On the morning of Tuesday 9 July, as King George awoke at Wentworth Woodhouse, he was informed of the catastrophe at Cadeby and he immediately sent messages of condolences to the colliery company. The telegram which was sent to Mr Chambers, the managing director stated:

‘The King and Queen are shocked to hear of the terrible accident at your colliery, and the fact that their Majesties were near to the scene in the midst of so much rejoicing when they visited Conisbrough yesterday, bring home to them still more the sorrow and sadness which now prevails amongst you. I am desired to express their Majesties heartfelt sympathy with the families of those who have perished and with the sufferers in their grievous calamity’

After some consultation on the matter it was agreed that the King and Queen would continue with their previously arranged duties, in order not to disappoint the thousands of people who were hoping to see the Royal visitors. At Cadeby the telegram, along with other messages of sympathy from the Home Secretary and the Bishop of Sheffield, were pinned to the gates of the colliery and caused some women to sob out loud as the messages were eagerly scanned. Whether or not it gave them any comfort was not reported.

Nevertheless the Royal tour had to continue, and their Majesties first stop today was at Rotherham, where they were greeted enthusiastically by people. The car drove slowly along College Street, College Square, Doncaster Gate and along Doncaster Road which were lined with people. At the hospital, both patients and staff had been assembled in the grounds alongside the road leading to the hospital grounds, and those confined to bed were placed in a row at the front. The Royal car passed slowly as their Majesties acknowledged the cheering crowds. At the Clifton Park entrance gate a motto had been erected which read:

‘WELCOME TO OUR KING AND QUEEN’,

On the gate pillars Union Jacks and emblematic shields flourished. From the early hours people had been collecting and it was estimated that there was between 40,000-50,000 people gathered to greet the Royal couple. All long Doncaster Road, the villas overlooking the park were joyously decorated and as they entered the gates a merry peal of bells rang out from the Parish Church (now the Minster). The car came to a halt in front of the bandstand, which also was decorated with flags and streamers for the occasion. The Mayor greeted King George and Queen Mary on behalf of the Corporation and the inhabitants of the town. He pointed out that he was especially delighted that they were able to come to the same park which had been opened by his father in 1891, and which had proved to be a great boon to the people of the town. At the close of the formal celebrations, the Royal visitors were then introduced to Ambrose John Rowe aged 15 a young bricklayer of Kimberworth. Sometime previously he had suffered an attack of scarlet fever where mortification had set in, and had been forced to have both legs amputated. Rowe had a neighbour Mrs Terry who had read of a similar case where the King had donated a pair of artificial limbs for another similar victim. She encouraged the boy to write to the king seven weeks previously. Now with the aid of his artificial legs and two sticks, Rowe was able to walk again. He shook hands with the King, who asked him if his legs were comfortable and the boy replied that they were and thanked him graciously.

Later the Royal couple left Clifton Park by the Birdcage Lodge entrance as their next visit was to Silverwood Colliery. There is little doubt the King and Queen still had Cadeby on their minds, however they gave no sign as they were shown around the operations of screening, sorting and sifting the coal. Both Royal visitors took a great interest in all the mining procedures as it was explained. Then there was quite a novel ceremony as the Queen found that a chair had been placed onto platelayers trolley, and she was asked to sit on this novel contraption, which was then propelled by a guard of miners. From Silverwood the Royal car then went out of Rotherham, along St Ann’s Road, Fitzwilliam Road and Rawmarsh Road to the Parkgate Iron and Steel Company. There workmen gathered in their thousands to greet their Majesties, many of them sitting on the wall which surrounded the works. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph described the men, dirty and unshaven as they showed their loyalty to their Sovereigns:

‘Big, strong working men they were – grimy from the forge, the furnace, or the rolling mill, dressed in corduroys and blue smocks; as typical a set of Yorkshire workmen as anyone would wish to look upon.’

