Naval Colliery

Naval was an umbrella name that covered the No.1 or Ely (9992 9100), No.2 or Pandy (9987 9199), No.3 or Nantgwyn (9911 9186), and No.4 or Anthony Pits, which were all owned by the Naval Colliery Company. They were approximately 17 miles to the north-west of Cardiff.

No.1 or Ely Pit
This pit was located 450 yards to the southwest of Penygraig Church and was sunk in 1880.

No.2 or Pandy Pit
This pit was located 1,100 yards to the southeast of St. Andrews Church at Llwynypia. It was sunk between 1875 and 1879.

No.3 or Nantgwyn Pit
This pit was located 1,080 yards to the south of St. Andrews Church, Llwynypia and was sunk in 1892 and closed in 1958.

No.4 or Anthony Pit
This pit was located 1,100 yards to the southeast of St. Andrews Church, Llwynypia and worked between 1910 and 1951.

The Naval Colliery Company was formed by Moses Rowlands the major shareholder of the Penygraig Coal Company. In 1875, at a final cost of £100,000, he started sinking the 14 feet diameter Pandy pit to the Pentre seam. This seam proved to be unsatisfactory and was abandoned in 1878 the pit was later deepened to the Upper-Nine-Feet seam which it found at a depth of 1,241 feet 10 inches in 1879. Later it was again deepened, this time to the Gellideg seam to a depth of 1,549 feet 4 inches. The steam winding engine at the Pandy Pit had two horizontal cylinders 35 inches in diameter and with a five-foot stroke. The drum was conical and was 16 feet in diameter in the middle and 15 feet in diameter on each side. It was nine feet wide. The main underground haulage for this pit was located on the surface, it was a steam engine with two horizontal cylinders 18 inches in diameter with a three-foot stroke. The ropes were encased in wooden channels throughout the shaft. The ventilation for the colliery was by a Shiele fan 14.5 feet in diameter.

The Western Mail, on Friday, 7th October 1887, reported that Messrs Coffin and Co., had purchased Naval from the trustees (Rowlands had died a few months earlier), and that the pit had been idle for some months. The major shareholders of the new company were; Lieut-Col Hunt, Mr. Wood, and Mr. T.R. Thompson. The purchase price was £150,000. It added that the old company had been ruined by two disastrous explosions and the depression in the coal trade (They had cost the company £50,000). This was added to by hitting a huge fault in the strata which forced them to stop the workings and drive through it.

It would be January 1888 before the pits were back in production. The New Naval Collieries Company Limited, extended the mineral lease for the colliery, sunk the 15 feet diameter Ely pit to the Nine-Feet seam which it found at a depth of 450 yards, and purchased the Adare level.

On September 4th 1888, John Catell, aged 52 years of age, committed suicide, due to a paralytic attack preventing him from working at this pit.

The Nantgwyn pit was 21 feet in diameter and was sunk in 1892 to the Gellideg seam to a depth of 1,481 feet 4 inches, and the last of the series, the Anthony was sunk in 1908 to just below the Gellideg seam to a depth of 1,544feet 9 inches. There were fifteen haulage engines underground, all worked by compressed air. The Gellideg seam was extensively worked as the Lower-Five-Feet seam at a thickness of between 60 and 66 inches. The Five-Feet seam was also worked at a thickness of between 60 and 66 inches.

The Yard seam was called the Bute seam at this colliery and was worked at a thickness of between 42 inches to 66 inches. The bute seam and the Nine-foot seam had merged in this part of the coalfield to form a thickness of 16 feet 1 inch, 12 feet 5 inches of this being coal, and the rest was dirt partings. Also merged was the Lower-Six-Feet seam with the Caerau seam which was worked as the Four-Feet seam. This composite seam had a total thickness of ten feet seven inches of which eight feet ten inches was coal. The Pentre seam was extensively worked at a thickness of between 33 inches to 39 inches.

In 1896 the No.1 or Ely Pit employed 616 men underground and 83 men on the surface, the No.2 or Pandy Pit employed 604 men underground and 95 men on the surface and the No.3 or Nantgwyn Pit employed 380 men underground and 77 men on the surface. All were managed by Thomas Evans. The company became a public liability company in 1897 under the title of Naval Colliery (1897) Company Limited and was a member of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association. The pits were served by the Taff Vale Railway, and in 1897 they had a sidings capacity of 194 full wagons, 164 empty wagons, and 42 other wagons.

