This photograph was taken in approximately 1948-49 whilst he was on his last period of convalescence shortly before he died, having travelled from the smoke of Wombwell to the clean air of my Mothers parents home in Weston Colville, Cambridgeshire. At this point, of course it was too late.

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As a coal miner all his life he developed Silicosis through his constant exposure to coal dust. His time down the pit during the war was particularly intensive because of the demands on production.

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( The pathologist, Dr. D. E. Price,said the lungs were almost adherent to the chest walls and fibrosis was present. The silicosis had been going on for some years. Death, in his opinion, was due to broncho- pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and silicosis. The condition would be due to inhalation of silica dust. In reply to Mr. Mellor, Dr. Price said the broncho-pneumonia was the terminal condition. )

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I have one memory of my grandad when, as a small boy of five years old, I was taken to see him. I have the picture in my mind of him lying in bed wheezing and barely able to breathe. At least he saw me before he died.