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Thank you very much to all those who replied to my request for help on sapper miners. I was delighted with the response and now have plenty of leads to follow up. John Gibson ---------- > From: John Gibson <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Sapper miners > Date: 19 November 1999 09:00 > > 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 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%