Walking Together Mining Memorial tag

This photograph shows a close up of the bronze tag affixed to one of the 106 steel figures in the Walking Together Mining Memorial at Markham Vale in Derbyshire. It gives the name, age, and job of Arthur Brown, the youngest casualty of the disasters, killed in the Markham Colliery disaster in 1938 with his brother John Thomas. Their father, John James Brown, was seriously injured but survived. At 5.30am on 9 May 1938, tubs carrying coal in the mine ran out of control and hit an electric joint box, causing sparks to ignite the coal dust. 79 men were killed and another 38 injured in the ensuing explosion.

The Walking Together Mining Memorial was commissioned by Derbyshire County Council and designed by sculptor Stephen Broadbent. It consists of 106 steel figures forming a walking trail between the pit village of Duckmanton, where the miners lived, and the site of the old colliery in Markham Vale. The figures represent the 106 men killed in disasters at Markham Colliery, in 1937, 1938 and 1973.