Durham Mining Disasters, c. 1700–1950s

Part One

The Early Years

1705–1805

With very few within the working classes literate, superstition often took the place of logic and this was certainly so with the early North East miners. Some thought that explosions and accidents were the work of ‘Auld Nick’ (the Devil) that lived in the lowest regions of the pits and these verses from the Collier’s Rant, with its origins lost in the mists of time, describes these beliefs:

As me an’ me marra were gannin’ te’ wark,

We met wi’ the De’il it was i’ the dark,

Aw up wi’ me pick it being i’ the neet,

Aw chopped off his horns, likewise his club-feet.

Foller the horses, Johnny me laddie,

Foller them through me canny lad, oh!

Foller the horses, Johnny me laddie,

Oh lad lye away me canny lad oh!

As me an’ me marra were puttin’ the tram,

The light it went oot, an’ me marra went wrang,

Ye wad ha’e laughed had ye seen the gam,

The Dei’l tyeuk me marra an’ aw gat the tram.

Foller the horses, Johnny me laddie,

Foller them through me canny lad, oh!

Foller the horses, Johnny me laddie,

Oh lad lye away me canny lad oh!

Although there are few in-depth details of the mining accidents that took place in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries most of the reports that have survived of those with multiple fatalities are described as being due to an explosion. There is a mention of an explosion at Stony Flatt, Gateshead stating only that there were over thirty killed on 3 October 1705. An entry in the burial register of St Mary’s Church lists twenty-two names, including Joseph Jackson, the coal-owner, and his daughter, Abigail.

The earliest pit disaster in the North East recorded with more than perfunctory detail was the report of one that took place at Fatfield, in the parish of Chester-le-Street, in 1708. From the circumstances related it is obvious that at this time the pits of Fatfield were still dependant on natural ventilation to provide any circulation of air. The names of those that lost their lives have not been found and there is no information on when the pit was first established or who the owners were at that time. The disaster was described in the Annals of Coal Mining and the Coal Trade:

18 August: at three o’clock in the morning; the sudden eruption of violent fire discharging itself at the mouths of three pits, with as great a noise as the firing of cannon, or the loudest claps of thunder, and sixty-nine persons were instantly destroyed. Three of them, two men and a woman, were blown quite up from the bottom of the shaft, 342 feet deep, into the air, and carried to a considerable distance from the mouth of the pit. The engine used for drawing up the coals, which was of great weight, was removed and cast aside by the force of the blast; and singularly the fish in a rivulet flowing within about twenty yards from one of the pits were found dead in large numbers, floating on the surface of the water.

The narrator goes on to explain the effects of stith, or chokedamp, and sulphur, or firedamp, and then proceeds to say:

To prevent both these inconveniences, as the only remedy known here, the viewer of the works takes the best care he can to preserve a free current of air through all the works, and as the air goes down one pit it should ascend another. But it happened in this colliery, there was a pit which stood in an eddy, where the air had not always a free passage, and which in hot and sultry weather was very much subject to sulphur; and it being then the middle of August, and some danger apprehended from the closeness and heat of the season, the men were with the greatest care and caution withdrawn from their work in that pit and turned into another; but an overman, some days after this change, and upon some notion of his own, being induced, as is supposed, by a fresh, cool, frosty breeze of wind, which blew that unlucky morning, and which always clears the works of all sulphur, had gone too near this pit, and had met the sulphur just as it was purging and dispersing itself, upon which the sulphur immediately took fire by his candle, which proved the destruction of himself and so many men, and caused the greatest fire ever known in these parts.

A heart rending sketch of families and neighbours rushing to the pit mouth after hearing an explosion. Author’s collection

Three further disasters at Fatfield in the eighteenth century were recorded but all with very little detail. The parish register of Holy Trinity Church at Washington records a number of pitmen from Lonnen Pit, Fatfield, buried on 17 and 19 June 1736 but the entry merely states ‘Lost in Ye Pitt’ with no mention of the cause of death. One tells us only that there was an explosion in 1763 when fifteen people were killed; the other is from Local Records:

