A Royal Visit to Bentley

The car carrying King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
in the Royal car at the Bentley Colliery offices.
Photo courtesy of Tony Smith

The Day Bentley Colliery Welcomed The King And Queen 

On the 9th of February 1944 Bentley Colliery was honoured to receive a visit from Their Royal Highnesses King George VI and  Queen Elizabeth (latterly the Queen Mother). This is an account, in words and pictures, of that momentous day.

Contents

• 'Most Secret'
• The Visit
• After The Visit
• More Photos Courtesy Of Tony Smith
• The Official Programme For The Day

'MOST SECRET'

On the 29th of January 1944 a letter was sent to George Henry Huckerby, Secretary of the Bentley Branch of the Y.M.A. at Bentley Colliery. Labelled 'MOST SECRET' , the letter informs Mr Huckerby of the impending visit of Their Majesties the King and Queen to Bentley Colliery on the 9th of February. The letter, from the Ministry of Fuel and Power in Leeds, goes on to give the time and duration of the visit, and tell Mr Huckerby that he and his wife will be presented to the Royal visitors. Gentlemen were requested to wear lounge suits. Right at the end Mr Huckerby is warned that for security reasons he should regard the letter as secret and not divulge the contents to unauthorised persons.

Letter sent to George Henry Huckerby

The Visit

Wednesday the 9th of February was a day filled with a full programme of colliery related visits in South Yorkshire for the King and Queen. The day began with their arrival at Wakefield (Westgate) Station at 10 a.m., from there they went on to the Rescue Station of the West Yorkshire Coal-owners' Association, Wakefield. After a twenty minute visit they left for Bullcliffe Wood Re-instated Opencast Site, after which they visited Darton Colliery, south of Wakefield. 

At 11.30 a.m. the Royal party arrived at Barnsley Town Hall where various dignitaries were presented to them. On leaving Barnsley the Royal couple were driven through a small number of mining villages en-route to Wentworth Opencast Site for another short stop-over. 

A lengthy visit was taken at Elsecar Colliery, which included lunch in the colliery canteen. Following the visit to Elsecar, more mining villages were passed through before reaching Hickleton Colliery at 2.35 p.m.

At 2.50 p.m. the Royal party left Hickleton for their final visit of the day, to Bentley. Arriving at 3.25 p.m. 

For some Bentley folk, the wait to see the Royals was just too long. One local lad, Frank Clarke, was so fed up of waiting he set off for home, when hearing a commotion behind, he looked around to see the Royal cars coming down the road. The King and Queen waved to him stood on his own there. A nice memory for Frank, even if he did feel a little foolish at the time.

At Bentley Colliery a number of dignitaries were presented to Their Majesties, among them were:

• Major Barber, D.S.O., Chairman, Messrs. Barber, Walker & Co. Ltd.
• Mr. C.W. Phillips, General Manager, Messrs. Barber, Wlaker & Co. Ltd.
• Mr. D. MacGregor, Assistant General Manager, Barber, Walker & Co. Ltd.
• Mrs. MacGregor.
• Mr H. Bailey, Delegate, Bentley Branch Y.M.A.
• Mrs. Bailey.
• Mr. J. Birks, Treasurer, Bentley Branch Y.M.A.
• Mr. T. Cook, Under Manager, Bentley Colliery.
• Mrs. Cook.
• Mr. G.H. Huckerby, Secretary, Bentley Branch Y.M.A.
• Mrs. Huckerby.
• Mr. J. Lea, Manager, Bentley Colliery.
• Mrs. Lea.
• Mr. E. Rose, President, Bentley Branch Y.M.A.
• Mrs. Rose.
• Mr. S.J. Temperley, Agent, Bentley Colliery.
• Mrs. Temperley.
• Mr. C. Wainwright, Member, Bentley Pit Production Committee.
• Mrs. Wainwright.

During the forty five minute visit, the Royal party toured the colliery surface and offices, the King swapping his Admiral-of-the-Fleet's uniform for a dust coat and flat cap.

There were stony faces all round when one member of the Royal party admitted that this mining business had him completely baffled - he wondered how the miners knew where to dig the hole to find the 'heap' of coal which they kept loading into wagons!

By 4.10 p.m. the visit was over and the Royal party left Bentley presumably to catch their train back to London from Doncaster station. 

After The Visit

Following the visit, a letter dated 22nd March 1944 was sent to George Henry Huckerby from Barber, Walker & Co. enclosing three photographs of the Royal visit.

Here are those three photos.

More Photos 

Courtesy Of Tony Smith

The Official Programme For The Day

__________

Many thanks to Tony Smith for his photos. Thanks to Judith Davies for the story about her Dad, Frank Clarke. Thanks also to whoever donated the letters, programme and other photos, whose name I failed to record and cannot mention. Please let me know if you recognise sending me the images.

Alison Vainlo 

First written 2019, updated 2020