Blackwell Colliery Roll of Honour

Blackwell Colliery

The Blackwell Colliery opened its gates as a coal mine for the first time in 1872, at a coal seam found just three quarters of a mile South West of the old Blackwell village; and took the name ‘A Winning’.  The following few years saw the sinking of four other shafts. ‘B Winning was sunk further along the new Blackwell Branch Line and found South East of the old Blackwell. The Branch line joined the Midland Railway Line further west. The other three sites were The Alfreton Mine, just three quarters of a mile North West of Alfreton. The Shirland mine was about half a mile South of Shirland village. The odd one out in terms of location is the Sutton mine. The Sutton mine shaft situated just over a mile North of Sutton and about 1mile 3/4 inside the Nottinghamshire border.

Like all organisations around the United Kingdom during the first Great War, Blackwell Colliery provided a fair amount of man power the ever increasing needs of the Armed Forces.  It is believed that just over a 1000 men took up the call; of which 133 were Killed in action, Died of Wounds or Died of other causes while on active service.

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Roll of Honour

The, 'Blackwell Colliery War Souvenir' Roll of Honour forms part of the 'Trench Collection' and contains the names, biographies and photographs of 133 men who died and 997 who served.

Men's biographies

Each man's biography, within the Roll, contains:

• Name
• Address
• Date inlisted
• Rank
• Regiment/Unit
• Actions
• Whether Killed or Wounded with date
• Distinctions with date
• Discharge with date.

Spatially referencing the men's biographies

With the biographies giving the addresses of each of the men, allows spatial referencing. This means we can locate, on a map, where a man lived.  It also allows us to place where he worked; for the Roll separates the mines that make up the Blackwell colliery.

In the example map produce by Smart Digital Mapping for Trench, The great War Project represents the men in a region they lived and depicted by a point in the second inset. The main map shows the distribution of all the communities that serviced the Blackwell colliery. The book shows that some men have come from far a field as Glasgow. Newcastle upon Tyne, York and Leeds; each having one man served.

There are two inserts to the main map to give a little more detail each time, like the positions of the mines in the first inset. Note the varying sizes of the circles that represent the towns, denotes, (as well as the text nearest to them) the number of men within that Location; e.g. South Normanton with 26 Died and 136 Served

Original source data: Blackwell Colliery A War Souvenir Published Blackwell Colliery c. 1920

 

Table showing communities with those lost and served

 

Community	Died	Served	Total
Sutton	29	184	213
South Normanton	26	136	162
Alfreton	22	121	143
Stanton Hill	9	66	75
Huthwaite	4	43	47
Shirland	4	36	40
Hilcote	2	19	21
Blackwell Colliery	1	17	18
Primrose Hill	2	17	19
Westhouses	4	15	19
Skegby	4	15	19
Blackwell	1	11	12
Somercotes	3	11	14
Oakerthorpe		11	11
Wessington	2	9	11
Newton	4	8	12
Pinxton	4	6	10
Mansfield		6	6
Brackenfield		5	5
Selston		4	4
Swanwick		4	4
New Higham	4	2	6
Arnold	1		1
Goldthorpe	1		1
Stanfree	1		1
Stoneygravel Chesterfield	1		1
Tibshell	1		1
Wardsley	1		1
New Wessington	1		1
Long Eaton	1		1
Morton		2	2
Stonebroom		2	2
Old Radford		2	2
Unknown		2	2
Derby		2	2
South Wingfield		2	2
Nottingham		2	2
Annesley Woodhouse		1	1
Chesterfield		1	1
Duffield		1	1
Hucknall		1	1
New Basford		1	1
Warsop		1	1
Glasgow		1	1
Grantham		1	1
Leeds		1	1
Lower Birchwood		1	1
"Fulwood Sutton in Ashfield"		1	1
Cannock		1	1
Mansfield Woodhouse		1	1
North Anston		1	1
"Attercliffe Sheffield"		1	1
York		1	1
West Hallam		1	1
Rotheram		1	1
Doncaster		1	1
Matlock		1	1
Leabrooks		1	1
Clowne, Chesterfield		1	1
Hillsborough, Sheffield		1	1
St. Helens, Lancashire		1	1
Newcastle-upon-tyne		1	1
Ashover		1	1
East Kirby		1	1
Woolley Moor		1	1
Walkley, Sheffield		1	1
Furness		1	1
TOTALS	133	790	923

N.B. 133 listed in Blackwell Red Cross Hospital