大象传媒

Introduction

This article has been submitted on behalf of Mr Steve Ferguson from Whitehaven, Cumbria. During World War Two Steve worked firstly in the coal mining industry until 1941 and then served in the RAF. This is Steve鈥檚 personal testimony as told to me on Sunday 6 February 2005.

Steve understands that it can be placed in an archive for use by others. Other researchers have interviewed Steve on numerous occasions, especially about the William Pit explosion on 15 August 1947 when 104 men and boys lost their lives. I am pleased to honour Steve and his family by assisting in the writing of this account of his memories about World War Two.

Before the war

鈥淢y full name is Stephen Bell Tyson Ferguson. I don鈥檛 know where the 鈥楤ell鈥� part fits in, but the Tysons were my mother鈥檚 family. I was born on the Middle Row of Newhouses, Whitehaven on 8th September 1919. My parents鈥� names were David and Mary Elizabeth. I was one of eleven children my mother had, although one sister had died. I had six brothers and they all worked in the pits at one time.

Grandmother Tyson was one of the 鈥橲creen Lasses鈥� who went to London in the 1880s as the Government wanted to stop women working on the 鈥楽creens鈥�. I think there were three of them that went from Whitehaven. There鈥檚 a photo somewhere. Grandfather Ferguson was a big fellow and came from Parton. He was known by everyone as 鈥楽amson鈥�, probably because he was big and strong.

I left school at fourteen and began work at William Pit in Whitehaven. I left school on a Friday and started work on the Sunday night shift. I was driving an engine to start with. Things weren鈥檛 all that good with work but I liked the work at William Pit. I never really got settled at some of the other places I went later on.

Working at William Pit during the war

When war broke out in 1939 I was working at William Pit. I was a haulage hand and worked there until 1941 when there was an explosion and the pit was closed down for a while. I then went and joined the RAF.

When the 1941 pit explosion happened I was on the first shift. I鈥檇 swapped shifts with my 鈥榤arra鈥� John Burney, so he came on the 鈥楤ack Shift鈥� and I was on the way up the pit and met the manager. So I went back in with him and there had been an explosion.

I knew all the lads that were killed or injured, including my 鈥榤arra鈥� John Burney. Moses Stephens and Jimmy George lived at Woodhouse. Jimmy was killed and Moses lost an arm as a result of that accident. Dick Glaister was another who was killed in that accident I used to work with. Not long after I joined the Air Force.

RAF Service

I went off to join the Ground Crew in the RAF. Among the places I was stationed at were Blackpool, Manchester, Ringway and Greenham Common. While I was in Manchester I had a billet near Heaton Park, Manchester.

It was December 1942 when I got leave to come back home to Whitehaven and get married to my wife Annie. That was Boxing Day 1942, so we鈥檝e been married sixty-two years now. I had to go straight back after the wedding and couldn鈥檛 get back for months.

Although I was Ground Crew, I used to go up in the aircraft once in a while. This was to see the aeroplanes worked and in case I was called out. Then I was on 鈥楥rash Crew鈥�, which was being on standby in case the aircraft were in trouble when they were landing.

I was issued with a rifle and we used to do target practice so that we could use it properly. We used to do guard duty but this was more stationary. I never carried the rifle about marching round the perimeter or that.

Actually, I haven鈥檛 got a list of my service record in the RAF anywhere. I went into the RAF in 1941 and came out in 1945 and went back to William Pit. I never got any medals for the war, not even the Defence Medal.

After the war

After I went back to William Pit I became a Pit Deputy and I was down the pit when the disaster happened (NB - 15th August 1947). I was on the 鈥楤ack Shift鈥� and had put in about half the shift when the pit exploded. I was at the Deputy鈥檚 Station and I knew something serious had happened. There was a lot of foul air and a lot of damage.

There were rescue teams that went in. There were 104 men killed that day. Miraculously there were three that walked out of the pit the day after. We go to the Memorial Service for the William Pit disaster every 15th August.

I went back down the pit after it reopened. Then when it closed down in 1954 I went to Haig Pit at Kells. My relatives had a shop next to Haig Pit. Evelyn Telford who ran the shop was my cousin. I left Haig and went to Sellafield for a while and I couldn鈥檛 settle there, and I couldn鈥檛 get into Marchon.

Then I got a job as a barman in the Waverley Hotel on Tangier Street. The people who used to work at Smith Brothers on North Shore used to go in there for a drink. They asked did I want a start with them. So I worked for Smith Brothers at Salterbeck in Workington for a while and then at the Ivy Mill in Hensingham. I鈥檝e been retired over twenty years now.鈥�

Conclusion

As stated in the above account, Steve Ferguson was down William Pit twice when it exploded in the 1940s: in 1941 and in 1947. Steve has given a more detailed account of these events to other researchers. Steve has been a close family friend for as long as I can remember. I would like to thank him for sharing some of his memories about the war, particularly his service with the RAF. Steve has been married to his wife Annie for sixty-two years, and they have one daughter, Pam.

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