FERNDALE. Porth, Glamorganshire. 8th. November 1867.

The Blaenllechau colliery was better known as the Ferndale pit and was the property of Messrs. D. Davies and Sons of Blaenllechau. It was situated in the Rhondda Fach or the Little Rhondda valley five miles beyond Porth, near a small station of the Taff Vale Railway and seven to eight miles from Aberdare. Mr. David Davies, one of the proprietors of the colliery, which was belonged to him and his brothers and he had not taken an active part in the running of the colliery since the death of his father.

It was one of the largest mines in South Wales covering 1,200 acres and was worked by two shafts, an upcast and a downcast which was sunk in the middle of the coal area. Extensive mining operations had been carried out for the previous six years and it was known to be deep and give off gas but the proprietors were careful and no serious explosions had taken place at the pit. The colliery produced 5-600 tons of Welsh Steam coal a day. The colliery employed 840 men and boys but no register of names or ages were kept.

Mr. William Adams, a mining engineer of Cardiff, was a consulting engineer and visited the colliery once a month to advise the resident manager. He advised the management of the colliery and his advice was acted upon. He produced plans of the colliery at the inquest into the disaster. These showed that the colliery had two winding shafts which were downcast to the Four Foot coal at 278 yards and measured 17 feet by 12 feet with water pumps 100 yards from the surface, there was very little water below this depth.

The upcast shaft was first sunk to The Four Foot coal and was then to the Six Foot and the Nine Foot seams 40 yards below, at 318 yards. The shaft measured 14 feet by 11 feet. Ventilation was from a furnace 72 square feet which consumed 90 tons of coal per month and the return ventilation was separate for each district, with the ventilation for the Duffryn district returning through a dumb drift to the upcast shaft. No daily record of either the quantity or the quality of the ventilating air was kept. It was proposed to sink two more shafts to increase the ventilation but this work had not started.

The coal in the mine was four and a half to seven and a half feet thick and gently undulated giving a maximum gradient of 1 in 14. The pit was worked in three districts on one level about 300 yards deep. In the Blaenllecha district, the coal was worked by an engine and a rope. In the Rhondda district, it was worked in a straight heading sloping 1 in 18 and about 1,100 yards in length. A self-acting plane was about to be installed in this district but at the time of the explosion, the work had not started. The Duffryn district was worked by horse power on a heading the dipped for 700 yards.

Thomas Powell the Lampman had been at the pit for two years and the colliers were issued with two lamps, one Davy lamp and one Clanny lamp and it was the practice to issue three lamps to two men. The Davy lamps were the property of the Company and were issued locked but the Clanny lamps were owned by the men. Two types were used because although the Davy lamp was deemed safer, the Clanny gave off more light due to it having a wider gauge of gauze.

The Lampman gave out the lamps at the pit top between 4.30 a.m. and 6 a.m. Two lampboys, both aged 15 years, Thomas and Llewellyn Price, helped him give out the lamps from two windows in the lamphouse, one for the Clanny and one for the Davy. It was usual that about 500 lamps were issued in half an hour. On the day of the explosion, 540 were given out. When they were brought back, the Davy lamps were unlocked by him and the Clannys by the men themselves by the aid of a key that was on a chain outside the window. In the past, there had been attempts by the men to tamper with the lamps and try to open them with a nail and pick. When Mr. Powell told the manager he did not know what to do and said, “They were a rough lot.” Two men had been reported and fined 10/- for a breach of the Special Rules of the colliery. There were three lamp-stations underground to re-light the lamps, one in each district. Three boys helped in these lamp stations and two were killed, only the one in the Duffryn district escaped with his life. Giving evidence at the inquest Mr. Powell stated that there were no “naked lights” used in the mine but the hauliers were issued with “Comets” which were naked lights.

Mr. John Williams was the manager of the colliery and he had been appointed about a year before the explosion. Mr. Benjamin Walters was the overman. John Thomason was the night fireman, who was sometimes called the night overman, John Harris was the fireman in the Rhondda district and died in the explosion. Thomas Price had charge over the Blaenllecha district and Thomas James the Duffryn district. Mr. W. Jones was the banksman. John Lewis and John Lloyd, both colliers and Henry Lees and Reuban Edwards their hitchers were all killed in the explosion.

For some days before the explosion, it was foggy and the pit was situated in the bottom of the valley and the state of the air could have impeded the ventilation and caused an accumulation of gas. The explosion took place at 1.20 p.m. on Friday 8th November. There were several people at the surface at the time who gave eye-witness accounts of the event at the inquest. William Jones, the banksman for fourteen months and who had worked at the colliery for five years, was at the pit mouth waiting for a tub to come up when he heard the explosion which he described, “was like the report of a canon”. Smoke came up the pit and he was driven back a little but he did not fall down. The concussion shook the whole of the mine and the report was heard throughout the valley. The flames got almost to the top of the downcast shaft and a volcano of stones and ashes came from the pit.

