Mexborough & Swinton Times – Saturday 27 December 1941

Seventy Years in Pit

Death of Mr. B. Malpass of Wombwell

Mr. Benjamin Malpass, 9. King’s Road, Wombwell, one of the best known anglers in South Yorkshire, died on Saturday, aged 88. He had been in failing health for some ‘ weeks.

Mr. Malpass was born in Staffordshire where he started work in the mine at the age of eight. He remained in the pits for seventy years without a break, working the whole time at the coal face. He was last employed at Barnburgh Main Colliery, to which pit he used to walk from Wombwell every day, about four miles each way. He gave up work some ten years ago at the age of 78, finishing up as a collier. In the whole of that seventy years he had never had an accident and never suffered a serious illness.

Mr. Malpass came to Yorkshire as a young man to work at the old Lundhill Colliery, and when that pit closed down he moved to Mitchell Main.

Mr. Malpass loved the open air and found the greatest joy in his fishing expeditions. It was to the fresh air that he attributed the good spirits and good health he always enjoyed until recent months. Erect of body and firm of step, he was indeed a remarkable man for his age. Both as an angler and a swimmer he loved the water. At the age of 82 he swam a length of Wombwell Baths in order to give one of his grandsons a lesson in “style.” He believed that every person ought to be taught to swim as part of their education. Two years ago he rescued a boy from drowning in the canal at Monk Bretton. Seldom was he known to wear an overcoat, the bleakest weather appearing to have little effect on him. There was little he did not know regarding angling, and never was he reluctant to pass on to younger rodmen the knowledge he had gained.

Mr. Malpass had always been an ardent trade unionist, and claimed to be one of the oldest members of the Yorkshire Mineworkers’ Association. Mr. Malpass was devoted to church work for practically the whole of his adult life, and many former scholars in his connection now grown up will cherish happy memories of their associations with him. Mr. Malpass lost his first wife in 1917, and his second eleven years ago. He leaves two sons, three daughters, seven grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren.

The funeral took place at Wombwell on Tuesday.