Army Service Corps, Service no. 1051
02/12/1869 – 21/01/1933
In 1896, Fielding was 27 years-old, living at 27 Robinson Lane, Kippax with his elder sister Emily Pickard (1857-1919), and Emily’s son Louis Pickard, who was 19. Louis has been named after Emily and Fielding’s brother Louis Pickard (1858-1876) who had died at the age of 18. Fielding’s second cousin was Benjamin Pickard (1842-1904, pictured below) who had been Leader of the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain since 1881, and who in 1893, had led the miners in the biggest industrial dispute the country had hitherto seen. Over the three years that followed, the coal mining industry had declined and coal miners were suffering. In September 1893, the workforce had to lobby the Micklefield Coal & Lime Company to withdraw funds from the Sick, Accident and Widows and Orphans fund, just to tide them over.
Fielding and his nephew set off for work at 6am as usual on the 30th April 1896, and walked to the Peckfield Colliery, Micklefield. Due to the state of the industry, miners had only been doing 3 paid days a week for the past few weeks, and today was a ‘laik’ or play day. No coal was to be removed, and consequently no miners would be paid. Fielding and Louis intended to gather the coal during Thursday, keep it in the mine overnight, and then return on Friday morning to remove it and get paid.
After taking the lift 185 feet down to the Beeston Bed, Fielding and Louis split up. Fielding was working to the South of the pit, and Louis working to the North with Fred Bellerby, aged 21, also from Kippax. Louis and Fred were the last two men to be killed directly by the explosion. Once the explosions had stopped and 24 men lay dead, the 81 surviving miners, including Fielding, faced a race against time to escape the pit, which was now filling with firedamp gas from the roof collapses. 43 miners of these were trapped by fallen roofs, and succumbed to afterdamp, and only 42 miners escaped. Fielding Pickard was one of the last men to be found by a rescue party, led by the Manager of the Garforth Colliery, Robert Routledge (1844-1919, pictured below right) who wrote in his diary:
Once he had escaped the mine, Fielding instantly volunteered to go straight back down to join one of the rescue parties. Of 8 miners from Kippax who were at Peckfield, only Fielding and 19 year old Sidney Revis made it back. Fielding was interviewed the same day by a reporter from the Yorkshire Evening Post, who wrote:
As Louis Pickard and Fred Bellerby had been working at the extreme North of the pit, they were among the last four bodies to be recovered, almost 2 weeks later. Fielding identified his nephew at the inquest, and must have been horrified (testimony below). It is also noteworthy that William Bellerby, who identified his brother Fred (and earlier his brother Harry) went on to become Treasurer of the Kippax Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Comforts Fund during the First World War:
Unwilling to return to coal mining, Fielding left Kippax, and moved away to Cheetham Hill, Manchester, to work as a Brewer’s Drayman. However, he returned to Kippax and married Pauline Appleyard on 24th September 1898.
Fielding and Pauline had one child, a son who was born on the 30th April 1902, six years to the day after Fielding’s nephew Louis had been killed at Peckfield. They named him John Louis Pickard, and although he was born in Wigan, he was baptised in Kippax. The family then moved away to Broughton, Salford.
On the 5th August 1914, England declared war on Germany. The following day, Fielding Pickard, now aged 44 and 5 months, enlisted for the army. The next day, 7th August 1914, Lord Kitchener appealed for volunteers. Fielding’s enlistment papers show he was 5 ft 5″, a motor driver by trade, and he left for France on the 16th August 1914, and stayed in the Army Service Corp, until 1919. On the 3rd April 1918, his only child, John Louis Pickard died at Ladywell Sanatorium, Pendleton, Salford, Lancashire from meningitis aged 15, for which Fielding was granted leave. After he returned to France, Fielding was docked 7 days’ pay as a driver on the 20th April 1918 when his lorry clipped a curb, twisting the axle. He was also confined to Barracks for a further seven days as punishment. Fielding returned to Kippax after the war and lived at 29 New Street. He died on the 21st January 1933, aged 63, and was buried with his son in Kippax, and later his wife Pauline who passed away 1st May 1970 at the age of 96.
Kippax Roll of Honour 