The Seaham Colliery Disaster
My grandmother’s middle name was Clark. She was Audrey Clark Bullock. The Clark was from her grandmother, Ellen Sarah Clark. Ellen Sarah Clark was born in the mining town of Seaham in County Durham. Her parents had migrated there from rural Norfolk on the promise of well paid and steady work. Seaham was a small village on the North Sea coast that expanded during the 19th century as the coal mines and the harbour where the coal was transported from brought wealth, trade and people to the area. My grandma’s notes: The harbour at Seaham was built by Lord Londonderry between 1828 and 1835 to ship out the coal from his wife’s collieries at Rainton. The new town of Seaham Harbour was built around the docks and until 1850 a high proportion of the inhabitants were seamen. During the eighteen-thirties and forties other coal owners built railways from Hetton, Merton and Haswell to ship their coal from Londonderry’s harbour. In the 1850's further expansion began in the town of Seaham, Two co...