South Yorkshire Times, April 3rd 1943
Cadeby Pit Yard Accident
Men Severely Scalded
Four men staying on to do special work after their normal finishing time were fatally injured on Saturday afternoon at Cadeby main Colliery, Conisbrough, when a steam receiving tank burst. The men who were working near the tank were enveloped in clouds of scalding steam, and sustained severe injuries from which they all died the same day after admission to the Fullerton Hospital, Denaby. All the men were married.
Working Double Shift.
The men were:—
Joseph Pearson (32), fitter of 3, Ravenfield Street. Denaby.
William Haynes Sturgess (52), surface worker, of 24, Braithwell Street. Denaby.
Joseph Laxton Lunn (56), surface Worker of 28, Doncaster Road, Conisbrough.
Ernest Senior (41), surface worker, of 9, Castle Grove. Conisbrough,
They had all stayed on to do some special maintenance work, and were working a double shift, having started work early on Saturday morning. Normally they would have finished at noon. but at about 1.30 p.m. while they were working by p. water softener adjoining a steam receiving tank near No. 1 engine house, the tank burst and clouds of steam spurted out horizontally.
The sound of the bursting tank was heard a mile away, and attracted by the report and the clouds of steam rising from the scene of the accident, crowds of people soon collected in an open space about a quarter of a mile away near the end of Castle Grove, from which they watched the injured men being taken away.
Sturgess and Lunn died soon after being admitted to hospital, and Pearson and Senior late on Saturday night. All the men were suffering from scalds and shock.
The tank, which is about 20 feet high and about 10 feet in diameter, was lifted off its seating by the violence of the blast and was hurled over a 12 feet high gantry, coming to rest about ten yards away.
Well Known Tennis Player.
Pearson, who leaves a wife and 2 ½ year old son, was a Durham man and Came to Denaby 18 years ago. He had been at the colliery since he started work and was a particularly conscientious workman He was a member of a well-known local family, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. Pearson, residing in Tickill Street. There are two brothers and a sister. He was a nephew of Mr. E. T. Hardy, Chief Engineer to the Amalgamated Denaby Collieries, Ltd., of which Cadeby Main forms a part.
A keen A.R.P. worker, he was attached to the Wardens’ organisation, and was also a member of the Colliery’s A.R.P. service. He was well known in district lawn tennis circles having played for both Conisbrough and Denaby Clubs. He was a promising player and had he given more time to it would have gone far in the game.
Sturgess leaves a wife and grownup family, his three sons being all married. He served in the Great War until 1917 when he was wounded and received his discharge. He had worked at Cadeby Main on and off for about 32 years, but at one period spent some six years in Canada, working in the mines there.
Mrs. Sturgess said to a representative of the “South Yorkshire Times” that when her husband told her he would have to stay late at the pit on Saturday she asked him not to go to work at all that day, but he insisted on going.
Lunn’s widow said she heard the sound of the bursting tank but thought it was blasting in the Quarries nearby until told of the accident. She has a family of five daughters and two sons, but only a son and a daughter are now at home. Lunn had worked for about 40 years at the colliery.
During the Great War he served as an engine driver with the Army in France. He was a native of Mexborough.
Senior had only been working at the colliery for two years. He was a glassblower by trade and worked for many years at Kilner’s works prior to it, closing down. He leaves a wife and 14-year-old daughter.