Story
Isaiah Evans was the first child born to William Evans (1829-1914) and Abigail Steadman (1830-1898), who had been next door neighbours in Hobywell Lane, Dawley, Shropshire, and married on 6th March 1848 in Malinslee, Shropshire. Isaiah was born in Dawley in 1860. By 1881, the family had moved back to 46 Denaby Main, Doncaster, where William and his sons were working as coal miners. William had been at Denaby Main Colliery before. His father John Evans (1800-1840) had been killed there in a mining accident. By 1881, they were still working at Denaby Main, and had moved to 102 Pit Row. By 1891, William and Abigail had brought the family up to 31 East View, Micklefield, and Isaiah worked at Peckfield Colliery. Next door to them at number 30 lived Thomas Bradburn (1857-1898) and his wife Lucy Ann Cupitt (1861-1938), who had married on 8th November 1890 in Castleford, with Noah Ball acting as Best-Man.
On the day of the disaster, Isaiah arrived at the pit around 7am, and had just reached his position in the No.1 Rise Bord of the Beeston Bed when the explosion took place. He was working with Caleb Atack, who was just in the process of stripping ready for work when they felt a big gust of wind which blew the cap from his head and lifted his shirt over his head. Caleb was knocked to the floor and his lamp was extinguished. When both had recovered, Caleb said to Isaiah “Let’s be going, it’s fired”, and they moved out of the No.1 Rise Bord in time to avoid the secondary explosion which killed Fred Bellerby, Louis Pickard, James and Fred Benson, and also claimed the lives of Charles Swift and the afore mentioned Noah Ball. Isaiah and Caleb were able to meet up with Charles Ball’s group of survivors, which included William Appleyard, Samuel Clark, Josiah Godber, Sam Grimbley, John Sissons, and Charles’ son, John Charles Ball. They tried various ways to escape along the East Level without success, and had to walk all the way around the workings to reach the bottom of shaft at 8am. At this time, the group heard George Hicks crying for help near the Office and went to rescue him. Isaiah escaped the pit uninjured around noon. Isaiah’s father William was waiting for news of his son at the Colliery, and was interviewed by a journalist. He said: “I went to work in a pit when I were seven years old. Mi father were killed by mi side in t’ pit when I were nobut eleven. Twice I’ve been taken aht o Denby Main fer dead, and once, in another pit, ah ‘ad all the hair on mi head blown off. Aye, aye, God’s been good.” Isaiah’s sister Abigail was married to William Sheldon, who was killed in the disaster. Isaiah’s cousins Moses and Enoch Evans were rescuers at the disaster. Isaiah and his siblings continued to live at 31 East View, until the death of their neighbour Thomas Bradburn in 1898. Isaiah married Thomas’ widow Lucy Ann in Castleford on 14th March 1899, and Isaiah moved next door to No.30, where he remained until his death in 1920, aged 60.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 