Hemingfield Colliery
| Year | Manager
(Certificate no & class: year) |
Under Manager
(Certificate no & class: year) |
Below Ground | Above Ground |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1842 | Benjamin Biram | William Goodinson | ||
| 1849 | Benjamin Biram | James Uttley | 56 – 21 colliers; 18 trammers; 5 blacksmiths; 3 engine tenters; 2 labourers; 3 banksmen, 3 masons and 1 accountant | |
| 1852 | Benjamin Biram | James Uttley (top and bottom Steward) Joseph Hodgson & William Ford (fire-triers) | 193 | |
| 1856 | Benjamin Biram | James Uttley | 192 men and 27 boys | |
| 1857 | John Hartop | – | 12 horses and 1 ass | |
| 1869 | John Hartop | – | 76 hewers, 16 horses and ponies | |
| 1888 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st class: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd class: 1888) | – | – |
| 1892 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st class: 1874) | 201 colliers, trammers and packers | ||
| 1894 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 292 | 43 |
| 1897 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 293 | 43 |
| 1899 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 296 | 45 |
| 1900 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 302 | 41 |
| 1901 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 303 | 41 |
| 1902 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 311 | 41 |
| 1903 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 326 | 40 |
| 1904 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 331 | 41 |
| 1905 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 329 | 43 |
| 1906 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 330 | 42 |
| 1907 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 338 | 43 |
| 1908 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 327 | 43 |
| 1909 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 340 | 40 |
| 1910 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 310 | 46 |
| 1911 | Thomas Newbould (371 1st: 1874) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 267 | 55 |
| 1912 | Asher Hollings (377) | Joseph Firth (466 2nd: 1888) | 295 | 51 |
| 1913 | Asher Hollings (377) | J. Mirfin (3504, 2nd class) | 304 | 50 |
| 1914 | Asher Hollings (377) | J. Mirfin (3504, 2nd class) | 290 | 50 |
| 1915 | Asher Hollings (377) | 222 | 47 | |
| 1916 | Asher Hollings (377) | 205 | 43 | |
| 1917 | Asher Hollings (377 1st: 1891) | 180 | 39 | |
| 1918 | Asher Hollings (377) | 153 | 33 | |
| 1918 | ~ Transition from Earl Fitzwilliam to South Yorkshire Pumping Association ~ | |||
| 1919 | Asher Hollings (377) | 138 | 34 | |
| 1920 | Asher Hollings (377) | 62 | 25 | |
| 1925 | 2 | |||
| 1926 | Cyril Shaw (1606 1st) | 1 | 2 | |
| 1927 | Cyril Shaw (1606 1st) | 2 | 3 | |
| 1928 | Cyril Shaw (1606 1st) | 2 | 4 | |
| 1929 | Cyril Shaw (1606) | 5 | 6 | |
| 1929 | ~ South Yorkshire Pumping Association becomes South Yorkshire Mines Drainage Committee ~ | |||
| 1930 | Cyril Shaw (1606) | 3 | 5 | |
| 1931 | Harold Saul (no cert) | 4 | 7 | |
| 1932 | Harold Saul (2119) | 4 | 7 | |
| 1933 | Harold Saul (2119) | 1 | 2 | |
| 1934 | Harold Saul (2119) | 4 | 7 | |
| 1935 | Harold Saul (2119) | 0 | 1 | |
| 1936 | Harold Saul (2119) | 0 | 1 | |
| 1937 | Harold Saul (2119) | 4 | 2 | |
| 1938 | Harold Saul (2119) | 3 | 3 | |
| 1940 | Harold Saul (2119) | 5 | ||
| 1941 | Harold Saul (2119) | 2 | 3 | |
| 1942 | Harold Saul (2119) | 2 | 1 | |
| 1943 | Harold Saul (2119) | 2 | ||
| 1944 | Harold Saul (2119) | 2 | 2 | |
| 1945 | Harold Saul (2119) | 6 | ||
| 1947 | ~ Nationalisation of Coal Industry ~ | |||
| 1948 | Arthur Scargill (263) | 2 | 1 | |
| 1950 | Arthur Scargill (263) – South Barnsley Area, Sub-Area B. | 2 | 1 | |
Sources:
Barnsley Archives and Local Studies, Newman and Bond Collection 553/27 – Inventory and Valuation of effects at the Elsecar Collieries, October 1857 Durham Mining Museum website – lists of certificates (compiled from published lists): http://www.dmm.org.uk/ North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers (NEIMME) Archives – Forster/3/11 – Copy Reports on Elsecar Collieries Rotherham Archives and Local Studies, 291-B (Thomas Newbould diaries and papers) Sheffield Archives, Accession X417(2010/91) (Thomas Newbould’s memoranda books) University of Sheffield Library, Lists of mines British Geological Survey, UK mineral statistics, mines and quarries (scanned copies of lists of mines and geological publications)Staff Profiles
Insights into the lives of some of the officials
William Goodinson (1796-1862)
William Goodinson was the manager of the Elsecar collieries when Hemingfield colliery was being sunk. From Kimberworth, he was employed by Earl Fitzwilliam, and was actively engaged in developing the Jump Colliery and Hemingfield pit sites, investigating materials and equipment required to establish and develop the workings. In 1843 after a disagreement, Goodinson was released from Earl Fitzwilliam’s employment and replaced byJames Uttley. Goodinson then worked as a senior viewer for J. & J. Charlesworth’s extensive collieries in West and South Yorkshire for many years until his death at Newmarket, Rothwell in January 1862.
