TROEDYRHIW. Porth, Glamorganshire. 11th. April, 1877.
The Troedyrhiw disaster is of note, not for any great loss of life, as was the case with the great explosions but for the interest that was generated by the fact that men were trapped underground for some considerable time. Five men and boys lost their lives. The press fully reported on the events at the colliery and daily bulletins were posted in the lobby of the House of Commons.
The colliery was at Porth in the Greater Rhondda Valley at the entrance to the Ferndale Valley, four miles from Pontypridd and was the property of the Troedyrhiw Coal Company. The Tynewydd pit, in which the disaster occurred, was eighty-eight yards deep and half a mile into the pit there was an inclined engine plane dipping five inches to the yard from the upper level to the dip workings, which was the part of the mine that was flooded.
As the workmen were leaving work at 4 p.m. on that fateful Wednesday 11th April 1877, they heard a rushing of water. Many succeeded in getting to the surface but it was found that fourteen men and boys were missing. The pit employed one hundred men but by good luck, the greater part of them had left work and only the fourteen men and boys were in the workings at the time. The flooding occurred by what was described in papers as “an unexpected communication” with the flooded workings of the Old Cymmer Pit.
There had been warnings of the coming disaster but the management of the colliery was not as thorough as might have been. The events leading up to the disaster emerged at the inquiry into the deaths of the victims when Charles Oatridge and Thomas Morgan gave their accounts of the events in the pit to the court.
Charles Oatridge had been working in the heading in which the accident occurred but he left about half an hour before the incident. For several days prior to this, he had noticed that there had been a lot of water in his working place and the water was coming out of the coal.
Mr. James Thomas, the manager of the colliery had repeatedly told him that he was in the neighbourhood of old workings but he would reach a fault before he struck them but Mr. Thomas had not told him that there was water in the old workings and he was under the impression that the water from them had been pumped from the other pit.
Mr. David Thomas, the surveyor to the company, stated that about two hours before the accident his assistants had measured the heading and calculated that one of the slants at the fall of the coal was within a yard of the boundary and the centre of the stall was within five yards of the lower portion within eight yards of the boundary.
The inundation occurred between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. on the evening of the 11th April. The miners at work were alarmed when they heard a sudden noise and the inrush of water. Most of the colliers got out of the pit but then it was discovered that fourteen men and boys were missing. It was supposed that the water came from the Cymmer pit old workings, which was the neighbouring pit and upon examination, it was found that the water in this pit had dropped twenty-six feet and their suspicions were confirmed.
Pumping engines were set to work at once and at every available place to get the thirty-five yards of water out of the shaft. The pumps removed 20,000 gallons of water per hour and even this brought little fall of the water level in the shaft.
The pumps were placed at the top of the Cymmer pit to take the water out. This operation failed due to the dangerous state of the old shaft where the pump was placed and the pump was moved to the engine plane of the Tynewydd colliery and after this, the water was lifted by barrels from the old shaft. The work of moving the pump was completed by 6 pm on Saturday the 14th of April.
The water was not falling quickly enough and the men were waiting with picks and shovels, ready to start the work of cutting through a huge coal barrier which kept the captives in their tomb.
It was then discovered that the capacity of the boilers was not enough to supply the three pumps and a second boiler was placed near the engine plane. When this was done another difficulty presented itself. The ordinary pumping at the pit was done by a waterwheel and it was found that this was not powerful enough to lift the water which was being sent to the shaft by the three special pumps but to meet this difficulty it was decided to place a special pump at the bottom of the shaft. As there was not a boiler on the surface and the pit was worked by a balance system with water as the motive power. A locomotive of the Taff Vale Railway was placed at the surface to provide the steam for the special pump.
Before this pump could be started, two separate lines of pipes from the surface to the bottom of the pit which was eighty-eight yards deep had to be completed. One of the pipes takes the steam to the engine and one to carry the water up the shaft. This work went on until 4 p.m. on the 14th of April.
