b. ? d. ?
DATE OF AM ACTION: 11/04/1877 Tynewydd Colliery, Porth, South Wales.
George Ablett AM
George Ablett, a Collier employed by the Tynewydd Colliery in the Rhondda Valley, was awarded his Albert Medal for the rescue of the Welsh Colliers following their incarceration after the inundation at the colliery on 11 April 1877. Until the Tynewydd disaster, the Albert Medal had only been given for bravery in saving life at sea. The courage of the Tynewydd Colliers, however, prompted Queen Victoria to also bestow the award of those saving life on land, announcing “The Albert Medal, hitherto only bestowed for gallantry in saving life at sea, shall be extended to similar actions on land, and that the first medals struck for this purpose shall be conferred on the heroic rescuers of the Welsh Miners.” Four Albert Medals in Gold, and 21 Albert Medals in bronze were awarded for this action, the first Albert Medals for Land ever awarded.
AM CITATION:
On the 11th of April the Tynewydd Colliery, situated near Porth, in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales, was inundated with water from the old workings of the adjoining Cymmer Colliery. At the time of the inundation there were fourteen men in the pit, of whom four were unfortunately drowned, and one was killed by compressed air, leaving nine men imprisoned by the water; of this number four were released after eighteen hours’ imprisonment, and five after nine days’ imprisonment. It was in effecting the release of the latter five that those distinguished services were rendered which the conferring of the “Albert Medal of the Second Class” is intended to recognize.
During the five days from April the 16th to April the 20th the above named men were at various times engaged in cutting through the barrier of coal separating them from the five imprisoned men, and while exposing their own lives to the great danger which would have resulted from an outburst of compressed air and water, and to the danger which actually existed from the presence of large quantities of inflammable gas, continued to perform their work until the five men were safely rescued.’
BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: SOLD AT AUCTION IN 2017 FOR £4,800.
Acknowledgements:
Allan Stanistreet – Image of George Ablett AM
Dix Noonan Webb – Image of the Ablett AM