Thomas Young

Who knew my Great-Great-Grandfather had such an industrial/politics pedigree? I'm quite impressed!

Of his background in mining /politics in England nothing is known - but no doubt there was some involvement as he didn't just decide to take on the mantle in his fifties, after a lifetime of work in that industry.

At this point, after many hours of combing archives I still do not know when he immigrated to New Zealand. However I do now know that his wife Elizabeth (née Bainbridge) arrived in December 1888 to Lyttleton on the 'Rimutaka' after a harrowing journey in which two people died in separate incidents. With her came all of their children except John Thomas (Jack). Thomas arrived separately with Jack, likely coming out earlier, around 1886 or 1887 to start work and set up for the family's arrival later.

Durham was well-known for its coal mining and the closely related Teward and Parrish branches of the family also hailed from there with a long history in that industry.

Thomas was apparently born in the small mining town of Pelton Fell, to the west of Chester-le-Street, county Durham, in 1847. his death certificate lists all four questions about his parents as "unknown".

However one document I turned up shows a sixteen-year old coal miner named Thomas Young living with his aunt and uncle Anthony and Elizabeth Russell in the village of Perkinsville next to Pelton - which was named in 1840's by Mr Charles Perkins who ran the coal mines in High Urpeth close by. Obviously Thomas was working there at the time. Although it states the birth place as Chester-Le-Street on this document, the surrounding towns were generally all considered part of it. I think that this is him - and his parents were not so much not known as not stated. This indicates that there were other factors at play for withholding the information such as illegitimacy. It's possible that Elizabeth Russell, or one of Elizabeth and Anthony Russell's siblings, was really his mother. It is hard to know with no birth record to be found, and practically no records of any Youngs in Pelton Fell between 1800 and the 1860s that fit.

Another clue to his past and his parents would perhaps lie in Thomas and Bessie (Elizabeth) Bainbridge 's marriage record. Like several things that always compound to prevent a solution - of course this can't be found in any archives either -although Thomas did marry Bessie in 1865 in Birtley, Chester le Street, County Durham (now part of the County of Tyne and Wear). They were likely married in the St John The Evangelist Church of Birtley Parish (established 1848) by Vicar Francis William Brewsher -rather than the only other church in the town during that period which was Birtley Methodist, ruled out because it was not established until 1899.

The Youngs were known to be in Quebec, at town 10 kilometres west of Durham, when their daughter Mary (Flannagan) was born in 1874. Along with the village of Hamsteels, it was a mining village and there's not much doubt that Thomas would have been working in Cornsay Colliery, established 1868. By 1871 There were 110 families living in Quebec village which was purpose-built as miner's residences.

Presumably, having had two more boys following (Bill and Tom Young), they stayed put in the UK for a little while. By 1890 they have their first New Zealand-born child (Joseph Henry Young, the only other child known to be born in NZ was Jane Ann Rowe) meaning that the other five (that I know of) travelled with them by ship.

A government journal of sessions of the House of Representatives pertains to reports by New Zealand Mine Safety Inspectors on safety standards - and lists some accidents that have occurred over the previous year and mentions "at Shag Point Mine, Thomas Young was injured slightly by getting his fingers jammed." It is highly likely this is him - none of the other Thomas Youngs in New Zealand at the time were miners that I know of thus far. If this is correct then it means the family probably came in to Port Chalmers, as Shag Point was some distance to the north of Dunedin. This theory is confirmed by the fact that according to her birth certificate, Jane Ann was born in Shag Point in 1892.

I suspect the family may have later spent some time in Blackball, Grey with Thomas working the Blackball Mine there (I have no evidence to back up this speculation) and then moved up to Westport around 1894, as By 1895 they were definitely residing in Waimangaroa when their daughter Mary Young married William Henry (Bill) Flannagan. The family settled in the township of Granity, also spending time over the years in Millerton, the next township to the north on the coast but likely also spent some time in Denniston and Hector, other mining towns surrounding Westport.

A journal report of the 1903 Mining Act Amendment Bill And The Coal-mines Act Amendment Bill, by The Goldfields And Mines Committee - mentions in a section regarding the claims and licenses granted pertaining to mining and associated industries, Thomas Young's name in July 1896 as a registered claim on block IV, Addison's for the "Westport Cement Crushing Company" at Addison's Flat,. This lies about eight miles to the south of Westport by road (and was an old gold mining town most notorious historically for the "Battle of Addisons Flat” took place on 3 April, 1868). The claim also mentions the survey district as "Steeples" which would refer to "Steeples Rocks" also known as "The Three Steeples" on the Black Reef there off the point of Cape Foulwind.

Westport has been ideally situated for the manufacture of cement, with abundant limestone at Cape Foulwind (hence the main road known as Limestone Road running right through the area) as well as high-quality coal from the nearby Buller coalfield. The cement works, which is still in situ -was to grow to become the largest employer in the Buller district. I don't know if the current cement works, commenced by Folcim in 1958, has it's history in Thomas Young's "Westport Cement Crushing Co", which was obviously mining and crushing limestone for cement for burgeoning local gold and coal works, however regardless it possibly made him quite well off supplying the needs of the mining industry, and more than able to support his family of eight children.

There is mention of a Thomas Young being the chairman of directors for The Millerton Co-operative Society, Limited in 1905. Millerton was the town next to Granity - around 25 kilometres north-east of Westport. It seems a little out of our Thomas Young's area - but then that said - by this time he was a fairly prominent and well-respected member of the local area so his being asked to chair an organisation is not out of the question at all.

He was a trustee of the Trades and Labour Council in Buller, and also leader of the Granity Coal Miners Union in the mid to late 1900s (although there is reference to him being one of the main reps of the GCMU by 1904). In 1908 he is representing for the Westland Trades and Labour Council, opining on the long hours men were forced to work in regards to the Blackball Mine Strike of that time.

Towards the end of his life he had obviously progressed to high standing in South Coast industrial politics as per the mention in the brief obituary of his being an "old-time Union leader...one of those grand old men who understood the working class position, and always ready to fight for the worker's cause. " His concerns and interests were passed down to either Jack (John) Young (likely candidate) or Joseph Henry (Joe) Young (probably not, given his experience, or rather lack of it) of which one was prominent on the Trades and Labour Council during the same period, representing Westport for the South Coast.

During the 1910s the family were still living in Granity. Thomas Young died in 1920 in Westport Hospital aged 75, a good long life for someone who had spent a good part of it underground working the coal face. He was buried in Orowaiti Middle Cemetery with other family members including son William (Bill) Young who perished in a coal fall in the Westport area aged just thirty, after procuring his Second-class Mine-managers' Service Certificate in 1898.