John Besford was born on 7th November 1879 at Cowpen, Blyth. His parents were Thomas Besford (1833-1914) and Thomas’s second wife Isabella Besford (née Oliver).
The 1881 Census recorded John aged 1 and living at 16 Cowpen Square, Blyth, with his parents Thomas and Isabella, and siblings Mary Besford (15), George R. Besford (11), and William T. Besford (3). Mary and George were Thomas Besford’s children by his late first wife Alice.
By the time of the 1891 Census John Besford was aged 11 and living with his parents and family at South Broomhill, Northumberland. John was still at school but his father Thomas (now 58), and his brothers George (21) and William (13) were working as coal miners. His mother Isabella was 44. John now had another brother James (5) and sister Alice (1). James’s birthplace was shown as Broomhill, so it seems that the family had moved there by 1885/86.
John Besford would almost certainly have started work as a driver lad down the pit by the time of his 13th birthday in 1892, but the next record we have of him is the 1901 Census when he was recorded as aged 21 and working as a coal miner at South Broomhill. John was living with his parents Thomas (67) and Isabella (54), and his brother James (15 and a coal miner) and his sister Alice (11).
John married Susannah Appleby in 1904 and the 1911 Census recorded him living at 16 West Wood Row, East Cramlington, Northumberland. John and Susannah by then had 4 children, Thomas Besford (6), Arthur Stanley Besford (4), John Joseph Besford (3) and David Besford (11 months). From the birthplaces stated for John and Susannah’s children it seems that they had moved from Broomhill to Cramlington at some time between 1905 and 1907. John was working as a hewer.
By the time of the 1921 Census, John and Susannah were living at 7 Marjorie Street, Cramlington. John was recorded as aged 42 years 7 months and Susannah as 35 years 2 months. John was working as a hewer for the Cramlington Coal Company. He and Susannah now had 8 children: Thomas Besford (16) and Arthur Stanley Besford (14 years 11 months) were both working underground as drivers for the Cramlington Coal Company. The other children were John Joseph Besford (13), David Besford (11), Norman Besford (9), James Besford (7), and twins Alan Besford and Edwin Besford (both 1 year and 4 months old).
The next record which we have of John and Susannah is from the 1939 Register which was taken at the start of the Second World War. They were still living at 7 Marjorie Street, Cramlington. John was now almost 60 and was still working as a coal miner, but now as a shifter. Four of John and Susannah’s children were still living with them: Arthur Stanley (32 and working as a colliery horsekeeper), James (25 and working as a putter), and twins Alan and Edwin (both 19). Alan was working as a colliery mason (a surface worker) and Edwin as a grocer’s assistant.
John and Susannah’s son Norman Besford married Esther Allan in 1938 and was recorded on the 1939 Register living with her at 37 Milbourne Terrace, Seaton Delaval. He was working as a coal miner, specifically a coal filler underground.
John and Susannah’s son John Joseph Besford married Margery Kay in 1936 and was recorded on the 1939 Register living with her at 9 Office Row Front, Old Store Road, Seaton Valley. Like his brother Norman, John Joseph was working underground as a coal filler.
John Besford died on 12th October 1946 after suffering a serious accident three days earlier whilst working at Hartford Colliery. He was caught by a runaway set of coal in tubs. This must have become detached from either a horse or from a hauling mechanism and run down an incline, possibly also derailing from a track. This was, sadly, one of the many and varied ways in which coal miners were killed.
John Besford is listed in the Durham Mining Museum In Memoriam↗ website.
Ancestry
John Besford was the cousin of David Besford (1863-1954).
His father was Thomas Besford (1833-1914) and his ancestry can thus be traced back to his Great-Great-Great-Great Grandparents James Besford and Margaret Robson who married in 1679.