The engineer stopped and reversed the engine and then brought up the tram for which the banksman had been waiting. On giving his account at the inquest it was reported that William Jones appeared to panic and his evidence became incoherent. He said he went to the engineman and they both ran to the lamphouse. P.C. Edward Tamphin of the Glamorganshire Police lived near the pit and was at home when the explosion occurred and he heard a second explosion. He went to the pit immediately and saw the engineer on the staging. The man told him to go to the top of the shaft and open the fans in a minute and then the engineer worked the cage backwards and forwards in the shaft to increase the ventilation.

At the time of the explosion, there were 350 men employed at the pit with 328 in the workings. 170 were on the East Side and they all got out of the pit uninjured. The rest worked in the Rhondda South and Westside. There were 130 who came out of the mine uninjured. 21 of them were hurt, some of them badly and they had been working in the Rhondda south district, which left 170 men and boys who were thought to have been killed.

Preparations were made to descend the pit as soon as it was deemed safe to do so and messengers were sent down the valley to the neighbouring pits and over the mountains to Aberdare and Merthyr. Workmen rushed to the pit to give help. The manager of the colliery was the man to lead them as he knew the pit best but he was believed to have been killed in the explosion. The first object of the rescuers was to find the manager and he was one of the first of the dead to be found. He had been suffocated by the afterdamp. The exploring parties soon found wreckage and destruction of life and property. The men who worked on the South Side escaped and they felt a rush of air and went to the bottom of the shaft at once.

Mr. Walters, the overman, was at the bottom of the shaft which fortunately was in working order after the explosion and he quickly got those men who were alive, up to the surface although many had to wait their turn with dreadful anxiety. They got to the top exhausted and the relatives, who had had a terrible wait, took them to their homes.

There were reports in the press at the time that the 170 men who got out of the East District, were so badly shaken that they would not go into the pit again but this report proved incorrect. Mr. Davis, the owner of the colliery, issued a statement which said:

The men who escaped were amongst the most prevalent of those who went down the shaft in search of their missing companions and their labour in the work of recovering had been unremitting. It is, therefore, but just to these brave fellows to let it be publicly known, that instead of shrinking from the danger which they might indeed be well excused from doing, they were the most foremost amongst those who entered the difficulties and perils of searching the pit.

News of the disaster was telegraphed to Cardiff and a body of Police under Superintendent Thomas arrived at the colliery to clear the pit mouth of the anxious crowd. There was an anxious crowd of some 3000 people at the pit bank who had to be controlled by the Police. They put up barricades to keep open space around the pit shaft.

Help was quickly forthcoming from surrounding collieries and Mr. Burns, the manager of the Aberaman pit, was one of the early arrivals who directed the operations at the pit mouth. He was followed by Mr. Henry Jones and Mr. Davies, the colliery manager who arrived at 4 p.m. He arranged a party of 40 firemen, who went into the pit as soon as it was possible by another work party who successfully dispersed the gas that was present in the pit.

The rescuers descended the shaft and since they found no one alive at the bottom and two had been brought up dead, it was concluded that all those now in the pit had perished. The maimed bodies were brought to the pithead and as they were carried away by wailing women in a frantic state of anxiety. They came forward to see if they recognised a father, son, brother or husband in the charred and maimed features. The body of the manager, Mr. John Williams was recovered and his features were calm as if he was asleep and he was taken the few yards to his home where the mother and children mourned.

The air in the pit was foul and there was a constant danger of another explosion. The rescuers met heavy falls in the airways which had to be laboriously cleared with picks and shovels and the work was very slow. By 7 p.m. only three had been rescued and twenty bodies recovered. Sometimes it took hours to recover a single body and the work going on throughout the night with volunteers working until they could scarcely stand.

The bodies were brought to the surface 12 to 15 at a time and tram load after tram load of rubbish and masses of rock had to be removed. The whole of Saturday was spent clearing a fall in the Duffryn level that was in a dangerous state and the men worked in total darkness fearful of another explosion.

Mr. Carew, the manager of the Plymouth collieries at Merthyr, who was formally the manager at the pit, went down at 11 p.m. with Mr. Lewis of Merthyr and remained down until 6 p.m. A stream of water was directed down the shaft to improve the ventilation. Mr. Wales, the Inspector for the District, arrived at the pit at 3 p.m. and went underground immediately with Mr. Davies and Mr. W. Adams, G. Brown, W.T. Lewis, L. Lewis, Morgan Joseph, William Fruvan, and Mr. Walters.

By Saturday the shafts were cleared and the debris in the East District was also cleared. Mr. Wales on seeing that the work was progressing left the pit saying that he would return on Monday. The men working in the pit were badly affected by gas and by Sunday the conditions were so bad that there could be no work done at all. There was a conference in the colliery office as to the best means of getting better ventilation. After a long discussion, it was agreed that the ventilation furnace should be relit but nobody would take the responsibility of giving the order for fear of another explosion and so matters stood with no work being done. They waited the arrival of Mr. Wales who arrived, as he had promised, on Monday at noon and the conference resumed. Mr. Wales sanctioned the relighting. Mr. Joseph and Mr. Jones and a few others descended the mine to light the furnace which they did without incident and the ventilation improved immediately. By 5 p.m. Mr. Wales went down the pit and the work was resumed with vigour.

