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Introduction

This article is primarily about a brave man in both World Wars, John Burney MM from Whitehaven, Cumberland (now Cumbria). In the First World War John served firstly in the Border Regiment and subsequently, in the second half of that war, in the Machine Gun Corps. It was in this war that John was awarded the Military Medal for Gallantry. When the Second World War broke out John was working as a coalminer at Haig Pit in the Kells district of Whitehaven.

It was while working at Haig Pit, in January 1940, that John was sustained injuries that unfortunately led to his death, leaving behind a widow and eight children. I have previously written an article about some of the Burney family鈥檚 experiences in World War Two, which included some details of John Burney MM (Article Reference ID A6223402). This article gives some additional details I have learnt about John after visiting the Cumbria County Archives Service and from one of John鈥檚 sons, Mr George Burney, who still lives in Whitehaven.

John Burney MM is, in fact, distantly related to me, as explained in the previous article I have written about the Burney family in WW2, referred to in the previous paragraph. John's mother was an elder sister of my own paternal grandmother, so I did know some things about the John before researching this article.

Award of the Military Medal for Gallantry

Although I was primarily researching a World War Two story for the 麻豆官网首页入口 "People's War" project, when I visited George Burney at his home in Whitehaven, he was kind enough to show me the details he has about his father's citation and award of the Military Medal at Carlisle Castle. Another relative had obtained the information from reports in the local newspaper in January 1919, 'The Whitehaven News', which is accessible in the Cumbria County Archives. I include this information in this article as it shows, at least in part, just how brave John Burney MM was throughout his life.

Sergeant John Burney received his MM on 22 January 1919 from a Major Gillam, on the same day as a fellow NCO in the Machine Gun Corps received the Distinguished Conduct Medal. This was a Corporal Corkish, who like John, had transferred to the Machine Gun Corps from the 2nd Battalion Border Regiment. The citation and report reads as follows:

"18189 Sergeant J. Burney MGC, Low Harras Moor, Whitehaven:
For working his machine gun under heavy fire after all the men of the team had been killed or wounded".

"Major Gillam, in presenting the medals complimented each recipient individually. He talked of Sergeant Burney and Corporal Corkish's gallant deeds that had been written about in the official records.

Part of the M.G.C. of the 20th Brigade was originally the M.G. section of the 2nd Border Regiment, and their officer at that time, Captain Wood, knew both men well, and although the whole of that section had done remarkably well, Captain Wood could not speak too highly of the doings and fighting qualities of the two medal winners now present.

Of a Section of fellows, none could beat these two".

As I explained in my earlier article about the Burney family, John was forced to sell his medals, including his Military Medal, during the 1926 General Strike so that he could feed his family. George has since purchased a replica MM from the authorities, which has pride of place in George's home. Unfortunately, the whereabouts of John's original medal are unknown. George says he would like to buy the medals if the present owner could be found and was prepared to sell.

In search of a photograph

George has only one photograph of his father. This dates from the First World War and shows John in his army uniform. George has kindly allowed me to copy this photograph, and I have used it with this account.

While John was related to my father, he was also a close friend of two of my mother鈥檚 uncles, Michael McCrink and Thomas Savage. They had signed up with the army about the same time as John and his elder brother James Burney, known by many as 鈥楤ish鈥�. So far as I can tell these four, and a number of others from West Cumberland, served at least part of their time on the Western Front during the Great War in the 2nd Battalion, The Border Regiment.

I happen to have some individual and group photographs of soldiers from the First World War showing my paternal Grandfather or Great Uncles. As these other relatives of mine were closely connected to James and John Burney by kinship or friendship, I checked to see if I had a photograph that might have had one or both of these two Burney brothers on them.

Unfortunately, when I checked George鈥檚 photograph of his father John, he is not on the group photographs with my other relatives. Neither do I think that James Burney is on the photographs, as I asked a Grandson of James Burney, another gentleman also called George Burney, to check if he recognized his grandfather on the photographs. I have subsequently looked to see if there was a different photograph of John Burney in the Cumbria Archives Office, but so far without success. Hence the only photograph of John I have been able to obtain to go with this article dates from the Great War. I have since been given a copy of a photograph of James Burney and submitted this to the "People's War" website (Article Reference ID A8114483).

"A most distressing accident"

Later in 1919 John Burney MM married Alice Killen. John and Alice had nine children, including one set of twins. One daughter, Catherine died in 1934 aged only four years old, and was laid to rest in Whitehaven Cemetery. At the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939 John, Alice and the surviving children were living at Bentinck Row, Back Ginns, Whitehaven. By this time, John was working at Haig Pit in the Kells district of town.

On Thursday 11 January 1940 John was working down the coal mine on the night shift. Miners at Haig Pit worked coal seams out under the Irish Sea which and in January 1940 the area being worked was about 3 miles from the pit shaft next to the cliffs at Kells. That particular night, the conveyor belt that transported the coal from the coal face to the pit shaft had broken. John was one of a team of five men detailed to repair the broken conveyor belt. It was while this work was being undertaken that John suffered severe injuries from which he unfortunately died.

I have read the report of the subsequent inquest into John's death at the Cumbria County Archives Office in Whitehaven. Some of the details given at the inquest make rather grim reading, and these things I am not going to repeat in this article. Summarising what happened according to the inquest was that the workmen were correctly following the only procedure they knew of to repair a conveyor belt. While the repair was in progress, the belt caught on some obstacle causing some slack in the belt. According to one witness, "...the slack seemed to come with a rush". As a consequence of this, John got caught up in the belt and the moving machinery, resulting in horrific injuries.

