Story
William was born in Appleton Roebuck in 1839, and was the son of James (1808-1880) and Rebecca Flowers (1809-1888). In 1851, William was a farm labourer along with his father, but moved down to Kidderminster where he joined the police as a Constable. He left after 10 months and returned to working as a Farm Labourer. On 26th May 1862, William rejoined the West Yorkshire Police Force, but resigned again after 10 months service on 28th March 1863 citing ill-health. He returned to farm labouring again in Kidderminster, before joining the police for a third time on 27th June 1866, and was attached to Dewsbury station as a Constable. He lasted 11 months this time, before resigning again on 1st September 1867. He may have subsequently re-joined the police force on more occasions, as he gave his profession as Policeman when he married Harriet Bamford in Tibshelf, Derbyshire on 7th June 1869, and was still down as a Police Constable on the 1871 census. From his police records, William was very tall at 6 ft 1 inches, had a sallow complexion and had a cut on the first finger of his left hand. In 1881, William and Harriet were living in Blackwell, Derbyshire, and William was now a coal miner. The couple never had children, so often supplemented their income by taking in lodgers, four of whom were living with them in 1881. In 1891, the couple had moved to Fairburn, so William was likely to have been working at Peckfield for sometime before the disaster. In 1894, the couple moved in to 8 East View, and took in Thomas Oakley as their lodger.
On 30th April 1896, William went to work with Thomas Oakley. They did not work together in the same district, so they parted company at the bottom of the shaft. Thomas moved off to the No.4 dip, and was killed in the disaster. William meanwhile remained at the bottom of the shaft, waiting for his mate, Charles Oxtoby, from Garforth to arrive. Miners could not work singularly for safety reasons, so William lit his pipe as he waited at the bottom. Around 7:05am, Joseph Lillyman the Night Deputy joined William, after finishing his night shift, and Albert Steel also arrived, as he wanted a pulley to finish a job, so William decided he had waited long enough and accompanied Joseph and Albert in the lift back up to the surface. William had just reached his home at 8 East View when he heard the explosion.
He later discovered that Charles Oxtoby had slept in that morning, and arrived later at the Colliery. Charles immediately volunteered to work with the rescue teams. On 1st May 1896, William had to identify the body of his lodger Thomas Oakley at the inquest. After the disaster, William continued to work at the colliery. He passed away on 14th September 1907 aged 68. His widow Harriet was living at 28 Crescent in 1911, and was working as a caretaker at the school, but still had 5 lodgers living with her to help with her income. Harriet passed away on 19th August 1913, also aged 68. The couple are buried together in Micklefield.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 