Lumley Colliery George Pit Explosion – Chester-le-Street – 1819

LUMLEY. George Pit. Chester-le-Street, Northumberland. 9th. October, 1819.

The explosion was caused by a naked light. Sykes says that thirteen lost their lives but another account gives the death toll as eleven men and boys. The local papers of the time stated that eleven persons from Lumley and two from New Lambton were killed and that there were about eighty men and boys down the mine at the time.

REFERENCES
Annals of Coal Mining. Galloway, Vol.2, p.495.
Sykes’ Local Records.
Report from the Select Committee on Accidents in Mines. 4th September 1835. p.460.
Great Pit Disasters Great Britain – 1700 to the present day. Helen and Baron Duckham.
Durham Advertiser.

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