3-008-398 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The New Hartley Pit Calamity: Anthony Davison, Esq., M.R.C.S.E., 1862. The Hartley Colliery disaster of 16 January 1862 was a coal mining accident in Northumberland which resulted in the deaths of 204 men and children. 'During the long and agonising period that the search for the buried pitmen was carried on, several medical men were in constant attendance at the pit's mouth. While hope existed of the men being recovered alive, a large store of suitable nourishment was provided in the schoolroom, for the use of the sufferers when brought to bank. But, latterly, along with this provision for the living there was piled in ghastly contrast piles of sheets that should form the winding covers of the dead. Foremost among the medical men was Mr. Davison, the colliery surgeon...Mr. Davison is a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He is surgeon to several coalmines...In the Hartley catastrophe Mr. Davison by day and night stood patiently on the platform, exposed to all the bitterness of the weather, ready to attend to the badly wounded, or, by his soothing and cheering conversation, to revive the hopes of sinking hearts. Great credit is due to Mr. Davison for the general arrangements he made'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.