Many willing volunteers descended the ninety-two yard shaft and found that all the workings within a few hundred yards of the pit bottom were filled with water to the roof and there was no hope of anyone being left alive but this proved to be incorrect and two small groups of men and boys had survived in air pockets at the end of the headings.
It was known that nine men were in the pit and that two men were known to have been working at a point in the mine that was thought not to have been flooded. A staple was sunk from the heading leading to the bottom of the Tynewydd pit in the hope of getting them out alive but it was found that the heading was full of water and all hope for the men were lost and they were given up as drowned but at 4 p.m. on the day after the accident, when Galloway and some pit officials had penetrated as far as they could, they heard knockings at a great distance ahead of them and the sounds were thought to come from trapped men.
They immediately commenced cutting with their mandrils. Their tapping’s were heard on the other side where it was realised that the men were imprisoned by a pillar of coal twelve yards thick and the rescuers lost no time in starting to cut through the coal.
From the accounts that were published, it is possible to put together a first-hand account of the events underground immediately after the water rushed into the pit. Thomas Morgan and his two sons were on their way out towards the bottom of the drift and came to a door under which water was bubbling. He struck the cramp holding the door with his hand and it flew open and a torrent of water rolled towards them. They ran back followed by a torrent of rolling water and escaped from the roadway into an airway. The water rushed forward into the area where the five men were working at the end of the heading. Morgan and his two sons escaped through the airway into another heading, but they found water coming after them and they expected to be engulfed at any moment, but the water stooped about forty yards from them. His son knocked on the coal and they heard knockings in reply.
When the Government Inspector of Mines, Mr. Thomas Errington Wales, arrived at the colliery at 1 p.m. with Mr. Galloway, the Assistant Inspector, the managers of local collieries told him of the situation.
Two divers, Frank Davis and Thomas Purvis, had arrived from London and wished to go into the flooded workings to try to reach the trapped men. They met with the Inspector in the colliery office and he described the difficulties that they would encounter when they entered the water.
By 8 p.m. these brave men groped their way through the passages and got to ninety yards to the top of the engine plane but they could go no further because of the obstacles that they encountered. They managed to get within one hundred and forty yards of the men but were stopped by a mass of floating timber which had been carried by the torrent into the tunnel. The pumping operations were stopped while these brave men were in the pit but they were started again as soon as they emerged.
There were five of them, Thomas Morgan and Edward Williams who were old men and William Morgan, the son of the first, and two others. It was William Morgan the younger who became the leader of the group and tried to dig them out.
The work continued and the imprisoned men could hear the work going on, on the other side and the manager shouting “Put your lights out”. When the hole was made the water came bubbling after them in a terrifying, awful manner but they were eventually liberated by the rescue party.
After some hours William Morgan’s mandrill struck through the coal. The next moment there was a terrific explosion like a canon and coal and rubbish were shot against the men who were waiting on the outside. One man was badly cut about the face. Minutes later it was discovered that William Morgan the younger had been killed and his dead body jammed into the hole. The compressed air had forced through the hole and had kept the water back.
Between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. Morgan’s body was brought to the surface clad in trousers and boots and shirt. Shortly afterwards Edward Williams and the others were brought to the surface followed by Morgan and all were exhausted.
The “Daily Telegraph” reported that as they thought that they were going to die they sang Welsh Hymns to each other as a farewell. The hymn they sang was “In the deep and mighty waters.” Thomas Morgan told the “Telegraph” reporter:
When we heard the tappings, off went our jackets and my beloved son, who is no more, worked all night with the energy of a lion. He passed the River of Jordan on the Holy Hill to the Better Land.
As the party was leaving the pit with the rescued men they heard more tappings from the workings and realised that there was someone still alive in the pit and hopes were raised that there were others alive, trapped in the flooded pit.
At the pit mouth, men were standing with stoic resolution in their eyes and ready to work to the best of their abilities to rescue their comrades. Wives, old and young were fixed with a fierce anxiety that was unendurable. An aged woman was on the ground thinking of her son, who was the pride and joy of her widowed life. There was a young woman, her eyes scalded with tears and a mother with a child at her breast.
