I am carrying out some research for a friend and descendant of the above. Apparently he was killed, some say murdered on 12 October 1902. There was an inquest and an open verdict was found. Then some time later it was changed to a closed verdict. The family does not know why.
The 1901 census is not exactly precise in naming the location where George, a gardener, general worker & family of 3 are living. It is simply noted as Cottages, 4 entries after the Travellers Rest public house. All of the neighbours are miners. The enumerator describes the general area as west of the viaduct in Pelton Fell Lane & south of the Dene at Pelton Fell, in the parish of St Mary and St Cuthbert, Chester Le Street, Durham.
Therefore I think this is now called Bluehouse Bank (B6313). The nearest pub is the Moorings, so either it was the Travellers Rest or the latter no longer exists?
I cannot find anything directly about the death of George and the death cert did not help but I wonder if the comment noted below, which I happened to stumble across, might be related?
It relates to a report around the same time on Pelton Fell Council Boys' School.
An entry showed the dangers of living near to the colliery. "Owing to an escape of Carbon Monoxide from a large tipping heap of colliery refuse situated to the West of the village, a whole street of houses has been emptied of its tenants, two of the occupants having died from the fumes. As many of the boys lived in the said street they have been temporarily removed to other parts of the village and some to other other villages, thus causing this week's attendance to be much lowered."
Can anyone add anything to the above?
Regards
Colin
