大象传媒

Introduction

In August 2005, I was contacted via 大象传媒 鈥淧eople鈥檚 War鈥� website by Mr George and Mrs Chris Burney from Sale, Cheshire following two accounts I had written about some events and people who lived in Whitehaven during World War Two. George's family had originally lived in my hometown of Whitehaven, Cumberland (now Cumbria) and they were seeking any further information about George's relatives.

From the details Chris and George gave me, I realised that George was in fact distantly related to me! George鈥檚 Great Grandmother, Mary Burney (n茅e Cunningham), was an elder sister of my paternal Grandmother Agnes Ritson (n茅e Cunningham). In addition, my Grandfather Thomas D. Ritson had been a close neighbour of the Burney family before he married my grandmother. Consequently, with the help of some of my other relatives I was able to provide George and Chris with a little information about George's Whitehaven relatives.

A lot of what we discussed happened outside the Second World War years and is not therefore relevant for the 大象传媒 鈥淧eople鈥檚 War鈥� project. Nevertheless, I have included a little background information from before World War Two in this article. It may help to put some things into context.

This article deals with the wartime experiences of some of the Burney family of Whitehaven. It is not, by any means, a fully comprehensive account of about the family in the war years, but merely a summary of events that Chris, George and myself have discussed. In addition, I have written a separate article about Chris's own relatives who lived in the Salford area during the war years.

Information in this article comes primarily from this shared information between Chris, George and myself, with additional material from other sources. So far as we are aware the details in the article are accurate. The terms of the "People's War" website have been read and are understood.

Some background information about the Burney family

As referred to in the Introduction, George鈥檚 Great Grandfather, who was called James Burney, married his Great Grandmother Mary Burney (n茅e Cunningham), an elder sister of my own paternal Grandmother Agnes Ritson. The two eldest children of James and Mary Burney were James Burney and John Burney. James Burney was the 鈥楤est Man鈥� at my grandparents wedding. It is mainly events before and during World War Two that happened to the sons James and John Burney, and their immediate families, that I have concentrated on for this article.

George鈥檚 Grandfather was the second James Burney. He was a close friend of my paternal Grandfather Thomas D. Ritson (Senior) as well as a nephew of my Grandmother Agnes. Most people knew George鈥檚 Grandfather James Burney as 鈥楤ish鈥�. However, some people have also given the name 鈥楤ish鈥� to other male members of the Burney family. This has occasionally caused problems in establishing the correct Mr Burney. For example, when Chris and George first got in contact with me via the 大象传媒 鈥淧eople鈥檚 War鈥� website, I had to check which 鈥楤ish鈥� Burney was George鈥檚 Granddad!

Some of the families who lived on Queen Street

James 鈥楤ish鈥� Burney was married to Isabella Burney (n茅e Telford). Isabella was usually known to most people as 鈥楤ella鈥�. Before and during World War Two 鈥楤ish鈥� and Bella Burney lived in a house on Queen Street, Whitehaven, Cumberland (now Cumbria). The children of 鈥楤ish鈥� and Bella were James, John, Edward, Ethel, Gordon and Elizabeth. George鈥檚 father was the second son of these siblings and his full name was John Telford Burney. John T. Burney was born in 1922.

Among the other families who lived on Queen Street before or during World War Two were the Barbours, the Sharps and the Peppers. Another article I have written and posted to the 大象传媒 鈥淧eople鈥檚 War鈥� website (A3633725) was on behalf of Mrs Annie Ferguson (n茅e Sharp). Annie was born in a house on Queen Street and her family lived on that street before the war. It was after reading Annie鈥檚 article that prompted George鈥檚 wife Chris to first get in contact with me.

According to George, his father John worked at William Pit, Whitehaven in the early part of World War Two. This was a coalmine on the northern side of the town centre, and men who worked there were in reserved occupations. On one occasion, George can remember his Uncle James telling him that as they were going through the pit gates, someone had said did they know John Burney had got killed? Uncle James had turned round, pointed to George鈥檚 Dad John, and said: 鈥淚t isn鈥檛 true, here he is!鈥�

In fact, there was a John Burney who had been killed that day. It was their 21year old cousin, John Peter Burney, who lived in a house on Bentinck Row, Ginns, Whitehaven. This John P. Burney was one of the sons of their Uncle John Burney. John Peter Burney was one of 12 men who died in the explosion that occurred at William Pit on that fateful day, 3 June 1941.

