John Besford was born on 5th February 1872 at Cowpen Square, Blyth, Northumberland. John was the son of Alexander Besford, a coal miner, and his wife Elizabeth (Bessy) Besford (née Mills).
The 1881 Census recorded John as 9 years old, still at school, and living at 21 Cowpen Square with his parents and siblings. Two of his brothers, William (14) and Robert (12). were working as drivers at Cowpen Colliery – that is to say they were using pit ponies to “drive” full tubs of coal to the bottom of the pit shaft, then bringing back empty tubs. John himself would commence working underground at the same job three years later in 1884 when he was 12. Also in the household were John’s brother James (4) and sisters Elizabeth (Lizzy) Ann (7) and Mary Ann (1).
The 1891 Census recorded John Besford now living at 13 Cowpen Square with his parents and brothers William and Robert. John, William and Robert were all working as coal miners, as was their father Alexander. Elizabeth Ann, Mary Ann and James were all still in the family home as well.
In 1898 John married Mary Ann Thompson. Three years later the 1901 census recorded John and Mary Ann at 7 Single Row, Newsham, Blyth. They by now had a one year old son, William Besford. John, aged 29, was working as a hewer. Mary Ann was 24.
The 1911 census showed John and Mary Ann living at 26 Crawford Street, Blyth. John, now 39, was still working as a hewer. They now had three sons, William (11), John (8) and George Robert (2).
At the time of the 1921 census John and Mary Ann were living at 9 Cowpen Square, Blyth. John was aged 49 and was working as a Hewer for the Cowpen Coal Company at the Straker Pit. His son William Besford was now 21 and working as a putter at the Straker Pit. William’s brother John was 18 and was an apprentice blacksmith at Cowpen Colliery workshops. The census enumerator added some interesting detail, indicating that John and his two eldest sons were all out of work at the time of the census (19 June 1921). The UK census had actually been due to have been taken on 24 April but had been postponed because of widespread industrial unrest. John, William, and John junior were almost certainly not working due to the miners having been locked out by the coal owners. The mines had been under government control during the First World War and in its aftermath. On 31st March 1921 they were returned to private ownership and the coal owners demanded severe wage cuts. When the miners refused to accept this they were locked out. This lasted for three months until the miners were forced to accept the coal owners’ terms.
John and Mary Ann’s household consisted of seven people in 1921. As well as themselves and William and John junior, they had two younger sons, George R. Besford (12) and David Besford (8). In addition, Mary Ann’s 78 year old father, William Thompson was living with them. The three month lock out would have been a real struggle for them.
The 1939 Register, taken at the outbreak of the Second World War, recorded John and Mary Ann living at 9 South Row, Blyth. John was now 67 and was still working underground as a wasteman. This job would have meant working in the areas of the pit from which coal had been extracted, withdrawing or recovering the pillars which had been left to support the roof. John’s wife Mary Ann was now 61.
John Besford retired from coal mining in 1945 at the age of 73. The following article and photograph is from the Blyth News dated 27th April 1947:
With thanks to the British Newspaper Archive.
John’s granddaughter Cynthia remembers that when John died the Coal Board stopped the free coal which he had received following his 61 years of service with the Cowpen Coal Company, much to her grandmother’s displeasure.
John Besford’s father was Alexander Besford, the son of Ann Besford (1825-1896). His ancestry can therefore be traced back to the 1679 marriage of his 5 times great grandparents James Besford and Margaret Robson.
