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	Gallantry		Gallantry

	Oswald George Simmons
	Edward Medal in Bronze
	Date:	30 Jun 1949
	Colliery:	Arthur and Edward Colliery, Forest of Dean
	Occupation:

 

Whitehall, November 1, 1949.

The King has been pleased to award the Edward Medal (in Silver) to Frank Bradley and the Edward Medal (in Bronze) to Oswald George Simmonds and Thomas George Manwaring in recognition of their gallantry in the following circumstances:—

On the 30th June, 1949, the Arthur and Edward Colliery, Forest of Dean, was flooded by a sudden inrush of water.

Evacuation of the mine was ordered as soon as the water broke in, and the escape of the men who were underground was greatly helped by Frank Bradley, a man of 63, who took charge of the man-riding trolleys which ran up and down the long, steep main road leading to the shaft, and helped the escaping men to travel swiftly over part of their road to safety.

After many men had been helped in this way another official advised Bradley to escape at once, telling him that the rising flood would soon cut off the main shaft. Bradley, however, refused to leave the pit, saying that some of his men were still under­ground. He thereupon, walked back into the inner working of the mine. At this point it should be emphasised that Bradley acted deliberately and without rashness, although he knew that once he was cut off from the main shaft he would have to stay below ground for a long time and that he might never reach the surface again. As an official of the mine he must have known also that blackdamp (carbon dioxide) was given off in the mine and that the stopping of ventilation by the flood made accumulations of this suffocating gas likely. He must also have known that there was an incalculable danger to be expected from the disturbance to roof supports caused by the flood.

While Bradley was helping with the evacuation another official of the mine, Oswald George Simmonds was showing great calmness in the face of danger. He went round his district ordering his men out of the pit and telling them how to reach the main shaft safely through the flooding roads. When he was himself about to leave he heard that two men, one old and feeble, were still left in the workings. He immediately returned to help them. When he found them, they were with a third man, Thomas George Manwaring, who had voluntarily stayed back to help them.

Simmonds and Manwaring, helping and sometimes carrying the old men along with them, made their way towards the main shaft, meeting Bradley on the way. At the first opportunity they telephoned to the surface and were told that the flood cut them off completely from the main, shaft, but that they might be able to reach a second shaft through the workings of the mine.

Bradley, Simmonds and Manwaring set off, taking with them the other two men, of whom one was practically exhausted. The way to the second shaft was very hard, and the air in places very bad. The men had in some places to wade through torrents of water, and in others had to clamber over falls of ground. They never, however, abandoned their weaker comrades, one of whom at times was so exhausted that he had to be pushed along in a truck.

Eventually, after spending nearly seven hours underground struggling through the flooded mine, the party reached the second shaft and were hauled to safety.

Source: London Gazette (01 Nov 1949)

Email	Researcher	Date	Interest
	Jan Oliver	13 Jul 2014	Buller Simmonds was my dad's cousin. I grew up calling him Uncle Buller and knew he had been awarded a medal for gallantry for helping to rescue others in a mine.

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