b. 03/05/1863 Rotherham, Yorkshire. d. 30/08/1941 Sheffield, Yorkshire.
DATE OF EM ACTION: 27/08/1915 Waleswood Colliery, near Sheffield, Yorkshire.
Albert Henry was the youngest of six children born to William and Ann Tomlinson (nee Parkin) on 3rd May 1863 in Rotherham, Yorkshire. He was baptised on the 3rd October 1864 in Barnsley. By the age of 8, Albert’s parents were no longer together (circumstances unknown) and his father was now living with a new wife, and Albert gained some half siblings. The remainder of his childhood was then spent in Attercliffe, Yorkshire, before he gained employment on the railways, based at Staincross Station. On the 15th March 1885 in Sheffield, he married Ann Eliza Rogers, and they would have three sons and a daughter, and the family was raised in Barnsley and then Sheffield. Tragedy struck when his wife died aged just 29 in 1892, and on 25th October 1894, he remarried to Annie Boyes (nee Buttery) in Barnsley.
After the majority of his working life had been on the railways he switched careers, and by the time of the 1911 Census, he was working at Waleswood Colliery, near Sheffield as a colliery carpenter. Due to his age (51) and that he was in a reserved occupation, he remained down the mines during World War I. Sadly, his second wife died in 1916, soon after the award of the Edward Medal.
Albert would marry for a third time on 18th September 1920 at St Barnabas Church, Waleswood, to Edith Alice Bagshaw. They soon moved to Kiveton Park before he retired from the mines. After retiring he and Edith moved to 107 Penistone Road in Sheffield, where he spent his final years. He died on 30th August 1941, aged 78. Edith died 9 years later in 1950.
EM CITATION:
Ten men were travelling to the pit bottom in a cage, when, about halfway down the shaft, it collided with an empty cage on its way up. The violent collision severely injured all of the men and broke the winding ropes. The cages were wedged together, but could fall to the bottom of the shaft at any time. A hoppit (a large bucket) was lowered to rescue the men trapped in the cage. Tomlinson, Havercroft and Walker were in the hoppit. They went down the shaft on five occasions and carried men from the cage along a girder to the hoppit. The rescue took approximately two hours. The three rescuers were in danger from, the broken winding ropes, the cage, which could fall at any time, and from the hoppit being upset. Wingfield was in the cage when it collided; both his legs were fractured, and he had a head wound and severe wounds to his thigh. A man had fallen halfway through the bottom of the cage; Wingfield grabbed and held him until he was rescued. He also insisted on being the last to man taken to safety.
BURIAL LOCATION: UNKNOWN.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: NATIONAL COAL MINING MUSEUM, WAKEFIELD, YORKSHIRE.
