The story of the Pretoria Pit disaster at Westhoughton on December 21, 1910, is well known, of course. It was one of the country's worst-ever mining disasters with 344 miners losing their lives.
But just a moment. Are we sure? Were they all miners?
It has always been thought that was the case, yet some correspondence forwarded to me by Ernest Ford, of Esther Fold, Westhoughton, throws doubt on that.
Ernest has written a poem about the disaster, called "Pretoria, Oh Pretoria," telling of how whole villages suffered, and it appears on an email magazine called Jellyfish.
As a result, he received an email from a woman named Florence Rogers, who has lived in Bicester, Oxfordshire, for 53 years.
She writes that her grandfather's name was Walter Woodward,, and he had an 18-hear-old son, Percy. They lived in Leigh Road, Westhoughton ("and I believe some relatives still live there").
"When we were young, my mother described the horror of what happened. Her father (my grandfather) was one of those killed, although he wasn't a miner, he was a signwriter, and was on a job down the mine which was to take only an hour or so. Percy, who was a miner, was also killed.
"My grandmother was left with seven girls aged from three weeks old to 4 years, and she was feeding the baby when news of the explosion came. The baby died a few weeks later, and the next youngest, at 14 months old, died shortly after that. The poverty was indescribable, not just for my mother's family, but for all the victims' families.
"When my mother died, I found a black-edged card which was, I believe, printed and sent out as notification. I still have it; I also visited Westhoughton cemetery and took a photograph of the memorial."
It seems strange that after all these years such a story has come out. Perhaps, of course, it was known at the time that one of those who died was a signwriter, not a miner, but since then that detail in all the stories (including in this newspaper) has been forgotten.
Nevertheless, it's intriguing; and as you know, a memorial service is still held each year on December 21, when wreaths are laid at the site after a church service, to remember all those who died in the disaster - perhaps now, 343 miners and one signwriter!
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