1767 (27 March) A terrible accident happened at a colliery near Fatfield, in the county of Durham. The colliery was 80 fathoms deep, and on the morning of the above day, when all the hands were at work, it went off with a tremendous explosion, by which 39 persons lost their lives. The bodies were found in a most mangled condition. In the Newcastle Journal of this time are the following remarks on coal mine explosions: ‘As so many deplorable accidents have lately happened in collieries, it certainly claims the attention of coal owners to make a provision for the distressed widows and fatherless children occasioned by these mines, as these catastrophes from foul air become more common than ever; yet, as we have been requested to take no particular notice of these things, which, in fact, could have very little good tendency, we drop the further mentioning of it; but before we dismiss the subject, as a laudable example for their imitation, we recommend the provision made in the Trinity House for distressed seamen, seamen’s widows, &c, which, in every respect, is praiseworthy and confers honour on that brotherhood.’ It was from such injunctions laid upon the newspaper editors that these occurrences, for a great number of years, were kept as much as possible from the public.

Young boys employed in weighing the coal. www.cmhrc.co.uk

Within the incomplete list of the names that have been found of those that lost their lives at Fatfield were two females. It is rather curious to note that there were no females recorded in any ensuing mining disaster in the County of Durham. Perhaps they were lucky enough to escape death but it seems more likely that only males were employed to work underground after that year. If the latter was the case then it would be to the credit of the coal owners except for the fact that very young boys were not exempt from the pits. The last recorded explosions at Fatfield with multiple fatalities were at Hall Pit on 28 September 1813 when thirty-two men and boys died. Of these nineteen were under the age of sixteen, with two just seven. At the Juliet Pit on 3 July 1925 eleven men and boys and the same number of horses were ‘blown into eternity’.

Lumley appears to have been a dangerous pit but again there is little detail yet found. In 1727 there was an accident which claimed the lives of sixty; an explosion in 1797 killed thirty-one and in 1799 thirty-nine, whose bodies reportedly were never recovered. On 10 June 1757 fifteen men and a boy were suffocated by a gust of foul air which took fire in a pit near Ravensworth. Two explosions at North Biddick, also known as Butney Pit, in Washington, were recorded in Local Records:

1743 [28 January]. About five o’clock in the morning, a dreadful explosion took place at North Biddick colliery, on the river Wear, occasioned by the workmen holing into a drift which communicated with an old waste, by which accident ten men and five boys lost their lives; and one or two who had escaped afterwards died from the effects of the blast. It was remarkable that, though the drift and waste were entirely full of water, yet the foul air immediately fired on holing the drift.

1773 [6 December]. About noon, the foul air, in an old waste of a colliery, near the River Wear, took fire, and breaking down the barrier or partition between the waste and the working pit, made most awful explosions. The pit was 80 fathoms deep, and every thing in the way of the blast was thrown out of the shaft to the height of 200 yards in the air. Most of the pitmen having just in time discovered the danger, were drawn up and escaped unhurt, but some boys and one man who were left behind, lost their lives, and also four horses were torn to pieces, and were thrown to an astonishing height in the air. Most dreadful explosions continued all the day at about five minutes’ distance.

A young man strains to push a coal tub along the track. www.cmhrc.co.uk

Relating to the first report, the pit had exploded with the loss of seventeen lives. The colliery was on the River Weir and some workmen were holing a drift which communicated with old waste when the explosion took place killing ten men and five boys. One or two escaped but later died from their injuries. In the latter disaster nineteen or twenty men and boys perished.

In 1766 an explosion at South Biddick took twenty-seven lives on 16 April and on 22 August a similar tragedy took place at Lambton which was recorded in Local Records:

A most melancholy accident happened at Lambton Colliery, near Chester-le-Street. The workmen, to the number of 100, had just left work and three masons with as many labourers had been let down, in order to build a partition, to secure the coals from taking fire by the lamp, when the said lamp being let down at the request of the masons, to rarefy the air, the latter in an instant took fire, with a terrible explosion, made its way up the pit, destroying men, horses, and all in its passage. The noise of the explosion was heard above three miles round, and the flash was as visible as a flash of lightning; the men below were driven by the force up through the shaft or great tube, like balls out of the mouth of a cannon, and everything that resisted shared the same fate. The neighbourhood being alarmed, collected itself in order to give assistance, but found only heads, arms, and legs, thrown out to a great distance from the mouth of the pit. The ground, for acres, was covered with timber, coals, &c. All the partitions, trap-doors, corves, wood props, and linings, were swept away, together with the engine for drawing up the coals, and all its apparatus.