By Saturday the party under the command of Mr. Carew thought that they heard a faint groan and the whole party listened in complete darkness and they were all agreed. They thought that it was forward and they went forward on their hands and knees where they found a young man of 24 years lying in the airway. He was very shocked and could give no information at all but said someone had followed him but he had not heard him for 2 to 3 hours. Monday was spent restoring the ventilation and moving obstacles. By 11 a.m. the bodies had been discovered and by 2 p.m. a further 18 were found which were badly burnt.

At the pit head, there was a large crowd of colliers that came from a 10-mile radius and they were working with the colliers at the pit. The bodies were starting to decompose and the stench was very bad and the rescuers were working with handkerchiefs over their faces and spirits were freely available to the rescuers.

Thomas Carew, who was the resident viewer at the Plymouth colliery and was formally manager of the Blaenhca colliery from January 1864 to March 1865, went to the pit immediately of hearing of the explosion and got to the pit between 10 and 11 a.m. and went down. He stayed until 3 a.m. on Sunday and went down again on Sunday night and came up 9.30 a.m. on Monday.

The first thing that he saw was the stopping between the intake and the return air at the stables was blown towards the stables. In John Davies’ level, he saw Mr. H. Jones trying to put up a brattice and a horse was lying dead in the doorway attached to two trams. The door was blown to pieces and further up stones had fallen onto a tram and the coal was blown towards the shaft. He went on until he saw Mr. Jones and a gang trying to restore the ventilation by brattice. One hundred yards beyond this they tried to go forward in the dark with 4 men in front and four behind but the gas was too strong and they had to retire. After returning they started erecting brattice and they were doing this when they found a man alive. The air had got to him and this was Saturday afternoon. He continued putting up brattice and was relieved by Morgan Joseph. He thought there had been two explosions, one in John Davies’ level and the other in the No.1 rise 8 to 11 dips. He thought the horse tram and the doorway caused the explosion and an accumulation of gas that was fired by a lamp that was found in Chadwick’s stall. He thought the first explosion interrupted the ventilation and caused the second.

Thomas Morris collier was working in the Blaenllecha district in Isaac Thomas’s stall at the time of the explosion. He did not hear a noise but he saw their dust rise and took his son by the hand and went towards the incline. They both fell down and were carried out by others who found them. He had worked four years three months in the pit and had seen and talked to Williams the manager twenty minutes or so before the explosion. One of the hitchers at the pit bottom was blown into the sump and killed but then another escaped with little injury.

Mr. Roberts, the assistant to Mr. Davies of Aberdare, was the medical officer at the colliery and he confirmed that the total death toll of 178 was correct but a few bodies were still in the pit. Of the 178, 145 were burnt, 25 were suffocated and 5 were killed by the concussion and violence of the explosion. Some of the names of the victims were unknown and the Coroner had received many letters inquiring about the dead. One asked if a man named Marshall had been found. The local Police Sergeant, Sergeant Wise, identified the bodies of James Romley and Samuel Roach. The identification of the bodies was difficult and unpleasant.

VICTIMS OF THE FERNDALE EXPLOSION DECEMBER, 1867.

From “MERTHYR TELEGRAPH”, 1867. c/o Treorchy Library.

Kay Warren-Morgan.

Those who lost their lives were:

