Story
Lot Mosby was born on 31st March 1867 in Micklefield, and his parents were George Mosby (1832-1886) and Jane Ellis (1838-1935), who married on 13th December 1862 in Sherburn. George’s first wife was Ellen Hemsworth (1836-1861), and their son Fred went on to marry his first cousin, Dorcas Whitaker, whose brother Amos Whitaker was Fred’s Best Man, and was killed in the disaster. After Lot was born, the Mosbys moved to Methley in 1871, and then to Providence Place, Swillington, where they had a son Jess Mosby in 1876. Lot was working as a Bricklayer’s labourer in 1881. On 6th September 1886, Lot’s father George was killed at Peckfield Colliery, and an Inquest was held at the Bland’s Arms Inn 2 days later, attended by John Gerrard, H.M. Inspector of Mines, who would also attend the Peckfield Colliery Disaster. Lot stated that he had left for work at 6:15am, and his father’s body was brought back at 1pm. George had been working with Samuel Marriott, who said he had also descended No.1 Pit at 6:15am and George soon arrived in the stall next to him, and built a pack. At 11:30 George threw down his pick and hammer towards his bank gate and went back towards the coal face. Sam asked “Are you going to build another pack?” George answered “No” and walked after his tools. 10 minutes later Sam heard a fall and a groan, so ran 8½ feet past the pack, and found George under a 4 foot by 20 inch thick rock, with his right shoulder crushed against a prop. It took Sam, John Sutton, William Mosby and Isaac Limbert 15 minutes to free him and put him in a corf, but George died 15 minutes later. John Sutton himself would be killed in the Colliery Disaster 10 years later, which Sam Marriott and Lot would escape, and Lot’s brother Jess was involved in the rescue efforts. Two years later, on 7th August 1888, Lot married Annie Elizabeth Blythe (1869-1935) and moved to 28 Crescent.
Lot was working around the No.1 Dip, and was part of the group of around 15 miners who gathered in the darkness to discuss how to escape the pit, and ended up sending Thomas Crosthwaite and William Dobson to clear a path in the No.1 Dip to get them back to the pit bottom. The going was slow due to the after-damp gas poisoning being strong. They were the 3rd group to be rescued, and were helped by a rescue party who had managed to descend in the lift, and were working their way down the main roadways. Lot escaped the pit around noon.
After the disaster, Lot continued to work as a coal miner at Peckfield, but in 1911, the family, including their 3 surviving children moved away to Bolton-Upon-Dearne, and lastly moved to Doncaster, where Lot passed away in 1951.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 