A Yorkshire Pit Lass

Elsie Green

According to the census records for 1851 onwards, my great-great-great -grandfather, John Wroe, lived at Caphouse, a hamlet near Thornhill by Dewsbury, and worked as a colliery banksman. From the census, I knew he he had eleven children. His address was given as 'The Cabins', so when I saw the advertisement for the Yorkshire Mining Museum, (Now the National Mining Museum) I decided to pay a visit hoping they had records so far back. I rang the curator, but alas the records no longer exist. However, she invited me along to see her, promising to look out anything that might be of interest to me.

I was disappointed about the records, but at least it was going to be interesting to see where this ancestor of mine had worked and I would be able to take a trip down the mine. What a surprise I had. The curator showed me a study pack of Caphouse Colliery, much of it on the history of the Wroe family. There was a family tree going back to John Wroe born in 1805, copies of the census returns, a photograph of 'The Cabins', ( a very small one story house where he brought up his large family) and a photograph of his fourth child, Patience.

At the age of nine, Patience worked as a 'hurrier', pulling the empty tubs to the coal face, and pulling the full ones back to the pit-bottom. This of course was in the days prior to to the safety lamp and her only source of light was a candle fixed to the tub. One unfortunate day, whilst pushing the tub her head came into contact with the candle, setting fire to her hair. Poor Patience was badly burned and no longer able to work underground. The Colliery owner, Sir John Lister Kaye, gave her a job as a domestic servant at his home, Denby Grange. (Was this a form of compensation?) She remained there until her marriage in 1857. It is interesting to note that this accident occurred in 1847, two years after the act was passed making it illegal to for women and children to work underground!

The photograph shows Patience as an old lady, wearing what appears to be a large smoking cap, presumably to cover her scars. It is the only known photograph of anyone who had been a Yorkshire Pit Lass. She also bears a strong resemblance to several members of the Wroe family whose photographs are in my possession.

Included in the study pack was a photograph of my grandmother, Christiana Wroe, but the name given is Esther Garner - nee Earnshaw, a name included in my research of the Wroe family. It would appear that this was a case of mistaken identity, and the curator, having accepted my provenance, agreed that this would be amended in the reprint.

The visit to Caphouse was most rewarding. I didn't get any further back in my search for ancestors, but the family history was more than I had ever hoped to find.

© Elsie Green 1994

The above article was first published in the Journal of the Barnsley Family History Society in January 1994. It is reproduced here by permission of the Committee & Editors.
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