After the four men were released and William Morgan was killed the rescued men said that they had heard knockings which they thought came from Morgan’s stall. About noon on Thursday the knocking was heard by others.
When the water was lowered to a level where the rescuers could cut through the thirty-eight yards of coal to the five trapped men, work began at once. By Tuesday 18th sixteen yards had been accomplished and the knocking was heard. By 3 pm. on Wednesday voices were distinctly heard.
On the eighth day after the accident they got so near that they could hear their voices and recognised that of George Jenkins. He told them, in Welsh, to work a little to the right and this spurred the rescuers on.
The miners heard a rushing noise and the signal was given to fall to the ground and Moses Powell said, “No. It is water. The Cymmer pit had broken in. All is over with us”. The water came rushing to their knees. The lad was thrown down but George Jenkins grabbed him and pulled him to the entrance of Thomas Morgan’s stall. An air door had checked the water but they were trapped in the stall.
During the first few days they burnt candles and slept huddled in a tram. They did not eat the candle or rats but George Johnson tried to catch one as it ran by. They found a little dirty water before their lamps went out and this was all the sustenance that they had. Several attempts were made by George Jenkins and Moses Powell to wade through the water and dive but it was impossible to get far because of the debris. On the last attempt they all stretched on him for warmth but they all got cold and wet. The lad, Hughes, was very weak and the others gathered around him to keep him warm and to keep up their spirits they sang Welsh hymns by Moody and Sankey.
On the surface the district was in a fever pitch of excitement and the officials made proper preparations to breakthrough. With the grim lesson of William Morgan’s death, airtight doors were made and two powerful air engines installed to compress the air between the first door and the face of the coal where the men were drilling holes. The object was to make the pressure the same on both side of the door.
Doctors, led by Dr. E.W.S. Davis, were in attendance making beef tea and arrowroot and warm milk which they put into narrow tubes so that they could be passed to the men through a small hole. Two or three holes had been bored through the coal with a view to passing hot food to the men. The tubes were placed in the hole but the men could not get them and the holes were plugged. An attempt was made to fix the air-tight doors to the passage but after several hours the plan was abandoned because the doors could not be made sufficiently air-tight.
Another hole was bored, and a discharge of gas came through which extinguished all the safety lamps of the workmen at the coal. Fortunately, only safety lamps were being used. If they had not then the sixty or seventy people that were in the mine would have been in an explosion. The rescuers withdrew and at this point all hopes of getting the men out alive were receding but after twenty or thirty minutes the Inspector instructed one of the managers of the Methyr Colliery to take his lamp and find the gas.
He came back with the message that all the gas had been dispersed and the Inspector gave orders for work to commence at the face with two managers in charge of the men. The men refused to go, but after an appeal two said that they would go and accompany the mangers.
The rescuers could talk to the trapped men and it was ascertained that the men were weak and would not last long. Nothing was heard for a while and then a voice said:
“Who are you?”
”I am George Jenkins.”
”How many are you?”
”Five, two of us are very ill.”
”Have you a light?”
”No, we have been in darkness all the time.”
”Can you cut through the coal?”
”No we can not. We are too weak.”
”We are starving. Oh! Make haste.”
The Inspector made a careful examination of the coal barrier and took measurements of the air pressure and the height of the water. At that stage, the water level in the mine was five feet above the men and the rescuers. The voice of George Jenkins was heard to say in Welsh, “A little to the right.”
The last break would be dangerous to the rescuers and to the imprisoned men and after consultation with the men below ground the Inspector suggested that the plugs should be opened and the pressure allowed to equalise. They knew that the water would rise and the trapped men could be drowned. This was done and the noise of the escaping air was like thunder but as soon as the pressure was down the men started taking down the last barrier of coal.
Eight volunteers made the final attempt John Hughes, William Rawlings, Isaac Pride, Thomas Ash. David Owen, William Parsons, Charles Parsons, and Abram “Happy” Todd. At 1 p.m. on the 10th day of their ordeal, Friday 20th April, the final partition was broken down.
