Killingworth Colliery Explosion – Killingworth – 1809

KILLINGWORTH. Killingworth, Northumberland. 14th. September, 1809.

The pit exploded with the loss of twelve lives. The explosion did not reach the shaft and the men that died were killed by the effects of afterdamp.

The local burial register lists those below as “pitmen. Killed 14th September.”

Buried 15th September:

• Robert Hall aged 34 years.
• James Davison aged 23 years.
• John Mason aged 50 years.
• Moses Stewart aged 32 years.
• Robert Wheeler aged 18 years.
• Buried 16th September:
• William Scott aged 31 years.
• John Gildroy aged 42 years.
• John Burrel aged 39 years.
• George Gildroy aged 27 years.
• James Cook aged 18 years.

REFERENCES
Annals of Coal Mining. Galloway, Vol. 1, p. 401.
The Commission on Accidents in coal Mines 1835, 1,527-8.
Sykes List.
Burial Register of St Bartholomew, Long Benton.
Fynes’ History of the Northumberland and Durham Miners.

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