The Aberdeen Weekly Journal of Saturday, 16th December 1893 reported:

Late on Thursday night a serious disaster occurred at the Naval Colliery…a hauling rope while being let down the shaft became twisted round the guide rope. Six men were descending in the cage in order to adjust the rope when the two pit carriages collided, which contained the men being overturned. One man seized the guide rope, but he and three others were precipitated to the bottom of the shaft, a distance of 440 yards, and were killed. It appears that three men were jerked from the cage and that the fourth attempted to descend by means of a guide rope, so as to give instructions for the rescue of his comrades by another shaft. He slipped, however, and the friction became so great that he was compelled to let go, and was thus killed. Thomas Isaac, blacksmith of Tyla Celyn, and Ivor Foster, striker of Pen-y-Graig, were the only two occupants of the cage who escaped. The following are those who perished; John Waye, 39, night overman, married; William Rogers, 32, blacksmith, married; Henry Avery, 20, striker, single; and Bertie Horton, 20, single.”

An extraordinary event occurred on the 2nd of January 1908 at the Nantgwyn Colliery. At approximately 11pm lightning struck the headgear and travelled 500 yards down the pit knocking down a haulier who lifted a steel rope and giving a shackler an electric shock in which he saw; “a large flash of blue light” The lightning travelled 600 yards into the Six-Feet seam workings where a greenish colour spark was reported, and 485 yards into the Nine-feet workings.

In June 1908 the Times reported:

THE PROPOSED AMALGAMATION OF WELSH COLLIERIES.

A report has been current at Cardiff Docks to the effect that an amalgamation is imminent between the Cambrian Collieries Limited and Louis Gueret Limited, owners of the Naval Colliery…The Naval Colliery is adjacent to the Cambrian undertaking and divides the Glamorgan properties. Its geographical position should, therefore, make the combination one of great importance, particularly as the underground workings would be continuous, a fact that would enable economies to be affected. The deal is very large, and if brought about, will rank amongst the most important developments that have ever taken place in the South Wales coal trade. Developments at present contemplated by the Cambrian directors are said to include the sinking of two new pits. The coal worked at Naval Colliery is of the best naval quality, while the small is of exceptionally good class, and ranks among the best sold on the Cardiff market.

Ownership did change again in 1908 when Lord Rhondda took a controlling interest in the company and brought it into the Cambrian Combine. In that year the Nantgwyn employed 807 men underground and 132 on the surface. The manager was Samuel Price.

 

THE CAMBRIAN COMBINE

David Alfred Thomas – Lord Rhondda

Following on from his father’s interests, the father of D.A. Thomas, Samuel, commenced his mining ventures by sinking at Yscuborwen in 1849, and then at Bwllfa in 1856. He commenced sinking the Cambrian Collieries at Clydach Vale in 1871. Samuel Thomas died in 1879 and passed his business interests onto his sons. D.A. Thomas was born in 1856 and following a formal education started work in the sales department of Cambrian Collieries. His father’s death and his own business acumen soon brought him to the Board of the Company and by 1895 he had formed the Cambrian Collieries Limited with a share capital of £600,000. Prior to this he had entered into politics and became MP for Merthyr Tydfil under the Liberal banner in 1888, although he continued as an MP until 1906 after his failure to obtain a cabinet position he returned his energies back to coal mining. He acquired controlling interests in the Glamorgan Coal Company in 1907, 67% of the Naval Colliery Company in 1908, and in 1910 Britannic and Penrhiwfer Collieries came under his control. In 1913 his mining interests were formed into the Consolidated Cambrian Limited which obtained an output of 3,000,000 tons of coal per annum.

In 1916 he attained a peerage and became Lord Rhondda of Llanwern, by this time he was one of the thirty coal owners on the Board of Conciliation. 1916 was also a year of rapid expansion for him and by July he had acquired a controlling interest in David Davis and Sons Limited, by September he had control of North’s Navigation Collieries Limited, and by October he controlled the Gwaun-cae-Gurwen Colliery Company. He was also appointed to the wartime cabinet of Lloyd George and became Chairman of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal-owners Association. David Alfred Thomas, one of the Coalfields leading capitalists died in 1918.

Cambrian Collieries Limited

In 1870 J.O. Riches submitted to Samuel Thomas plans to sink the Cambrian Pits. The Six-Feet seam was reached at a depth of 400 yards (one of the deepest sinkings in south Wales up to that time) in the No.1 Pit in 1875. Sinking had also commenced in the No.2 Pit in 1874 with the No.3 Pit being sunk in 1891. In 1879 Samuel Thomas died followed by the death of J.O. Riches in 1887. Following his death Samuel Thomas’ sons became managing partners, and it was they who formed the Cambrian Collieries Company Limited in 1896. In 1908 one of the brothers, David Alfred Thomas (later Lord Rhondda devised the plan to link the Cambrian, Glamorgan, Naval and Britannic Merthyr Companies together which gave them an undertaking which at that time was greater than any other in the Coalfield.

