NEW COTTAM. Chesterfield, Derbyshire, 21st. January, 1853.

The colliery was owned by Appleby and Co., and eight people were being lowered down the pit in the morning when an iron link suddenly snapped and they fell to their deaths down the shaft. The link formed part of a short chain attached at the end of the rope and had been fitted the previous evening but its strength had not been properly tested and it was not welded properly.

Eight or nine men frequently descended at once although the cage was meant to hold only six. There was no need to lower more than two at a time as there were only forty men working underground at the colliery.

George Hodkinson, an engineer at the colliery said that about seven in the morning the men came to work to go down the pit. He set the engine in motion and when it had gone about six yards he found that the weight had been lost. He stopped the engine and went to see the banksman who said the chair had gone down the pit. He raised the rope and found that the ring was broken. The link had been put on the day before and he had examined it and found no defect in it.

Those who died were:

  • Charles Greaves aged 38 years, married with two children.
  • John Greaves aged 29 years, married with two children.
  • Thomas Waterhouse aged 26 years, married with one child.
  • Robert Robinson aged 16 years.
  • John Barton aged 18 years.
  • Joshua Naylor aged 20 years.
  • Richard Wright aged 20 years.

The Inspector said in the better managed collieries, the cage was run up and down the shaft loaded with corves several times before the men descended but this precaution was not done at this colliery. The ropes and chains were examined at infrequent intervals and the banksman paid little attention to the safety of men travelling the shaft. Signals, if given were uncertain and irregular and sometimes totally disregarded. The engineer was known to drive the winding engine too fast when he was winding men and the shaft was badly walled and had no conductors or guide rods. The steward of the colliery was old and infirm and did not often inspect the workings underground and the Inspector found no written or printed rules at the pit.

At the inquest at the Rose and Crown, the coroner after hearing all the evidence summed up and said that there appeared to have been some neglect on the part of the management. It was stated that the iron ring was strong enough to carry five tons and it appeared to him that the engineman was bearing the brunt of the responsibility undeservedly. The jury retired and after some deliberation returned the following verdict:

We are of the opinion that the deceased came to their deaths by the breaking of the iron ring but we have not been able to discern the cause of it breaking. We recommend that Messrs, Appleby and Co. should carry out their works with more regularity in future and that no more than two persons should ascend or descend at any one time.

The Inspector advised that a couple of side chains should be attached to the cage in addition to a central chain and that wooden conductors should be fixed in all the drawing shafts. Mr. Appleby, one of the proprietors of the colliery, seemed really anxious to comply with the recommendations.

 

REFERENCES
Mines Inspectors Report, 1854. Mr. Charles Morton.

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

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