Albert Mayon Henshaw (1863-1933) & Matilda Lawton (1856-1938)
Albert Mayon Henshaw was the eldest son of John Henshaw and Susannah Mayon. He was born in Salford on 11 May 1863, and moved to Kingswood, Bristol, when his father was appointed secretary to the Kingswood Coal and Iron Company.
Albert’s membership record for the Institute of Civil Engineers detailed his education as the Bristol Trade and Mining School (1873-1878) followed by training at the Wigan School of Mines (1878-1884), and then pupillage (1879-1884) and as assistant (1884-1888) under Moses George Johnson (Record of membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers 11 March 1905).
He joined the Talke o’ th’ Hill Company in Staffordshire in the mid-1880s as surveyor.
Matilda Lawton (also, more usually, known as “Tilly”, “Till”) was born in 1858, the daughter of Charles Lawton, a mine worker, and Elizabeth Griffiths. The family lived at Cuckoo Lane in Talke.
Matilda married Thomas Scragg at Talke on 1 May 1882. (Thomas was a clerk, and his parents were from Goldenhill, Staffs. Thomas’s father, Richard Scragg, was described as a miner or collier and as illegitimate. His mother, Sarah Baker, was the daughter of a collier.) Matilda and Thomas Scragg had two daughters – Elizabeth (“Lizzie”, “Bessie”) born in 1883 and Sarah (“Sallie”) born in 1886; they lived at Windy Arbour in Talke.
Thomas Scragg died on 5 January 1888. His death certificate described him as a salesman at a colliery and he died of “typhoid fever 12 days, haemorrhage from the bowels 1 day, exhaustion”. He was 32 years old. Henshaw family tradition suggested that Thomas Scragg was a friend of Albert Mayon Henshaw and had implored him to look after his wife and daughters after his death.
The parish of Talke in Staffordshire derives its name from “Talk o’ th’ Hill”, which means “bush on top of the hill”. It is in the district of Newcastle-under-Lyme, which also includes Kidsgrove and Ashley. In the immediate area of Talke are the villages of Talke Pits and Butt Lane. It became the site of multiple mine workings.
Talke colliery was owned by the North Staffordshire Coal and Iron Company, which was formed in 1857 and began to sink mines in the early 1860s as branch lines were built connecting the area to the North Staffordshire mainline railway at Chatterley. Underground work started in 1865, producing high quality coking coal.
As a new colliery it was considered to be safe; however, the workings gave off gas very freely which meant spontaneous heatings, or gob fires, were very likely – particularly when low barometric pressure increased the amounts of gas given off. On 13 December 1866 an explosion killed 91 miners – this was reported widely, and Queen Victoria donated to the relief fund. The HM Inspector of Mines report following another explosion on 18 February 1873, which claimed 18 more lives, concluded that safety advice and guidance had been ignored by the company directors, the explosion “followed as a natural consequence”. In 1873, Matilda’s father, Charles Lawton, was the under-viewer (assistant to the underground manager) and had been in the pit on the morning of the explosion, and in the seam where the explosion occurred the previous day – he gave evidence at the inquest.
The company was renamed the New North Staffordshire Coal & Iron Co in 1872 but went into liquidation in 1884 (due to the 1880s trade depression). It was reformed and re-opened as the Talke o’th’ Hill Colliery Company in 1885, and Albert Mayon Henshaw was appointed surveyor of the works.
Albert Mayon Henshaw and Matilda Lawton were married on 24 August 1889 at St Martin’s church in Talke. They had two children Jenny (“Jennie”) born on 21 July 1890 and John Edward (“Jack”) born on 19 May 1896. Albert’s step-daughters also adopted the surname Henshaw.
The family initially lived at Windy Arbour Lane in Talke; they moved to Crown Bank House when Albert became the managing director of the colliery, a position he held until the colliery closed in 1928. During his spell of 33 years at the Talke o’ th’ Hill Colliery it enjoyed its most prolonged period of economic success.
The Henshaw family was much involved in the local community and Albert took part in many social and fund-raising events in Talke. Their daughter Jenny was also active in organising these amateur dramatics, musical and sporting occasions (including the Girls’ Guild), which were often held at St Martin’s Mission school in Talke but sometimes at Crown Bank House (where there was a lawn tennis court).
Matilda performed the official opening of the new organ and restoration of the Primitive Methodist Chapel at Butt Lane in 1912, to which she had donated.