Two of John's colleagues applied First Aid treatment. These two then helped carry John the three miles to the pit shaft, using what was described at the inquest as a 'ghost train' or 鈥榬iding sett鈥� that the men used for transport between the shaft and the coal face. Even with the help of this 鈥榞host train鈥�, it took about 90 minutes to get John to the bottom of the pit shaft. At the inquest, these two fellows were commended for their very good first aid work. They were named Wilfred Thompson, who lived on Queen Street, and Joseph Stephens, a Pit Deputy, who lived on Cart Road, Preston Street.

The accident had happened at about 11.30 pm, so it was about 1.00 am in the morning when they managed to get John to the bottom of the pit shaft. By this time, Dr Victor C.J. Harris had been called out and had went down the mine. Throughout all this time, John was still conscious. Another fellow miner by the name of Jack Graham asked John how he was and he replied "I'm not so bad, Jack. How about you?" According to Jack, even in the midst of his own pain he asked about Jack's welfare. This is just one example of how brave a man John Burney MM was.

After Dr Harris administered a morphine injection, John was taken to the pit top and hence to hospital by an old wooden ambulance. Sadly, a few hours later, John Burney passed away. The Deputy Coroner, Mr R.W. Marley, stated that it was "... a most distressing accident, but it seemed to have been quite accidental". That was the verdict he passed.

An alternative way to repair a conveyor belt

The report about the inquest into the death of John Burney MM mentions that Mr. H.S. Stephenson represented the owners of the mine, the Cumberland Coal Co. (Whitehaven) Ltd. Representing John鈥檚 relatives was Mr J. Martin J.P., and Mr W. Steele represented the Cumberland Colliery Officials Association.

A breakdown of the conveyor belt taking coal from the face to the shaft would stop production. At this early stage in the war, coal production was vital to the war effort, as well as the company profits, so the conveyor belt needed to be fixed to restore production. The method used by the workmen was the only one they knew, according to witness testimony at the inquest. This method involved the use of an engine and moving machinery, which had been part of the cause of John鈥檚 accident.

In fact, a totally different method of repairing a conveyor belt was possible. This allowed the repair work to be performed by hand and without using the engine. Mr W. Gray, H.M Inspector of Mines, described this alternative method to the inquest. It consisted of drawing up the conveyor belt with clamps, then putting a 鈥楽ylvester鈥� between before joining it. While it may have taken a little longer to do the repair, it was probably much safer.

Mr Marley, the Deputy Coroner, expressed a hope that the Cumberland Coal Company would trial the 鈥楽ylvester鈥� method of repairing a conveyor belt. In response to this, Mr Stephenson for the company said they 鈥溾�� would give it serious consideration鈥�. Whether the method of working did change is impossible to say from the records I referred to in the Archives.

Tribute to a brave man and wife

Everyone who spoke at the inquest paid tribute to John. The company had found him a reliable and valuable workman and everyone had the greatest respect for him. There was also a great deal of sympathy for John鈥檚 widow, Alice and their eight surviving children. After all the tributes to her husband and expressions of sympathy, Alice Burney then looked after her family without a widow鈥檚 pension, nor did the family even qualify for any coal concessions.

Despite the fact John had won the Military Medal in the Great War, no mention was made of it at the inquest, nor is it mentioned in 鈥楾he Whitehaven News鈥� article of 25 January 1940. When remembering the sacrifices and suffering made by people during the World Wars it is easy to ignore those made by those who served on the Home Front.

In 1914 John Burney joined the army, went to war, suffered untold great hardships and was recognised as a war hero, as shown by being awarded the Military Medal. In 1939 many of John鈥檚 fellow miners at Haig Pit who were also in the Territorial Army went to war, while those behind attempted to keep coal production going despite the loss of manpower. When John Burney MM died on 12 January 1940 he was 47 years old, although according to the inquest and the Memorial Vase at his grave it says he was 46. John was laid to rest in the same grave as his young daughter Catherine.

Alice Burney then had to raise her family despite the loss of her dear husband. The following year, on 3 June 1941, Alice had to endure yet another close family loss when her eldest son, John P. Burney, also died in a coal mining accident. This was due to an explosion at William Pit, Whitehaven. John P. Burney is also buried in the same grave as his father and sister. Alice Burney passed away in 1976 at the age of 83. She was a very brave lady.

Conclusion

I can remember my mother鈥檚 uncle Michael McCrink saying to my father that John Burney was one of the bravest men he had ever known. Michael had served with John in the 2nd Battalion, The Border Regiment early in the Great War, and afterwards both John and Michael worked at Haig Pit Kells. This was no idle statement just to be polite coming from someone like Michael McCrink who had known so many soldiers and miners.

Everyone who has told me about John Burney MM has always spoken about him with the highest regard. John served on two very different Fronts in the World Wars and demonstrated the highest bravery in both wars. Although this article is primarily about John Burney MM, I wish to pay tribute to his dear wife Alice Burney. I remember Alice as being very kind and generous in spite of everything.

I would like to thank George Burney from Whitehaven and his wife Mary for their kindness in sharing some memories about their relatives, far more than is written here. Although I have known many of the things I have included in this article for many years, it is only in writing this article that I have really appreciated the sacrifices that families had to endure in the war years and how so much knowledge about them is in danger of being forgotten. Hopefully, this article helps keep alive the memory of the great sacrifices such fine people as John and Alice Burney endured on the Home Front during World War Two.

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