The trapped men called out to them that the water was within a few inches of their chins but had stopped rising. As the final hole was cut through, the rescuers heard a great noise from the rush of air and the men inside saying that the water was rising and it was up to their middles.
”Where is the lad?” ”In my arms,” said George Jenkins. The boy Hughes was got out first. He was sixteen years of age and asked about the state of his father and his brother. He was told that they were all right even though it was known that they were dead.
It was impossible to describe the relief the news afforded to all present when they knew that the men would not be drowned and that they would soon be released.
The men were asked if they wanted food and replied, “No we can have a little longer” and they were sent to the surface where Dr. Davies provided a suitable hospital for them. They were suffering a great weakness from lack of food and complained of great pain and their feet were swollen.
They were all taken out and fed, and then taken to the pit mouth. George Jenkins and Moses Powell were strong enough to crawl to the pit shaft where they embraced James Thompson the resident proprietor of whom the men were particularly fond. The other two men, David Jenkins and John Thomas were very weak and had to be carried. They were all wrapped in blankets and taken to a temporary hospital which had been prepared for them. They were put into beds that had warm bricks at their feet and were carefully attended by medical staff and volunteer’s nurses who had been organised by Miss. Jenner, a charitable lady resident in the district.
The Cardiff correspondent of the Press Association telegraphed at 1.30 in the morning to say that they have all been rescued alive and are receiving the best possible attention at the hands of surgeons.
As the last man was brought to the surface, just by coincidence there was a message from the Queen and Mr. Parker one of the officers mounted a tram and shouted, “A message from the Queen” and the crowds quickly grew silent and listened to Her gracious words:
Biddulph,
Osborne.
To Mr. Wales, Her Majesty’s Inspector, Pontypridd.
The Queen is very anxious from the last accounts of the poor men in the mine. Are they saved? Pray telegraph.
A message was sent to the Queen who sent a photographer with instructions to take a photograph of the rescued men when they were well and dressed in pit clothes.
The news of the escape went to the House of Commons where a telegram announcing their liberation was posted in the Lobby by Mr. Cross, the Home Secretary.
There were thanksgiving services at Cardiff and Merthyr and a suggestion was made to make a Civil Victoria Cross for the rescuers.
On the following Saturday, the bodies of the men who were found in another part of the mine were buried at Gyfellion. The cortege consisted of 2,000 men and women and the five liberated men sang “In the deep and mighty waters.” The whole of the workforce was out of work and a subscription fund for their relief opened by the Lord Mayor of London who made a liberal contribution.
The work at the mine went on and on Saturday the bodies of a man and a boy were recovered from the mine and a formal inquiry held at the Tynewydd Inn before Mr. Williams Deputy Coroner for Glamorgan and the proceedings were adjourned until 3rd May.
The men who died were:
- William Morgan aged 28 years. Killed by compressed air,
- John Hughes, colliery aged 50 years,
- W.J. Hughes a collier aged 17 years,
- Edward Williams aged 35 years, a collier,
- R. Rodgers aged 13 years listed as a collier.
The five men that were rescued are suffered much from their pains in the lower parts of their bodies but with this exception, they soon recovered in the hospital and gradually acquiring their strength.
During their stay, they were seen several times by Mr. Wales. They told the Inspector that they had no inconvenience from the compressed air. This was a question of great interest to the Victorians, what was the effect of increased atmospheric pressure had on their powers of endurance? The miners seem to have felt less agony in their situation as would be expected. An “expert” suggested that, as people sleep more soundly when the barometer is high, in the same way, the miners may have been rendered drowsy by the increased air pressure.
Mr. G. Overton, the Coroner for Glamorgan, opened the inquest at Porth on the death of John Hughes, Edward Williams, Robert Rogers, W. Morgan and J. Jones alias Hughes at the Tynewydd colliery by the inundation.
The pumping operations had been carried on at the colliery. After the water was cleared away sufficiently, the mine was inspected by the Mines Inspector and other experts to look for the cause of the disaster.
