BEDWELLTY PITS EXPLOSIONS, 16th of June, 1865.

The explosion took place in an area that was being prepared to be worked. It claimed the lives of twenty-six men and boys. There were two deep shafts to the explosion area and two straight, level roads leading west where there were three cross headings on the rising side, each with their corresponding groups of stalls. The area was easily ventilated and the Inspector thought it sufficient but added a rider, ‘if it had gone through all of them.’

Mr. Brough had visited the colliery on several occasions and had found the ventilation satisfactory and came to the opinion that:

The catastrophe is by no means attributable to want of power or of proper areas underground to produce a safe and adequate amount of ventilation.

At the time of the disaster, there were 50 men working in the district. On the Friday morning before the explosion, David Jones, a collier and his son started work in the upper main cross-hole to take down some coal to make a good travelling road but to do this they had to take down a door which turned the ventilation into Robert’s heading. This cut off the air to that heading which filled with firedamp and it remained in this dangerous condition until Wednesday. Mr. Brough commented:

That door should never have been taken from its place until all the colliers were out of the pit and everything got in readiness to remove the gas. Moreover, as soon as it is discovered that the door was gone, a new one should have been put in its place.

There were many reasons why the Inspector thought it was the son and not the father who fired the gas. The boy was found nearly in front of the cross-hole and against the opposite rib, his brains were found dashed out. The body of his father was four yards to the west of this point. Mr. Brough commented:

If this poor child was to be trusted at all in dangerous places, he surely ought to have been provided with a locked safety lamp.

Those who lost their lives were:

  • William Allen aged 28 years of Duke Street.
  • David Benyon aged 25 years of Georgetown.
  • George Carter aged 52 years of Cinder Tops, father of William.
  • William Carter aged 17 years, son of George.
  • Thomas James aged 30 years of Georgetown.
  • Phillip Jenkins aged 12 years of Cinder Tops.
  • Richard Jenkins aged 51 years of Cinder Tops.
  • David Jones aged 45 years of Georgetown, left a wife and 5 children.
  • John Jones aged 12 years, son of David.
  • John Jones aged 35 years of Georgetown.
  • Morgan Jones aged 18 years of Troedrhiwgaer.
  • Nathaniel Jones aged 58 years of Ebbw Vale.
  • Lewis Lewis aged 44 years of New Pits, left a wife and 5 children.
  • Charles Meredith aged 20 years of Cinder Tops.
  • Thomas Meredith aged 51 years of Troedrhiwgaer, left a wife and child.
  • Edmund Morgan aged 12 of Market Street, brother of Thomas.
  • Thomas Morgan aged 15 years, brother of Edmund.
  • David Price aged 24 years, of Georgetown.
  • David Rees aged 17 years, of High Street.
  • Thomas Richards aged 16 years of Transport Row.
  • Thomas Stead aged 51 years, father of William.
  • William Stead aged 15 years, son of Thomas.
  • Thomas Thomas aged 31 years of Georgetown.
  • Edmund Watkins aged 17 years of New Pits.
  • Charles Wedlock aged 22 years of New Pits, brother of Thomas.
  • Thomas Wedlock aged 13 years, brother of Charles.
  • Thomas Williams aged 21 years of Mount Street.

There were 20 injured and the most severely burnt were:

  • John Lewis,
  • Francis Thomas
  • Lewis Williams.

The proceedings were held before William Henry Brewer the County Coroner for Monmouthshire. Mr. Brough thought the gas that had fired was lying in the upper part of Robert’s crossheading and the explosions occurred at either the intersection of the upper or main cross-hole with that heading or at the mouth of a little cross-hole a few yards to the west. He also thought that the first general rule had been broken as this gas was not cleared from the place and that the third general rule was breached on the day of the explosion. The rule demanded that when safety lamps were to be used they should be inspected and locked by persons authorised to do this job. He contended that if this had been done then David Jones and a boy would not have been able to fire the gas. Only one lamp was given out that morning according to the evidence of the lampman and that was not locked. No lamp was given to his son and the Inspector thought that it was most likely that the boy had a candle or other lamps that was used in non-fiery mines. The Inspector went on to comment:

If the lampman had given out a locked lamp to the father, and another in like manner securely locked to the son, I repeat my opinion that the calamity would not have occurred. That the lives of so many people should have been in the hands of one man and mere boy is greatly to be deplored, especially when those very hands of a man, were without the protection of a locked safety lamp.

Concerning the removal of the door he sent on to say:

It is in evidence that the presence of a large body of explosive mixture, the removal of the door and the other circumstances of the case were all well-known. It is therefore to be regretted that instead of waiting until Saturday night they did not at once take the men out of the work and afterwards clear the gas from Robert’s heading.

After hearing the evidence, the jury brought in a verdict of manslaughter against the manager of the colliery who was bound over on bail to attend the County Assizes at Monmouth where he was found not guilty.

Mr. Brough was instructed to prosecute the proprietors of the Bedwelty Colliery and the case was heard before two justices of the peace at Tredegar on Friday 22nd. September when all three charges against the accused were dismissed.

 

Information supplied by Ray Lawrence and used here with his permission.

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