  • John Williams, aged 50 years, manager.
  • Benjamin Morris aged 29 years.
  • Thomas Thomas aged 48 years.
  • John Thomas aged 16 years.
  • Lewis Thomas aged 13 years.
  • William Willis aged 13 years.
  • Thomas Thomas aged 39 years.
  • Thomas Thomas aged 25 years.
  • Thomas Vaughan aged 23 years.
  • Thomas Lowis aged 19 years.
  • John Harris aged 26 years.
  • John Owen aged 25 years.
  • Thomas Williams aged 25 years.
  • David Davies aged 25 years.
  • John Jenkins aged 48 years.
  • Benjamin Saunders aged 20 years.
  • William Walters aged 14 years.
  • Evan Jones aged 14 years.
  • John Swanscott aged 57 years.
  • John Lewis aged 28 years.
  • Henry Rees aged 30 years.
  • Morgan Jones aged 36 years.
  • David Jones aged 14 years.
  • Richard Burke aged 24 years.
  • Daniel Burke aged 22 years*.
  • David Evans aged 17 years.
  • David Morris aged 18 years.
  • David Thomas aged 22 years.
  • John Richards aged 14 years.
  • Edward Mosely aged 27 years.
  • William Griffiths aged 23 years.
  • Edward Williams aged 15 years.
  • Evan Roberts aged 23 years.
  • John Davies aged 35 years.
  • James Driver aged 13 years.
  • William Williams aged 17 years.
  • William Williams aged 29 years.
  • Robert W. Roberts aged 12 years.
  • John Williams aged 25 years.
  • Miles Hughes aged 13 years.
  • Morgan Griffiths aged 44 years.
  • Morgan Griffiths aged 15 years.
  • Benjamin Morris aged 50 years.
  • John Morris aged 19 years.
  • Ebenezer Morris aged 16 years.
  • Daniel Morris aged 16 years.
  • Evan Meredith aged 48 years.
  • David Lewis aged 33 years.
  • George Edwards aged 15 years.
  • William Hammen aged 26 years.
  • William Williams aged 33 years.
  • James Roblin aged 51 years.
  • Evan Samuel aged 21 years.
  • Nathaniel Roach aged 33 years.
  • Charles Owen aged 47 years.
  • Owen Owen aged 17 years.
  • William Nicholas aged 15 years.
  • Thomas Parfit aged 33 years.
  • Benjamin Thomas Parfit aged 16 years.
  • Daniel Brown aged 15 years.
  • William Davies aged 15 years.
  • Evan Lewis aged 21 years.
  • David Davies aged 22 years.
  • Edward Williams aged 19 years.
  • John Neath aged 19 years.
  • Henry Evans aged 19 years.
  • Thomas Powell aged 12 years.
  • John Davies aged.
  • John Pascoe.
  • Thomas Powell aged 14 years.
  • John Edwards aged 59 years.
  • Henry Lewis aged 28 years.
  • James Prosser aged 19 years.
  • John Walters aged 28 years.
  • Lewis Lewis aged 38 years.
  • William Williams aged 30 years.
  • John Driver aged 37 years.
  • Thomas Edwards aged 38 years.
  • William Davies aged 28 years.
  • John Prosser aged 35 years.
  • William Parker aged 25 years.
  • Evan James aged 24 years.
  • William Thomas aged 31 years.
  • Roger Morgan aged 16 years.
  • Edwin Lloyd aged 30 years.
  • John Lewis aged 32 years.
  • Edward Griffiths aged 17 years.
  • David Williams aged 28 years.
  • David Jones aged 36 years.
  • David Stephens aged 36 years.
  • Robert Lapthorn aged 32 years.
  • Howel Williams aged 17 years.
  • Jenkin Williams aged 19 years.
  • Benjamin Rees aged 22 years.
  • John Lewis aged 30 years.
  • David Nicholas aged 45 years.
  • Benjamin Lewis aged 20 years.
  • Thomas Williams aged 54 years.
  • John Jones aged 27 years.
  • Joseph Howlet aged 33 years.
  • Robert Hughes aged 13 years.
  • Isaac Evans aged 22 years.
  • William Evans aged 47 years.
  • Isaac Thomas aged 33 years.
  • Charles Jones aged 22 years.
  • John Williams aged 26 years.
  • John Atkins aged 27 years.
  • Caleb Morris aged 41 years.
  • Thomas Griffiths aged 19 years.
  • John James aged 19 years.
  • Benjamin May aged 19 years.
  • George Cooper aged 27 years.
  • Peter Morgan aged 43 years.
  • John Morgan aged 22 years
  • Joseph Evans aged 35 years.
  • William Griffiths aged 19 years.
  • Llewellyn Llewellyn aged 23 years.
  • Mathew Llewellyn aged 20 years.
  • Joshua Davies aged 22 years.
  • T.A. Richards aged 22 years.
  • John Hancock aged 25 years.
  • Daniel Humphries aged 23 years.
  • David Jones aged 33 years.
  • Thomas Miller aged 25 years.
  • Thomas Morgan aged 35 years.
  • John James aged 25 years.
  • David Evans aged 23 years.
  • William Miles aged 21 years.
  • Charles Truscot aged 19 years.
  • John Griffiths aged 17 years.
  • John Morgan aged 22 years.
  • John Davies aged 32 years.
  • John Simpson Owen aged 28 years.
  • Henry Morris aged 27 years.
  • John Lukey aged 25 years.
  • Evan Jones aged 33 years.
  • Thomas Nicholas aged 18 years.
  • Richard Davies aged 18 years.
  • William Watkins aged 22 years.
  • Jenkin Jenkins aged 40 years.
  • Henry Williams aged 28 years.
  • John Powell, aged 44 years.
  • An unknown boy,
  • Three unknown men.

The disaster left 70 women without husbands and 140 children were left fatherless. At a meeting at the Guild Hall in Swansea, it was estimated that the interest from £10,000 would be needed to support them and the following resolution for the Relief Fund was passed:

That this meeting is desirous of expressing its deepest sympathy for the unfortunate sufferers and deems it expedient that measures should be taken to raise a fund for the relief of the widows and orphans rendered destitute by the event.

