Meadow Pit Shaft Accident – Cwnavon – 1878

MEADOW PIT. Cwnavon, Glamorganshire. 24th. June, 1878.

The colliery was the property of the Grovenor and Company’s successors and was near Port Talbot. At the time of the accident, it was listed as being the property of “The Successors of the English Copper Company”. The wire rope broke and the men and boys went down the shaft to their deaths.

The shaft was 12 feet by 8 feet and 185 yards deep. It was fitted with wooden slides and two cages which were known as the east and the west cages and each carried six men at a time. About seventy men and boys ascended and descended the shaft daily. On the day of the accident, no coal was raised and once in three or four weeks, a little rubbish was raised in the cage. The shaft was also used for pumping water but this did not occupy more than eight hours out of twenty-four and when the men were being wound pumping operations were stopped. It took about three-quarters of an hour to raise and lower the men in the morning and evening. The winding engine was a second motion engine and was in good order supplied with all the proper appliances and the engineman was constantly in attendance. As well as the winding engine the engineman looked after the pumping engine.

There was a banksman at the top of the shaft to ensure that the men were safely placed in the cage and a man at the bottom with similar responsibilities. Each cage was attached to a wire rope four inches wide and five-eighths thick. The rope attached to the east cage was put on the 13th May 1874 and the west rope in November of the same year.

At about 6.40 a.m. on the day of the disaster, the first batch of six people descended the shaft in the west cage, the second in the east cage and the third in the west cage. Up to that time eighteen had descended and all had gone well but as the fourth batch was being lowered in the east cage, the rope broke when the cage was about 85 yards from the bottom and the men went to their deaths. All of them died instantaneously.

All the dead were listed as colliers, but some seem too young to be so:

• Evan Parker aged 42 years,
• William Lewis aged 62 years,
• Thomas Jones aged 19 years,
• David Williams aged 19 years,
• Hugh Bennet aged 16 years,
• Benjamin Roblyn aged 13 years.

The inquest was held at Cwnavon by the Coroner for Neath, Mr. H. Cuthbertson. Mr. Richard Jenkins was the colliery manager, Benjamin Jones the mechanical engineer and Thomas Jones acted in the capacity of banksman at the colliery. Mr. Thomas Wales, the Inspector directed the attention of the jury to the first and fourth special rules which applied to the manager and he thought, had a bearing on the accident. The rules stated that:

He has the responsible charge and direction of the mine, and shall strictly observe and fulfil the provisions of the Act and special rules, and cause whatever is necessary to be provided for the safety of the mine and all its parts, and for rendering those provisions and rules effective.

He shall see that fit and adequate machinery, structures and materials are provided for that purpose for carrying on the mine with safety and take care that such machinery and structures are kept in repair.

No.50 special rule applies to the mechanical engineer as follows:

He shall have the inspection and supervision of all machinery and structures belonging to the mine, and it shall be his duty to maintain the same at all times in good repair and order, and he shall every day (if no other “competent person” is appointed by the manager under General Rule 29), carefully examine or appoint a person to carefully examine the machinery and structures used for lowering or raising of any person or thing in the mine, and he must also frequently examine or cause to be examined at proper intervals all other machinery and structures at the mine, and once at least in each week examine or cause to the pitman to examine the state of the shafts, and the bearers, curbs and landings therein, and remove all loose coals, stones, or things therefrom, and shall make the reports of all such examinations as the Act requires.

No.76 Special Rule applies to the banksman and runs thus:

He shall have full control of the persons employed at the pit head, and shall constantly during his turn observe the condition of the cages, ropes, chains, catches, and fans, and the gear used for lifting persons and things in the pit, and if he observes any defect or disorder therein or any appearance of danger in the pit apparatus, he shall immediately stop the use thereof, and give instant notice to the engineman and mechanical engineer, or another superior officer, of such defect or disorder.

Mr. Wales went to the pit and examined part of the broken rope which had not fallen down the shaft and found a large number of the wires broken and that if the rope had been examined the danger would have been found. He considered that the rope had been in use for over five years which was a time span which he considered too long for safety and commented:

I attribute the sad loss of life to the rope having been allowed to work until it became too weak to carry the load, and to the gross negligence of the mechanical engineer and banksman in not discovering and reporting its dangerous condition.

After listening to the evidence, the jury returned the following verdict:

That the said Evan Parker on the 24th June instant, in the parish aforesaid in the county aforesaid, was killed by falling down the Meadow Pit in consequence of the rope attached to the cage breaking. The jury further say that the officials of the colliery are deserving of censure.

A charge of manslaughter of Evan Price, one of the dead, was preferred against Benjamin Jones, the mechanical engineer before magistrates at Swansea Assizes held on the 31st July. The trial took place before Mr. Justice Manisty on the 5th August 1879 and resulted in an acquittal.

REFERENCES
Mines Inspectors Report, 1878.

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