On 8 December 1778, an explosion at the Dolly Pit at Chartershaugh, Harraton, owned by Mr W Peareth, claimed twenty-four lives. On 27 December 1793, there were fourteen fatalities at the Hope Pit at Sheriff Hill, Wreckington. On 21 January 1794, an explosion ‘in a pit near Newcastle’ was fired by a workman’s candle resulting in the deaths of twenty-five men and boys and sixteen horses. In the same year, within two days of each other, explosions took the lives of fifty-eight men and boys. Thirty were killed at Picktree, near Chester-le-Street, on 9 June and a further twenty-eight at Harraton on 11 June. On occasions some names have been found by comparing parish registers with the dates of the fatalities as with twenty-seven of those who lost their lives at Harraton who were buried in one grave in Chester-le-Street churchyard. The parish record lists them with their place of residence as follows:

Matthew Allan, Harraton New Row.

Robert Allan, Harraton New Row, son of Matthew.

Joseph Bainbridge, Harraton New Row.

Edward Charlton, Harraton New Row.

Joseph Hall, Harraton New Row.

George Stoddard, Harraton New Row.

George Summerson, Harraton New Row.

Andrew Tate, Harraton New Row.

John Tate, Harraton New Row.

Thomas Lee, Harraton New Row.

John Lee, Harraton New Row.

John Harding, Harraton New Row.

George Kellet, Harraton.

George Mowbray, Harraton.

George Nevil, Harraton.

Matthew Roxby, Harraton.

Robert Elliott, Harraton

John Cowel, Rickleton.

George Cowel, Rickleton, son of John.

William Cowel, Rickleton, son of John.

William Hepple, Lambton.

John Thompson, Lambton.

Thomas Humble, Birtley Lane.

A sketch from the Illustrated London News depicting a rescuer being winched down the shaft by a chain. www.cmhrc.co.uk

Joseph Robinson, Birtley Lane.

John Rogerson, Birtley Lane.

Robert Rogerson, Picktree, son of George.

Roger Robertson, Picktree. son of George.

1796 saw six killed at New Washington due to an explosion on 12 February and six by an inundation of water at Slaty Ford on 8 September. There were seven deaths at Washington on 27 February 1798. In 1801, an explosion at Towenley Main Colliery, Stargate took the lives of several men. On what date or how many died is unknown.

At the end of the goaf, a part of the workings of a mine from which all the coal had been extracted. www.cmhrc.co.uk

There is a record of a pit working at Hebburn, ninety to ninety-five feet deep, in the reign of James I (King of England, 1603–1625) and named the Monkton seam after the village of the same name. When the ‘A’ pit was sunk in 1792 the owner was a Mr Wade who subsequently sunk the ‘C’ Pit and both were put down to the main seam at a depth of 112 fathoms. On 6 October 1805, an explosion took the lives of thirty-five men and boys of which twenty-eight names have been found. Twenty-three of the victims were interred between 9 and 10 October and five on 1 and 2 December:

Thomas Telford, 16, driver.

Matthew Broughbank, 18, driver.

Thomas Lundy, 18 overman.

John Cooper, 19, hewer.

George Gibson, 20, collier.

George Heslop, 22, hewer.

Jacob Elrington, 23, hewer.

Francis Johnson, 24, wasteman.

James Liddell, 24, hewer.

Ralph Jameson, 25, hewer.

Edward Wilson, 25, collier.

Ralph Todd, 26, onsetter.

Thomas Stuart, 28, wasteman.

John Chapman, 30, hewer.

John Coulshaw (?) 30, onsetter.

Thomas Dodds, 38, wasteman.

John Harbottle, 30, hewer.

Ralph Corby, 40, overman.

David Todd, 40, onsetter.

George Bailey, 42, hewer.

Thomas Davidson, 44, shifter.

Ralph Young, 45, hewer.

Joseph Raine, 50, shifter.

Michael Young, buried 1 December.

James Gibson, buried 1 December.

John Halliday, buried 1 December.

Joseph Wales, buried 1 December.

John Wanless, buried 2 December.

