Circumstances of death
At around 7.00am on the morning of Thursday 1st July 1875, 44-year-old labourer John Swire was removing earth in the tunnel’s southern approach cutting, at the foot of the incline that served the construction shafts. Swire was “very deaf” and had only returned to work at 6.00am that morning after being “lamed” in a previous accident.
An engine was being used to lower a number of tip wagons down the incline. When he saw Swire, the driver of the engine sounded the whistle to warn of their approach. However, probably as a result of his deafness, Swire failed to get out of the way and was run over. Both his legs were crushed and broken. One report suggested that the toes of his left foot and his right leg below the knee had been severed. He also sustained head injuries.
Swire was immediately loaded onto the engine and taken to Halifax Infirmary where he died at about half-past eleven.
An inquest was held at the Halifax Dispensary before William Barstow, the coroner. A verdict of “accidental death” was returned.
Biographical information
The above photo is an AI visualisation.
The death of John Swire was recorded in Halifax on Saturday 3rd July 1875, the cause being stated on the certificate as “Shock from injuries to leg, foot and head. Run over by a railway engine near Nettleton [sic], Ovenden. Lived five hours.” His occupation is documented as “railway labourer, formerly a butcher”.
Known to his friends as ‘Punch’, Swire was reported to have been a “native of Skipton” and, following the accident, unsuccessful attempts were made to telegraph friends in nearby Gargrave.
Swires had been living in Gargrave at least as far back as the 17th century. Born on 17th June 1831, John was one of eight children - three sons and five daughters - to Thomas, a 40-year-old carpenter, and Mary, 38. He was baptised on 19th January 1834 at Marton-in-Craven.
It seems that John went his own way at an early age. Four years after his mother passed away, the 1851 census finds him at Vicarage House in Skipton, acting as a farm servant to the Holgate family. By the age of 30, he is one of two lodgers living with John Wilkinson, a stone mason, and his wife Mary in Spring Gardens, Padiham. This street, with its small back-to-back terraces, still exists and forms part of the town’s conservation area. He works - as suggested by his death certificate - as a butcher.
It’s impossible to know quite why he ended up working in Queensbury Tunnel in 1875, particularly as reports indicate he was not a well man.
At 2.00pm on Sunday 4th July 1875, John was buried alongside three others in a consecrated grave at Stoney Royd cemetery, Southowram near Halifax. The burial records - like his death certificate - state his age as being 38 (rather than 44), but this would have relied upon the informant - seemingly his sister Elizabeth - remembering it correctly.
Records also exist of John Swire being reburied in a grave at St Andrew’s Church, Gargrave, with eight other family members including his mother and father.