At the subsequent inquest into the 1941 William Pit deaths, the cause of the explosion was put down to a unique, if unfortunate, combination of spontaneous combustion and water gas. One of the other 12 men killed on 3 June 1941 was 21-year-old Sydney Barbour who also lived on Queen Street, at Number 25. Yet another Queen Street resident, 18 year old Joseph Rogan, who lived at Number 99, was seriously injured in the same explosion. Some years later, on 27 February 1959, this same Joseph Rogan was subsequently killed in an accident at yet another colliery, Haig Pit.

In contrast to these dark, indeed grim, events that happened on the Home Front in Whitehaven during the war years, there were a number of notable happier events. For example, a much happier day for the residents of Queen Street was 6 April 1942. That was the day that John Telford Burney married his sweetheart Margaret Pepper, who also hailed from Queen Street. Of course this happy event is of special significance for George in particular. John and Margaret were his parents.

According to George and Chris, after John and Margaret married they initially 鈥榣ived in鈥� with John鈥檚 parents, 鈥楤ish鈥� and Bella. It was quite common for young married couples to live in with one set of parents in those days. Available housing, both for rent or to buy, was difficult to come by during and immediately after the war years in many parts West Cumberland. So George, born in 1943 spent his earliest days living in the home of his grandparents 鈥楤ish鈥� and Bella Burney on Queen Street.

John and Alice Burney of Bentinck Row

The John Burney who was the son of James and Mary Burney, was married to Alice Burney (n茅e Killen). At the outbreak of World War Two, John and Alice Burney lived in a house on Bentinck Row, Ginns. Their children were Mary, Agnes, twins Jean and Margaret, Edward, George, Philip. Another daughter Catherine had died at 4 years old.

John Burney was, of course a cousin of my father, Joe Ritson, and my father鈥檚 two brothers Tom and Ronald. In August 1941, a niece of Mrs Alice Burney, Miss Mary E. Casson, married my father鈥檚 eldest brother Tom. Mary鈥檚 mother was a sister of Mrs Alice Burney. Hence, Tom and Mary Ritson each had a family connection to John and Alice Burney. I have previously written a separate article about Tom and Mary鈥檚 wartime wedding (Article Reference ID A4846403).

As already noted, on 3 June 1941, John P. Burney, the 21year old son of John and Alice was killed following an explosion while working in the coalmine known as William Pit. The John Burney who died on 3 June 1941 was working as a haulage hand in a district of the mine known as Countess Bannock Band with another young lad of 18 called Thomas J. Fox. John had just taken over on the 鈥榖ack shift鈥� (the afternoon shift) from one of his best friends Stephen Ferguson.

Steve Ferguson鈥檚 own account of this explosion is included in another article I have submitted on his behalf to the 大象传媒 鈥淧eople鈥檚 War鈥� website (see Article Reference ID A3633761). Steve is also the husband of Annie Ferguson born on Queen Street who also refers to the 1941 pit explosion in her own account posted to the 大象传媒 鈥樷�楶eople鈥檚 War鈥欌�� website (A3633725).

The William Pit explosion of 3 June 1941 happened at approximately 2.15 pm among the old workings of what the 鈥楳ain Band鈥� seam of coal. The explosion blew a hole through about 5 feet of rock to the Countess Bannock Band seam haulage road, where John Burney and Thomas Fox, among others, were working. After the explosion, John Burney and Thomas Fox started to make their way out of the mine but were overcome by dust and gas. On this occasion, Thomas Fox somehow got out of the mine alive. Yet Thomas Fox was later killed in yet another explosion in William Pit that occurred on 15 August 1947.

By 9.00 pm on 3 June 1941 all the bodies, including that of John P. Burney had been recovered from the mine. John was buried in Whitehaven Cemetery, in a plot already occupied by one of his sisters, Catherine, and his father. John Burney (Senior) had died on 12 January 1940 as a result of what can only be described as horrific injuries sustained while working in another coal mine in the Kells district of the town, Haig Pit. John suffered a very serious leg injury from a piece of moving machinery, dying in Whitehaven Hospital some hours after being taken there following the accident.

John Burney MM: a hero of the Great War

It is perhaps appropriate to point out that the John Burney who was the husband of Mrs Alice Burney was a decorated, if modest, hero of the Great War. John had served in the Army on the Western Front for most of that earlier war. Originally having signed up in 1914 with the Border Regiment as 4664 Private John Burney, John went on to join the Machine Gun Corps (Service No 18189) in 1916 and left the Army at the end of the Great War having attained the rank of Sergeant.

