Story
Joseph Longstaff Routledge was born on 10th October 1854 in Centerville, Davis County, Utah. His parents were Joseph Routledge (1832-1899) and Alice Longstaff (1832-1913), who had married in Durham on 25th February 1851. Joseph snr. and his brother Robert Routledge (1844-1919) had both moved to Utah to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but returned to Durham in 1872. Joseph snr. was awarded a First-Class Certificate of Competency as a manager of mines, and in 1875 joined the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers. In 1884 he patented the Routledge & Johnson miners’ safety lamp, which would be used in Peckfield Colliery after the disaster. Joseph snr is pictured below right with his new lamps, and left a close-up of his lamp:
Joseph Longstaff Routledge was therefore the nephew of Garforth Colliery Manager Robert Routledge. He married Phoebe Minto (1854-1931) in Durham on 23th December 1874. He lived in Leeds, and was the Manager of the Waterloo Main Collieries. Joseph joined the Excelsior Lodge of Freemasons in 1893. During the Peckfield Colliery Disaster he assisted his uncle with the rescue parties, and had to be rescued from the pit himself, along with George Carter Cawood after both succumbed to afterdamp gas poisoning. He passed away on 4th December 1902 (obituary below):
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 