b. 09/09/1861 Whitehaven, Cumberland. d. 03/04/1942 Whitehaven, Cumberland.
DATE OF EM ACTION: 11/05/1910 Wellington Colliery, Whitehaven, Cumberland.
Daniel was the third of nine children born to William and Annie Benn (nee Robson), and grew up in the St Bees District of Whitehaven. His father was an engineer in the mining industry. From a young age, Daniel went into the mines and became a rope splicer. He married Isabella Irving, and they went on to have ten children, though sadly they lost three as infants. He and Isabella lived in Whitehaven all their married life, until Isabella died in 1920, aged 55. At the time, they were living in Duke Road in Whitehaven. Daniel died aged 80 in April 1942.
EM CITATION:
On the 11th May. 1910, a terrible fire occurred in the Wellington Pit, Whitehaven, at a point about 4,500 yards from the shafts. Various rescue parties, with great courage and self devotion and at considerable risk, descended the mine and endeavoured to extinguish the fire and penetrate to the persons in the workings beyond the same. Thorne and Littlewood, fitted with breathing apparatus, reached within a distance of 150 yards of the fire, but were driven back by the great heat and effusion of gases. The others got to within about 300 yards of the fire, working in the smoke backing from the tire. It was found impossible to penetrate to the scene of the fire or to rescue any of the entombed miners. Had an explosion occurred—a by no means unlikely eventuality, seeing that the mine is a very gassy one—they would undoubtedly all have been killed. Special gallantry was shown by John Henry Thorne, to whom the Edward Medal of the First Class has already been awarded, and by James Littlewood.
BURIAL LOCATION: WHITEHAVEN CEMETERY, WHITEHAVEN, CUMBERLAND.
WARD 6, SECTION J, GRAVE 77.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