Mr. H.H. Vivian, M.P. moved the motion and he went on to speak from his own experience that it would take two to three years before the colliery was working satisfactorily again. A subscription was opened with £200 from the Queen and there were meetings throughout South Wales where collections were made for the fund.

During the inquest, Mr. Overton, the Coroner made some enlightening remarks about the state of mining in South Wales at the time:

Unfortunately, South Wales had attended a great deal of notoriety and had the image of being the worst in the Kingdom. The Inspector’s Statistics for 1865 showed that the number of lives lost per ton of coal raised was the greatest in the Principality. The demand for steam coal has increased dramatically over the last two years and deep pits are being sunk into maiden seams. Large projects have been started and the operations have become difficult and the management is insufficient and ignorant of scientific knowledge.

The large number of men that have to be employed are largely ignorant and unfit to become colliers and the lives of many are in the hands of an incompetent and reckless few.

The disasters are due to mismanagement and incompetence and I can see no improvement until a more enlightened and educated class of management and overmen are employed and better supervision exercised over the men. Until then there will be no hope of improvement and there will still be loss of lives in the South Wales collieries.

The Law in connection with disasters is imperfect as it is difficult to say if an offence had been committed and who was to blame. The Mines Inspection Act is badly framed and ambiguously worded. Convictions can not be made certain and few had the courage to attempt to convict. This gives rise to a miscarriage of justice. Parties have been sent for trial at assizes and have been acquitted and the inference is that there is no legal responsibility under Lord Campbell’s Act. It is an illusion to think that a widow or an orphan could take an action against a wealthy a formidable Company.

It appears to me strange, in a country like Great Britain, abounding in mineral wealth and dependent so much for its high position they hold among nations, upon the proper management and development of that wealth, should not some process, some Department of State, to record and control in some way that there should be so few in any good schools where useful and practical instruction might be obtained in modern terms and there is no useful authorised book relating as yet published.

In a letter to the editor of “The Colliery Guardian” dated 16th November 1867, a mining engineer criticised the colliers of South Wales as, “Badly educated and not sufficiently careful of their own lives”.  He went on to say that any mining engineer with experience of South Wales “has difficulty in subjecting the workers to discipline”.

Mr. Overton, the coroner visited the pit during the rescue operations and after he had viewed the bodies of the victims, he returned to Pontypridd where he set up his court in the waiting room of the station. The meeting was purely for the formal identification of the victims and he did not open the official inquiry until all the bodies had been recovered and the workings brought to some sought of order.

He had written to the Secretary of State who had given him the assistance of Mr. Lionel Brough, Her Majesty’s Inspector for the South Wales District, to assist Mr. Wales.  Mr. Brough arrived at the pit on Tuesday and in the course of viewing the pit he had a narrow escape. By a misunderstanding with the signalling, he was getting into the cage when it started and he was thrown back into the level but he only suffered shock. By Tuesday, 121 bodies had been recovered.

The inquest was adjourned until Monday week and was reopened at the New Inn, Pontypridd.

At the inquest, William Pickard of Ince, Wigan and Thomas Halliday of Little Lever, near Bolton, made up a deputation from the National Association for Miners. They were representing the widows and orphans of the disaster and they asked the coroner for permission to go and make an inspection of the mine. The coroner had no objection and pointed out to the jury that Mr. Pickard had given evidence to the Commons Committee on Mine safety. He gave them a letter of recommendation but the management of the colliery would not let them go below ground to make an inspection. This decision was criticised in the verdict. Mr. Pickard asked the coroner if he could question Mr. Wales who said, “Certainly. He will undergo the same ordeal as the rest”.  He was allowed, by Mr. Overton, to question many witnesses at the inquiry and many pertinent points were made clear by his questioning.

He asked Mr. Davies, the proprietor of the colliery if the reports of the firemen and records of the ventilation were kept in the mine and Mr. Davies said, “No”.  He established that the colliers fired their own shots but only George Sage was allowed to fire shots at night and that a Government Inspector had not been down the mine in the previous six months. Mr. Wales said that he had visited the pit but had not gone below ground.

In answer to a question from William Pickard, he said that gas had ignited from a shot a few weeks before the explosion. John Robbins found it just before he left the pit and he had no busies to fire the shot. Only George Sage was allowed to fire shots at night.

The Coroner thought that the management had done everything in the pit for safety, but Mr. Pickard pointed out that the night fireman did not go with the men to the workings. He visited them afterwards and he did not stop the goafs to confine the gas but filled old stalls to prevent the accumulation of gas.

In the Ferndale explosion, the air from the bottom of the shaft entered the Rhondda and the Blaenllecha districts and after about 60 yards it split to the Duffryn district.

The experts at the inquiry held a long discussion at the inquest as to the desirability of one or two splits and if the mine was properly ventilated. The discussion took place in groups and was difficult for the press to report at the time.

The proceedings then went on as usual with the workmen giving their evidence to the court. Three horses died in the lower stable and some were killed on the Rhondda incline.

