Foggs Colliery Explosion – Haydock – 1850

FOGGS. Haydock, Lancashire. March, 1850.

In March 1850 at Messrs. Evans and Turners Haydock Colliery, called the Rock Pit, thirteen men were killed and some of them described as burnt to a cinder. Eleven men were working in a drift 1,000 yards from the pit all of whom were burnt to death. Two others who were working 120 yards nearer the pit, on hearing the explosion rushed to the face instead of making for the pit and lost their lives.

The men were allowed safety lamps if they thought it was proper to use them but there does not appear to have been any restriction against candles though the men had to run away from a fire the day before the explosion.

Those who lost their lives were:

• John Durdom and Ralph Durdom, father and son,
• William Battersby,
• William Knowles,
• Ralph Unsworth and John Unsworth, father and son,
• John Glare,
• John Holloway,
• John Simm,
• James Bailey,
• Christopher Hesketh,
• Thomas Glover,
• Joseph Hatton.

The men were allowed safety lamps if they thought it was proper to use them but there was no restriction against them working with candles although it was said that some men had run away from the fire the day before.

An inquest was held and the following verdict returned:

It so happened that the foul and inflammable air in the said coal mine by some means unknown to the jury accidentally, casually and by misfortune, took fire and exploded, whereby the said unfortunate men and boys were grievously scorched and burned upon the body and limbs, whereby they died instantly.

REFERENCES
Annals of Coal Mining. Galloway. Vol. 2. p.87.
Mining Journal Vol. xx, p.135.
Annals of Coal Mining. Galloway. Vol. 2. p.86.

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