FIRE CLAY PIT. Bilston, shire. 15th. April, 1846.

The colliery was owned by Messrs. Pemberton and had been closed for the Easter Holidays. On the morning when the miners went back to work, six men and boys were lowered and the “doggy” cautioned them to remain quietly at the bottom of the shaft until he came down. Instead of doing this, a man named William Jones took his candle and went through the gate road. His mates told him not to do this but he persisted. He had not gone six yards when the gas exploded, hurling the men at the bottom of the pit a considerable distance. Jones was killed on the spot along with four other men and boys and several others were burnt. The mine was a new one and the accident was the most disturbing that had occurred in the Bilston district. The explosion was heard one and half miles away and fire was reported to have blazed out of the shaft.

Those who lost their lives were:

  • William Jones aged 23 years of Brook Street.
  • Abraham Atkiss or Adkins aged 32 years of Temple Street.
  • Thomas Vinsom or Ensome aged 10 years of Oxford Street.
  • John Evans aged 18 years.
  • Enoch Bettemy or Bevington aged 16 years of Bridge Street. (The first surname came from the Staffordshire Advertiser and the alternative name came from the Mining Journal).

Jones and Atkiss each left a wife and six children and it was reported that two of the men in the second skip were in a very precarious state.

The inquest was held at the Fox Inn, Bilston before Coroner T. M. Phillips. James Morgan identified all the victims and said they were all miners. He went on to say:

We all worked together in the coal pit in Bilston New Colliery on the Willenall Road. Messrs Benton and Pemberton are the Masters of the colliery and the pits are worked by George Roberts and Edward Dunston. All the deceased persons and myself were there. The first skip that was let down contained William Jones and also Job Vinsom, his son Job, William Moody and William Jones’ son, a boy of about 10 years of age. They were let down by the engine. As soon as they had been let down, the skip came up again, which was in a few minutes. Six other men got into the skip, namely, the deceased Abraham Atkiss, John Evans, Thomas Vinsom and Enoch Betteny and also William Cox and Edward Roberts or Simmons. The engine started as soon as they were ready and when they were a yard or two down the shaft, an explosion took place and it was so violent that all the persons in the skip were blown into the air and fell with great force on the pit bank, a great distance from the mouth of the pit. I assisted the other men on the bank to remove the men who had been blown from the skip. Thomas Vinsom was quite dead. I then went to Evans and Betteny and found them dead also. Atkiss was alive but died almost immediately. I assisted to remove the bodies to their houses.

Upon my return to the colliery I went down a pit near the one in which the explosion had taken place and got into the latter by a gateroad. Upon going into the pit I found William Jones, who was quite dead. The men who had gone down with him were not then in the pit. They had gone up the shaft. I found the two butties, Roberts and Dunton in the pit and also four other men. In company with Job Vinsom, the elder, who was one of the six men in the pit, I examined the workings and found that an explosion of sulphurous gas had taken place. I knew there was sulphur in the pit though no accident had been from it and I requested the young Job Vinsom to tell the men to be careful when they went down and not to go from the bottom until the doggy, William Cox, had gone down with the second skip and used a safety lamp. Cox is an experienced man and is seriously injured and not able to attend.

Job Vinsom, miner of Newton, Bilston gave his account of the disaster:

I was in the first skip that went down. While we were going down, Cox, the doggy, was on the bank, hooted to us and told us to hold back and not go into the gateroad until he had come down. When we got to the bottom, I said, “Let’s sit down men,” but Jones lighted a candle and went into the workings asking Moody to follow him. He did so and after they had gone about fifty yards, the explosion took place.

After hearing all the evidence the Coroner summed up and the jury returned a verdict of “Accidental Death”.

 

REFERENCES
Annals of Coal Mining. Galloway. Vol.2, p.94.
Mining Journal. Vol. xvi, p.165.
The Staffordshire Advertiser.

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

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