Story
William Holden was born in 1868, in Nostell, Pontefract and was the son of Henry Holden (1839-1922) and Amelia Smith (1840-1879) who married on 2nd August 1862 in Kirkburton, near Huddersfield. The Holdens came to Micklefield in 1876 as soon as Peckfield colliery opened, and Henry started work as the Engine Tenter. Amelia passed away in 1879, so Henry remarried Elizabeth Watson, in Leeds on 20th March 1880, and Henry’s son William started working at the colliery as a coal miner. In 1894, William Holden married Sarah Hunt from Armley, and the couple moved to 7 Charnmouth Street, Beeston Road, Leeds. They had a daughter in 1894 whom they named Amelia after William’s late mother, and adopted a girl called Emily Kershaw.
On the day of the disaster, William was taken down the lift to the Beeston Bed by his father, Henry Holden, of 20 Cliff Terrace, who was the engineman operating the lift, on surface duties. William usually worked in the Black Bed, but today, he was making his way along the West Level when the explosion happened.
The main explosion carried from John Goodall’s gate, down the New North Road and exploded into the West Level, before wrecking the stables, the offices and blasting its way up the main shaft. Henry Holden had just brought William Flowers, Joseph Lillyman and Albert Steel out of the pit, and was starting his breakfast, as the explosion blasted his lift into the headgear. He had the foresight to secure the levers before escaping the engine-room, as the debris came crashing back down. He stated afterwards: ‘the world had apparently come to an end’.
Emily Kershaw was said to be looking for William in the aftermath of the disaster. A witness said he should never forget the weeping and wailing, and was relieved to see the name of Bill Holden among the names of those men rescued. Fortunately, William was the only survivor in the West Level. He remembered nothing about the explosion, but his head was badly cut as the explosion blew him backwards against the wall, and then burnt him terribly. He was rescued at 12 o’clock the same day. William was taken to Leeds Infirmary. He was unconscious, and arrived at the hospital at 2pm. His hair had been burnt off, and both his face and arms were burnt black, and his skin was found hanging from his hands and arms. He received four injections of morphine, but in spite of this, he was said to have been mad with pain, as he partially began to regain consciousness.
William left Leeds General Infirmary on Tuesday 26th May afternoon, and his return to Micklefield was reported by the Leeds Times on Saturday 30th May 1896:
William and Sarah had another daughter Anne in 1898, and they later moved to Hunslet and, like his father, Henry worked as a Colliery Engineman. He passed away in 1931.
30th April 1896. The Peckfield Colliery Disaster at Micklefield 