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Harry Bearder

Age: unknown

Sex: male

Date: 28 Dec 1927

Place: Brookhill Colliery, Pinxton, Nottingham

Harry Bearder died after he was hit over the head in a fight but the cause of death could not be determined.

Harry Bearder had lived in Hamlet Lane, South Normanton.

A 71-year-old man was charged with his murder, it being said that he had struck Harry Bearder on the head and fractured the base of his skull on the pit bank at the Brookhill Colliery of the Pinxton Company on 23 December 1927.

Harry Bearder died in Nottingham General Hospital on Wednesday 28 December 1927.

An effort had been made to take his dying depositions but without luck.

Harry Bearder and the other man had both been employed at the colliery and the other man had been a foreman joiner and had a small cabin, about 8ft by 9ft on the pit bank for the use of himself and several men.

It was heard that on the afternoon of 23 December 1927 that Harry Bearder and two others had entered the cabin and a window was broken and that when the foreman came up he demanded to know how the window had been broken and ordered the men out of his cabin after which a scuffle took place and Harry Bearder was injured.

The foreman had lived in Beacon Hill off Crown Street in Blue Bell Hill, Nottingham.

It was said that there had been about six men in the cabin at the time.

A miner that had lived in Duke Street, South Normanton who worked at Brookhill Colliery in Pinxton said that he knew the foreman and also knew Harry Bearder who was a stallman at the pit. He said that at about 2.30pm on 23 December 1927 that he swung a piece of metal and broke a window. He said that Harry Bearder had been lying on a form at the time and that the foreman then came to the door and asked what they had been doing and that Harry Bearder asked him what it had to do with him.

He said that when Harry Bearder said that that the foreman rushed into the cabin and got hold of Harry Bearder's legs as if he was going to pull him out of the cabin and that Harry Bearder's legs were then pulled to the floor. He said that Harry Bearder then got to his feet and that he and the foreman started struggling and that everyone else then left the cabin.

The miner said that he didn't see any blows struck.

He noted that Harry Bearder had been a strong young fellow and a bit of an athlete but not quarrelsome.

He said that when the foreman came into the cabin he had asked who had broken the window and then said that he was going to take all their names but that no one answered him except for Harry Bearder who asked, 'What the ---- has that to do with you?'.

When the miner was asked whether he was suggested that the joiner, a 70-year-old man had then attacked Harry Bearder, the miner said that the foreman had pulled Harry Bearder's legs.

When the miner was asked why they all left the cabin he said that they thought they would give Harry Bearder a good chance. He noted that they had not left the cabin because they were told.

When cross-examined, the miner said that he didn't see Harry Bearder take the foreman by the throat when he got up, saying that they had been holding each other by the throat.

He added that on Fridays, if it was wet, that he and others used to receive their wages in the cabin.

A house surgeon at Nottingham General Hospital said that Harry Bearder had been admitted on 23 December 1927 at 5.15pm in a semi-conscious state and bleeding from the left ear and that he died on 28 December 1927.

He said that his cause of death was meningitis following fracture of the base of the skull and that the fracture could have been caused by a blow from a piece of wood that he was shown. He added that it would have needed a fairly strong blow as Harry Bearder had had very thick hair.

He noted that no post mortem was held.

Another miner at Brookhill Quarry, who had lived in Park Lane, Pinxton, said that he had gone into the cabin and that the foreman had been in there with another man and that the foreman and the other man had gone out after which a pane of glass was broken. He said that the foreman then came back to the door of the cabin and called the other man he had been with and said to him 'If I had anything to do with it you would all come out of the cabin' to which he said that Harry Bearder asked him what it had to do with him to which he said Harry Bearder replied, 'I will ---- --- show you' and rushed at Harry Bearder as if to pull him off the form.

He said that a struggle then followed at the back of the cabin, noting that some remarks were exchanged between the two men but that he didn't hear what they were.

He said that he then came away from the struggle and didn't see any blows struck. He noted that Harry Bearder had not told them to leave but that they had thought it best to leave.

The man that had been with Harry Bearder when he had gone out was a carpenter employed at the colliery. He said that he had known the foreman. He said that on 23 December 1927 that he had been outside the banksmen's cabin and that Harry Bearder had then gone in and when he did he shouted to him and that he then went to the cabin door and saw Harry Bearder nudge at a man with his knee and heard him tell him to clear out.

