Story
Thomas was born in 1869 in Hatfield, Essex, and was the son of Charles Everett (1844-1924) and Elizabeth Livermore (1842-1881), who married on 3rd October 1863 in Hatfield Peverel. Around 1877, the family left Essex, where Charles worked as a Farm Labourer, and travelled North to Ashington, Northumberland, where Charles started work as a Coal Miner. After his wife died in 1881, Charles moved to Soothill, Batley and continued to work as a coal miner, bringing his family with him.
Thomas Everett was a Coal Miner, living in Purston-cum-Featherstone, when he married Mary Alice Shepherd in Hanging Heaton, Dewsbury on 23rd August 1890, aged 21. The couple went on to have a son Harry (1892-1965) and then moved to Newthorpe, where they had another son, Fred (1895-1943). Thomas’ brother William Everett (1867-1955) also worked as a coal miner and settled near Barnsley.
On 30th April 1896, Thomas was working in the North West section of the mine, at the far end of the Old North Road, beyond Capell’s Bord, and he was about 500 metres from the site of the explosion. Close by him were father and son Henry and Herbert Martin, Samuel Goodall, and George Moakes. The explosion travelled up the Old North Road, killing Alfred Norton. Samuel Goodall was further up the North Road, and was injured by roof-falls. Thomas Everett, George Moakes, and Henry and Herbert Martin were in a side path, behind doors, although Thomas was also hurt by roof-falls. The four of them could not escape down the Old North Road, as the explosion has caused substantial roof-falls, and the four survivors died when the afterdamp gas overwhelmed them.
Thomas’ body was recovered on 4th May, and was identified by his older brother William Everett (1868-1955) who was living in Church Street, Royston, Barnsley, but had been waiting at the Pit head for news of his brother since Friday. He identified Thomas’ body in the Joiner’s shop at 5:30pm, and stated that Thomas’ head was swollen and that he had sustained a wound on his right eye.
Weeks after Thomas’ death, his widow Mary Alice gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth. She was baptised at Woodkirk on 7th June 1896. Mary Alice was still living in Newthorpe, but moved back to Chidswell, Dewsbury. She re-married Frank Jennings (1873-1957) in Hanging Heaton on 28th May 1898, and had a further 3 children with her new husband, but passed away on 29th November 1903, aged 32, just five months after giving birth to her last daughter, Annie (1903-1976). Thomas’s brother William had a son, born on 9th July 1896, and named him Thomas in remembrance of his brother.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 