Coxlodge Colliery Explosion – Coxlodge – 1863

COXLODGE,  Coxlodge, Northumberland.  6th. March, 1863.

The colliery had two shafts, the Regent one of which was the downcast, and the Jubilee which was an upcast shaft and they were about 700 yards apart. There was also a connection underground with the old pits at Fawdon. A new furnace was installed under the direction of Mr. Maddison, the chief viewer at the colliery about two years before the disaster. There were then about 11,000 cubic feet of air per minute passing down the Regent shaft and at the end of Leonard Cross Cut it was divided and about 9,000 cubic feet per minute passed down the Cross Cut and round the workings where the men worked with candles. It was here that the explosion was thought to have taken place.

George Short was in the mine at the time of the explosion. He heard the gas explode and immediately went out of the pit. He did not know where the explosion had taken place. Joshua Turner, a hewer who lived at Kenton said the explosion had made him deaf and he had not yet regained his hearing. As he tried to get out of the pit he met afterdamp at the top of the cross Cut. He ran back and met James Richardson and they tried again to get out but were beaten back. Other men joined them including Hann the deputy. Some of them wanted to lie down in a tank of water as they saw this as their only chance. They went on and found a stopping that had been blown down. Turner begged men not to leave him but six ran away but one man with a lamp stayed with him and they wandered about, lost in the pit before they eventually found their way out.

A deputy, William Hann of Fawdon Square, felt the explosion as a heavy shock along the roller way in which there were eleven men at the time and he went back to see if the men were out. Eight of them escaped. We met afterdamp in the headways. There was just one man with us, Ralph Cowley, as the others had run away. They found am alive on the Cross Cut. Hann said to him “Is that Bob?” He moaned. Hann said, “Come, man, there is life yet” I put my hand on his face and said, “I have done all I an for you, I will bid you farewell” and the man died. Hann went on and passed the corpses and told Cowley to go on as best he could. He then fell over a dead horse and called for help. He later assisted in getting the bodies out of the mine.

Mathias Dunn, the Inspector of Mines, requested a copy of the plans of the colliery from the viewer to submit to the coroner’s jury but he could not get the required plans as the viewer, the local Agent, Mr. Bower, and the proprietor refused. Mr. Dunn commented in his report:

This dreadful affair took place for want of caution on the part of someone connected with the management, who permitted naked lights and the gas lamps to be worked simultaneously whilst they were taking off the pillars.

The men who died were:

• Thomas Nichol aged 19 years, hewer.
• Robert Rowell aged 21 years, hewer.
• Thomas Patterson aged 19 years, putter.
• Isaac Balmbra aged 18 years, flat-boy.
• William Harrison aged 16 years, drawer.
• Robert Hann aged 16 years, drawer.
• George Waugh aged 14 years, driver.
• Mark Simpson aged 20 years, putter.
• William Reed aged 13 years, driver.
• George Pattison aged 16 years, driver.
• George Ramsey aged 14 years, driver.
• Robert Wealings aged 15 years, driver.
• Matthew Short aged 13 years, trapper.
• Robert Hutton aged 12 years, driver.
• Robert Bell aged 37 years, a married hewer with six children.
• Michael Bell aged 17 years, hewer, son of Robert.
• Thomas Baker aged 36 years, married with six children.
• David Mole aged 31 years, a married hewer with two children.
• Thomas Hooper, who was dragged from the pit alive but died later that afternoon.
• Robert Maughan aged 13 years a drawer. His father was killed nine years before while firing a shot in the pit.

Those who were injured:

• Robert Stonehouse, burnt,
• I. Walton aged 19 years, hewer,
• William Kenrick, a boy who was a driver.

The inquest took place at the Brandling Arms Inn, Bulmans Village before Mr. Stephen Reed, the coroner for South Northumberland, and proceeding opened at 10 a.m. The room was filled with miners and others who were interested including several fathers and other relatives who had lost loved ones in the explosion.

The coroner called witnesses and the first was Mr. Maddison, the head viewer of the colliery, and had been in the post since 27th June 1860 and he told the court that the mine was worked with naked lights and safety lamps. He had never had any complaints from the men about the ventilation of the mine and he thought it adequate. He was down the pit once or twice a week. There were approved rules displayed in the Office at the colliery and the men who wanted them had copies. He was down the pit on the Monday before the accident and examined the whole of the workings and found them safe.

Mr. Dunn considered that the gas escaped from an old bord at the top and fired at a candle in the northernmost bord. Mr. Dunn questioned Maddison closely. The latter said that there were not goaves because there were pillars of coal there and Mr. Dunn pointed out that they could make gad and they were not ventilated.

George Turnbull of Fawdon Square, a deputy at the colliery, was the next witness. He had been in his post for four years. He was down the pit on the day of the explosion and inspected all the places including a place where Robert Bell, Michael Bell, Edward Ramsey, and Robert Stonehouse were working. He thought the gas had fired in Bell’s place. All the men were working with naked lights. He stated that about ten minutes before the explosion he had fired a shot. The corner questioned him as to the safety of shot firing in the mine and he answered that the men got more coal in less time with less labour. The coroner commented:

Well, you are there to give information but I can give my own opinion, and I think it would be better for the men and owners to be content with less coal rather than run the risk of firing shots.

George Short of Kenton had worked at the colliery for fifteen years and he thought the ventilation was always good and he had not seen gas in the mine. He did not know where the gas came from but said that there was prop drawing taking place and the gas could have come from these operations. Edward Greenwell was working with Short and he said that their lamps were blown out by the explosion. They had been working for some time with candles and none of the men was worried about this. Thomas Ramshaw, a hewer of the Shoulder of Mutton, Coxlodge who had worked at the mine for about ten years said the ventilation was improved when Mr. Maddison came to the colliery.

One hewer, John Collinson, who had worked at the colliery for 26 years but was not employed there at the time of the inquiry said that he thought the ventilation of the colliery defective and on being further questioned by the coroner, said that the practice of shot firing and the use of candles in the mine as dangerous.

Thomas Emmerson Forster was requested by the owners to make an inspection of the colliery after the disaster and he came to the conclusion that Bell’s place had holed into an old bord that had been partially filled with rubbish and the gas that had lodged there had fired at Bell’s candle.

The Coroner summed up the evidence and said that the thing that the jury had to consider was this:

If they thought that there was any negligence on the part of the management of that colliery, or if anything was wanting, the only thing he could say was, that the deputy at the time had it in his power to withdraw the men. They would consider whether there was any want of attention on his part whether there was a purely accidental occurrence which nor foresight could prevent. In the course of his remarks Mr. Reed said that, as far as his judgment went, he would not have naked lights at all he would explode them all together and explode smoking.

The jury retired for about five minutes and the foreman gave the following verdict:

That David Moore and eighteen others on the 16th day of March were accidentally killed in an explosion of gas in the Leonard’s Cross Cut district of the Coxlodge colliery and they recommend that the use of naked lights be discontinued. The jury exonerates all the officials from blame.

The Coroner asked Dr. Thompson of Jarrow and Dr. Thornton of Coxlodge how the survivors were and they said they were doing as well as possible but were in a somewhat precarious state.

REFERENCES
The Mines Inspectors Report, 1863.
The Colliery Guardian, 14th March 1863. p.207.

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