Blackwell Colliery Explosion 1895..those who lost their lives
James Mee
James Mee, born in Newhall near Swadlincote, in 1842, and married Ann Cupit of Huthwaite in 1871. They did not have children. However we have a photograph of a nephew, Robert Mee, who was a coal miner at Newhall, near Swadlincote, and he became a member of the Rescue Team at the Nadins Colliery there.
A Great Grandneice of James Mee shared this photo of Robert, her Grandfather. When contacted she shared a little more information which again shows the dangers of coal mining:
Thank you for getting in touch with me. I am afraid that I know very little about my Gt Grandfather John’s siblings and their dependants other than their names. My own father was only 54 years old when he died, also a working miner at South Leicestershire colliery and my maternal grandfather died aged just 21 years after an accident above ground at Llanbradach colliery in Wales.
I can tell you that most of the male line of our Mee’s were miners, down to my own son who was also a mining engineer before the collieries closed down.