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Forster, E. T. (ed.).
Memoirs of the Hartley Colliery Accident and Relief Fund [Presentation copy].
Publisher: printed and published by Andrew Reid & Company, limited, Newcastle-upon-tyne;
Date of Publication: 1912
Stock Code: 14871
Quarto, pp., pp. viii, 133. Hartley Medal illustrations to title-page; frontispiece with tissue guard and ten further plates, of which four are double-page plans (1 partially coloured). Collated and complete. Printed presentation card from the editor tipped-in, and ‘Joshua Carr from T. E. Forster’ signed in ink to front free end-paper. Dark blue cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper board; border in blind to boards. Later ownership inscription in ink to front paste-down. Light shelf-wear to extremities. Occasional light scattered foxing throughout, largely confined to edges and margins. A square and solid copy. A very scarce presentation copy of an edited collection on the Hartley Disaster of 1862. This volume includes full lists of casualties and of members & trustees of the Relief Fund; paper "On the Accident at New Hartley Colliery" read before the North of England Institute of Mining Engineers, March 6th 1862; personal narrative by T Wemyss Reid and more. The Hartley Disaster was caused by the fracture of a steam engine beam which collapsed, blocking the single shaft and trapping over 200 men and boys. Their names are carved on the Hartley Memorial in Earsdon churchyard. It was one of the worst mining accidents in history, leading to legislation for pits to have double shafts so that men could be evacuated and their lives saved. This work was produced to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the disaster. £95.00