Pelton Colliery Explosion – Chester-le-Street – 1866

PELTON. Chester-le-Street, Durham. 21st. October, 1866.

The colliery was the property of Lord Dunsay and Partners. The colliery had recently sunk to the Busty Bank or Harvey seam and the workings were only to a limited extent. The seam had been worked at other collieries in the district for many years and was known not to give off much gas and it was considered that there would be little firedamp at the Pelton Colliery. Even so the seam was worked by safety lamps but shots were fired in some of the narrow places by means of probes of wire and touch paper. The colliery was ventilated by a newly installed Guibal fan, which the owners of the colliery had installed at great expense, and this met with the full approval of Mr. Atkinson, the Inspector.

Mr. Armstrong, of Wingate Grange, was the principle viewer at the colliery and he had held the post since 1862 when the only seam worked at the colliery was the Hutton which was ventilated by a furnace. The workings of the Hutton seam extended in all directions and were described as extensive and ventilation had become a problem To overcome this, another furnace was added and there were two downcast shafts, which were working shafts and the engine shaft was also used as a downcast. The depth of these shafts was about 57 fathoms.

Mr. Armstrong went on to give an interesting account of the development of the mining operations at the colliery:

The sinking of the Busty Bank seam of coal by two independent shafts which had no connection, except for ventilation, with the working pits of the Hutton Seam, was then commenced, and we ventilated the Hutton Seam workings, and the exploring places in the Busty Bank Seam with the two furnaces in the Hutton Seam we had improved the Hutton Seam air courses, and in November 1864, we were able to get in the Hutton Seam a principle ventilation current of 21,450 cubic feet of air per minute, and in the Busty Seam a current of 11,000 cubic feet per minute. We found, however, that we could not efficiently ventilate both the Hutton and the Busty Seams without some additional ventilating power.

I have seen several fans in different parts of the country and had examined two in this district, one at Elswick and another at the Tursdale Collieries, and as we only obtained an extra 7,000 cubic feet of air per minute from the second furnace, it was useless to add another furnace, and I conferred with our inspector, Mr. Atkinson, as to the most efficient ventilating power for the case. We agreed that the fan patented by M. Guibal, of Belgium, was the most efficient, and an agreement was made with M. Guibal for the erection of this fan. One condition of this agreement was, that it should be of such power as to extract 100,000 cubic feet of air through the workings of our colliery per minute when subjected to a frictional resistance equivalent to three inches of water.

The fan erected was 30 feet in diameter, and 10 feet in breadth, and it was started on 21st. October 1865, little more than a year ago. Before M. Guibal was entitled to his money for it, the fan had to be tested, to see whether the condition of 100,000 cubic feet per minute through the workings was performed or not (a detailed register of the experiments were handed in).

This test was made and we found that by keeping the motion of the fan as nearly uniform as possible, at 64 revolutions per minute, we obtained with a water gauge of two and a half inches, 98,488 cubic feet of air per minute, as an average main ventilating current and with a water gauge of two and a half to three inches we obtained 91,000 cubic feet as a minimum to 106,000 cubic feet as a maximum, per minute.

About the same time, and before finally adopting the fan as the ventilating power for both seams, some experiments were made with the two furnaces and it was found that the main current in the Hutton Seam was only 31,720 cubic feet per minute and that when the small ventilation to the Busty Seam, was cut off and the two furnaces limited to the Hutton Seam only, not more than 35,245 cubic feet per minute was the maximum could that could be exhausted.

We then adapted the fan to work in both the Hutton and Busty pits. this was in October 1865. The fan has been constantly at work from the first day of its erection to the present moment. we stop it on Sunday mornings for a short time to determine that all the fittings are complete, we oil the machinery belonging to it two or three times a day, never stopping its motion but only reducing its velocity.

The workings of the Busty Bank Seam were divided into two districts, north, and south. The latter was over an area of seven acres but those in the north did not exceed four acres. The mine was worked with locked safety lamps which were locked by the deputies at the bottom of the shaft and there was no need to blast except in the winning headways. The deputies inspected the places where the shots were to be fired and the shot was fired by a hot wire and touch paper. All the men had copies of the rules and the deputies inspected the working before the men went down in the mornings. There were two fore shift deputies and two back shift deputies and inspected by the overmen. There had not been any reports of gas in the mine.

On the morning of the disaster, the wall in the fifth bord was holed into the next bord by the hewer and a passage made and there were several falls at the time of the explosion.

Wives, mothers, brothers, and sisters went to the pit head. At about 6.30 some men were brought to the surface. They were dreadfully scorched and were taken home in carts to be tended by doctors.

A local reporter described the scene:

A sad scene was enacted on that cold October morning. The men came up with something that was blackened and wrapped in a blanket. The name was mentioned and where he had been found. There was a scream from a woman in the crowd. This was repeated many times.

Those who lost their lives were:

• Robert Curry aged 12 years, driver.
• Robert King aged 18 years, putter.
• William Elliot aged 11 years, driver.
• Joseph Gladstone aged 11 years, trapper.
• George Cook aged 22 years, putter.
• John Frecker aged 14 years, flat boy.
• Richard Argyle aged 13 years, coupler.
• John Simpson aged 22 years, hewer.
• John Anderson aged 18 years, wood-leader.
• John Gray aged 32 years, a deputy.
• John Maddison aged 22 years, deputy.
• John Bell aged 19 years, hewer.
• James Dixon aged 20 years, hewer.
• Robert Weddle aged 34 years, hewer.
• William Felton aged 11 years, coupler.
• John Laverick aged 27 years, hewer.
• Henry Bateman aged 19 years, putter.
• John Carter aged 52 years, hewer.
• John Richardson aged 28 years, hewer.
• Roger Brown aged 39 years, hewer.
• John Taylor aged 41 years, hewer.
• William Charlton aged 20 years, hewer.
• Henry Gray aged 38 years, hewer.
• George Oughton aged 18 years, putter.

Edward Lowes, the deputy overman who had charge of the shift working in the south side of the Busty seam at the time of the explosion. Evidence was taken from a large number of men who had worked in the mine and they all gave good reports of the ventilation.

The Coroner summed up and the jury retired to consider their verdict. It took them a quarter of an hour to return the following:

Jonathan Maddison and others did die on the 21st October 1866 from an explosion of gas in the Busty Seam at the Pelton Colliery but as to the cause of the explosion, we have no evidence to show. We are also of the opinion that negligence had been manifested by the officials down the pit in not enforcing the rules and also on the part of the men for not carrying them out.

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