In January 1919, John Burney went to Carlisle Castle to be presented with the Military Medal he had been awarded in recognition of 鈥溾�orking his machine gun under heavy shell fire after all the men of the team had been killed or wounded ". Although I am not exactly sure why the Military Medal was presented at Carlisle, it is probably because John had returned to Britain before demobilisation and Carlisle would have been the closest location to his home where there was an officer of sufficient senior rank to do the presentation.

A few years later, in 1926, came the General Strike. Throughout the country, coal miners like John Burney were off work for many months. With a wife and young family to provide for, and no income coming in, John Burney MM, a publicly acclaimed war hero of the Great War was forced to sell his medals, including the Military Medal, to make ends meet. The need to feed his wife and family was far more important than the medals. So, John Burney MM who survived the trenches of the First World War, sold his medals in the inter-war period and died in the Second World War while earning his living in a coalmine on the Home Front. The great sacrifice of John Burney MM to his country in both World Wars, and the sacrifice of his family, are worthy of remembrance.

More shared memories

Some time during 1945, when George was still an infant, he was taken by his parents John and Margaret Burney to live in Manchester. While he is not exactly sure of the reason for this, George had heard it was because they could not get work in Whitehaven at the time. As there was work available in Manchester at the time, John鈥檚 brother James Burney and his wife Kay, plus Margaret鈥檚 brother George Pepper and his wife Jane and their two children Joan and Michael, and Margaret鈥檚 mother Maud Pepper all moved to Manchester at the same time.

James and Kay Burney moved back to West Cumberland from Manchester after only a few months. The other members of George鈥檚 family stayed in the Manchester area, but moved to Sale, Cheshire after obtaining work there. Chris鈥檚 own parents had also moved to Sale from Salford after the war, and that was how they came to meet, fall in love and marry!

Many years ago, when I was a child, my late father took me to Whitehaven Cemetery and showed me the grave where the two John Burneys killed in mining accidents during the war years were buried. After talking to George and Chris, I revisited the grave again. According to the large Monumental Vase marking the grave, John (Senior) was 46 years old when he died on 12 January 1940, John (Junior) was 21 years old when he died on 3 June 1941. As mentioned above, John and Alice Burney鈥檚 daughter Catherine is buried in the same grave and was 4 years old when she died. The following moving epitaph is also inscribed on the Vase:

鈥樷�業n the midst of life we are in death鈥欌��.

I presume this must have been chosen by Mrs Alice Burney after enduring the loss of her husband and one of her sons in separate mining accidents in World War Two. It is very poignant.

While George and Chris Burney were on holiday in Cumbria from their home in Sale they took the opportunity to see another relative of George鈥檚, who is also called George Burney! The George Burney from Whitehaven is one of the sons of the John Burney MM and Alice Burney. Although I was not present at this meeting, I understand they exchanged many memories about various relatives, including events that happened in the Two World Wars. According to George from Whitehaven the family had obtained a miniature replica of their father鈥檚 Military Medal.

Conclusion

During our discussion, George, Chris and myself found there were many points of interest we had in common even though this was the first time I had met George and Chris. While I was born after the war years and thus have no personal memories of the war years I had heard about a lot of the events covered in this article from my older relatives and their friends who did live through those times.

To try and make sure what I have written here is as accurate as possible, I have attempted to check the facts with some of my relatives or other written sources in the archives. Everything is correct so far as we know. One thing that did make it more difficult to write was the fact that the first names of several closely related members of the Burney family are so similar!

I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of two people who helped me find details about John Burney MM and his son John P. Burney. Firstly, Tony Goddard, Assistant Curator of the Border Regiment Museum at Carlisle assisted me to find the Service Number and other details about John Burney MM in the Great War. Secondly, Ray Devlin, a local historian and researcher in mining and military history helped provide useful information about the two mining accidents referred to in this article.

It was a pleasure to meet with George and Chris, and being given the opportunity to write about what happened to some of the Burney family from Whitehaven during the war. No doubt similar to what most extended families experienced during the war years there were some unhappy experiences and tragedies for the Burneys, as well as much happier events.

This article concentrates on just a few of the events that I have heard about. In the overall context of World War Two the events I have written about are obviously just a very small part of the war. Nevertheless, for those who were involved, or indeed their close relatives, they were important events that affected their lives during the war and the years that followed. Hopefully, this article goes a small way to ensuring they will be remembered in future years.

Additional information (posted 29 December 2005):
Ray Devlin, who helped provide me with information for this account has since given me a copy of a photograph of James 'Bish' Burney standing next to his father. This photograph has also been posted to the 大象传媒 "People's War" website (A8114483).

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.