- • Henry Lant, Eckington; • Henry Lant, Eckington;
- • Thomas Carline, Eckington; • Thomas Carline, Eckington;
- • James Rose, Mosborough; • James Rose, Mosborough;
- • William Keeton, Mosborough. • William Keeton, Mosborough.

Also present was Mr Hedley of Derby, the government inspector of collieries. After the discovery of the fire. Richard Meggitt, the boy's father, had the deceased and his other son, William, with him. Using a ladder, he and others had reached the lower stage of the pumping shaft, but the second explosion in the mine caused his son Charles to fall to the bottom of the shaft. About a quarter of an hour after the second explosion, he got onto the ’horse’ and shouted to be lowered to his son, but instead, the 'horse' was raised, and he, along with the boy John Kay who he carried up with him, were rescued. He had heard his son calling for his father to help him, but he could not do so. When Charles Gee went down the shaft to bring his son out, Charles Meggitt was still alive. He thought he was at the bottom of the shaft but could not see him; the shaft was so full of smoke. He could see the fire burning “like a furnace” and could hear the noise from falling and burning coal. He spoke to Meggitt, but his moans were getting gradually weaker. He believed the boy to be dying. Faith Beresford was the last man to go down the pumping or 'downcast' shaft on the accident night. He went explicitly to fetch Charles Meggitt but could not go as far as the bottom of the shaft because he considered it too dangerous. He shouted for the boy but could not hear him. John Sisson, the colliery steward, told the inquest that he had found and recovered the body of Charles Meggitt on Sunday morning, the 8 April 1860. In his summing up, the Coroner concluded that the bulk of the evidence showed that the fire did not arise from the non-sweeping of the flue. He then turned to the possibility of criminality in getting the men out of the pit. In this respect, he drew attention to an error on the part of John Sissons, the colliery steward, in not stopping up the current of air leading to the fire. However, he did not consider that there was sufficient evidence to charge anyone with criminal neglect. The jury returned a verdict that Charles Meggitt was accidentally suffocated and killed by smoke from a fire in the mine, caused by coal falling from the roof of the pit onto the flue, but that the fire would not have occurred if proper precautions had been taken by John Sissons, the underground steward. The jury foreman also told Mr Swallow that he should employ men who would see that the colliery rules were carried out and that the colliery was adequately managed. There was much discussion and evidence at the inquest regarding the routine practice of cleaning the flue of soot. One of the jurymen, Mr Murther McEvoy, draper of Eckington, argued that a failure in this process had led to the fire, but this suggestion was countered by Mr Hedley, the government inspector, who thought it more likely to have been caused by a fall of coal onto the flue. Inquest into the death of Henry Stevenson An inquest into the death of Henry Stevenson was held on Tuesday 15 May 1860, before the Coroner, Mr C.S.B. Busby, Esq. Similar evidence was given to that heard in the earlier inquests by William Holden, George Plant and George Brammall, Herbert Hawkins and John Sissons and a verdict of returned.30. 'Accidental Death' was Return to Normality At the 1861 Census, John Fell Swallow and his brother Richard, both unmarried, lived at Mosborough Hill House, along with the housekeeper, Ann Harmaford, married, aged 40, and general servant Mary Hollinsworth, aged 21.