Story
William Arthur Hargreaves was born on 8th September 1861 in Leeds, and was the Mining Engineer at Peckfield Colliery. Living at South View, Garforth with his late mother’s sister, Mary Ann Morley, in 1891, William was originally brought up on De Grey Terrace, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, and at the age of 20 had already become an articled mining engineer. He was the son of William Hargreaves snr. (1825-1876). His father was married three times, firstly to Ellen Cross (1829-1857) in Leeds on 19th August 1850, secondly to William Arthur Hargreaves’ mother Adelaide Morley (1831-1862) after they married in Garforth on 26th January 1859, and thirdly to Elizabeth Holt (1833-1900) whom he married on 23rd October 1865 in Leeds. William Arthur Hargreaves married Kate Elizabeth Marshall (1864-1950) and moved to Occupation Lane, Garforth, where they had their only child, Gerald William Hargreaves in 1894.
William Hargreaves led a rescue party of 8 men on the day of the disaster. He also gave an interview to the Leeds Mercury, in which he said: “How the lamentable accident occurred is a perfect mystery. The pit has been always considered one of the safest, if not the very safest in the country. That is shown in the fact that it has always been customary to use naked lights in the working of the pit, and no danger has ever been apprehended from the practice. The pit, therefore, was not one that could in any sense be looked upon as “gassy,” and there has never been any explosion or accident of any kind at the pit before.”
William would also give testimony at the subsequent Inquest, where he stated: “I live at Garforth, and am surveyor at Peckfield colliery. The large and small plans now produced were made under my direction and inspection from the colliery plans and show the workings correctly. I inserted the figures and letters from time to time as the findings of the bodies was reported. I will now give a description of the ventilation from the downcast shaft. There are four big intakes, one to the West level which splits right in two: the East level No.1 Dip and No.1 Rise. The first split to the West goes up the new North road and the other down the No.5 Dip and then to No.4 Dip and back again up No.4 Dip and then across to No.3 Dip and down No.3 Dip bord to some banks and then becomes the return up No.2 Dip bord to the “cast up” shaft. The new North road split goes round the workings until it gets through a fault into the old North district and round the old North workings into No.3 Rise Return and down to No.2 Rise and on to the up cast shaft. No.1 Rise bord is ventilated by air up to the coal faces and round the faces to the left, till it joins the other at No.3 Rise Return and so on to the shaft. A portion splits off to the right to some workings. The air to the East Rise starts at the pit bottom and splits at Bower’s gate end and down the right and round the machine district into Hayes’ gate and then on a return air way to the up cast shaft. The left hand split goes to the far end of the East Level and returns along a back level until it reaches No.2 North East bord where it goes to the coal face and on to the return, Firth’s bord. The air at No.1 Dip bord splits at Moakes’ Drift and again at Marriott’s old gate and then to the right and goes into No.2 Dip and down No.2 Dip bord and across the faces to the Return air course. The depth to the Beeston bed is 175 yards. I have been nine years at Peckfield. The diameter of the fan is 35 feet. The revolutions are 40 a minute. I produce the ventilation record book. I last took the measurements on the 30th of March last when the right hand split was 7,920 feet, the left 8,100. No.1 Rise was 14,000 and the scale 6,000. East level right hand 14,000, left 9,900 No.2 North East Bord, and about 8,100 which goes down to the Black Bed. No.1 Dip 16,500, 9,300 being at Marriott’s old gate and 7,200 along No.1 making altogether 79,000, of which 8,000 went to the Black Bed. I have never heard any complaint of want of ventilation. There was only one shift of 260 persons in the day and another of 39 or 40 at nights. Mr. Charles Houfton is the Manager. There were three deputies in the nights and five in the daytime exclusive of William Radford. The upper bed is the Beeston bed. The up cast shaft is sunk to the Black Bed. The fan is of the “Wardell”. Alteration has been made in the ventilation of the splits, one within the last six months by shortening the road. The West level intake is 64 cubic feet. The new North road is about the same. Straight No.1 North road has been made 2 years and packed on each side.”
By 1911, William left Garforth. He had moved to The Hollies, Fulford Road, York, where he passed away in 1941. He also left mining, and worked as a shipping agent. The Map William produced of Peckfield Colliery is shown below:
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 