The Glamorgan Coal Company

Archibald Hood (1823 to 1902) was the son of a colliery manager in Kilmarnock in Scotland. He became a mining engineer and colliery manager in South Ayrshire before coming to South Wales in 1860. He bought a lease for mineral rights in 1862 under Gilfach Goch and formed a company called Ely Valley Coal Company Limited. Further properties were then leased in the Rhondda Fawr Valley and in July 1862 the Nos. 1 and 2 Pits at Llwynypia were sunk to the Nos. 2 and 3 Rhondda seams. The Glamorgan Coal Company was then formed with a Board consisting of; Archibald Hood, G. Mitchell Innes, WS. Innes, H.M. Innes, Archibald Campbell, John Campbell and James Campbell In 1864 a decision was made to go for the steam coal seams and the lease was extended, the company then obtained a mineral lease at Tyntyla and in 1872 sunk the Nos. 4 and 5 pits followed in 1876 by the No.6 Pit. Archibald Hood died in 1902 and control of the company passed to his son, William Walker Hood, in 1907 he sold out and the Glamorgan Coal Company came under the control of the Cambrian Group. At that time production stood at 950,000 tons of coal. William Walker Hood died when he fell out of a train near Swindon in 1922.

The Naval Colliery Company

This company was formed by Moses Rowlands who was the major shareholder in the Penygraig Coal Company. In 1875 he started to sink the Pandy Pit to the Pentre seam. This seam proved to be unsatisfactory and the pit was abandoned in 1878. It was then re-opened and sunk to the Upper-Nine-Feet seam to a depth of 1,241 feet in 1879. Mr. Rowlands, due to financial difficulties, lost control of the Pandy Pit to the New Naval Collieries Company Limited who in October 1887 extended the mineral lease for the company. The Board for this company consisted of Messrs. Hunt, Wood and Gregson. They then purchased the Adare Level and opened three new pits; the Ely, Nantgwyn (1892) and Anthony (1910). The New Naval Collieries became part of the Cambrian Combine in 1908 when it employed 2,640 men and produced 595,000 tons of coal.

The Britannic Merthyr Coal Company Limited

This company had purchased the Britannic Colliery from the Dinas Main Company and was brought into the Combine in 1910. It had a mineral lease for an area of over 2,000 acres at the extreme end of the Gilfach Goch Valley and worked it from the Britannic and Trane Collieries.

Some Notable Dates:

• 1895 – Cambrian Collieries Limited formed.
• 1907 – Formation of the Cambrian Trust Limited. Acquisitions of the Albion Steam Coal Company and the Glamorgan Coal Company
• 1908 – Acquisition of the New Naval Collieries Company.
• 1910 – Acquisitions of; Britannic Merthyr Coal Co. Ltd. Fernhill Collieries Co. Ltd
• 1911 – Acquisition of; Cynon Colliery Ltd, Celtic Collieries Ltd
• 1913 – Consolidated Cambrian Limited formed.
• 1916 – Acquisitions of; David Davis and Sons Limited, North’s Navigation Collieries Limited, International Coal Company, Imperial Navigation Coal Company, Welsh Navigation Steam Coal Company, Gwaun-cae-Gurwen Coal Company Limited.
• 1929 – Merged into Welsh Associated Collieries Limited
• 1935 – Welsh Associated Collieries Limited merged with the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company to form the Powell Duffryn Associated Collieries Limited.

 

THE CAMBRIAN COMBINE DISPUTE OF 1910

The Ely pit was the flashpoint for the famous Cambrian Combine Dispute in 1910.

At the Ely Pit the decision was made to develop the Bute seam, the owners offered a price list of l/9d per ton to the colliers, who in turn wanted 2/6d per ton, stating that it was a particularly bad seam. No agreement could be reached so the owners posted lock-out notices not only to the 80 colliers in the district concerned but to all 880 men working at the pit.

