b. ? 1868 Whitehaven, Cumberland. d. 05/1936 Whitehaven, Cumberland.
DATE OF EM ACTION: 11/05/1910 Wellington Colliery, Whitehaven, Cumberland.
John was one of twelve children born in 1868 in Whitehaven, Cumberland, to James and Elizabeth Rothery (nee Graham). His mother died when he was 19, and a year later, in 1888, he married Mary Jane Riley in Whitehaven. He and Mary Jane had two children, Maud G and William. John became an overman at William Pit, Wellington Colliery, Whitehaven. Little is known about his life after the award of the Edward Medal. He died in May 1936, aged 67, and was buried in Whitehaven, Cumberland.
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 fire. 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 1, SECTION T, GRAVE 175.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