Esau Halliday a collier said part of the horse was found at the bottom of the shaft and the other part in the sump and the other part on the east side and the tram was blown into the sump on the north side. Halliday supposed that the horse was waiting for the tram to come out. He thought that there were two explosions, one in John Davies heading Blaenllecha district and the second in the workings at the top of the Rhondda district, and the effect of the first was the cause of the second. Halliday said that he would not let any strangers down the pit except on the orders of the manager but this contradicted the previous evidence. According to his evidence, there was strictly no smoking in the pit and at that point, the inquest was adjourned. The evidence taken from William Walters the sole overman at the colliery who lived in the village of Ferndale took the whole of one day of the inquiry. He had been at the pit for three years and his evidence was crucial. He gave an account of his normal working day. When he was on duty and saw most of the colliers down the pit at the surface. One fireman, Thomas James, usually came to him before he went down or he found him in the pit and made a verbal report. Thomas Price was another fireman who used to see every morning and John Harris the third fireman in the pit. All of them reported to him about the state of the pit on a daily basis.

John Richard Thomas was the night fireman and Walters always saw him before he went down in the evening. He met him at the top between 5 and 6 p.m. and when he came up. It was Walters duty to inspect the stables and the hauliers and they had to wait at the pit bottom with Walters until Williams, the manager, came down. The manager came down every day and he scarcely missed one day a month. Walters thought he had seen Williams with a book that contained all the names of the men in the pit which would have been very helpful in knowing who was in the pit at the time of the explosion but it was not known where the book was now. His reply to some questions by the Coroner caused surprise in the court when he obviously did not know was a barometer or a thermometer were and the Coroner had to explain their use to him. He did not understand an anemometer and no record was kept of the ventilation in the pit. Indeed it emerged that there was no thermometer or barometer at the pit. The manager had an anemometer which was either in the pit or in the manager’s office and he was believed to understand the use of one of these instruments.

Walters related how, on previous occasions, he had got gas out of the No.8 heading by “screening” which was done by erecting two canvas doors and then opening and closing them. The Coroner commented that this procedure was experimental and rather risky. The court heard that there had been a small explosion about six months previously when Walters’ brother was firing a shot and there were many reports of gas before the explosion that shots were fired in the pit.

On another occasion, Mr. Williams, the manager, had decided to run a fresh heading between the coal stalls of the north and south headings. A canvas door and brattice was erected to carry the ventilation into the headings. A short time before the explosion there had been a fall in the No.8 heading and the fireman, David Richards, had prevented them to enter because of gas. Mr. Williams later found no gas but did not discharge Richards as he had done in two other similar cases.

On the day of the explosion Walters was not in the pit he was at home in bed having been taken ill on the previous Tuesday and attended to by the Doctor. The manager and the fireman attended to his duties while he was ill and Walters and the three firemen could read and write but even so the reports were verbal and no written accounts were kept.

The last report he had received from a fireman was on Monday the day he was taken ill when he met Thomas James, who worked in the Duffryn district. He said everything was going well but there had been some bad falls. Everything was all right according to the reports in the Blaenllecha District but the fireman in this district knew of a little gas.

On Tuesday he was away from the pit and there was a small blower in the roof at the entrance to Morris’s stall in No. 4 Rhondda heading. This was found when a shot had been fired. When he heard of the explosion he jumped out of bed and thought he heard a second explosion which was not as loud as the first. He went straight to the pit and ordered the engineman to bring up the trams and the engine, and them mans brother worked the other engine in the other shaft to try and get more air down the pit.

There was much confusion and alarm that he could not give a detailed account of what happened at the pit until some of the colliers came up. He believed that there were 360 men and boys at work on the day of the explosion. Walters’ son was a signal boy in the pit and was killed in the disaster. His body found in his workplace.

Daniel Richards had worked at Cwm Pary as a fireman and had left the pit ten weeks previously due to a disagreement with Mr. Williams. The canvas between Nos. 6 and 9 dips had been taken away and Richards found gas the next day and put the canvas back but Williams told him to take it down. The next day, before breakfast, Walters asked if he had taken it down and he told him that he had put it back. He was told to take it away and he said he would not. Walters said he could do it and did so. Richards would not do it because he knew it was wrong and Walters reported him to Williams who stopped him from working after breakfast. He was ordered to William’s house at night. He had to stand at the bottom of the pit freezing. Williams asked what had happened and he admitted it and it was suggested that he leave the pit. He had differed on another occasion when he thought walls should have been used and not canvas. All the other stoppings were made of boards and leaked air through them. Brick walls had been used before Williams came to the pit about twelve months previously. He thought that there was not enough air but Williams thought that there was plenty. On the day of the explosion, he went down the pit and proceeded down the incline as far as he could He had no explanation of the explosion but he thought that the ventilation of the mine was defective.