The lock-out started on the 1st of September 1910 and following protracted negotiations, this was followed by a strike of the whole Cambrian Combine from the 1st of November. An Area Conference of the South Wales Miners Federation was called to support the dispute, in which it was agreed not to strike in support but to impose a levy of 1/-per week to go towards the strikers. This was the first dispute of any size that the Lodge’s of a particular owner had acted in unison with the blessing of the SWMF. In reaction to this, the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal Owners Association agreed to indemnify the Cambrian Combine against losses incurred due to the strike and not to employ the strikers in any of their pits. Both sides were entrenched in their ‘matter of principle’ positions and a long and bitter confrontation began.

It was on the 7th of November 1910 that the first rioting took place at Llwynypia, when strikers demonstrating outside the Glamorgan Collieries were dispersed by the police, more rioting occurred on the following night both at Llwynypia and Tonypandy with 80 policemen being injured, the casualty list for the strikers is not recorded. More police were brought into the area (in total 1,500 police from Cardiff, Swansea, Bristol and London were used) plus cavalry and infantry under the command of General Macready. The tension, riots and disturbances were to last until the last one on the 25th of July 1911, when 37 policemen were injured. The dispute was now locked into a bitter stalemate, the men were deeply distrustful of D.A. Thomas, and the owners, buoyed by the guarantees of the Coal Owners Association were determined to have their own way.

A ballot of all the strikers on the 25th of March 1911 rejected a return to work by 6,041 votes to 309 votes. They rejected another ‘improved ’ offer in May. By now the dispute had turned into a complexity of issues, personalities and ideologies. Socialist ideas had now been firmly planted into the minds of the younger miners, and their leaders were attempting to depose the existing leadership who were broadly of the Liberal and Chapel beliefs. The old organisation of the South Wales Miners Federation had proved inept at handling the dispute, and the issues of payment for working in abnormal places and for a national minimum wage had been thrown into the arena. On top of all this, the running of the dispute had created a rift not only between the Cambrian Lodge’s and the SWMF but also between the SWMF and the Miners Federation of Great Britain. The result of all this was that in June 1911 the MFGB stopped its weekly contribution of £3,000 towards the strike. The strike continued until August 1911 when the men were forced by poverty to return to work and accept the terms that were offered in October 1910, Two shillings and three pence per ton of coal produced.

The pits of the Combine were soon back in full production although 3,000 of the strikers were not re-employed. As a postscript to the Cambrian Combine Strike, the three South Wales Officials on the Executive of the MFGB; Tom Richards, Alfred Onions and William Brace were all voted out of that office and replaced by younger socialists. The President of the SWMF, William Abrahams, seeing the way that the wind was blowing retired on ill health. The structure of the SWMF was completely re-organised and the miners’ agent’s powers were drastically reduced. In 1912 it was agreed that a minimum wage should be established in the mining industry. The Ely pit never fully recovered from the strike and manpower and operations were gradually reduced until by 1947 only pumping operations were being carried out.

By November the papers reported:

On Wednesday next, November 4th, Mrs. D. A. Thomas, wife of Mr. D. A. Thomas, M.P., head of the new Cambrian group of collieries, will cut the first sod of a new pit to be sunk on the property of the Naval Colliery Company. The site is situated within about 400 yards to the east of the new Tonypandy station, and close to the old Pandy Pit on the Naval property…and it is expected that in the course of a few years the presence of the Naval Collieries, amounting to about half a million tons, will be nearly doubled. The company intend to install an electrical plant for all purposes, except for winding which will be done by steam.”

While a year on it stated:

Exceptionally rapid progress has been made in the sinking of the new Anthony shaft…the sinking proper started on December 23rd, … it has taken 39 weeks to sink the pit to a depth of 420 yards deep and 20ft in diameter. The No.3 Rhondda, Pentre, Abergorchi, 2ft 9in., 4ft., and 6ft seams were struck and opposite each seam, arches have been constructed in the pit with the walling strengthened by 4ft of mason work. The pit is now used in conjunction with the other Naval collieries for ventilating, and when finally equipped it will be capable of dealing with 4,000 tons of coal in eight hours.

In December 1912, the colliery was described as:

Comprising several thousand acres with four deep and excellently equipped pits yielding 750,000 tons per annum of the best steam coal. This output will be doubled within two or three years. Naval coal enjoys a high repute in the markets where the highest qualities of Welsh steam coal are required.”

