Story
James was born on 21st September 1865, and was the son of a brick-maker, James Edginton (1842-1907) and Ann Willis (1842-1892) who married in 1863. The family were from Droitwich, Worcestershire, but moved to 6 Marquis Street, Holbeck by 1871, and then 18 Victoria Street, Allerton Bywater in 1881. James married Emily Bywater (1863-1933) in Oulton on 28th July 1888, and the couple moved back to Emily’s home village of Kippax, living at Pease Fold, off the High Street in 1891 (pictured below), which was the same year they had their first daughter, Edith.
Edith later married William Sheldon jnr., son of William snr. who was killed in the Peckfield Colliery disaster. Indeed, William Sheldon snr was married to Abigail Evans, whose brother Thomas Evans had married Emily Bywater’s sister Theresa (1869-1932) just 6 months before the disaster, and their elder sibling Isaiah Evans, also survived the disaster. James and Emily soon moved to 26 East View, which was to remain their home for the rest of their lives. A second daughter Nora Bella was born 10th March 1893, and would later marry Oscar Atack, son of William Atack, who like James Edginton, survived the Colliery Disaster.
From the newspaper reports, James looks to have been one of around 15 miners in Thomas Crosthwaite’s group of survivors who had been working around the No.1 Dip, and was one of the last to leave the pit alive. Despite the disaster, James continued to work at Peckfield Colliery. His wife Emily passed away in 1933, and James died in 1942 aged 76.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 