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	Gallantry		Gallantry

	Richard Atkinson Hamilton
	King's Commendation for Brave Conduct
	Date:	21 Oct 1950
	Colliery:	Heworth Colliery
	Occupation:	Head Waggonwayman

 

Awarded the British Empire Medal (Civil Division) :—

John Clark, Deputy, Heworth Colliery, Co. Durham. (Gateshead.)

While he was making a routine inspection of his district in the mine, Clark found that the driving head of a conveyor had caught fire and had filled the adjacent roadway with dense smoke. He knew the great potential danger of such a fire and realised that the first need was to cut off the power from the conveyor motor. The switches were, however, separated from him by some 10 yards of roadway filled with dense smoke and fumes. To take the alternative route in clean air would have involved delay which might have been extremely dangerous as the poisonous fumes and smoke were spreading with alarming rapidity. Clark decided to try and grope through the smoke to the switches rather than accept delay which might have seriously endangered the lives of the two men working at the face. No sooner had he entered the road than he fell on to another conveyor which was still running. Fortunately he was not injured and was carried through the smoke on the belt. He pulled himself off when he came into cleaner air and then made his way to the switches and cut off the power.

Having done this he obtained help and returned to cut away the belt of the burning conveyor. Clark's passage through the smoke and fumes to the switches exposed him to considerable danger and his prompt and courageous action prevented what might have become a serious fire.

King's Commendation for Brave Conduct

Richard Atkinson Hamilton, Head Wagonwayman, Heworth Colliery, Co. Durham. (Gateshead.)

For services when a fire occurred in a mine.

Source: London Gazette (24 Apr 1951)

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