The Ironworks were busily decorated with Union Jacks and it was said that the people of Parkgate could hear the roar of cheering long before the Royal car could be seen. As they passed the King raised his hat and the Queen bowed frequently from inside the Daimler which sported the Royal Standard. The car then drove through the villages of Swinton, Mexborough, High Melton, Sprotborough and Woodlands. This latter was a village which was occupied by many of the employees at Brodsworth Colliery. What wasn’t expected, and was prompted no doubt by the news of the disaster at Cadeby, was the next stop at a miners cottage. Suddenly the graceful car stopped and their Majesties entered the cottage which belonged to Mr and Mrs William Brown. It was one of the smallest cottages known as No 3 the Park, Woodlands, and Mrs Brown had been standing on a chair in front of the cottage holding her little girl in her arms. When she realised that the King and Queen were getting out of the car and intent on entering her little cottage, she rushed inside the house, followed by a neighbour. Mrs Brown could hardly believe her eyes as King George, Queen Mary, the High Sheriff of Yorkshire and the manager of the colliery all entered her little cottage and shook hands. The Queen asked if she might look around as Mrs Brown seemed quite overcome by the unlooked for honour. The Royal visitor was shown around the bedrooms, to which she commented that they looked ‘very comfortable and airy’. The King asked her how much rent she paid to which she replied was 5s 3d a week. He asked how much her husband earned and she told him 7s 6d a day. At the end of the short visit, the Royal couple only reached the car with some difficulty, as so many neighbours had entered the garden in order to peer through the windows. Interviewed afterwards Mrs Brown told reporters that although she knew the Royal couple were coming to the village, she had not expected them to enter her lowly little cottage. The proof of this was evident as she invited the reporters inside. There they saw the families clothes hanging before the hob to dry and preparation for dinner lay still undisturbed on the table.

Afterwards their visit to a miners humble home, the King and Queen went to the Georgian stately home of Hickleton Hall, situated about six miles west of Doncaster, where had lunch with Lord and Lady Halifax. The Hall had been built in 1790 and was situated in a beautiful park with well cut lawns and charming gardens. The comparison between the lowly miners cottage and the beautiful mansion must have resonated with the Royal couple. Nevertheless it was reported that long before the royal car arrived, the villagers of Hickleton began to assemble in the park. Lord Halifax had ordered there was to be no restrictions for the people and he walked among them shaking hands with many local people he recognised. There was also assembled a group of 500 children on the front terrace and they waited anxiously until the guests began to arrive. The Royal guests were greeted in the main entrance to the Hall by Lord and Lady Halifax at around a quarter to two. Whilst at Hickleton, the news was given to the King that three of his Inspectors of mines had been killed at Cadeby in a second explosion which had taken place earlier that morning. They were W H Pickering the Chief Inspector of Mines for Doncaster, along with his Assistant Inspector of Mines, G Y Tickle and R H Hewitt the Inspector of Mines for Sheffield, who had all joined a rescue party. After lunch the boy scouts outside put their caps onto poles as they heartily cheered the King and Queen as they went to exit the park. Before they left however, his Lordship showed his Royal guests Hickleton’s memorial to the late King Edward placed opposite the main drive to the Hall, which they both admired. Finally the Royal pair left Hickleton and travelled through Goldthorpe, and Bolton-upon-Dearne, where, unbeknownst to the King and Queen an embarrassing incident had just occurred. Among all the patriotic Union Jack flags and ribbons of red white and blue was a home-made banner, abutting a row of houses upon Furlong Road. The flag was azure blue and written upon it was the inscription:

‘WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE.

WE ARE BEASTS OF BURDEN FOR THE IDLE RICH.’

The attention of two constables had been drawn to the sign and they urged the man standing proudly beneath it to ‘take it down’. When he refused one of the constables reached up and tore the banner down and took possession of it. Unaware of this, the royal car went past waving and smiling, The Queen at this point left the Royal car to return back to Wentworth and King George then proceeded to Wath, Brampton Bierlow and finally to Elsecar where they arrived at 3.40pm.

The colliery was owned by Earl Fitzwilliam and had been sunk in 1908 and he was anxious to present it as a fully working mine. The Earl and his manager Mr Newbould accompanied the King into the lift at the pit head. As King George stepped out of the lift at the bottom of the mine he saw all the filled tubs waiting to be taken to the top. The party then went to the lamp room where the King was given an electric hand lamp as they waiting for the rest of the party to arrive. The next cage which descended from the pit head, included the Archbishop of York wearing his episcopal gaiters and a silk top hat. The whole party were then taken to the pit horse stables, where every horse had a roomy well equipped stall of its own. The Royal party then proceeded to the coal face where the King and Earl Fitzwilliam watched the men at work. As they made their way back to the cages, the group passed a group of colliers made up of men and boys. King George politely raised his hat to them as the colliers cheered him. It was reported that Her Majesty the Queen had arrived back at Wentworth Woodhouse just after 4pm and the king arrived punctually at 5.30pm.