In 1913 the Anthony and Pandy pits employed 850 men and were managed by F. Athay, the Nantgwyn Pit employed 1,150 men and was managed by Morgan Rees, while the Ely Pit employed 650 men and was also managed by F. Athay. A book published by the Business Statistics Company of Cardiff in 1915, titled South Wales Coal and Iron Companies describes the Consolidated Cambrian Company as:

Formed in March 1913 to acquire shares in the Cambrian Collieries Ltd, Glamorgan Coal Co, Naval Colliery Company (1897) Ltd, and Britannic Merthyr Coal Co. All the properties owned by the various Companies are situated in the centre of the Admiralty Steam Coal District. With the four new Pits being sunk the Combined Collieries will be working 19 Pits, and in a few years, the annual output is anticipated to be increased from 3,000,000 tons to over 4,000,000 tons. The average annual profits of the four Colliery Companies during the six years 1907 to 1912 inclusive were stated to be £175,444.”The report continued to state that the assets of the company came to £1,814,626 and listed the board of directors as; D.A. Thomas, Chairman, T.H. Riches, J.H. Thomas, F.S. Cartwright, E.A. Mitchell Innes, P.H. Thomas and L.W. Llewellyn. In 1916 the Adare employed 50 men, the Anthony and Pandy 850 men, the Ely employed 650 men and the Nantgwyn 1,150. In 1919 the mines employed; Adare 50, Anthony and Pandy 1,150, Ely 13, Nantgwyn 1,193.

Things then went pear-shaped, D. A. Thomas died in 1918, reparations in the form of coal from Germany following the First World War affected the export trade, there were major strikes in 1921 and 1926 and a general slump in trade. Naval was closed in 1928 throwing 2,000 men out of work. The company was wound up in November 1928. In the Times newspaper of Saturday, 4thof May 1929, along with the rest of the Cambrian Group, Naval Collieries were put up for tender, the report stating:

A leasehold mineral area of 1,315 acres, Three winding shafts, seven seams, annual capacity exceeding 550,000 tons, Estimated Available Resources, 22,828,800 tons, coals of excellent quality. Six leasehold houses, about 1,000 wagons, sidings and tramways, together with the whole of the plant, machinery, tools and equipment.

It was purchased by Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds for £745,000 in July and restarted in September 1929.

In 1931 the company was reformed as Naval Collieries (1931) Limited under the control of D.R. Llewellyn’s Welsh Associated Collieries Limited, which in 1935 merged with the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company to become PowellDuffryn Associated Collieries Limited. The Naval Collieries then remained with PD until Nationalisation in 1947. In 1935 Naval employed 115 men on the surface and 560 men underground working the Pentre seam. The manager was John Whitcombe. In 1938 the Pandy only employed 28 men.

On Nationalisation in 1947, the Naval Colliery was placed in the National Coal Board’s, South Western Division’s, No.3 Area, No.3 Group, and at that time employed 91 men on the surface and 443 men underground in the Anthony pit working the Bute and Yard seams, 45 men on the surface and 229 men underground in the Pandy pit working the Six-Feet seam, while the Ely pit was used for pumping purposes only. The manager was G.A. Allen.

In 1954/55 this colliery was one of 42 that caused concern to both the NUM and the NCB over the high level of accidents, the high level of industrial disputes (26 stoppages in two years), and the low productivity figures. In the first thirty-seven weeks of 1954, this colliery had only produced 88,191 tons of coal with each collier producing only 6.1 tons of coal per week with losses running at £1.32 per ton of coal produced. There had been a slight improvement in 1955 when coalface production was 6.6 tons per collier per week and losses were almost £1 per ton of coal produced.

In 1954 the total manpower for Naval was 113 men on the surface and 601 men underground, with the Anthony pit working the Yard and Upper-Seven-Feet seams, and the Pandy pit the Nine-Feet seam. The manager was now H.G. Cook. In 1955 out of the total colliery manpower of 735 men, 366 of them worked at the coalfaces, in 1956 the coalface manpower was 352 men, but by 1957 it had dropped dramatically to 198 men working at the coalfaces. The Nine-Feet seam was 72 inches thick with the collier being paid four shillings and three pence per square yard for cutting and filling by hand.

Naval Colliery was closed on the 17th of October 1958 for economic reasons.

This colliery’s coals were generally classed as types 203 and 204 Coking Steam Coals, both were low volatile coals, while the 203 was weak to medium caking, and the 204 was medium to strong caking. Both the ash content and the sulphur content were low. The uses for these coals varied from steam raising in boilers for ships, locomotives, power stations etc., to furnace and foundry cokes.

