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	Gallantry		Gallantry

	Joseph Peat
	Edward Medal, Second Class
	Date:	24 Dec 1915
	Colliery:	Wood Lane Colliery
	Occupation:	Miner

 

Whitehall, 22nd June, 1916.

His Majesty the King has been graciously pleased to award the Edward Medal ...

Also the Edward Medal of the second class to Arthur Woodhouse and Joseph Peat, miners at the Wood Lane Colliery, Hill Top, Horsley, near Derby, under the following circumstances :—

On the 24th December, 1915, John Orrill, the Manager of the Wood Lane Colliery, ordered a man named David Aldread to fetch a shovel from a point some 200 yards distant. As Aldread did not return Orrill ordered another man, William Peat, to fetch an electric lamp from the surface and search for Aldread, and meanwhile Orrill himself went in search of the missing man. On his return with the lamp, William Peat followed Orrill and found both Orrill and Aldread lying unconscious on the ground, while he himself was nearly overcome by black-damp. He at once summoned help, and guided his son, Joseph Peat, and Arthur Woodhouse to a spot about 12 yards distant from the bodies. By this time the air was so bad that a flame would not burn, and the only light by which the men could work was an electric hand lamp of one candle power. In spite of the difficulty and danger, Woodhouse and Peat by successive rushes forward over an obstacle created by a fall of roof, into an atmosphere fatal to life, succeeded in attaching their belts round the bodies, first of Orrill and then of Aldread, fastening a long strap from some adjacent machinery to the belts and pulling them out over the fall. Had either man stumbled or fallen when near the bodies the result would in all probability have been fatal. The rescue lasted from 60 to 90 minutes. Both Orrill and Aldread were dead when their bodies were recovered, but the unfortunate result does not detract from the bravery of the rescuers.

Source: London Gazette (27 Jun 1916)

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