It was expected that the Royal visitors would have retired for the night at Wentworth, so it was to some surprise then that shortly after 7pm, the King and Queen decided to make an unscheduled visit to Cadeby. There had been no announcement of the visit and in fact it was only when the Royal party emerged from the car and were entering the door of the colliery office, were they recognised by people in the crowd. News of the arrival quickly spread and a tremendous gathering soon collected in the road. The managing director, Mr Chambers greeted his unexpected guests and showed the King a plan of the colliery, as he explained the force of the explosion and how the men had met their deaths. As the Royal couple left the office it was noted that the King now looked very solemn and the Queen was weeping. Someone tried to raise a cheer but unusually, there was little response from the crowd. About 7.45pm the royal couple met some members of the second rescue party, who had not even time to remove the dust from their hands and faces. King George simply grasped the dirty hands of the men who had risked their own lives in order to try rescue any trapped miners, and shook them warmly. The Royal couple chatted animatedly with the men before leaving. Afterwards Mr Chambers posted the following statement which said:

‘Their Majesties, the King and Queen have visited the Cadeby Colliery today, to ascertain personally on the spot, particulars of the sad calamity, which has deprived many of us of those whom we loved. They commanded me to express to all who have suffered the loss of any who were dear to them, their deep sympathy with them in their grief’.

Accounts of the disaster were now filling the local newspapers of the period. One of the first rescue party who survived many of his colleagues fate, later described what he saw. Sergeant Winch went in with the first rescue party from Wath Rescue Station bring with them lots of equipment they might need. He described finding many of the miners bodies from the first explosion, some of which were shattered and scorched whilst others looked as if they were peacefully asleep. Sergeant Winch described to a reporter a boy he found lying with his arms around the neck of a pit pony, who were both quite dead. He said that most of the men were not wearing heavy respirators as the air was quite good and they were so heavy. At the time they had recovered about 24 bodies when the sergeant realised that it was time to charge the batteries on the electric torches, and he set off to get the chargers which had been left at the pit bottom with two other men. The trio had not gone more than 100 yards when there was a sudden loud roar and he was thrown to the ground. Sergeant Winch described how for a moment, the darkness was exacerbated by swirling dust, which he said was like a great black torrent. Suddenly he saw a light shining from the torch he had dropped. Going back to find out what had happened to the other members of the rescue party, they found two or three men who were very badly cut about. The others were hidden behind a heavy roof fall caused by the explosion. Sergeant Winch stated that fall had saved all their lives, by cutting off the after-damp which would otherwise have choked them all. They made an attempt to shift some of the rocks and timbers and soon the second rescue party arrived to help. However they made such little headway, that after a while they gave up and walked to the pit head to obtain picks and shovels. At the head of this second group was Mr Chambers, whose son had been in the first rescue party. Finally a small hole was made in the rock fall just enough for Mr Chambers to crawl through. Sadly the first dead body he found was that of his own son Douglas, but other bodies were scattered around in all directions. Another member of the party to be discovered by his son, Basil was that of Mr W H Pickering’s the Inspector of Mines. Indeed only one man was found alive, he was Mr Bury the General Manager of the mine. Thankfully he was able to be resuscitated and was helped back up to the surface, although he died later of his injuries.

Another witness’s report was that of a 21 year old miner Horace Dunkinfield from Denaby, who told a reporter how he, too was one of the first rescue party to go down the mine with Mr Pickering and Mr Bury. He was the only one wearing a respirator and they carried stretchers to bring out the dead. He said that it looked like the men had all been killed instantly and they would not have suffered. Six or seven dead horses were lying about too. He said the members of the rescue party were talking quite casually, when all of a sudden their was what he described as ‘a trembling of the air.’ No one had time to find a place of safety, before the explosion was on them. Thankfully he was not affected by the dust and smoke, but as it cleared he saw the bodies of Mr Pickering and Mr Bury lying as if asleep. He staggered around for a while trying to get his bearings, before collapsing on the ground utterly exhausted. Thankfully he soon heard footsteps approaching and two of the rescue party took him to the pit bottom. Another middle aged miner called Joseph Pearson described how he had been in the same party and had been in the act of putting a dead body into a waggon to take it up to the surface, when the second explosion took place. He was thrown for several yards and for some time lay insensible. When he came to, he was upon the ground with the corpse beside him and they were both buried in the suffocating dust. Eventually he managed to struggle free and he crawled to the pit bottom. He was badly cut about the body, but after some medical attention he was allowed to go home.

As witnesses stories were recounted in all their horror, there was some comfort for local people in the fact that the King and Queen of Great Britain were near and sharing their sorrow. The intention of the visit was for their Majesties to understand the working life and conditions in which many of their subjects lived. Now they could see and experience at close quarters the real dangers facing many miners every day in their workplace.

Coming Next Week

A third explosion at Cadeby

King and Queens visit to Barnsley and Wakefield

Memories of the visit of Princess Victoria in 1836

Mourning scenes at Cadeby, Denaby and Conisborough