David Griffiths, an elderly collier who lived in Blaenllecha, was the next to give evidence. The night before the explosion he was working in John Davis’ heading which was worked for 150 yards with two stalls at the top, two on the east and three on the west side. He had two sons in the heading and he was working on a cross heading on the left-hand side. There was gas in the heading and there had been so for a few months. The gas was in an old stall that had a fault running through it and it accumulated at the top of the stall. Griffiths did not see Walters during his time at work at night but he saw John Richard Thomas the night fireman every night but he never told Thomas of the gas in the heading and he did not know if Thomas knew of it or not. He had told the day fireman, Thomas Price, of the gas in an old road 90 to 100 yards long near where he was working and which was an old return airway. There was a canvas door a the heading and he went through and saw the gas in his lamp. He went back to his stall and waited for the fireman and asked him if he had tried for gas in the place and he said he had and he asked the fireman to alter the ventilation to clear it and the fireman replied, “Don’t throw any fault on me, David”.

Mr. Price had asked the manager, Mr. Williams, for an airway to be made as he feared an explosion, and Price said the manager laughed at him and asked if he was afraid. Griffiths then said to Price, “For God’s sake warn Bill Chadwick not to fire any shots while any of us are in”. Chadwick worked the stall next to Griffiths. Griffiths also said to Price if it should fire we will all have our brains knocked out. Price warned Chadwick to take care but no opening was made. Griffiths worked the night before the explosion because times were bad and he hoped that a hole would be made through to improve the ventilation. There was gas in the stalls from where he was working up to the drift but he did not know about other parts of the pit. He left the pit at 6 a.m. on the morning of the explosion and forty-seven people were working in that part of the pit. Five were out at the time of the explosion and all the others were killed or burnt.

Mr. Wales questioned Griffiths and he said he had never been prevented from working in his place by gas but the man in the next stall had. The stalls that he mentioned were old stalls and not worked. The men worked with locked lamps and it was the practice for colliers to fire shots when they liked. He had fired shots with a touchpaper but he did not know if shots were fired on the day of the explosion. He lit his touchpaper from his lamp top.

William Chadwick, a collier of Ferndale, was in the pit on the morning of the explosion and he had worked at the pit for two and a half years. He went to work in the No. 1 heading or John Davis’ stall No. 9 in the Blaenllecha district. He did not work on the day of the explosion because he could not get any trams. He normally worked in the stall known by his name for eleven weeks with a younger man named Evans. He said that the left side had fair ventilation but the right side had none. Between his stall and David Griffiths, there were some old workings and gas came through on opening which was the original airway into his stall and the airway was partially filled by falls. He did not complain as he knew the fireman and overmen knew of it. Both had said that there was a blower there and they told him to be cautious. He made an airway through the gob and the gas diminished and it was made under the direction of Price the fireman. In answer to Mr. James, Chadwick said he knew nothing about other parts of the mine. Walters came to his place once or twice a month. The main air current came from John Davis’ level and was split by a hole in his place and Griffiths’ place. He knew that he would not get work if he did not do as he was told and this was the general condition in the pit. It was very cold in the pit.

Every man had two lamps one with glass and the other with wire. Two men would have three lamps and he found a lamp without a gauze in his stall after the explosion. The Clanny lamp that was found was his own which he had lent to a boy and the Davy was No. 236. Daniel Davies and George Sage corroborated the evidence that had already been given.

John Richard Thomas was then sworn. The witness had worked in the mines for twenty years. He was the night overman, the only one in the pit. He could not read or write in English but he could do a little of both in Welsh. He was in charge of the night labourers. It was not his duty to see that the places were clear of gas but he had to see that the workplaces were safe and he had the power to stop the men working if he thought there was any danger because of gas or the roof was bad. He went the pit down after the men and they waited at the safety door for him. He then called their names and they went to work. He had the men’s names in a book.

Thomas’ evidence gave a good account of where some of the men were working the night before the explosion. The men where G. Sage, George Thomas, D. Griffiths, Frederick Gay, Nicholas Davies, John Bevin, Daniel Davies, a labourer, and William Llewellyn, a haulier. Two men were working in Charles Owen’s stall but Owen was working with John Davies in the level heading doing day work. He was with the dead. F. Gay and John Bevin were in Chadwick’s stall. Nicholas Davies was unloading rubbish in the next stall but one. William Llewellyn was loading rubbish from George Sage’s stall with W. Chadwick. Sage and G. Thomas were ripping the top.

The witness saw no gas or he would have stopped the men from working. He knew that there was a little gas coming from Chadwick’s stall from a blower, he thought. Daniel Griffiths had never said anything about gas. He went to George Sage’s stall one night between Chadwick’s and Griffiths’ for a sledgehammer. Sage was in the habit of hiding his tools to prevent anyone from carrying then away. This was the only time he had been in the stall and he saw no gas. After the explosion, he had assisted in removing the bodies from John Davis’ level and Mr. Jones of Blaenygwar was active in helping them.

Nathaniel Roach was working in the heading and was killed. Two men, Isaac Thomas and Richard Meredith were on loading rubbish in No.10. The men working on the incline with naked lights and John Williams supervised them. The men would go beyond the lamp station with naked lights.

