Complete with the address: 97 Newbottle Street! Many thanks!
Yes, Thomas was a pitman. Long tradition of Dials working in the mines. My line goes back through Robert Dial (1830 - 1909), Peter Dial (1798 - 1873) and Michael (1773 - possibly 1823). All pitmen.
Apparently pitmen moved around a lot, and this seems to account for the difficulty of tracking them down. My ancestors started in Longbenton and moved all over the place before winding up at Consett via Houghton-le-Spring and West Rainton, and then they moved to Australia.