Story
John was born on 23rd November 1848 in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire. His parents were William Wallis (1823-1897) and Caroline Chambers (1825-1900), who married 12th July 1846 in Nottingham. Caroline was originally from Mansfield, and was a local preacher. One of her sons Wright Wallis (1856-1906) also became a local preacher. William Wallis was a miner of ironstone.
By the age of 12, John was already working as a general labourer to help support his parents. On 24th October 1870 in Ripley, John married Ann Agnes Gregory (1854-1923) of Selston. He was now a coal miner, as were his brothers Wright and Joseph, who were 14 and 12 years-old respectively. Initially, John and Ann lived at his parents’ house on Mosley Street, Ripley in Derbyshire. By 1881, John and Ann had moved to Newton Green, Blackwell, Derbyshire, and his parents lived next door. His father had retired from mining ironstone, and was now working as a grocer and herbalist. John and Ann had 5 children in Derbyshire: Ruth (1871-1943); James John (1873-1944); Mary (1877-1947); George William (1879-1917); and Florence (1881-1963). The family, including John’s father William, moved to 17 Bland’s Cottages Micklefield around 1882, and had a further 4 children: Caroline (1883-1963); William Wright (1885-1962); Joseph Edwin (1889-1966) and Gregory Havelock (1895-1965). The lasting legacy of the Peckfield Colliery Disaster can be seen in the marriages of these nine children. Ruth married James Whitehead (1865-1940), whose sister Mary married George Carter Cawood, who was rescued from the disaster and joined the rescue efforts, and James’ brother George Whitehead was one of the rescuers. Florence was married to Ernest Moakes (1880-1954) whose father George Moakes was killed in the disaster. Joseph Edwin Wallis’s second marriage in 1943 was to Amy Shillito (1893-1973), the granddaughter of deputy James Shillito who was also killed in the disaster.
John was 48 years-old on 30th April 1896, and was an underground Deputy. At the time of the explosion, one of the miners, George Hicks had just entered the office of the Underground Manager, William Radford, to get his lamp. George saw William Radford sitting at a small desk writing, with John Wallis opposite him. The explosion caused one of the walls to blow down, and John Wallis was thrown across the desk and collided against William Radford. Hicks then saw a wall of flame which he thought had been caused by the oil stored in a building, but this was apparently unaffected. Although he was badly burnt trying to escape, George Hicks survived the disaster. The bodies of Radford and Wallis were later seen by another survivor, Caleb Atack, who had decided to check out the offices whilst they were waiting at the bottom of the shaft to be rescued. He described how the heads of Radford and Wallis had been jammed together, as if they had been smashed against each other. Despite the fire, there was no indication that they had been burnt, and it is likely they were killed by the force of the impact against each other. The office was close to the bottom of the main shaft, and next to the stables. John’s body was brought out of the pit between 3am and 6am, and identified at 6am on 1st May, by his older brother William, who was a coal miner from Tibshelf, and had arrived in Micklefield at 6am. He stated that he could easily recognise the features of his brother, and there was a little bit of blood around his mouth, which was likely to have been caused by the collision against his manager. John was buried in Micklefield on 3rd May, in the 3rd batch of funerals to be held that day.
John’s widow, Ann Agnes Wallis continued to live at Bland’s Cottages, and was able to support herself without re-marrying until her death in 1923. Some time before the 1896 pit disaster the pit manager, Mr Charles Houfton had been ill and Ann, then a District nurse, returned him to good health. In appreciation for this, Charles allowed Ann to open up a shop in the Blands Cottages, using numbers 17 and 18 as shop and living accommodation.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 