CLOUGH HALL. Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. 1st. March, 1865.

The explosion took place in the Bullhurst Seam at the Clough Hall and Brookhouse Collieries owned by Kinnersley and Company. A man named Birks, who had charge of the pit found gas in a working place both in the morning and a few hours before the men went down the pit to work. Even though the gas was a few feet from the roof he allowed the men to continue work and even to fire a shot which caused the explosion. Mr. Wynne, the Inspector commented, “this was a place where men ought not to have been allowed to work, and to fire a shot there was perfect madness.”

Those who died were:

  • Elijah Birks, collier aged 24 years.
  • John Sims, collier aged 34 years.
  • William Swinswood, collier aged 28 years.
  • Isaac Brocklehurst, collier aged 40 years.
  • Joseph Brocklehurst aged 15 years and
  • William Stubb aged 18 years was seriously injured,
  • Joseph Brocklehurst aged 15 years was less seriously injured.

In evidence at the inquiry, Mr. Rolandson, the manager of the colliery, said:

I was down the pit a week before. I did not examine the air. I did not examine for gas. There was no air in the place but brattice air. The gas had not been reported to me. It is not safe to leave it so near to men’s heads. I laid out these workings. It is a fiery seam. There is no furnace or other means to produce ventilation. We had a man burnt to death in the main airway sometime before.

The Inspector charge the manager with a breach of the First General Rule but the magistrates dismissed the case. Mr. Wynne further commented:

This decision bore its natural fruit, for on the 7th. September the same man found gas in a heading near the same place and ordered a man to go in and brush it out with his waistcoat in doing so the flame was driven through the gauze, it fired the gas and killed the brusher. In this case, a conviction was obtained as there was no powder to lay the blame upon and no neighbouring managers came forward to hoodwink the magistrates and whitewash the management.

 

REFERENCES
Mines Inspectors Report. 1865.
Staffordshire Advertiser.

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

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