This time also had some challenges – in 1912 as director and general manager Albert took legal action against several men who, when some of the workforce went on strike, were accused of using intimidation against those still working as well leaving the mine in a dangerous state by downing tools (Staffordshire Sentinel).
In September 1910 at St Martin’s, Talke, Sallie Scragg Henshaw married Henry (“Harry”) Meadows, a bank clerk (and keen sportsman) from Mucklestone in Staffordshire.
In 1913, Albert travelled to the US with his father John Henshaw; he was accompanied by his daughter, Jenny Henshaw, who met Richard Hubert White on the SS Laurentic on the outward voyage to the US. On the trip, they visited Albert’s brother Mayon Henshaw at his home in New Jersey. They returned on the SS Mauretania. Albert made many other trips to the USA – some of these: he sailed on the Laconia in September 1927, returning on the Transylvania. He again sailed on the Laconia arriving in Southampton in April 1929, and New York to Liverpool, arriving 6 July 1931 (Incoming passenger lists 1878-1960).
Jenny Henshaw and Richard Hubert White were married at Halifax Cathedral, Nova Scotia on 8 February 1915. They returned to England in August 1915 and Albert and Mathilda’s first grandchild, Richard Mayon White was born on 15 December 1915 when they were living at The Bower, Boreham, near Chelmsford.
In April 1916 Bessie Scragg Henshaw married Hugh Halbert Ferguson, a vet.
In March 1915 Jack Henshaw had received his commission in the 103rd Field Company, Royal Engineers. Jack served on the Western Front from June 1917 and was slightly wounded in August 1917 but was able to return to duty the same day. Jack was serving at Maissemy on 21 March 1918 (the first day of the German Kaiserschlacht, ‘Operation Michael’ Spring Offensive, which completely overran the British positions); he was reported missing in action until May 1918 when it was confirmed he had been taken prisoner. He was held at the POW camp at Lahr, Baden in Germany, and being on the “exonerated officers” list of those who had been taken prisoner, he was repatriated at the end of 1918.
In April 1919, a procession headed by a band and a tea at St Martin’s Mission were held to honour the 150 men from the district who had gone to fight in the war. Mr A M Henshaw presided over the event and was supported by the Rector of Talke and Major-General Heath-Caldwell (of Linley Hall), who also presented medals to two men there who had won the Military Cross.
Jack, who had attended Newcastle High School before the war, went to Birmingham University (BSc 1st class, in mining) before attaining the 1st Class certificate as a colliery manager. He was working as a junior inspector of mines when he married Gladys May Smith at St Mark’s, Basford, Stoke on Trent in 1926. Jack later received the CBE (1959) for his work as a Mine Inspector.
As a footnote to history, but also providing some detail on Albert, his grandson would later write “my maternal grandfather, whose hobby was building model steam engines, avidly followed by his son, my uncle, together with another lad of the same age, one Reginald Mitchell…my grandfather recognised the boy’s ability towards machine drawing, and draughtsmanship generally, and gave him a place in the colliery drawing office where he could practice under expert guidance” (Roger Henshaw White: Spitfire Saga). [Reginald Mitchell, who was born in Butt Lane, went on to design the Submarine Spitfire.]
Albert was a member of the Safety in Mines Research Board, a president of the North Staffordshire Mining Institute, and a Vice-President of the Institute of Mining Engineers. For a considerable period, he was Central Examiner for Certificates under the Coal Mines Act. He was also a Fellow of Geological Society.
Albert was very active in the prevention of coal dust explosions and made notable contributions to the solution of problems of general safety and efficiency in mining, for example in the use of stone dusting (when coal dust is made less combustible by mixing stone dust with it). In 1906 with others he investigated, on behalf of the Home Office, the cause of the terrible explosion at the Courrieres Colliery in France, in which 1,230 miners lost their lives (WN Atkinson & AM Henshaw: Transaction of the Institute of Mining Engineers).
Albert was closely involved in, and recognised for, mine rescue work:
- 1895: Diglake Colliery Disaster, in nearby Audley. When the mine flooded leading to death of 77 miners, Albert was one of a party of mining engineers who when into the mine in the immediate aftermath to assess the damage and attempt the rescue of men trapped.
- 1901: Talke o’th’ Hill Explosion. Occurring on the Whitsun holiday, 4 men were in the pit (rather than the usual 700 miners) carrying out maintenance work and checks on the ventilation equipment when a gob fire caused an explosion leading to other coal dust explosions, which killed the 4 men. Albert witnessed the explosion and immediately attempted to get down the pit.
