Baldwin & Sons
Auction 106 15 Sep 2022
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The Hedley Pitt, Mine Rescue, Edward Medal Exchange, George Cross awarded to Richard Henry King for the rescue of Coal Hewer Frederick Beaumont who had been buried by rubble from a collapsed roof in which his father, Chargeman Victor King, was also decorated with the Edward Medal, comprising, George Cross, (Richard Henry King 1930), mounted on its original pin and in Royal Mint case of issue with ribband bar with miniature George Cross emblem, Jubilee Medal 1977, unnamed as issued. Lightly toned very fine, (2).
Richard Hedley King was born on the 13th of January 1905 at Howden‑le‑Wear, County Durham. However, when he was a small child, the family moved to the Stanley area and he was educated at Greenlands Infants and Junior Schools, South Moor, and what is now Anfield Plain Comprehensive School. He became a miner in 1919 and, apart from a short period of time from 1936 to 1942 as a nurseryman, remained a miner until he retired in 1968.
Richard was married and he and his wife, Ethel, had two sons and a daughter. They celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary on the 6th of July 1982.
He was one of nineteen men to receive the Edward Medal for courage in 1930, one of these men being his own father, Victor King, he was the only survivor to exchange his medal for the George Cross.
Edward Medal The London Gazette the 20th of October 1931.
On the 29th of September 1930, a fall of roof occurred in the Hedley Pit, South Moor, County Durham, partially burying a Hewer, Frederick Beaumont. A chargeman, Victor King, was the first to come to the rescue. He found that a small passage‑way remained open by which the buried man might be reached and, with the assistance of his son Richard and John George Tarn, he immediately built two chocks of timber to keep it open. The passage was seven yards long and about two feet square and the only practicable method of rescue was for three men to crawl along the passage‑way and lie full length, two in the passage‑way and one over Beaumont's body, and pass back one at a time, the stones which were pinning him down.
This perilous and arduous work was carried on for nine hours by a team of miners (including Victor King) working in relays under the direction of the manager (Walter Robert Scott) and the under manger (Robert Reed) until at last Beaumont was released, shaken but otherwise uninjured. During the whole of the nine hours the roof was shifting and "trickling" and on four occasions Beaumont was almost freed when a further fall buried him again. At one time the danger of a further fall appeared so great that the manager telephoned for the doctor (Dr. Charles James Brookfield Fox) to come to the pit to amputate Beaumont's leg and so expedite his release. Fortunately – as it turned out – the doctor found it impossible to amputate in the restricted area in which Beaumont was confined, but he remained on the scene until Beaumont was rescued and examined and treated him before sending him to the surface. Shortly after Beaumont was rescued the whole of the tunnel collapsed.
The other eighteen recipients were: John Thomas Akers EM; Thomas Buckley EM; Philip Cox EM; John Dart EM; Thomas Dixon EM; Charles James Brookfield Fox EM; Robert Johnston EM; James Kant EM; Victor King EM; Joseph Lees EM; George Foster Mason EM; George Nancollas EM; Robert Reed EM; Walter Robert Scott EM; Walter Henry Sheldrake EM; John George Tarn EM; Thomas Henry Uren EM; and Willian Waugh EM.
All of the above mentioned also received the Certificate of the Carnegie Hero Fund Trust. Richard King also received the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977.
His hobbies were reading, crosswords and gardening, with tomato growing as a speciality. He gave his Edward Medal to the Beamish Museum in County Durham. He died, aged 78 on the 23rd of November 1983.
Sold with copy extracts and copy letters and copy award certificate for the 1977 Jubilee Medal.
Richard Hedley King was born on the 13th of January 1905 at Howden‑le‑Wear, County Durham. However, when he was a small child, the family moved to the Stanley area and he was educated at Greenlands Infants and Junior Schools, South Moor, and what is now Anfield Plain Comprehensive School. He became a miner in 1919 and, apart from a short period of time from 1936 to 1942 as a nurseryman, remained a miner until he retired in 1968.
Richard was married and he and his wife, Ethel, had two sons and a daughter. They celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary on the 6th of July 1982.
He was one of nineteen men to receive the Edward Medal for courage in 1930, one of these men being his own father, Victor King, he was the only survivor to exchange his medal for the George Cross.
Edward Medal The London Gazette the 20th of October 1931.
On the 29th of September 1930, a fall of roof occurred in the Hedley Pit, South Moor, County Durham, partially burying a Hewer, Frederick Beaumont. A chargeman, Victor King, was the first to come to the rescue. He found that a small passage‑way remained open by which the buried man might be reached and, with the assistance of his son Richard and John George Tarn, he immediately built two chocks of timber to keep it open. The passage was seven yards long and about two feet square and the only practicable method of rescue was for three men to crawl along the passage‑way and lie full length, two in the passage‑way and one over Beaumont's body, and pass back one at a time, the stones which were pinning him down.
This perilous and arduous work was carried on for nine hours by a team of miners (including Victor King) working in relays under the direction of the manager (Walter Robert Scott) and the under manger (Robert Reed) until at last Beaumont was released, shaken but otherwise uninjured. During the whole of the nine hours the roof was shifting and "trickling" and on four occasions Beaumont was almost freed when a further fall buried him again. At one time the danger of a further fall appeared so great that the manager telephoned for the doctor (Dr. Charles James Brookfield Fox) to come to the pit to amputate Beaumont's leg and so expedite his release. Fortunately – as it turned out – the doctor found it impossible to amputate in the restricted area in which Beaumont was confined, but he remained on the scene until Beaumont was rescued and examined and treated him before sending him to the surface. Shortly after Beaumont was rescued the whole of the tunnel collapsed.
The other eighteen recipients were: John Thomas Akers EM; Thomas Buckley EM; Philip Cox EM; John Dart EM; Thomas Dixon EM; Charles James Brookfield Fox EM; Robert Johnston EM; James Kant EM; Victor King EM; Joseph Lees EM; George Foster Mason EM; George Nancollas EM; Robert Reed EM; Walter Robert Scott EM; Walter Henry Sheldrake EM; John George Tarn EM; Thomas Henry Uren EM; and Willian Waugh EM.
All of the above mentioned also received the Certificate of the Carnegie Hero Fund Trust. Richard King also received the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977.
His hobbies were reading, crosswords and gardening, with tomato growing as a speciality. He gave his Edward Medal to the Beamish Museum in County Durham. He died, aged 78 on the 23rd of November 1983.
Sold with copy extracts and copy letters and copy award certificate for the 1977 Jubilee Medal.