New Hartley, Northumberland England Mining Disaster 1862

On January 16, 1862 one of the worst mining disasters in the history of England up to that time happened in the little village of New Hartley, Northumberland at the Hester Pitt near Newcastle-on-Tyne. At least 204 workers, men and boys, lost their lives. The websites differ on the number of deceased persons. Most of those who died were buried in the Earsdon Parish churchyard. A few were buried at Cramlington, Cowpen, and Seghill. The first body to be extracted from the mine was recovered on January 25th. The funeral for all those who died was held on the 26th. A monument has been erected in the Earsdon Parish churchyard. All those who lost their lives are listed on the monument. The mining disaster is discussed in detail on several web sites. Some sites list the names of those who lost their lives and also list the family members who did not die. The following are links to three of those web sites:

www.dmm-pitwork.org.uk/html/hartley.htm

www.ndfhs.org.uk/Articles/index.html   "The Hartley Families"

www.iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/1862a.htm

There is a source called the "New Hartley Colliery Accident Relief Fund Papers 1862-1903" at the Northumberland County Record Office (reference NRO488) which discusses what happened to the surviving families.