- 1908: Hamstead Colliery Disaster. Albert was part of the rescue attempt after a devastating fire at the Hamstead Colliery in which 24 miners were entombed and perished.
- 1911: Jamage Pit, Bignal Hill Colliery, a short distance south of Talke. An explosion killed six miners, and Albert was involved in the rescue.
- 1912: Norton Colliery, February 1912. Following a huge explosion that resulted in the death of one miner and the injury of another, Albert was again involved in the rescue.
Albert used the stable loft at Crown Bank as a studio. “Art was his chief hobby, and he was a discriminating collector of pictures. He took a great interest in all exhibitions of pictures organised locally.” (Evening Sentinel January 1933).
Albert was described as being “of a retiring disposition, and on that account, did not seek public preferment, but at the same time he was concerned in promoting the welfare of those among whom he lived and served” (Evening Sentinel January 1933). He served for a short period as a member of Audley Urban District Council. In 1920 he was appointed a Newcastle County Court magistrate (“one of the ablest mining engineers and colliery managers in the country” (Staffordshire Sentinel, 1920) which he continued until shortly before his death.
In 1932 Albert was awarded the OBE: “Albert Mayon Henshaw, MInstCE, MIME, JP. For many years a Central Examiner to the Board for Mining Examinations, Mines Department, and a member of the Safety in Mines Research Board” (Civil Division Birthday Honours).
Talke Colliery closed in 1928, and Albert and Matilda planned to retire to North Wales where they bought a cottage, Ormscliff, in Deganwy. Just before they moved, Albert died on 13 January 1933 at Crown Bank House.
“The funeral at Deganwy, North Wales, yesterday, of Mr AM Henshaw of Talke, bore witness to his remarkably wide friendships and the esteem in which he was held…The funeral was attended not only by many representatives of the coal and other industries of North Staffordshire, but by ladies and gentlemen from many parts of the country who knew Mr Henshaw well. The coffin was conveyed by motor from Talke to the picturesque Llanrhos Church, Deganwy, where the service was conducted by the Rev Canon A L Davies. It was fully choral…the chief mourners were Mrs Henshaw (widow), Mr and Mrs JE Henshaw (son and daughter-in-law), Mr and Mrs White (son-in-law and daughter), Mr and Mrs S Henshaw (brother and sister-in-law), Mr DM Henshaw (brother)…Mr R White (grandson)… Floral tributes were sent by the following: Till (Mrs AM Henshaw); Jack Gladys and Jock (Mr and Mrs JE Henshaw and son); Mr and Mrs Sam Henshaw and Miss Stones; Brother Mayon (USA); Mrs JE Henshaw and Mrs D Cleaver (Bath)…” (Evening Sentinel 18 January 1933).
Shortly after Albert’s death in April 1933, Crown Bank House was advertised for sale. The description of the residence in 17 acres of grounds provided a glimpse of the property of the former home of the Talke colliery managers: “The House has the following accommodation:- Large Entrance Hall, Drawing-room, 17ft. x 15ft.; Dining-room, 15ft. x 13ft.; Billiard-room with French windows, 19ft. x 18ft.; Kitchen, Scullery, Larder, Cellar, 5 Bedrooms, and Airing-room, Bathroom and separate w/c.; Greenhouse, attached to House, 23ft. x 6ft. A Range of Outbuildings, comprising Wash-house with storeroom over, Coach-house, two-stall Hacking Stable, Potting Shed, separate Range of Buildings with Stable and Toolhouse, also a Range of Poultry houses.” (Staffordshire Advertiser)
(Crown Bank House is still standing in Talke, but all the surrounding land has been sold off for housing.)
Matilda lived for a short time at Deganwy before returning to Talke. Becoming increasing senile, she was looked after by a servant in a cottage at 22 Arbour Street in the village until her death on 13 September 1938.
Matilda’s daughter Bessie and her husband Hugh Halbert Ferguson had two sons – John Frank, a doctor, and Hugh Halbert, also a veterinary surgeon – and lived in Warrington. Hugh died in October 1953, and Elizabeth (Bessie) on 24 December 1958.
Her daughter Sally’s marriage to Henry Meadows was unsuccessful. He was working for the District Bank in Warrington when he died in April 1928 – Sally was not mentioned in the notice of his death but probate of his will refers to Sarah Lawton Meadows as the widow. She worked as a cook or housekeeper in various engagements, before retiring to Bournemouth, where she died aged 75 in 1962.