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James Mather
Warning: This is not intended to be an exhaustive history of this individual, but an indication of the changes of positions and the links between companies, directors and managers in those companies. Only collieries, pits etc. in the North of England are shown - the individual may be involved with other companies or collieries outside this area and there may have been other positions for which we currently do not have details.
James Mather
Source: Miners of Northumberland and Durham (1873)
Links to other pages on this site
| 03 Sep 1851 | — | Newspaper article (Letters to the Editor) |
| 12 Mar 1860 | — | Newspaper article (The Burradon Colliery Explosion) |
| 07 Apr 1860 | — | Newspaper article (The Burradon Colliery Explosion) |
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| 1873 | |
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Biographical Notes
The subject of the accompanying engraving was born in Newcastle, and studied Medicine and Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, and first came before the public as the inventor of the first life-boat ever used in the merchant service. The boat was placed on board of the Mary, belonging to Mr. Mather's father, and was the means of saving the whole crew when the ship was wrecked in the Baltic, and secured a vote of thanks to the inventor through the Danish Ambassador from the Danish Admiralty, who adopted it for the navy of the country. He early took a prominent part in political matters, and for his endeavours to secure the return of Captain Gowan, for South Shields, in 1832, he was presented with a handsome silver cup, When the cholera broke out in 1832, Mr. Mather was appointed by the Government a member of the Board of Health, and obtained much notoriety by his observation of some facts of electricity in spasmodic cholera; and in 1834 he appeared as the author of a work which was spoken of by the Times as "an excellent text book for the politician," entitled "The Constitutions of Great Britain, France, and the United States of America." He visited the United States in 1838, and on his return to this country he gave two important and instructive lectures on the United States system of government. We have already recorded, how in 1839 he descended the pit of St. Hilda to the rescue of the men below, and his successful advocacy of a committee to inquire into the causes of accidents in mines. The report of that committee, of which he was the secretary and the moving power, obtained an European reputation, and was in 1853 ordered to be reprinted by the parliament, it having got out of print. In 1842 he was mainly instrumental in securing the return to parliament for South Shields of Mr. Wawn, a Radical; was chairman of the first corn law repeal meeting at South Shields when Mr. John Bright addressed the inhabitants, and afterwards frequently acted as chairman to the Anti-Corn Law Association. For the active part he took in the miners' interest, which is more or less fully detailed in the text of this work, he was presented with a handsome silver cup by the miners of the north, in the Lecture Hall, Newcastle, the inscription on the cup setting forth that it was presented "as a token of gratitude for his talented and praiseworthy exertions in promoting measures to diminish the danger arising from bad ventilation and other causes in the mines of the kingdom." On several occasions he has saved life at sea, and on one occasion received the "grateful and sincere thanks" of the Royal Humane Society upon illuminated vellum, "for his courage and humanity." He was endowed with a mind of restless and untiring energy, and ardent and generous temperament, and few men amongst us have rendered so many public services, or done more to advance the interests of the neighbourhood.
Source: Miners of Northumberland and Durham (1873)
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- The Miners of Northumberland and Durham by Richard Fynes, first published in 1873
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