NEW HEM HEATH. Chesterton, Staffordshire, 25th. February, 1915.

The colliery was small, employing only about 120 men and was the property of Messrs. Hodkinson Brothers. It mined both ironstone and coal and at the time of the accident men were loading ironstone which had been won during the day. It was regarded as a safe pit and naked lights were used. The loss of life was caused by a fire which broke out in an underground engine house, the roof supports and lagging and the flooring of which was largely timber. The haulage engine rested on four timber cross beams was driven by compressed air. Trouble had been experienced due to the exhausts becoming choked with ice and to meet these circumstances, two paraffin oil stoves, resting on brick pillars were kept burning under the exhaust pipe. One of these stoves was accidentally upset and set fire to the timber.

The return air was carried across the engine room in an air crossing and this collapsed when the roof timbers were burnt through and the arrangements for reversing the air became useless. The smoke was carried down the engine dip which was the main intake and the twelve men lost their lives by carbon monoxide poisoning.

The opening of a ventilation door immediately on the inbye side of the engine room would probably have diverted the smoke straight into the return airway and prevented any loss of life but unfortunately, the importance of this did not immediately suggest itself to anyone in the neighbourhood of the engine room at the time and by the time the day fireman, who had completed the shift and gone home, reached the pit, it was impossible to reach the door in question without a smoke helmet or rescue apparatus although several attempts were made to do so. Unfortunately the mine had not been equipped with either a smoke helmet of rescue apparatus.

Mr. Arthur Hassan, the manager, gave the following statement on the accident on behalf of the firm:

By some means or other, a fire originated in the compressed air engine house and burned fiercely burning the timbers away and causing a very heavy fall of roof at the top of the main dip, consequently blocking the ingress and trapping the men. Ingress was obtained by a circuitous route through the Red Shag seam and all the men who were rescued came out along this seam.

Continuous efforts were made to pass the fall on the main dip and their efforts were rewarded of Friday night when the rescue brigade recovered the bodies when the fire was under control but not fully extinguished.

The men who died were:

  • Claude Hodkinson aged 40 years, married, colliery proprietor,
  • Ernest Brown, aged 32 years, married, engineman,
  • Joseph Cornwall aged 14 years, pump attendant,
  • Jacob Cobnall aged 42 years, married,
  • Walter Griffiths aged 25 years,
  • Levi McCreadie aged 27 years, married,
  • George Skidmore aged 43 years, fireman,
  • John Kennedy aged 45 years, married,
  • William Hyde aged 35 years, married,
  • James Brown aged 42 years, married,
  • Albert Poole aged 34 years
  • Robert McCreadie was rescued alive but died in the infirmary.

Conspicuous gallantry was shown by Harry Bickerton, the day overman in the Red Shag mine. He descended the pit and fought his way through the smoke to direct several men to safety. Engineman Brown lost his life trying to warn his fellow men of the danger and went forward without breathing apparatus but did not return.

At the inquest into the disaster Mr. W.J. Hassan said that the fire broke out at 3.10 p.m. about 40 yards from the shaft bottom. Harry Bickerton told the court that in the 37, he found John Kennedy, William Hyde and James Cork. Hyde was dead, Kennedy just alive and Cork was breathing heavily. He tried to get Cork out but found that he was going very weak so he went back into the 45 where he stopped until he was rescued by the rescue brigade who he told where Cork was.

The jury found that the men had died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to the fire. They recommended that Bickerton’s bravery should be recognised and the rescue brigades work also.

Proceedings were instituted against the owners and manager for breaches of Section 70 of the Coal Mines Act, 1911 as amended by Section 3 of the Coal Mines Act, 1914, and of the Rescue Regulations. The defendants pleaded guilty to the first offence and the owners were fined £10 and 7 guineas costs. The manager was fined £5 with 5 guineas cost. The summonses for the offences against the General Regulations were withdrawn on consent of the owners giving an undertaking approved by the Home Office to maintain the requisite brigade and rescue apparatus and also to pay 10 guineas costs.

 

REFERENCES
Mines Inspectors Report. Mr. Hugh Johnstone.
The Colliery Guardian, 6th March 1915, p.465, 12th March, p. 549, 556.

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

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