The heading where the water entered was reached and they discovered that the water had forced through the centre of the stall making a gap five feet wide and carrying before it a solid block of coal three and a half feet thick which proved to be the distance between the centre of the stall where Oatridge was working and the old workings.
The fault that was thought to divide the two collieries ran parallel to the river. This fault was found, on careful inspection, to disappear before the boundary.
Moses Powell, one of the five rescued was brought from the hospital in Dr. Henry Naunton Davies’s carriage and was brought into the courtroom, muffled in a greatcoat. He was still weak from the ten days and nights that he had spent in the mine but was able to give his evidence clearly.
Mr. Pickard of the National Miners Union went down the pit on 6th May and gave evidence at the inquest. He went with Richard Howells, overman, and they went into the Charles Oatridge’s heading where the water had broken through and then on into the old Cymmer workings, looking for the signs of the fault but could see nothing of it.
He found only about a yard of coal between Oatridge’s place and the old workings and it was quite clear that water rushed through at this point.
Pickard was of the opinion that Edward Williams and Rogers were killed by debris thrown out by the compressed air from the roof and not drowned. The water must have come in a tremendous force and blocks of stone ten tons in weight were carried for some distance. Pickard thought that any man would have expected there to be water in the old workings and a person in Oatridge’s place was guilty of negligence in not tapping the coal. He told the Court of a case that had been brought before the Lancashire Magistrates in Choley in which a person was fined for acting as an overman who could not read and write. At this, the Company lawyer pointed out that there had been only one accident in the colliery in twenty-two years.
The coroner summed up and he pointed out that there was no doubt that the water came from the old workings and was of the opinion that there was a total disregard of the rules which laid down that on approaching old workings they should boreholes five yards in advance.
He was not surprised in this case, for the manager could not read or write and it was his business to look into these matters and the report book was kept irregularly and if there was culpable neglect according to his reading of the Act the manager or the overman was the responsible party.
After two hours deliberation the jury found that the men had lost their lives by the culpable neglect of the manger and returned a verdict of manslaughter against him but at the same time expressed their opinion that the neglect arose from a mistaken notion that he would meet the fault before they reached the boundary.
Following the verdict Mr. Thomas Errington Wales of Swansea, the Government Inspector of Mines for the district, sent the following circular to every mine owner in the district:
Swansea 19th June 1877.
DEAR SIRS,
I BEG to transmit herewith a copy of part of my evidence given at the inquest held on the bodies of the five persons who lost their lives by the inundation of the Tynewydd Colliery, Rhondda Valley.
May I ask if you will be good enough to request you colliery managers to impress forcibly upon the colliers and others employed under them, the great importance of carrying out the said 30th General Rule, which had hitherto been neglected in this district.
Yours faithfully.
THOS. E. WALES,
H.M. Inspector of Mines.
South Wales District.
The No. 30 General Rule of the Coal Mines Inspection Act 1872 stated:
The persons employed in a mine may from time to time appoint two of their number to inspect the mine at their own cost, and the persons appointed shall be allowed, at least once in every month, and accompanied, if the owner, agent or manager of the mine thinks fit, by himself or one or more officers of the mine, to every part of the mine, and to inspect the shafts, levels, planes, working places, return airways, ventilation apparatus, old workings, machinery, and shall be afforded by the owner, agent and manager, and all persons in the mine, every facility for the purpose for such inspection, and shall make a true report of such inspection, and such report shall be recorded in a book to be kept for the purpose and shall be signed by the person who made the same.
On Monday 6th August 1877 Mr. James Thomas, the manager and part-owner of the Tynewydd Colliery was tried at Swansea Assizes before Baron Cleasby and a jury on a charge of manslaughter. The case lasted two days and several witnesses were examined to find out if it was known that there was water in the old Cymmer colliery workings and whether the seven yards dip fault which was supposed to intervene between the Tynewydd colliery workings and the Old Cymmer old workings, would form a safe barrier against the water contained in the latter.
The judge summed up and the jury retired. After about forty-five minutes they returned and said that they could not agree and we’re not likely to agree if they were locked up all night.
