Asbestos Figures in History: Nellie Kershaw

Ill-fated career path from humble beginnings

Nellie Kershaw was born in 1891, in Rochdale, England. At the age of 12, she began working at a cotton mill, and soon went on to work at a nearby asbestos company, where she would stay for many years. When Nellie was 26 years old, she began working as a spinner for Turner Brothers Asbestos Company in a textile factory. These were the years that saw asbestos use soar in commercial practices. By the time she turned 29, she was developing pulmonary symptoms that would eventually lead to her untimely death.

Nellie Kershaw’s asbestos-related illness took her life.

Despite these health concerns, Nellie continued to work for Turner Brothers for several years, until, in 1922, she became too sick to continue. After diagnosing her with ‘asbestos poisoning,’ Nellie was issued with a National Health Insurance certificate stating that she was sick and therefore unfit for work.

For decades, the asbestos industry denied that asbestosis was a real illness that should be covered by worker’s compensation.

Nellie took this certificate to her insurers to seek benefit payments, however, given that her diagnosis related to an occupational illness, she was instructed to seek compensation from Turner Brothers under the Workmen’s Compensation Act.

At that time, the Workmen’s Compensation Act stated that the suffering of certain specified occupational injury and illness (as deemed applicable by the government) would entitle a worker to payments from their employers. Sadly, for Nellie, it wasn’t quite so simple.

Nellie’s legacy

Following Nellie’s diagnosis and her employer’s denial of liability, her death was recorded in the British Medical Journal, and many medical professionals became increasingly interested in the case. The Rochdale coroner, Dr. FW Mackichan, conducted post-mortem pathology studies and a microscopic examination of her lungs, and concluded that “pulmonary tuberculosis and heart failure” were the cause of Nellie’s death. The findings revealed that asbestos mineral particles were indeed found in her lungs, and that these fibers, beyond any reasonable doubt, were the primary cause of her asbestosis and subsequent death. 

Additionally, Kershaw’s original diagnosing doctor contributed to the inquest with a written testimony stating that he had arrived at the “asbestos poisoning” diagnosis having seen similar lung conditions in many other patients who worked with asbestos. He stated that up to a dozen similar cases presented to him every year.

Despite these findings, it would be another 10 years before asbestosis would be listed as an occupational illness eligible for benefit. Furthermore, asbestos companies such as Turner Brothers continued to deny the hazard their workplaces posed to employees, and failed to address the need for any workplace safety measures. 

In the years that followed, many more deaths were reported, with asbestosis occurring in many more of Turner Brothers’ workers. A 1955 study found that long-term Turner Brothers workers were 10 times more likely to develop lung cancer than the general British population.

Nellie’s death became the first ever case of occupational asbestos exposure recorded in medical literature. Her case could have literally saved millions of lives, if only Turner Brothers had acknowledged the cause and taken the appropriate action. Instead, they denied liability to protect their profits, and continued to operate multiple asbestos companies for decades more, ignoring warnings and neglecting to even adequately manage the environment at many of their factories. 

Nellie’s death and a subsequent Parliamentary enquiry did result in the first Asbestos Industry Regulations being set in 1932. While the dangers of asbestos continued to be buried and ignored by industry employers until the 1970s and early 1980s, Nellie’s case nevertheless brought the dangers of asbestos into focus for the first time. 

If only…

Nellie’s story lies at the heart of the tragic history of asbestos; not only was her diagnosis and death the first-ever recorded case of occupational asbestos exposure, but, had her employer’s response been different, it could have rewritten history and spared the lives and suffering of millions of victims.