b. ? 1870 ?. d. 12/02/1928 Haig Pit, Whitehaven, Cumberland.
DATE OF EM ACTION: 11/05/1910 Wellington Colliery, Whitehaven, Cumberland.
Robert Steel EM
Little is known about Robert Steel’s early life prior to 1900 when he gained his colliery manager’s certificate in Newcastle. By 1902 he had become the manager at the Harrington Pit, in Whitehaven, Cumberland. In 1904, he had moved to Croft Pit also in Whitehaven, and married Rachael. He had two children, Marion and John Hay. In 1908, he took over as the manager of the Wellington and Ladysmith Pits and it was at Wellington Colliery that he would be awarded the Edward Medal following the fire on 11th May 1910. In 1912, he was awarded a Manager’s Certificate as a Surveyor of Mines. By the early 1920s he was managing four pits in Whitehaven, Wellington, Ladysmith, Haig and William. Tragically on the 12th February 1928, he was killed instantly when an explosion occured at Haig Pit. He was inspecting the pit with some rescue teams searching for the missing body of a miner killed in an explosion in the pit on 13th December 1927.
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: UNKNOWN.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.