Blaengwawr Colliery Explosion – Aberdare – 1861

BLAENGWAWR. Aberdare, Glamorganshire. 8th. March, 1861.

The colliery was at Aberdare and was the property of David Davies and thirteen men and boys lost their lives in an explosion of firedamp. At the time of the explosion, the colliery was under the management of Mr. David Davies Jnr. with Richard Evans as the colliery underviewer.

The Inspector, Mr. Evans, made an examination of the colliery the year before and made a recommendation by letter that locked safety lamps should be used in the mine but there was no action taken by the colliery management. On the morning of the disaster, William Terrant, a collier entered his stall with a naked light and the explosion took place.

Those who died were:

• George Phillips, aged 30 years, collier.
• William Phillips, aged 19 years, collier.
• Charles Williams, aged 43 years, collier.
• Richard Williams, aged 44 years, collier.
• Hopkin Hopkins, aged 46 years, collier.
• Henry Evans, aged 13 years.
• Thomas Jones, aged 34 years, collier.
• Ebenezer Thomas, aged 14 years.
• William Davies, aged 15 years.
• Morgan Henells, aged 36 years, collier.
• John Morgan, aged 52 years, collier.
• David Thomas, aged 60 years, collier.
• William Davis aged 10 years.

Five others were also injured.

Mr. Evans made an examination of the colliery and workings after the explosion and found that the explosions had taken place in the Four Feet Coal at a considerable distance from the shaft. The air to the place passed along the engine plane which was about a mile in from the shaft, then through the working places and back down the return airway to the bottom of the upcast shaft. The return airway in many places was very small and the ventilation to Terrant’s stall was totally dependent on a small single door which was left in charge of a boy who was ten years three months old.

The accumulation of gas probably took place during the previous night and the Inspector thought that the ventilation from the single door was inadequate and Mr. Evans thought that the fireman had not examined the place in the morning. He believed that the explosion occurred by the first general rule not being observed. The rule stated:

There should be an adequate amount of ventilation to dilute or render harmless noxious gasses to such an extent that the working places of the pit and the travelling roads to and from such working places shall under ordinary circumstances be in a fit state for working and passing therein.

Richard Evans, the underviewer, told the court:

I have been underviewer at the Blaengwawr Colliery for 7 or 8 years. I can not read, write or speak English. When the explosion took place I was near the bottom of the pit, it was about 7.30 in the morning directly on receiving the information from one of the hauliers that an explosion had taken place and having ascertained that it was in a part of the mine known as the “Crimea” workings, I went there as soon as possible and on the engine plane met William Tennant, a collier he was burnt, and on asking him where it had happened, he said wit me in my stall. It was some time before I could get to the workings; I did so that evening and remained until all the bodies were out. I know something of the rules they have been read to me. I consider it my duty to see the places are kept safe for men to work in. It is the duty of the fireman (or deputy) to go around in the morning before the men come in.

Since Mr. Evans thought that the first General Rule had been breached and he instituted proceedings against the manager of the colliery Mr. David Davis. the case was heard before the Stipendiary Magistrate, Mr. Fowler, at the Merthyr Court. In giving the benches decision he said:

The Inspector proved the fact of the explosion but did not supply the bench with evidence as to the causes which led to such an accumulation of gas, which doubtless, he had been unable to ascertain with sufficient certainty, but from the evidence of the defendants, it seems that the ventilation of Terrant’s stall depended on a certain door is kept shut, and that the real cause of the explosions was the keeping open by some of that door by which the air which would have cleared the stall was sent in another direction. Assuming this to be the cause, was the proprietor liable in any form for this result?, First, what is the scope of the first General Rule. It appears to me to refer to the general ventilation of a mine, by the proper construction of airways, doors and other contrivances for the dilation of noxious gasses.

On the whole, therefore, I think that the door itself was faulty, a charge might be made against any officer whose duty it is made to see to it and that if it was rightly constructed, but was maliciously or negligently wedged open, a charge might be successful against the person acting so. Looking at Rule 19 I think that if there had been no doors at all the manager and the owner might have been charged with the offence under General Rule 1, but that, having provided doors, the particular construction of them was part of the duty of the overman to see to under Rule 19.

Mr. Evans concluded his report on the disaster:

I agree with the magistrates that the owner of the colliery is not liable for such details when the duty is imposed on the overman by the special rules. But I do not think the special rules can override the general rules, for surely if the owner appoints an incompetent person to carry out a specific duty no special rules can relieve the owner of responsibility.

REFERENCES
The Mines Inspectors Report, 1861. Mr. Evans.
The Colliery Guardian, 6th March 1861. p.167.
“And they worked us to death”. Vol.1. Ben Fieldhouse and Jackie Dunn. Gwent Family History Society.

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