Mr. Bowen Q.C. said on the part of the prosecution that the prisoner should be discharged and come for a trial at the next assizes. The prisoner was discharged and was bound over on his own surety of £200 to appear at the next Cardiff Assizes if called upon by the Crown.
After the five men were rescued a Commission consisting of the Right Honourable Lord Aberdare, The Rev, D.W. Williams, M.A. (Fairfield) Gwilym Williams Esq., stipendiary Magistrate and the Inspector was appointed dot receive evidence and to report to the Home Secretary as to those who had distinguished themselves by their bravery and heroism in the liberation of the five imprisoned men and that they should be recognised in awarding the Albert Medal 1st and 2nd class.
The commission sat at Porth and also at Duffryn (Lord Abedare’s residence) and recommended that the following should receive Albert Medals 1st Class:
Mr. Daniel Thomas, colliery proprietor, Brithwennydd, Rhondda Valley, South Wales.
Mr. William Beith, mechanical engineer, Harris’ Navigation Colliery, Quaker’s Yard, South Wales.
Mr. Isaac Pride, collier, Llwyncelyn Colliery, Rhondda Valley, South Wales.
Mr. John William Howell, collier, Ynishir Colliery, Rhondda Valley, South Wales.
This was the citation and it was the first occasion that the Albert Medal had been awarded for bravery on land. It was gazetted as follows:
On the 11th April at the Tynewydd Colliery, situate near Porth in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales, was inundated with water from the old workings of the adjoining Cymmer Colliery. At the time of the inundation, there were 14 men in the pit, of who four were unfortunately drowned, and one killed by compressed air, leaving nine men imprisoned by water. Of this number four were released after 18 hours imprisonment and five after nine day’s imprisonment. It was in effect their lease of the latter five that those distinguished services were rendered which the conferring of the Albert Medal of the 1st class is intended to recognise. The rescuing operations consisted in driving through a barrier of coal 38 yards in length, which intervened between the imprisoned men and the rescuers, and kept back a large quantity of water, gas and compressed air. The task was commenced on Monday 16th and carried on until April 19th without any great amount of danger being incurred by the rescuers, but about 1 o’clock p.m. on Monday, when only a few yards of barrier remained, the danger from the interruption of water, gas and compressed air was so great as to cause the colliers to falter. It was at this juncture that the four above mentioned men volunteered to resume the rescue operations, the danger of which was greatly increased by an outburst of inflammable gas under great pressure, and in such quantities, as to extinguish the Davy lamps which were being used. The danger from gas continued at intervals until half-past three on the following morning, and from this time the above four men pre-eminently, at great peril to their own lives, continued the rescue operating till 3 p.m. when the five men were safely released.
The Albert Medal 2nd Class was awarded to:
Mr. David Davies, colliery owner, Rhondda Valley.
Mr. Thomas Jones, colliery owner, Ynishir, Rhondda Valley.
Mr. Edmund Thomas, colliery owner, Llwyncelyn, Rhondda Valley.
Mr. Thomas Thomas, colliery manager Ynishir, Rhondda Valley.
Mr. Thomas G. Davies, colliery manager Tylacoch Colliery, Rhondda Valley.
Mr. David Evans, colliery manager, Ferndale Collieries, Rhondda Valley.
Mr. David Jones, colliery manager, Cymmer Colliery, Rhondda Valley.
Mr. Henry Lewis, colliery manager Energlyn Colliery, Monmouthshire.
Mr. William Thomas, colliery manager, Resolven and Pentre Collieries, Neath and Rhondda Valleys.
As a footnote, Abram Todd, one of the rescuers was reported to be suffering from severe burns which he received in an explosion at the Ynysher colliery a few weeks after the Troedyrhiw disaster.
REFERENCES
Mines Inspectors Report, 1877.
Colliery Guardian, 13th April 1877, p.574, 20th April 1877, p.609, 11th May 1877, p.725, 25th May 1877, p.813.
Graphic.
Illustrated London News.
An Account of the Rhondda Mine Disaster 1877 by Ken Llewellyn.
”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.
Return to previous page