CWMTILLERY. Abertillery, Monmouthshire. 5th. April, 1873.

The colliery belonged to the South Wales Company Limited and the explosion claimed the lives of six men. It was situated near Abertillery in a village called Cwmtillery which had sprung up around the pit. Mr. Wallace was the manager and about three years before the disaster a new ventilation system was designed by the Inspector and Wallace which included a third ventilation shaft at the colliery. The work had been carried out and was great success increasing the quantity of air in the mine.

There were two districts in the mine, one to the east and one to the west and some old workings had recently been reopened and it was in one of these headings that the explosion occurred. At the time there were only eight men working on the roads in this part of the mine.

At 10 p.m. the night fireman, Joseph Sharpe, made his ordinary inspection and found no gas but told the men to be careful with the doors. The day fireman James Brown, went round at 3.45 a.m. and went into the west workings when he immediately encountered firedamp and realised that an explosion had taken place.

They went to the surface for Mr. Wallace, the manager and they found the walls and roof were damaged and on the ground were the bodies of five men and three others who were just alive but died in a short time. Doors were blown down and one horse was killed.

Those who died were:

  • Thomas Owen aged 26 years,
  • George Evans aged 17 years,
  • James Matthews aged 39 years, left a wife and child,
  • William Corbett,
  • John Corbett,
  • William More, aged 25 years, widower, who left a child,
  • Henry Phillips aged 24 years.

The inquest into the deaths of the men took place at Abertillery and lasted for six days. All interested parties were represented and Mr. Brough, the Inspector, gave evidence that he had inspected the colliery after the disaster. He thought that the explosion had been caused by sheets being left down. The effect of this would have been like leaving open a ventilation door. He went on to say:

If when the deceased persons had resumed their labour after partaking of their supper, or whatever meal the refreshment may be called, and had their sleep, they had discovered gas and had put up the sheet and so restored the ventilation to its normal and proper state, it is inevitable that the very restoration would have brought the firedamp right on to them, and they at the time being at work with naked lights, nothing could have prevented the explosion. But the more immediate bringing about of this calamity, in my opinion, was that after their supper and their sleep they walked about with unprotected lights right into the explosive mixture, not remembering that the sheets had been left down.

The Inspector also considered the possibility of a sudden outburst of gas but rejected this as a possible source of the gas. Mr. Brough concluded the report of the disaster with the following words:

The only thing that can be charged against the management was a want of discipline in not putting a stop to the reprehensible practice of men sleeping during the shift, every one of them retired at the same time into a stall for that very purpose, where, in all probability, they slept an hour and perhaps a good deal more.

 

REFERENCES
Mines Inspector Report, 1873. Mr. Lionel Brough.
Colliery Guardian, 11th April 1873, p.220.
”And they worked us to death” Vol.2. 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