Ex-miner died ‘from natural causes’

Anthony Robert Lonsdale died age 63 at his home address on Cavendish Place on 2nd January.

An inquest held at Rotherham Magistrates Court on Thursday 9th February, heard how the father-of-three worked at Maltby Colliery for over 30 years until 1998, but also smoked for most of his adult life – having five to ten cigars a day in his later years.

Mr Lonsdale had been away to the Isle of Wight over the Christmas period with his wife Pamela. When he returned, he was suffering a cough, cold and flu-like symptoms.

Speaking at the inquest, his daughter Jane Cranswick told of how she went round to their house on New Year’s Day for dinner before Mr Lonsdale went to bed feeling ill.

“Then, on the morning of 2nd January, I got a phone call from my mum saying that she couldn’t wake him up,” said Jane.

“I went down with my husband and tried waking him up. He had fallen out of bed onto his front.”

An ambulance shortly arrived when it was confirmed that he had passed away.

In his verdict, the coroner said that Mr Lonsdale suffered from both two kinds of heart disease as well as emphysema, and had lost 30 to 40 per cent to the function of his lungs.

It was concluded that Mr Lonsdale’s emphysema from smoking rather than his time spent as a coal miner before a formal verdict of death by natural causes was recorded.