Bagshawe Cavern fatality in 1985

langcliffe

langcliffe

Well-known member
In February 1985, a 14-year-old lad called Mark Dowsett from Grantham drowned in Bagshawe Cavern whilst on a school outing. This incident has an entry in the list of caving fatalities published in Descent 198 (2007), and I have found one newspaper reference (Newcastle Journal, 18 February 1985), unfortunately without the name of the casualty.

Does anybody, especially those with a Peak inclination, have a better reference for this incident? It didn't get reported in Descent or Caves and Caving.

Thanks.
 
Doesn't help in this case, but have you also seen:
https://www.mountain.rescue.org.uk/assets/files/The%20Oracle/History%20and%20people/CaveRescueBeforeNeilMoss.pdf

& did you look at Alan Gray's magnum opus of Mendip Rescues that I posted in other thread?
 
mikem said:
Doesn't help in this case, but have you also seen:
https://www.mountain.rescue.org.uk/assets/files/The%20Oracle/History%20and%20people/CaveRescueBeforeNeilMoss.pdf

& did you look at Alan Gray's magnum opus of Mendip Rescues that I posted in other thread?
Click to expand...

Thank you, but my attention is focussed elsewhere at the moment.
 
No problem, I modified the post as an afterthought, so would have been easy to miss.

The article doesn't add any casualties, apart from the servant that the Earl of Leicester had lowered down Eldon Hole in the 1500s & died 8 days later (possibly from head injuries caused by the others lobbing stones down "to scare away the devils")...
 
In this case is Dowset spelt with one T (wikipedia) or two (above)?

The incident does get a mention in Cave Science p.12 bottom:
http://cavescience2-cloud.bcra.org.uk/2_CaveScience/ckc020.pdf
 
mikem said:
In this case is Dowset spelt with one T (wikipedia) or two (above)?
Click to expand...

Who knows? I haven't got a reference which includes the name (apart from the cited Descent reference), which is what I am really after.  Probably 'Dowsett'.
 
mikem said:
richardg mentioned it on here (one T): https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=25123.msg310442#msg310442
Click to expand...

Thanks - that indicates that something may emerge from our Peak District colleagues.
 
langcliffe said:
mikem said:
In this case is Dowset spelt with one T (wikipedia) or two (above)?
Click to expand...

Who knows? I haven't got a reference which includes the name (apart from the cited Descent reference), which is what I am really after.  Probably 'Dowsett'.
Click to expand...

On further investigation, Dowsett with a double-T:

dowsett.jpg
 
I was a member of the lead team on this incident and helped put him in the cas-bag after Batch had recovered him from the sump, a very sobering experience that is never forgotten---
 
The England and Wales Birth & Death Registration Indices have a Mark William Dowsett (double t) born September 1969, registered at Grantham, Lincolnshire - and died Feb 1985, registered at Bakewell, Derbyshire. This should be based on the information on the birth and death certificates, so should be pretty definitive.
 
RichardB1983 said:
The England and Wales Birth & Death Registration Indices have a Mark William Dowsett (double t) born September 1969, registered at Grantham, Lincolnshire - and died Feb 1985, registered at Bakewell, Derbyshire. This should be based on the information on the birth and death certificates, so should be pretty definitive.
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Yes - I had established that, thanks. What I am after is a contemporary account of the incident with his name.
 
That should be available from DCRO's own records. 

Or, alternatively, PM me (to remind me) and I'll give you contact details for Bill Whitehouse, who I think would have been DCRO secretary at the time, and you can ask him.

 
Jenny P said:
That should be available from DCRO's own records. 

Or, alternatively, PM me (to remind me) and I'll give you contact details for Bill Whitehouse, who I think would have been DCRO secretary at the time, and you can ask him.
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Thanks, but presumably they are unpublished and hence not suitable for a reference.
 
I was the support diver during the rescue and remember there being a reasonably sized article about it in the Sheffield Star. I?m sure the TSG have a copy of this in clubs log book from the time.

Mark
 
Mark Wright said:
I was the support diver during the rescue and remember there being a reasonably sized article about it in the Sheffield Star. I?m sure the TSG have a copy of this in clubs log book from the time.

Mark
Click to expand...

Excellent - I'll investigate. Many thanks.
 
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