C is for COALMINER or COLLIER

My Leach ancestors were from a long line of coalminers.

John Leach was born in Wales, Hawarden Flint to be exact, way back in 1819. He was the son of William Leach, a collier, and Anne nee Ellis. John followed in his father’s footsteps and headed down the mines. 

Baptism of John Leach in 1819. Courtesy Cheshire Public Records.

Throughout the 18th century, coal mining was industrious in northern Wales however production waned in the 1800s and many Welsh miners migrated eastwards to the coal producing counties of Northumberland and Durham here was a huge demand for coal due to the Industrial Revolution. By 1849 John Leach was working in Durham and married Ann Moore in Brick Garth, Hougton Le Hole. A few years later they migrated to Australia. 

By 1861 the Leach family were residing in Wallsend, near Newcastle NSW, well-known for its coal deposits. It was here my great Grandfather John William, was born in 1862.  John passed away on in 1868 from the miner's lung disease, pyaemia. 

West Wallsend Colliery, 1888. Courtesy State Records NSW

John William commenced work at the Wallsend Colliery when he was 14 years old and he worked there until his death, in his 59th year, in 1920.  My Grandfather Bill remembers waiting at the colliery gate as a young boy and walking home with father and his miner friends. 

Mining was a dangerous occupation in the 18th and 19th centuries.  Fatalities due to accidents and underground explosions were very common and the average life expectancy was short. His death was recorded as tuberculosis which silicosis was often confused with. He left four children aged from 4 to 12 years.

Original birth certificate of John William Leach in 1910. 

 There is more about the Leach family here if you are interested.