Story
William was born in 1857 in Basford, Nottinghamshire, and married Matilda Rudd (1861-1951) in Nottinghamshire in 1879. The couple moved to Castleford, where they had a son, John Thomas Barker (1883-1970). William was a coal miner and brought his family to 15 Station Row, Micklefield early in 1891 to work at Peckfield Colliery.
On 30th April 1896, William was working at the extreme South West of the mine, at the end of No.2 Dip, and was ripping coal with William Richard Wood Stead, when the explosion happened. A wall of fire carried down No.1 Dip killing two men, before it reached the Air Crossing, and moved into the No.2 Dip. Most of the explosion moved back up the return, but some carried down the No.2 Dip and reached William Barker and his colleague. Although the two men were burnt, their injuries were not thought severe enough to have caused their death, and they may have been either killed by the force of the blast, or died from afterdamp poisoning.
William’s body was found by William Mills. He had his shirt on, and was on his hands and knees, whilst William Richard Wood Stead was found still facing the coal face. William’s jacket was burnt, and Mills reported that a lot of ripping had been done by the two workers, but there had been no firing.
When William’s body was brought up to the surface, and carried to the Joiner’s shed, William’s wife, Matilda, came over to see his body, and fell to the floor and was seized by an epileptic fit. She was brought round by Dr. Radcliffe of South Milford.
William’s wife remained so upset that she was unable to attend the Inquest. So William’s body was identified at the Inquest by his neighbour, Annie Limbert, wife of Thomas Limbert, who lived at 9 Station Row, and had known William since he moved to Micklefield in 1891. She reported that William had no unusual appearance, and no marks of disfiguration about his face.
Matilda left Micklefield after the death of her husband and married another miner from Derbyshire, Joseph Beverley (1862-1915) in 1898. They moved to Featherstone, where Matilda passed away in 1951, at the age of 89.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 