Hyde Colliery Explosion – Hyde – 1889

HYDE. Hyde, Cheshire. 18th February 1889.

At the time of the disaster the colliery was owned by Messrs. J.W. and J.N. Sidebotham and was in the Borough of Hyde about seven miles to the east of Manchester. The certificated manager of the colliery was Mr. Joseph Goodwin who also had charge of the Broomstair Colliery which belonged to the same owners. The undermanager was Edward Jackson and there were five firemen. Of the firemen two, Joseph Wylde and James Davies were employed in the Two Feet mine and they were assisted by a third, Eli Bradbury who was employed partly in the Two Feet mine and partly in the Peacock. The morning shift on the Two Feet mine consisted of 1 fireman, 26 colliers, 10 waggoners, 4 jiggers and takers-off, 2 drivers and a dataller. An afternoon shift of 30 men and boys succeeded the morning shift.

The colliery was worked by two shafts. The downcast was 272 yards deep and twelve and a half feet in diameter. It was used for drawing coal and pumping water and for the descent and ascent of the workmen. The upcast shaft which was 20 yards the north was 22 yards deep and eight feet in diameter and was used for ventilation but could carry men if necessary. The strata that the shaft penetrated dipped about 1 in 1.88 to the North West. Three coal seams were worked and in descending order they were the Two Feet mine, in which the explosion occurred, the Peacock mine 14 yards below and the Third mine about 50 yards below the Peacock.

The pit was ventilated by a furnace at the bottom of the upcast shaft in a short tunnel or stone drift. The air to the furnace was partly fresh air and partly air that had passed round a small district of the Third Mine to the rise of the shafts. The return air from the Two Feet and Peacock mine entered the upcast shaft 256 yards above the furnace in a dumb drift.

The district in the Two Feet mine in which the disaster occurred was approached from the downcast shaft by a level tunnel leaving that shaft to appoint 272 yards from the surface and 55 yard below the Two Feet seam in the shaft. Thirty-six yards from the shaft a metal brow or dip stone drift 209 yards long left the tunnel at right angles and cut the Two Feet seam. There was a metal brow driven in the direction of the dip of the measure. From the point where the brow cut the Two Feet seam, the haulage road was continued in the same line as the Two Feet for about 120 yards and from there a pair of levels was being driven to win a district below that in which the explosion occurred.

At the point where the metal brow cut the Two Feet seam there were three levels driven to the south-west for 1,150 yards. The middle level was called the horse road and for 650 yards from the metal brow, was the intake airway. At a distance, the air was diverted by two doors into the low level and passed along this to the working face at the far end. The low level was known as the deep or load level and was used a watercourse. The upper level or counter level was used for some distance as a return airway. At the end of these there was an inclined road known as the Far Jig Brow was driven on the full rise of the seam. Three hundred yards further from the Far Jig Brow a similar incline had been driven and was called the No.1 Jig Brow. Levels were in the course of being driven to the right and to the left of the jig Brow. Midway between No.1 Jig Brow and the Far Jig Brown another one known as the New Jig Brow was in the course of preparation.

For the purpose of ventilation slits were driven between the levels and shortly before the explosion had been connected with the New Brow. The levels were known by numbers. No.1 was the horse level and that above it was No.2 and so on to No. 10 which was the top level in the Far Jig Brow. The levels were driven 9 feet wide and the bottom stone was taken upon the high side so as to form a level road and the stone was used to build a pack wall four and half feet thick along the side of the levels and this reduced the available width to for and a half feet. The level out of the Far Jig Brow had been driven to its full extent and the coal between then was being removed at the far end. The two upper pillars of coal had no bearing on the explosion and the goaf covered about one statute acre.

When the coal was loaded at the working faces the loaded tubs were shoved by the waggoners along the level to the jig brows where they were lowered by rope to the horse levels by a wire rope. The rope passed around a drum at the top of the brow and was attached to a counterbalance running on a line of rails at the side of the brow. The balance was arranged so that while the loaded tub was passing down the brow was able to draw the balance weight up the brow; the balance weight in turn was able to draw an empty tub up the brow while it descended.

In removing the pillars at the face the work was kept near the jig brow in the high level on that the working places on the pillars were in echelon. An airway was maintained along the serrated face and was withdrawn as the face advanced. In order to maintain the airway from the top corner of one pillar to the low corner of the pillar above, a pack wall, 6 feet thick, made of stones from the goaf, was built in a line with the low side of the high pillar and kept up to within 3 to 5 feet from the face of that pillar. Holes were made at frequent intervals through the pack walls on the low side of the level. These holes were 3 feet apart.

