THE HEDLEY PIT HEROES

On the 29th September 1930, a roof fall occurred in the Hedley
Pit at South Moor. A coal miner named Frederick Beaumont was
partially buried in the fall. Chargeman Victor King was first to
come to the rescue. He found that a small passageway remained
open by which the buried man might be reached. King was
assisted by his son Richard, and fellow miner, John George
Tarn. They immediately built two chocks of timber to keep
the way open.

The passageway was approximately seven yards long, and two
feet square, and the only practical method of rescue was for
three men to crawl along and lie full length, two in the passageway,
and one over the body of Beaumont to protect him fro falling
stones.These stones were passed back one at a time. This
perilous and arduous task carried on for nine hours. The team
of workers worked in relays under the direction of the manager,
Mr Walter Robert Scott,and under manager Robert Reed, until
at last, Beaumont was freed.

He was shaken but otherwise unhurt. During the whole nine
hours,the roof was "shifting" and "trickling", and on four
occasions, Beaumont was almost freed when a further fall
buried him again. At one time, the danger of another fall was
so great that the manager phoned for Dr Fox to come to the
Pit so as to amputate Beaumont's leg so as to release him.
Fortunately, as it turned out, there was insufficient arm room
for the doctor to carry out the amputation.The doctor remained
on the scene until Beaumont was rescued when he treated
him before sending him to the surface. Shortly after Beaumont
was released, the tunnel collapsed.

 There were 19 men in all involved in the rescue. On the
30th December 1931, the 19 rescuers received the Carnegie
Award For Bravery in recognition of their brave endeavour.
The presentation was at West Stanley. There was also an
Investiture at Buckingham Palace on February 26th 1932,
when the 19 rescuers were awarded The "Edward Medal"
by King George V for their outstanding bravery. The 19
men were -

Jack Akers, Thomas Buckley, Philip Cox, John Dart,
T Dixon, Dr CJB Fox, Bob Johnson, Victor King,
Richard King, Joseph Kent, Joseph Lees, George Mason,
George Nancollas, Robert Reed, Walter Scott,
Walter Sheldrake, John G Tarn, Thomas Uren
and William Waugh

This account by Jack Hair is from the Peoples History,
"Stanley Remembered"
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