Albert Edward Smith EM

b. 26/12/1872 Hasland, Derbyshire. d. ? 1946 Yorkshire.

DATE OF EM ACTION: 09/09/1919 Dinnington Main Colliery, Yorkshire.

Albert was the son of Edmund and Sarah Smith (nee Lunt) and was born on Boxing Day 1872 in Hasland, Derbyshire. He was baptised on the 19th January 1873 at St Mary and All Saints Church in Chesterfield. He had a younger brother and sister. He married Maud Ann Revill on his 27th birthday, 26th December 1899 in Hasland, and they had four children, two boys and two girls. Little else is known about his life after he had moved his family to Yorkshire to become a deputy at the Dinnington Main Colliery near Rotherham. By the time of the 1939 England and Wales Register he had retired as a colliery official and he and Maud were living in Kiveton Park in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He died in 1946, aged 74.

 

EM CITATION:

On  the  9th  September,  1919,  whilst  timber at  the  Dinnington  Main  Colliery  was  being drawn  from  a  part  of to be workings,  a  fall  of material  occurred  which  struck  a  man  named James Sharpe  and  pinned  him  by  one  foot. Some  workmen  from  adjoining  places went  at once to try to rescue him,  but  they were unable to  get him  away.    The fall  of material, had  displaced  some  timber,  and  the  ground  was very unsettled.   Albert E. Smith,  one of the officials of  the  mine,  quickly  came  to the  spot,  and seeing that Sharpe was in grave danger  of being buried  by the  unsafe  and unsupported roof,  he arranged  for  a  temporary  chock to be set  up. The  chock had  barely  been erected when about two  tons of  material  fell,  which would but for the  chock have killed  Smith.   The  chock, however,  protected  him,  and  the  men  were  able after   the  fall  to  continue  the  work  for  the liberation  of  Sharpe.    Immediately  afterwards the  whole place collapsed.

 

BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.

LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.