| Gallantry |
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Gallantry | ||
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Awards for Gallantry
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Joseph Cook |
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Edward Medal | |||
| Date: | 31 Jan 1914 | ||
| Colliery: | Blackhouse Colliery | ||
| Occupation: | |||
Award of Edward Medal
Whitehall, 22nd December, 1914.
His Majesty The King has been graciously pleased to award the Edward Medal of the Second Class to Joseph Cook, of the Blackhouse Colliery, Durham, in the following circumstances :—
On the morning of the 31st of January, 1914, Cook was underground in the Blackhouse Colliery, near the bottom of an old shaft filled with rubbish. Water had accumulated in it, and the weight of the debris so increased burst out the pack walls at the shaft bottom. Seeing the danger, he rushed inbye to warn two shifters named Wilson and Coates, who were working there; they had no way of egress except past the bottom of this shaft. Before the three could get out, the debris filled up the road from floor to roof for a distance of thirty-five yards, completely cutting off their escape. The three men were eventually released after twenty-two hours' confinement.
By his action Cook ran the risk not merely of a long imprisonment, but of suffocation, which must have resulted had the debris proceeded much further.
Source: London Gazette (01 Jan 1915)
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