Alexandra Colliery Fire – St Helens – 1868

ALEXANDRA. St.Helens, Lancashire. November, 1868.

At Alexandra Colliery the ventilation came from a furnace suspended halfway down one of the shafts. At the start of the previous week, the chain on which the furnace was hung broke and the live coals started a fire in the coal at the shaft bottom.

The smoke eventually began to enter the pit and the underground manager, the underlooker and a wagoner went to tell the workmen to come out, which they did. The party went further, however, and did not return. Their bodies were recovered the following week.

Information supplied by Ian Winstanley and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre.