Mexborough and Swinton Times December 13, 1929

M.P.’s Granny

Mrs Dawson of Hemingfield

More Memories of Lundhill

Who is the oldest woman in Wombwell now that Mrs Elizabeth Ward is dead?

There is reason to believe that the Crown goes by order of natural succession quote Elizabeth the Second”; in other words to Mrs Elizabeth Dawson, of 14, Fitzwilliam Street, Hemingfield.

Hemingfield of courses in the urban district of Wombwell, and Mrs Dawson therefore is a necessary qualification so far as residence is concerned.

Mrs. Dawson is a fine old character, and one interesting discovery made by a “Times” representative this week was that she belongs to that rapidly diminishing and now almost extinct band of veterans who remember the Lundhill Colliery disaster, which occurred 9th Feb. 19th. 1857. Mrs. Dawson was born in 1844, and therefore would be thirteen years of age at the time. The family were taking dinner when they were startled by a terrific bang which, it afterwards transpired, was the death knell of three of her brothers. Mrs. Dawson has a very clear recollection of the disaster.               She visited the pit frequently during the days immediately succeeding the explosion, and recalls how the pit head was almost obscured by flames and smoke. She saw many of the dead brought out, and accompanied the mourners to the large grave in Darfield Churchyard, where many of the victims are interred.

Mrs. Dawson was born into the family of a miner named Richard Parkin, and throughout her 85 years has lived in the same house —one of a typical row of miners’ cottages belonging to Earl Fitzwilliam. What she has paid in rent in that time may be computed. She remembers Hemingfield when it was composed of a few scattered farms and cottages, and when Tingle Bridge, a tiny, hamlet on the canal bank, was perhaps the more important community of the two. Her eldest daughter, Mrs. Townend, of Wath, can remember Hemingfield when every resident knew every other resident and when anyone could mention all the lot by name.

Mrs. Dawson was widowed when a comparatively young woman, and not being provided for in any way had to cast about for a means of earning a livelihood. She turned her hand to midwifery and apparently made a success of it from the very first venture, the first child she sponsored being none other than Mr. Tom Smith, the well-known miners leader and the present Member of Parliament for Pontefract.

Mr. Smith, indeed, is Mrs. Dawson’s grandson, a fact of which both are very proud. Mr. Smith, whose mother is dead, rarely comes into the district without paying a visit to 14, William Street, Hemingfield.        “He came to see me only last Sunday,” Mrs.. Dawson told a” Mexboro’ and Swinton Times” representative her eyes glistening with grand-maternal affection.

Up to the age of 80, Mrs. Dawson continued actively to pursue her profession and has ushered into the world more than half the population of Hemingfield. In the village she has long been looked up to as an ever present help in times of trouble and difficulty. She understands the more intimate reactions of the maternal heart, for she has had seven children of her own, and is at present happy in the possession of 27 grandchildren and nearly as many great-grandchildren.

For many years Mrs. Dawson has been a member and worker of the Hemingfield Wesleyan Church, and in her old age she is cheered and sustained by the friendships she has formed there.

Sad to relate, Mrs. Dawson is at present confined to her bed. Three weeks ago she had left the house to fetch her old ago pen-bion when she slipped on the icy pavement and injured her shoulder. She has recovered from the worst shock, and there are hopes that eventually she will be restored to her normal health.