As Dr Trotter, a physician of Newcastle-on-Tyne was on his way to visit a sick friend he passed the churchyard at Jarrow as the burials were taking place. The scene affected him deeply, even more so when he learned that the men had left twenty-five widows and eighty-one orphaned children. Soon after, Dr Trotter prepared a pamphlet addressed to the coal owners and the agents, entitled A Proposal for Destroying Fire and Choak Damps of Coal Mines in which he suggested a scheme for neutralisation of the gases.

Oxclose Colliery, situated at Washington, Durham, was the scene of an explosion on 28 November 1805 when thirty-eight men and boys lost their lives. Seven of the boys were aged between eight and twelve and eighteen widows and seventy children were left with no means of support.

There would have been no help for the families of the victims as the apathy of the newspapers towards the working classes plight would result in only perfunctory reports being printed. The lack of full details of these early mining disasters in the copies of newspapers that have survived substantiates this fact. The call for a public subscription to aid destitute widows and children did not appear until many years later so one can only call on their imagination to visualize the plight of those affected.

A sketch drawn for the Penny Illustrated of a body being brought out from the pit mouth after an explosion. www.cmhrc.co.uk

Part Two

Children, Candles and

Catastrophes

1812–1850

The sun is sinking fast, mother,

Behind the far Clee hills:

The signal bell has ceased, mother,

The breeze of evening chills.

They call me to the pit, mother,

The nightly toil to share:

One kiss before we part, mother,

For danger lingers there.

My father’s voice I hear, mother,

When oe’r his grave I tread:

He bid me cherish thee, mother,

And share with thee my bread.

Then, while I see thee smile, mother,

My labour light shall be;

And should his fate be mine, mother,

Then heaven will comfort thee.

The Pit-boy’s Address to his Mother

(1) Pit: Brandling Main

Location: Felling, near Newcastle

Type: Explosion

Fatalities: 91

Date: Monday, 25 May 1812

Works at off-hand work now; is bound for a half marrow, but there are plenty them without him. Has been 6 years down this pit, and down Jarrow half a year, and South Hetton and others. Thinks Jarrow was the worst pit; cleaned the way there, a bad place for lads, and for bad usage among the little boys; the other lads beat them. Is many low places here. Whiles they knock their backs and heads about, hitting them the roof. Was healthy before he went down pits, but is not healthy now. Thinks it is more than anything else that have made him bad. When he was putting his back was sore, and he used to bring up his meat from his stomach sometimes. Feels a little better he is not putting. Nothing now is bad about him but sickness now and then.

James Jobs, aged seventeen, Felling, 1841

Gets 1s 3d a day. Works generally 12 hours, but is whiles 14 hours away from home. Is often between 12 and 13 hours down the pit. Is whiles sore-run has not time to get his meat. At these times his head, belly and legs and arms work, also shoulders. Almost every day he feels tired. Often feels sick when he is kept on so. Now and then he has thrown up his meat from his stomach, but not very often. Them as not their health do so more often.

William Hall, aged eleven, driver, Felling, 1841

Has been down this pit four years; often feels sickness from the dust is bad in the head whiles; about two years ago his thigh-bone was broken; tumbled off the limmers and the waggon went over him; was off three months; is lame now; suffers from the dust of the coal getting into his inside; makes him feel dry and gives him the heartburn.

John Cloughton, aged fifteen, driver, Felling, 1841

On 25 May 1812 when this explosion took place there were 128 men working at the pit of which ninety-one lost their lives (some reports give the number as ninety-two). A staggering thirty-five of the victims were of boys sixteen and under with the youngest recorded being two aged just eight.

Felling, later to become Brandling Main, was one of the oldest collieries in Durham having first been sunk about 1779. By 1810 the colliery was the property of Messrs John and William Brandling, Henderson and Grace with each holding a quarter share. Modern machinery was in use and there had only been a minor accident since the Low Main seam was reached in 1810. Smoking was permitted and candles were used. At the time of the disaster, about 7.30am, the fore-shift was being relieved by the back-shift so double the usual workforce was below ground.

From the Borderer’s Table:

The ground shook, as if from a minor earthquake, for about half a mile around the workings. The noise of the explosion, though dull, was heard from three or four miles away and resembled an unsteady fire of infantry. Immense quantities of dust and small coal accompanied these blasts rising high into the air in the form of an inverted cone. The heaviest part of the ejected matter, such as corves, pieces of wood and small coal, fell near the pits; but the dust carried away by a strong west wind, fell in a continued shower from the pit spread over a distance