Mr. J. B. Atkinson, H.M.I.M.
The following brief biographical sketch of Mr. J. B. Atkinson, until recently H.M. Inspector of Mines for the district of East Scotland, will doubtless be of interest to many of our readers.
If heredity and environment count for much in the science of mining Mr. Atkinson’s success as an inspector of mines may be readily understood. His father, the late Mr. J. J. Atkinson, was for many years H.M. Inspector of Mines for the district of South Durham, and occupied a very prominent position in mining circles in the north of England. In addition to the interesting official reports which he wrote from year to year, he found time to write and publish many papers on mine ventilation and kindred subjects, on which he was indeed, one of the leading authorities. He was among the first to reduce ventilation to a science, and in the elucidation of its principles conducted many original and exhaustive experiments, the results of which were most ungrudgingly given to the mining world. Most of these results are recorded in the “Transactions of the North of England Institute of Mining Engineers,” and of kindred societies; and his little treatise on “Mine Gases,” first read before the Manchester Geological Society in 1862, still maintains its position as a standard text-book on the subject.
John Boland Atkinson, the subject of the present sketch, was born in 1852, and received his elementary education at the Grammar School in Houghton-le-Spring. Leaving school at the age of seventeen, he commenced his apprenticeship as a mining engineer with Mr. J. Daglish, at the Marquis of Londonderry’s extensive collieries in the county of Durham. Under his direction he acquired a considerable experience in all the routine work of these large and well-appointed collieries, an experience which he subsequently extended at Lord Durham’s Lambton and Lumley Collieries. He was thereafter employed for some time as assistant to Mr. Emmerson Bainbridge at Nunnery Colliery, near Sheffield; but on his father’s early death he returned to Durham, and was for some years engaged at Haswell, Shotton, Whitworth, Hamsteels, and Castle Eden Collieries, with Mr. W. F. Hall and the late Mr. R. S. Johnson.
When Newcastle College of Science was founded, he entered as a student, and distinguished himself by taking first place in mathematics, chemistry, physics, and geology, thus becoming the student of the year.
The Coal Mines Act Regulations Act (1872) for the first time required that colliery managers should be certificated. Mr. Atkinson presented himself at Darlington, at the first examination held there under the new Act, and not only succeeded in obtaining a certificate of competency, but took first place at the examination.
The administration of this Act necessitated a considerable increase in the number of inspectors. Mr. Atkinson obtained a nomination, passed the Civil Service examination, and early in 1873 was appointed an inspector under the Coal and Metalliferous Mines Acts. His official life has therefore extended over a period of nearly thirty years, and he is at present the inspector of longest standing on the staff.
He acted as assistant inspector in the Durham district for about a year, and was then transferred to Newcastle district, in which he assisted the late Mr. Willis for fifteen years.
While in the north of England a series of disastrous colliery explosions occurred, resulting in the loss of many lives. In the performance of his official duties Mr. Atkinson had special opportunities for investigating the circumstances attending these explosions, and the conviction was forced upon him that the terrible results produced could not be attributed to firedamp. He was deeply impressed with the enormously increased danger arising from the presence of coal dust, and in conjunction with his brother, Mr. W. N. Atkinson, now H.M. Inspector of Mines for Stafford district, he wrote a book on “Explosions in Coal Mines,” in which he embodied the more important of these investigations and the conclusions which he based upon them. Their object was to call the attention of the mining community to the dangers arising from coal dust, a subject to which at that time little attention was paid, and probably less importance was attached; and it is perhaps not too much to say that, by inducing mining engineers and managers to study the question for themselves, their book had a most valuable educative influence, and has been the means of saving many lives.
On the retrial of the late Mr. Ralph Moore, at the end of 1888, Mr. Atkinson was transferred to the East of Scotland district, and acted as chief inspector therein until his transference to Newcastle district in July last.
When he came to Scotland, Mr. Atkinson was personally known to very few people in the district, but although naturally of a studious and somewhat retiring disposition, he rapidly formed a large circle of friends. Employees and workmen were alike quick to discover that they had to deal with a gentleman of high scientific attainments, and possessed of a thoroughly practical as well as a theoretical knowledge of all mining operations. His conciliatory disposition, shrewdness, and strict sense of justice rapidly won the confidence of the mining community, and not infrequently enabled him to reconcile apparently conflicting interests, and get employees and workmen to look at both sides of matters in dispute, and thus to effect the settlement of questions which might otherwise have resulted in serious stoppage of work. He did not invariably see eye to eye with the mineowners and the officials on the one hand, or with the miners and their accredited agents on the other; but while forming, and holding tenaciously to his own opinions, he showed that he knew how to respect the opinions of those who differed from him.
During his residence amongst us there were fortunately no very large or serious explosions of firedamp or coal dust; but there were occasions – such as the disasters at Mauricewood in 1889, when sixty-three lives were lost, and at Hill of Beath in 1901, when seven lives were lost, owing to underground fires; at Devon in 1897, when six lives were lost, owing to an irruption of water; and at Donibristle in 1901, when eight lives were lost, owing to an irruption of moss – when his ripe experience and judgement enabled him to give most valuable advice and assistance to those engaged in rescue and recovery operations; and his patient and skilful unravelling of the causes of these disasters, as detailed in his annual reposts, confirmed the high opinion which had been formed of his abilities as a mining engineer.
He was president of the Mining Institute of Scotland for three years, and during his term of office took a deep interest in the affairs of the Institute, and contributed some very valuable and suggestive papers to its “Transactions.” He also gave valuable evidence before the Royal Commissions on Coal Dust, Labour, and Coal Supplies.
In July last he was transferred to the Newcastle district, to the universal regret of the mining community in East Scotland; and while many of his old friends in the north of England would doubtless welcome his return, we feel sure that none will more heartily wish for his continued success than the many friends whom he has left behind him in Scotland.
From The Colliery Journal and Mining Engineer, Volume 1, 1902 – 1903