SILVERDALE.  Sheriff Pit. Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. 6th. April, 1876.

The colliery was the property of Messrs. Stainer and Company at Silverdale. Mr. Lucas was the manager, John Higginson the overman and Thomas Wright, one of the firemen who had worked at the colliery for about eight months before the explosion. He had been taken from being a collier to be in charge of three seams but it was established that he was an experienced man and he held a government certificate of competency. The mine was supposed to be fiery and the drifts were worked with lamps. At 5.45 a.m. on the day of the disaster, Wright reported in the Report Book that all was well and gas had never been reported in either of the dips. There may have been some accumulation of gas on the 8th February when some of the ventilation pipes had fallen down. The pipes were repaired at once.

The mine was dry and dusty but not particularly hot. The instructions to the firemen with respect to firing shots, was to keep to the letter of the Mines Regulation Act. On the morning of the disaster, James Green, fireman, went into the Seven feet Seam, No.3 Dip at 5 a.m. when he waited for the men after his inspection and locked their lamps and the men went to work. At 6.30 a.m. Green went to fire a shot where Whitmore was working.

Thomas Wright, one of the deceased, had been a fireman for only eight months and questions were asked about his competency but it was stated that he had been brought up in the mines and was very experienced. Wright went in and reported that the colliery was a clear of gas and the men were allowed in.

When Green went to fire the shot for Whitmore, he found no gas and he had never known gas in the pit. It was the custom for the fireman to light the fuse but if it was a touch shot, the man would fire him itself in the presence of the fireman.

The explosion took place about 3 p.m. and Green was severely burnt. He heard a sound which came from below him from Whitmore’s and Simster’s places. A little time before he had hear Whitmore calling for a cartridge but Green had none and he did not know if Whitmore fired the shot.

The explosion took place about 3 p.m. and Green was severely burnt. He heard a sound which came from Whitmore’s and Simister’s places which were below him.

The men who died were all colliers:

  • Samuel Simster,
  • James Whitmore,
  • Thomas Wright,
  • Josiah Wheelock,
  • James Bithell.

The inquest into the men’s deaths was held before Mr. Booth, Coroner, at Silverdale. Thomas Higginson, the overman, gave evidence. He thought the explosion was caused by a shot hole being overcharged and was an explosion of dust not gas.

John Bithell, the father of James who was killed in the disaster, told the court that his son stated before he died that a shot was fired in Simster’s place and he thought Wright had given permission. John Wooley, colliery was leaving the pit at the time of the blast and was going up the last thirling. When he came to, he went about 200 yards in the dark before he was overcome but he managed to get to where there were other men who got him out of the pit.

David Wainwright, collier said he was the first down the pit after the disaster and he thought the dust had fired as the mine was dry and dusty and he knew that dust could easily kindle.

Mr. S.B. Gilroy, Assistant Inspector of Mines went down the pit after the explosion with Mr. Lucas and he carefully examined the Seven Feet workings on the west side. He found the most sever traces of the blast in the heading next to Whitmore’s place. The side timber next to the shaft was considerably charred and there was the unmistakable odour of afterdamp. He was inclined to think that the shot fired in Whitmore’s place and not Simister’s was the cause of the explosion.

Mr. C.F. Clarke, mining engineer of Wigan, thought that the underground management of the mine was in accordance with modern science and general practice. The air was well split and there was sufficient quantity but he thought there were two faults in the management of the mine. First that the air pipes were in general use, which was contrary to the recommendation of the Mines Inspectors following the jury’s findings at the Bunkers Hill Colliery inquest.

After deliberating for an hour the jury brought in the following verdict:

That the deceased met their death through accident from firing a shot, the igniting of a small portion of gas and a quantity of coal dust. We attach no blame to the parties connected with the workings and we recommend that the Silverdale Colliery Company, or their manager, be requested to put in authority some responsible person to make daily supervision of the workings of the No.6 Pit.

In reply to a question form a juryman, the Coroner said that there was no way of preventing the firing of coal dust so long as the practice of blasting was allowed, but the Government would not prohibit the use of powder in mines.

Mr. Wynne commented:

Having tried to convince people of the desirability of lessening the use of powder, by showing how many explosions of firedamp it causes, how many loose their lives or are maimed for life by premature or latent shots, and how much it endangers the lives of the workmen by shaking an otherwise dangerous roof, let us hope that self-interest and the exigencies of the times will bring about the desirable end, that we have by other means failed to accomplish.

 

REFERENCES
Colliery Guardian, 23rd June 1876, p.983.
Mines Inspectors Report, 1876. Mr. Thomas Wynne.

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

Return to previous page