Yorkshire Post January 12, 1927

Frequency of Pit Deaths Becoming Serious

At an inquest at Little Houghton near Barnsley, yesterday, Councillor TW Illsley, an official of the Houghton Main branch of the Yorkshire Mine Workers Association, comment on the accident not all in that district but throughout the South Yorkshire area, and said their frequency was becoming serious.

He added ”I hope it is only a passing phase and that we shall get through it, but at present we seem to have struck a bad patch.”

The inquest related to James Hinds (47), 29, Middlecliffe, Little Houghton who died at Houghton Main colliery on Saturday morning.

A witness said Hinds remarked before he collapsed, “I have winded myself by falling against a tub.”

The Coroner (Mr C.J.Howarth) returned a verdict that Hinds died from syncope following a blow.

Hinds was a married man with eight children.