Bloody History of Hunwick
Created Sunday 26 March 2023
Hunwick was not always the quiet friendly place it is today. In the mid 1800’s life in the village was hard and dangerous, the coming of the industrial revolution meant that more men were working in the mines and in factories, working with heavy machinery and there was no such thing as ‘Health and Safety’.
headstone for Edward Smith, Hunwick cemetery
Colliery Deaths
Between 1846 and 1912 no less than 21 men and boys lost there lives in the pits of Hunwick, the youngest, Joseph Johnson was employed as a stone picker at West Hunwick Colliery, when on 30 Jan 1856 he was crushed between two wagons.
He was taken home to Bishop Auckland by cart where he was attended to by Mr Hutchinson, a local surgeon who could not save the boy, he died the following day, he was only 10 years old.
Joseph was born in Escomb near Bishop Auckland in Aug 1846 and had lived with his parents Henry and Frances in an area known as Pollards Lands which is the area between Newgate Street and the river Gaunless in Bishop Auckland.
He may have been lucky enough to attended the local National School on South church lane (Road) but by the age of 10 he would have been expected to go to work to supplement the family income.
Railway Deaths
While the colliery's were the biggest single cause of death and injury, the coming of the railway in 1857 meant that there were heavy trains travelling through Hunwick at speeds that were previously unimaginable.
Up until the railway closed in 1964, ten residents and visitors would loose their lives due to accident or Suicide on the railway.
One collision in 1869 between runaway wagons from Branspeth Colliery and a passenger train from Bishop Auckland caused the death of both the driver and fireman of the train when the locomotive derailed and trapped them underneath when it toppled over. More
The first to be hit by a train and killed was Robert O’Neal in September 1861, Robert was an Irish travelling tinker from Bishop Auckland, who, after becoming worse for drink, had wandered onto the railway late at night. His body was found the next morning by two men walking to work, the body was ‘shockingly mutilated’ after several trains had passed over it.
As some workmen were going to their work on the railway between Hunwick and Bishop Auckland, on Tuesday morning, they found a miner named John Robinson lying in an unconscious condition upon a patch of potatoes. The unfortunate man had been hit by a train and died later from his injuries. John Robinson Age 28, August 1883.
Thomas Etherington who lived at the Station Hotel, having lost his father, James Etherington the previous year, was crossing the line at Hunwick station when he was hit by a train and died instantly, he was 4 years old. August 1887.
Feb 1891. Thos. watson, a miner, 50 years of age. living at Hunwick Lane Ends, was knocked down by a late mineral train running between Bishop Auckland and Hunwick.
Thomas Brown (46) Porter, Jun 1893 hit by a train of empty mineral wagons proceeding from Bishop Auckland as he was crossing the line.
Joseph Miller Age 63, licensee of the Station Hotel Jan 1934, Committed Suicide by jumping in front of a train at Hunwick Station.
On January 1, 1936, railway porter Joe Musgrave threw himself beneath a train at Hunwick station. He’d injured his leg skating some years earlier, and the pain had become too much.
There were several other reports of railway accidents at hunwick involving coal trains, but non caused any fatalities.
Other Deaths
Mines and railways were not the only cause of death, several other incidents resulted in the early demise of Hunwick residents.
Aug 1879 Suicide at Hunwick. — Thomas Longstaff, shoemaker, committed suicide at Hunwick on Sunday by cutting his throat with a razor. He inflicted four gashes.
Jan 1882 On Thursday evening a well-known farmer, named Robert Marr, 63 years of age, committed suicide hanging himself in the hay loft attached to the farmhouse where he resided, at Furness Mill, near Hunwick, South Durham.
19 Jun 1882 DETERMINED SUICIDE AT HUNWICK. A man named John Alderson, 47, mole- catcher, deliberately mixed a glass of poison for himself on Saturday, drank it in presence of his family, went to bed, and died in about a quarter of an hour.
THE SAD ICE ACCIDENT AT HUNWICK. Deputy-Coroner Mr Proud held an inquest at the Station Hotel, Hunwick, in March 1885 as to the deaths of Joseph Wood, Joseph Walker, and John James White, three boys, who were drowned in a pond when the ice gave way as they were skating.
20 Dec 1917. Maria Jane Scratcher (17) of West End, Willington, a munitions worker at the West Witton Ganister Company at Hunwick Brickworks, which was producing munitions for the first World War, was killed when she was dragged into a machine driven riddle while she was putting on her coat. She is buried in Willington cemetery, and is remembered at Five Sisters War Memorial, York Minster.
March 1936. HEAD MASTER DROWNED River Wear Tragedy The body Mr. John Robert Colman, aged 55, of 4. West End. Hunwick, Head Master of High Grange Council School, near Howden-le-Wear, was recovered from the River Wear at Todhllls, near Willington.
Survivors
In 1871 John Pletts a 46 year old pitman from Rough Lea, attempted suicide by throwing himself before a train. He survived but was promptly arrested and detained, the medical officer of the county prison, was directed to examine the prisoner with reference to his sanity.
Tuesday 18 October 1881 EXTRAORDINARY OUTRAGE ON A BOY. On Saturday afternoon boy, five years of age. named Collins, while going towards his home at Hunwick Lane Ends, near Bishop Auckland, was stopped by a man, who, without making any remark, drew out a clasp knife and deliberately cut the lad's throat, and immediately ran off, inflicting deep, though not dangerous wound.
Oct 1881 Bishop Auckland Police-court Monday, William Sedgwick was charged with cutting the throat of a little boy named James Kelly, Hunwick, a witness, seven years old, said he saw the prisoner take Kelly into a kiln, but did not see what he did, but when Kelly came out was bleeding from the throat.
A sensational struggle for a razor between a husband and a wife on a lonely wagonway at Hunwick on October 5 was described at Durham Assizes yesterday morning, when Thomas Ritson (30), a miner, was indicted for attempted murder of his wife, Agnes Margaret, at Hunwick, near Bishop Auckland on. October 30th. 1913—Prisoner was found guilty, and a sentence of five years’ penal servitude was passed.
The above accounts have been compiled from several newspapers and where possible I have verified the death in the national registers, however, the circumstances of the individual incidents cannot be verified.
In Hunwick cemetery, the only evidence I found was a headstone for Edward Smith, a banksman at Newfield Colliery, who died August 7th 1891 age 36.
It seems that most of the victims family’s were unable to afford a headstone to remind us of their passing in tragic circumstanses.
If you have a comment or suggestion, please use the form on the contact page.