He said that the man, Harry Bearder, then sprang up off the seat and that the foreman got hold of him by the throat. He said that the other men then rushed out of the cabin and that he had to stand back and that he then saw Harry Bearder holding the foreman down with his head on the seat. He said that he then said to Harry Bearder, 'You ought to have more sense than to get hold of an old man like that'.

He noted that the foreman was a little hard of hearing and that he didn't know if he had heard what he said. He said that the foreman then managed to throw Harry Bearder off and he went down on one knee. However, he said that Harry Bearder looked as though he was going to grab the foreman again, at which time the foreman had been standing up about a yard from Harry Bearder. He said that the foreman was gasping for breath and that his eyes were almost coming out of his head. He said that there was a stick, like the one produced at the trial, lying near the form and that the foreman picked it up and struck Harry Bearder with it on the head and that Harry Bearder fell at once.

He said that Harry Bearder then said, 'He has done me. Fetch a doctor', noting that he repeated that two or three times.

He said that he then got hold of Harry Bearder to prevent further bother, noting that Harry Bearder was bleeding from the left ear and that he later helped Harry Bearder into the ambulance.

When the carpenter was cross-examined, he said that he did not hear Harry Bearder say, 'I would kill you if you were not an old man'.

He further noted that the foreman had been standing when he had struck Harry Bearder with the stick.

A banksman employed at the colliery said that at about 3pm he had been in the board office at the colliery when the foreman came in and said to him, 'Come on to the bank a minute' and that when he asked him what for, the foreman replied, 'I have struck a man' and when he asked him why he said, 'I went to clear them out of the cabin and he jumped up and laid hold of my throat. I grabbed a piece of wood and clouted him one'. When the banksman asked, 'Have you knocked him out?' the foreman replied, 'Yes, he is lying still, anyhow'. When the banksman asked the foreman what he had hit Harry Bearder with he replied, 'Only a tram stick'. The banksman then said to him, 'You must have given him a good one' to which the foreman replied, 'Yes, I have given him a good one'.

They then went to the cabin and arranged for Harry Bearder to be taken to the hospital.

A colliery manager said that the foreman had no authority over the cabin but said that if a window was broken that it was his duty to find out who broke it and report it. However, he later added that in the eyes of the men that the foreman would have had an implied authority.

He added that the foreman had been a good workman and had been employed at the colliery for several years. He said that he was a quiet and inoffensive man and not likely to start a row.

When the foreman made a statement he said, 'About 3pm on December 23rd I saw windows of the pit bank cabin being broken. I went to see what was being done. I told all the lot of them to come out and because they would not come out I shouted for the carpenter. He came and I said 'let's have you out of here' and as soon as I said that the man whom I now know to be Harry Bearder collared me by the neck, shoved my head at the back of the form and said, 'If you hadn't been an old man I would have killed you'. I twisted myself away from him. I picked up the piece oof wood 2ft 8in long by 1¾ins by 1in and struck at Bearder. I only struck once and it floored him. When I struck at the man he was in a crouching attitude, coming for me again. The carpenter was in the doorway when I struck Bearder. There were also three or four others inside the cabin but I cannot say who they were. They were strangers to me. When I saw what had happened I went straight away for the ambulance man and accompanied them to the ambulance room'.

The stick was taken in evidence and was described as a wooden tram stop and to have weighed 2lbs 6ozs and to have been 31 inches long.

A police sergeant said that when he arrived at the colliery at 4.15pm and saw the foreman and charged him with inflicting grievous bodily harm to Harry Bearder that the foreman replied, 'I have nothing to say. I have had it put down'. He said that when the foreman was later charged with murder he again said, 'I have nothing to say'.

The foreman was however committed on a charge of manslaughter and tried at the Derby Assizes where he was acquitted on Friday 24 February 1928. When the judge summed up he called attention to the unsatisfactory state of the medical evidence, stating that they really did not know the cause of death. The jury then, after a short deliberation, acquitted the foreman.

The foreman's defence said that the foreman had acted in self-defence.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

see Aditnow

see BTCK Storage

see Nottingham Evening Post - Thursday 23 February 1928, p1

see The Scotsman - Friday 30 December 1927

see Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal - Friday 06 January 1928

see Nottingham Journal - Friday 24 February 1928

see Derby Daily Telegraph - Saturday 24 December 1927

see Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal - Friday 24 February 1928

see Derby Daily Telegraph - Thursday 23 February 1928