James Rees. a collier took a contract from the 1st of January to get coal with David Jones until 1st. July and worked under David Jones afterwards. As contractors, they could employ anyone that they wished but subject to the General Rules of the colliery. On the day of the explosion, he was working by David Jones who was killed with twenty-one others in the heading who were suffocated 113 were found in a group and not brought out until Wednesday because of the gas. The air to the heading came from the Rhondda incline and returned by a cross-bridge made of planks. He saw no danger when he was working there and this cross-bridge was blown to pieces in the explosion and the ventilation stopped causing the deaths of the men.

Thomas Davis, a collier, was working up until one hour before the explosion when he left the pit. He left because a full tub had stopped trams passing. He was in the Rhondda and had plenty of air. He confirmed that there had been complaints about the gas which had been caused by a door being left open.

Thomas Samuel of Blaenllecha worked as a labourer in the pit and was in the pit the night before the explosion. He was the flue man in place of Henry John who was ill. There was a great deal of foul air coming to the furnace before the explosion. He had previously been a collier and had seen gas in Henry William’s stall. He had heard Thomas Davies, a night labourer, said that he had met with gas over the last six months. Samuel said he was sent to the No.9 heading and fireman J.R. Thomas went with them and told them to gob some rubbish there. The fireman tested for gas and found some and said he would report it to the night fireman and Thomas said if they did so he would discharge them. The fireman said that the brattice was not carried forward enough to the face and an additional brattice was put up and the gas cleared.

Isaac Thomas, formally a collier but now working as a labourer having lost his leg, said that there was gas in the mine. There was a regular discharge and it had been walled into the stalls. David Williams, a lad, saw gas in his lamp every morning but he was at home on the day the explosion.

Mr. Richard Billington was the agent for the Rhondda Ironworks examined the colliery after the explosion. He thought the cause was in the Blaenllecha district and was due to a horse blocking the doorways which interrupted the ventilation.

Mr. Thomas Errington Wales, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Mines for the district was the colliery on the 12th of November and went down the pit. They found two lamps without gauzes in the Blaenllecha District but none in the Rhondda District and they thought that the gas was ignited at an open light.

Mr. Brough expressed doubts about the Davy and the Clanny lamp since the flame was able to pass through the gauze even in low draughts of air. He had taken part in some experiments on the subject. It was possible that the air doors were kept open for some time by two journeys of tubs getting off the rails and all the ventilation was cut off and the Inspector thought that there were two distinct explosions, one on the Glo-bach district and one in the Rhondda. The timbers in the Rhondda were blown upwards indicating the direction of the blast.

Mr. Wales commented in his report that of the 350,000 miners in the country, 1000 were killed every year in explosions. In the Glo-bach the colliers fired their own shots which was against General Rule 37. The Inspector believed that the first explosion was caused by gas passing from an old stall and igniting in Chadwick’s stall on a naked light. Chadwick’s lamp was found with the top off. This explosion ignited the gas in the Rhondda.

The Coroner summed up and the jury retired and returned the following verdict:

Having attentively listened to and carefully examine the evidence brought before us, we have come to the conclusion that the deceased met their deaths by an explosion of gas in the Ferndale colliery on the 8th. November last. We believe the explosion took place first in consequence of a great accumulation of gas in certain workings of the colliery and this accumulation we attribute to the neglect of Mr. Williams the manager and his subordinate officers 2nd, by this gas being fired by one or more of the colliers carelessly taking off the top of his lamp and working with naked lights. We much regret that the proprietors of the colliery did not permit a deputation from the Miners National Association to go down the pit especially as the coroner gave them a letter of recommendation with a view to their being allowed down. We are of the opinion that the inspection of collieries as hitherto practised has entirely failed, as a preventative to accidents of this kind, and we recommend that all collieries should be henceforth inspected by a competent person at least once a month. We further recommend that all collieries should be provided with scientific instruments for measuring the quantity and quality of the air passing through the colliery and that a daily record be kept of the same also that a register of the daily reports of the fireman by kept in the office of each colliery and that a register of names of every person who descends into the pit be also kept.

 We further recommend that all collieries should be provided with scientific instruments for measuring the quantity of air passing through the mine and a daily record be kept of the same.

 Also that a register if the daily report of the fireman is kept in the office of each colliery and that the register of names of every person who descends the pit be kept.

 

REFERENCES
Mines Inspector Report 1867, Mr. Wales.
Colliery Guardian,
Merthyr Telegraph.
”And they worked us to death” Vol.2. Ben Fieldhouse and Jackie Dunn. Gwent Family History Society.
The Colliery Guardian. 16th November 1867. p.449. 30th November 1867. p.501. 7th December 1867. p.525. 14th December 1867, p.548. 21st December 1867. p.573. 28th December 1867 p.590.

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

*Although it’s not in the report as supplied to us, a researcher has suggested that Daniel, brother to Richard, also died in the explosion.

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