Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Washington Colliery Medal 1922 awarded to G. Venison

Washington Colliery Medal 1922, obverse inscribed, ‘Washington Colliery, “F. Pit” Rescue Party, awarded to G. Venison, for Bravery, Sept. 1922’, reverse with laurel wreath, uninscribed, 26mm. dia., 9ct. gold, 10.34g., hallmarks for Birmingham 1922, ring suspension, in card box, good very fine, rare £280-320

George Venison (1869 – 1933) is recorded in the 1911 census as a Colliery Deputy Overman, living at Monument Terrace, Usworth, Washington, County Durham.

The Washington Colliery Rescue

´Three miners were entombed in Washington Pit yesterday morning [Friday 8th September 1922], and as the result of strenuous efforts the rescue parties succeeded in establishing communication with them at noon today. All three were alive and well. The men who were imprisoned in the mine are Richard Brookes, John Wilson, M.M., and Robert Buck. The men went into the pit at four o´clock yesterday morning, and at about nine o´clock a fall was discovered. It was a very large one, some 30 yards in length, and it cut off the three men from their comrades. Directly the discovery was made the rescue work was undertaken. Mr. Tom Burt, the under-manager, was speedily in the place, with Mr. John Hill, the fore overman, and from then until noon today they had not left the spot. Relays of men worked unceasingly under their direction. At first it was feared that the men could not be reached in time to save their lives, or that they might already be dead, but after a time they were heard knocking in response to the knocking of their rescuers. The task of the rescuers was a difficult one, as they had to cut a tunnel about two feet wide through the fallen mass of stone. At last they were able to converse with the imprisoned men, and they then realised that all being well they would be able to rescue them.´ (Sunderland Daily Echo, 9 September 1922)

´Resounding cheers went up from hundreds of grateful friends gathered round the "F" Pit at Washington, yesterday, when word was brought to bank that the three miners who had been entombed below had been rescued. The men had been imprisoned in the bowels of the earth for nearly two whole days and nights by a heavy fall of stone with nothing to sustain them but a pint of water, which was shared in precious portions between them. The only thing that could have saved them from blank and utter despair was the dull and distant noises of the rescue parties which broke the eerie silence of their surroundings early on Friday night. Then, at 3:25am on Saturday morning the entombed men were able to get a glimpse of the welcome beam from the rescuers´ lamps through the first small crevice they had made in the stone which had blocked their way to the free air above. Soon a hole big enough to hand refreshments through was made, and the men, rejoicing and relieved, though naturally exhausted, soon made their rescuers aware that they were quite sound and uninjured. "What day is it?" queried Brookes, to whom, as well as the others, the weary hours of suspense had doubtless seemed an eternity. "It’s like coming out of the trenches", added Wilson, who like his two comrades is an ex-service man, and who was awarded the Military Medal in the Great War. When the exit had been made large enough for the men to pass through more food and coffee was given them, and they were wrapped in rugs by the doctor’s orders. At 4:30am the rescue party returned to bank, and the news of the success of their endeavours was received with cheers, which increased when the three men were observed coming down the gangway. They were conveyed to their respective homes in a motor-car.´ (Sunderland Daily Echo, 11 September 1922).

With copied newspaper and census extracts.