Story
Walter Nuttall was born on 25th June 1861 in Staveley, Derbyshire. He was the son of William Nuttall (1822-1900) and Elizabeth Bamford (1824-1897), who married 2nd November 1845 in Chesterfield. Walter moved to Micklefield, and married Sarah Ann Shillito (1862-1921) in 1882 in Sherburn. Sarah’s father was George Shillito, who was killed in the explosion.
Walter and Sarah had one daughter, Florence Louisa Nuttall on 25th May 1883 in Micklefield, and the family lived at 29 Crescent, with Walter working at Peckfield Colliery. He was not at work on the day of the disaster, but volunteered to join the rescue parties.
After the disaster, the family moved to Womersley Farm House, Pontefract, where Walter left coal mining and took up work as a farmer. By 1911, they had moved to 15 Ashton Road, Glasshoughton, and Walter had resumed working as a coal miner. Their daughter Florence (1883-1965) married Frederick Charles Hopkinson (1875-1960) in Hemsworth on 5th October 1909, and the four lived together.
Walter’s wife passed away in 1921 aged 59, and on 27th May 1922, Walter became a Publican of the Shoulder of Mutton, in Greetland, North Yorkshire, before taking over the Waggon and Horse Inn in Lofthouse on 4th February 1924. By 1939, Walter had retired and was living with his daughter and son-in-law at 4A Ramsgate, Rothwell. He died in 1945, aged 83.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 