Hi Peter, I was talking to a member of the Turton Local History Society yesterday, who told me that she had a book containing all the victims of the Pretoria Pit disaster and where they were buried. Unfortunately, due to domestic circumstances, she is not at present able to locate this book, but has assured me that she will do so over the next week or so. Hope you can wait that long! Valerie

Hello Valerie Thanks for taking the trouble to ask some questions about Pretoria victims. I'm afraid your informant may be misremembering what she has read. As far as we know there is no complete reliable list of victims yet published, let alone a record of where they were buried. But I live in hope. A book was published this year by Jack Nadin from Burnley called "Lancashire Mining Disasters 1835-1910". It includes Pretoria with a list of names as recorded by a Mr Gerrard, an Inspector of Mines at the time - one of the best known lists, but still some short of the 344 total, and nothing about burials which was not the Inspectorates' concern. Thanks to the BOLTON list and Bob Winder's help I contacted the current Superintendent Registrar for Bolton, who confirmed for me that only 343 deaths were ever registered from the Pretoria disaster. That includes 16 Unknown Male deaths. Yet we have reliable information about 344 victims. Nothing is ever simple. Regards Peter Wood