James Utley (1796-1862)
Underground steward at Hemingfield at the full opening out of the pit, James Utley (sometimes given as Uttley) was responsible for the operation of all of the Elsecar collieries for much of the 1840s-50s. Born in Greasbrough in 1796, the son of a miner, he began working in coal mines when very young, and progressed through offices of responsibility, becoming a coal agent and later an underground steward for Earl Fitzwilliam in 1831 at the Park Gate collieries. Later, he was brought over to Elsecar to manage the collieries there, working under the supervision first of Benjamin Biram (active between 1833-1855) and latterly John Hartop (from 1855-1862). He lost the sight in one eye from an accident, and suffered ill health shortly before his death. He was very well respected in Elsecar where he died and was buried in 1862. Many of his family continued to be employed in Earl Fitzwilliam’s collieries.
Gravestone of James Utley (d.1862) at Stubbin chapel (now Wesleyan). Utley served as Colliery Manager for 27 years at Park Gate and Elsecar
Jabez Jackson (1823-1882)
Jabez Jackson worked in mining for almost 50 years, being employed by James Utley in 1834 at Kents Main Colliery. He worked at the Earl Fitzwilliam’s Elsecar and Parkgate Collieries for 43 years. He took on the management of all of the Elsecar Collieries following the death of James Utley in March 1862. The role involved the management of 600 workmen. In June 1873 he successfully sat examinations in Leeds and obtained a certificate of competency under the Coal Mines Regulations Act 1872. On his retirement in 1882 due to ill health, he noted that between 1862-1882 there had been 25 fatal accidents at the Elsecar Collieries, viz.: High Elsecar, 5; Low Elsecar, 8; and Simon Wood, 12.
He was a very active Wesleyan methodist in the area and established a building society in 1865. He moved from Cobcar House in Elsecar to Wath upon Dearne before passing away in December 1882.
Charles Herbert Cobbold (1854-1929)
Charles Cobbold took over the management of the Elsecar Collieries from Jabez Jackson in 1882. He served for a year and nine months before leaving in September 1883 to serve as Agent for the Vernon Wentworths at Wentworth Castle.
Under Managers at Hemingfield
Joseph Firth (1845-1929)
Joseph Firth started work at 10 years old, being employed in Earl Fitzwilliam’s Elsecar collieries for 58 years – first at the Jump, then the Simon Wood and finally the Hemingfield pits where he was under-manager for 30 years, from 1883-1913. He retired in January of that year, and in March received a clock as a retirement gift from Earl Fitzwilliam in a presentation at Elsecar Market Hall (now Milton Hall).
Asher Hollings (1860-1935)
Asher Hollings came from a mining family, as his brother Gad worked at the Old and New Stubbin collieries for 40 years. Asher became manager at Hemingfield Colliery in its final years as a coal winning concern for Earl Fitzwilliam, from 1913-1920. It was also Hollings who continued to manage the site in the early days of the South Yorkshire Pumping Association from 1920-1926 when he left the pit following a winding rope accident which caused the death of a chargeman, James Penty.
Friends of Hemingfield Colliery 