Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	1st August 1919
Colliery:	Friars Goose
Cause:	Fell down shaft
Lives Lost:	1

Thomas Astley,38, a miner at Felling Colliery, was killed on Friday 1st August when he accidentally fell down the old pumping shaft at Friar's Goose Colliery. The shaft, which had not been worked for many years and was enclosed by a sleeper fence about six feet high, was about 100 yards from where he lived at Tyne Main Cottages, Gateshead. Ropes and grappling irons were used to recover his body on the following Sunday.

At the inquest witness Ellen Marsden said she believed Astley was going to destroy one of his dogs. She saw him sitting astride the sleeper fence holding the dog by the collar, and then his hand and leg went up and he disappeared down the shaft. A verdict of accidentally drowned was returned.

	Astley, Thomas, aged 38, fell down shaft
	All names found
	Some of the names of mining fatalities on this web site have been kindly provided by Jim Grainger from his research into early newspapers (primarily the Durham Advertiser and Durham Chronicle) and are marked with .

 

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