William Bestford (1862–1922)
William Bestford was born near Blaydon in 1862. He served in India with the Northumberland Fusiliers, then worked as a coal miner around Winlaton, and died in Newcastle in 1922.
Durham
Durham is the county between the Tyne and the Tees, south of Northumberland. Its coalfield and Northumberland’s are a single field, the seams running on beneath the county boundary.
Coal was dug there from the medieval period until the last pit closed in the 1990s, and the Durham Miners’ Gala is still held in the city each July.