The ventilating current came from the downcast shaft, down the engine level and along the horse level as far as No.1 Jig Brow. Here it was diverted by doors along the low level. A small portion scaled the goaf and the horse level and went up No.1 Jig Brow where it rejoined the main current. The main current passed along the low level to the working face and the edge of the goaf and then passed up the face to No.8 level which was the highest part of the goaf and then out of the No.8 level up slit to No.10 level when it continued until it arrived at the top of the New Brow where it divided.

The Two Feet seam at the colliery was not thought to be fiery and was worked with naked lights. There was no blasting with explosives as it was found not to be necessary and from the evidence given at the inquiry by men and officials, gas was a very rare occurrence in the mine. Gas had been heard bubbling through the water from the lower workings but could not be detected at a lamp. The workings were damp in places and in others dry and dusty but there was no appreciable amount of coal dust in the roads and workings.

On the day of the disaster, the men descended the pit about 5.30 a.m. they were met at the bottom of the shaft by the fireman, Joseph Wylde and he informed then that the pit was safe. He also made a written report of his morning inspection which was initialled by the undermanager. The men and boys went to their working places.

All went well until about 9.30 a.m. when the explosion occurred. it caused the reversal of the air at the downcast shaft and an alarm was given at the surface. The work of exploration was at once undertaken by the officials and workmen assisted by volunteers from neighbouring collieries. Some of the explorers were seriously affected by the afterdamp and Mr. Goodwin the manager was ill in bed for several days. The last of the bodies were brought to the surface 12 hours after the blast.

Those who died were:

• Fred Howles aged 17 years, wagoner.
• Arthur Wildgoose aged 15 years, taker off.
• Thomas Davies aged 46 years, collier.
• James Broadbent aged 19 years, wagoner.
• Frank Ashton aged 14 years, jigger.
• Henry Slater aged 43 years, collier.
• G.H. Wylde aged 19 years, wagoner.
• Ewan Bailey aged 47 years, collier.
• Joseph Fish aged 23 years, collier.
• William Haslem aged 30 years, wagoner.
• James Hall aged 65 years, collier.
• James Bradley aged 20 years, wagoner.
• William Catterall aged 63 years, collier.
• Thomas Shaw aged 5 years, collier.
• John Bailey aged 52 years, collier.
• Henry Slater jnr. aged 15 years, jigger.
• Samuel Watson aged 24 years, collier.
• Joseph Wilde aged 31 years, fireman.
• Joseph Gee aged 34 years, collier.
• William Slate aged 37 years, collier.
• Thomas Gee aged 27 years, collier.
• Peter Gee aged 27 years, collier.
• John Ridgeway aged 20 years, wagoner.

Those who were injured:

• William Gee, collier,
• John Wilde, wagoner,
• E. Etchells, taker-off,
• James Davies, collier.

The inquest was opened by Mr. T.W. Johnson, Deputy Coroner for the Stockport and Hyde Magisterial Division of the County of Chester on the 19th January for the evidence of identification and then adjourned until the 7th, 8th and 13th February.

There was a full inspection of the workings after the disaster by Mr. Atkinson, the Inspector and he came to the conclusion that the blast had been caused by a inflammable or explosive mixture of gas had entered the air current from the goaf next to No.8 level which probably came from a sudden weight in the goaf. He went on to say that:

I am of the opinion that the most dangerous element in this explosion was the coal dust of the Far Jig Brow and the loss of life was mainly due it its ignition. Until the predominating influence of coal dust on large colliery explosions is more widely recognised that at present, explosions are likely to occur. It is therefore desirable that every opportunity should be taken to bring to the attention of all those interested all facts bearing on the question.

The jury returned the following verdict:

That the deaths were caused by asphyxia and suffocation from the afterdamp caused by an explosion of firedamp in the Two Feet mine at the Hyde Lane Colliery on the 18th January 1889 and that such an explosion was purely accidental.

The Inspector, Mr. Atkinson noted in his report that the colliery was worked after the accident with safety lamps of proper construction supplied by the owners.

REFERENCES
Mines Inspectors Report 1889.
The Report to the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the circumstances attending an Explosion which occurred at the Hyde Colliery, on the 18th January 1889 by W.N. Atkinson. Esq., One of H.M. Inspectors of Mines.
The Colliery Guardian, 16th August 1889, p.227.

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