Among the items left to me by my late paternal grandfather is a photograph
taken around 1920 showing him and a number of his colleagues wearing their
sappers gear. There is a semi-legible description which indicates that they
are sapper miners and belong to some part of the army engineers. The photo
looks for all the world like one of those early images of mines rescue
teams.
My grandfather spoke very little about his army days, other than
oft-repeated humourous anecdotes, but from what I can gather from
relatives, his arrival in the sappers was a direct consequence of his
father trying to save him from a life down the pit. Apparently, the career
options open to him in south Yorkshire at the time (1914) were coalmines,
quarries or the army. He apparently dallied in a quarry near Conisborough
for a bit, then joined the army - after all, the little bit of fuss that
was going on across the Channel would be "over by Christmas". Ironically,
it seems that because of the family's mining background, he found himself
in the sappers, specialising in tunnelling (i.e. under the enemy). I had
until now assumed that sapper miners tended to be recruited from
experienced miners, at least in the Great War.
I'd like to find out a bit more about the sort of work the old chap did and
about the sapper miners more generally. It would also be interesting to
know whether the sappers did have the equivalent of a mines rescue, or
whether the sort of gear he is wearing in the photo which, as I said above,
is very reminiscent of early coal mines rescue teams, was just standard
issue. Or did they get involved in civilian rescue operations?
Grateful for any steers.
John
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