Story
James Benson was born in Micklefield in 1844, and was the son of Robert Benson (1822-1895) and Rebecca Osburn (1822-1894), who married on 11th September 1841 in Leeds. Rebecca’s older sister Rachel Osburn (1815-1871) married Joseph Steel (1811-1890), and their grandson Albert Steel was also present at the 1896 Disaster.
James married Mary Maskill (1844-1910) in Sherburn in Elmet on 23rd February 1867, and they made their home in Micklefield, having 9 children. By 1891, the family were living at 23 Crescent, and James was a coal miner at Peckfield Colliery. Only their eldest son Thomas had left home to live at 3 Quarry View with his wife Susannah Johnson (1865-1955) whom he married in 1890, but sadly Thomas died in 1892, shortly after the birth of their only son Wilfred. By 1896, James Benson had been promoted to Deputy.
On Wednesday 29th April 1896, James and his family spent the night at home, before setting off for work the following morning with his young son Fred, who was 14 years-old, and worked as a rope winder. James was giving Fred a tour of the workings, as it was a ‘laik day’. Another of James’ sons George William Benson, who was 25 years-old, and a machine coal-getter, also went to work with them. Another son Arthur was also a Filler in the Beeston Bed, but had the day off.
James and Fred were killed by a secondary explosion, 443 metres from the shaft in No.1 Rise Bord, which was a straight path, so they would have seen the explosion travelling towards them. They had few options. It is possible that James just had sufficient time to put his son in one of the tubs, before being blown backwards. They were found on 1st May by Robert Routledge and John Plowright Houfton, who had formed a rescue party at 3pm with 12 men to explore the No.1 Rise Bord. They described finding “a tremendous fall of stone, some thousands of tons. The empty run had evidently been going up when the explosion occurred and smashed the tubs to atoms. In one of the tubs I found a boy named Benson, dead. He was also burnt. A little further up I found the deputy Benson, burnt and wedged in between the first full tub and the wall side in the passbye.” Their bodies were brought out, and identified at the Inquest by James’ son Arthur, who described his brother as having his hands and face burnt, and his father who took the full force of the explosion as having burnt hands and face, he was cut and bruised, and the body had evidently been knocked about a great deal. Fred Benson was the youngest victim of the disaster.
George William Benson survived the explosions, but died due to the effects of afterdamp poisoning. He was working with William Naylor Whitaker in the No.3 South Bord. Whitaker had found a slightly ventilated area which enabled him to survive for three days, before he was recovered to the surface, only to die in hospital. George was found dead at his feet. His brother Arthur stated that George’s body was not disfigured. The three Bensons were buried in Micklefield on 3rd May.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 