Annie’s uncle was George Henry Whitaker, who was the first victim in the explosion.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 