Story
James Shillito was born in Micklefield in 1846, and was the fifth child born to Joseph Shillito (1816-1895) and Abigail Malthouse (1816-1879) who married in Leeds on 23rd January 1838. The couple had at least 10 children and lived in Micklefield. Joseph’s brother was John Shillito (1814-1895) and two of his sons, George and David, were also killed in the disaster.
James was initially a coal miner, and married Selina Whitaker (1851-1920) in Sherburn on 21st March 1868. They initially moved to Normanton for a short time, before returning to Micklefield, where they lived at 3 Bland’s Row. The couple had three children, but only Walter (1868-1934) survived into adulthood, as their youngest daughter Amy, born in 1880 died in 1882, and Bertie, born in 1879, died in 1893.
By 1896, James was a deputy at Peckfield Colliery, and left for work at 6am on the morning of the disaster. He was standing in the East Level when John Charles Ball, aged 19, came out of the lift, just after 7am, so he was late for work. John asked his deputy if his father, Charles Ball, had arrived and whether the men in the district had headed to their places, and was a bit taken aback by James’ reply: “Aye, and it’s time thar were off.” Feeling that his Deputy seemed a bit upset that morning, John hurried to find his father. He had just met up with Charles, when the explosion took place. In complete darkness, the men in the district gathered together and sent John to find James Shillito to check what had gone wrong. John couldn’t find his deputy and struggled to get back, so the men formed a chain, and made their way back into the East Level. They were climbing over debris and fighting through choking dust, when the man at the front of the chain, John Sissons, exclaimed “O Lord, there’s a man there.” No-one else could see a body, but Sissons insisted trembling, “I know there is, I had my foot on him.” John Ball got down on his knees and scraped all the dust away from where Sisson’s feet had been, and discovered the body of James Shillito, the Deputy he’d passed earlier and had been sent to find.
Whilst John Ball and John Sissons made their way 100 yards to the pit bottom, his father and the other men were left to gaze on the body of James Shillito. Sam Grimbley reported that the force of the blast had blown James’ head away, and Charles Ball simply stated: “It’s no use stopping, he’s dead enough,” and they made their way to the pit bottom. These men escaped and John Ball credited the frosty response he had received from James that morning for saving his life. Otherwise, he had been in the habit of sitting in the East Level for a few minutes to let his eyes get accustomed to the darkness, so would likely have been in the same area at the time the blast killed James.
James’ body was recovered the following day by Robert Routledge, who, with three men had proceeded to explore the East level. He reported that James was found lying on his back, with his face inbye. His body was brought out of the pit the same day between 3am and 6am, and was identified at 10am by his widow, Selina. She only stated that she had identified his body, but gave no description of the injuries sustained by her husband.
James was buried in Micklefield on the 3rd May, in the third batch of burials that day. Selina (pictured below left) is on the left of the photograph depicting three grieving women on the day of the funerals. Her uncle, Joseph Whitaker was also killed in the disaster, as was her cousin William Naylor Whitaker. Another of her cousins, Albert Steel, survived the disaster, but received a head wound from the lift when it blew into the headgear. Albert had left the mine to get a pulley, and had been waiting at the top to go back down.
Selina re-married John Adams (1851-1930) in 1900, and they moved to Kippax for a time, but soon returned to 3 Bland’s Row. Selina passed away aged 69, and is buried with James in Micklefield (above right). Their surviving son Walter (pictured above centre) played cricket for Micklefield, and his daughter, Amy Shillito (1893-1972) re-married Joseph Edwin Wallis (1889-1966) after both their first spouses had passed away. Like Amy, Joseph’s father had been a deputy killed in the disaster: John Wallis.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 