Some of those who died at this mine;

• 12/6/1881, D.W. Williams, aged 18, collier, roof fall.
• 25/7/1882, John Davies, aged 32, collier, roof fall.
• 30/9/1882, John Humphries, aged 49, collier, roof fall.
• 20/12/1882, David Rowlands, aged 55, fireman, run over by trams.
• 30/3/1883, David Llewellyn, aged 51, labourer, roof fall.
• 18/4/1883, Samuel Taylor, aged 21, collier, roof fall.
• 7/9/1883, J. Jones, aged 30, ripper, fell under trams.
• 10/9/1883, T. Evans, aged 35, collier, roof fall.
• 9/1/1885, Edward Watkins, aged 16, door boy, run over by trams.
• 9/4/1885, David Ellis, aged 14, haulier, roof fall.
• 10/7/1885, David Llewellyn, aged 18, haulier, crushed by trams.
• 15/12/1885, Pandy Pit, William Hallett, aged 41, roadman, roof fall.
• 24/4/1886, William Evans, aged 56, collier, roof fall.
• 26/5/1886, Humphrey Jones, aged 58, collier, roof fall.
• 22/9/1890, James Lamb, aged 47, timberman, crushed by trams.
• 16/12/1890, William Thomas Williams, aged 42, timber man, roof fall.
• 6/9/1889, James Price, aged 38, collier, roof fall.
• 16/10/1890, Joseph Davies, aged 16, slummer, shaft incident.
• 2/9/1891, Morgan Eales, aged 22, collier, run over by trams.
• 23/9/1891, Thomas Stephens, aged 49, collier, roof fall.
• 4/11/1891, William Prosser, aged 26, rubbish tipper, crushed by trams.
• 23/8/1892, Edwin Creese, aged 22, head injuries.
• 29/12/1892, Isaac John, aged 42, fireman, roof fall.
• 14/12/1893, William Rogers, aged 36, shoer, fell out of cage.
• 14/12/1893, Bertie Horton, aged 20, striker, fell out of cage.
• 14/12/1893, Henry Avery, aged 22, striker, fell out of cage.
• 22/2/1894, Ely Pit, Frederick Schroll, blacksmith, roof fall.
• 17/11/1894, Ely Pit, David Williams, aged 18, collier, roof fall.
• 17/3/1895, David Williams, aged 45, stoker, suffocated.
• 16/9/1895, Pandy Pit, Robert Roberts, aged 47, ripper, roof fall.
• 21/1/1896, Nantgwyn Pit, Robert Jones, aged 26, ripper, roof fall.
• 5/2/1896, Pandy Pit, John Prosser, aged 45, collier, killed by machinery.
• 13/4/1896, Pandy Pit, David Jones, aged 25, fitter, fell down shaft.
• 29/6/1896, Richard Jones, aged 28, collier, roof fall.
• 4/2/1897, Pandy Pit, David Jones, aged, 22, collier, roof fall.
• 7/4/1897, David Price, aged 33, ripper, run over by trams.
• 19/5/1897, Nantgwyn Pit, Rees Phillips, aged 51, repairer, crushed by trams.
• 14/7/1897, James Mends, aged 24, repairer, roof fall.
• 3/11/1897, Pandy Pit, George Thomas, aged 23, collier, roof fall.
• 9/4/1898, Pandy Pit, Benjamin Rees, aged 22, bratticeman, haulage incident.
• 4/5/1898, Pandy Pit, D.J.L. Forster, aged 16, engine cleaner, caught in machinery.
• 20/10/1898, David Morgan, aged 35, shunter, run over by wagons.
• 1/11/1898, Pandy Pit, Henry Jhonson, aged 29, haulier, roof fall.
• 5/11/1898, Nantgwyn Pit, James Albert Brewer, aged 13, collier boy, roof fall.
• 19/11/1898, Pandy Pit, Jacob Samuel, aged 29, haulier, run over by trams.
• 10/1/1899, Pandy Pit, John Harris, aged 36, collier, roof fall.
• 28/1/1899, Ely Pit, William Burt, aged 32, repairer, roof fall.
• 7/6/1899, Nantgwyn Pit, William Hull, aged 35, collier, roof fall.
• 20/7/1899, Pandy Pit, Owen Hughes, aged 29, repairer, fell down shaft.
• 20/10/1899, Pandy Pit, George Cattell, aged 16, collier, roof fall.
• 23/11/1899, Pandy Pit, E. Samuel, aged 32, hitcher, run over by trams.
• 22/12/1899, Joseph Prichard, aged 27, collier, roof fall.
• 10/1/1910, Pandy Pit, Thomas Benbow, aged 45, repairer, haulage rope.
• 26/1/1910, Ely Pit, T.J. Evans, aged 17, labourer, crushed by trams.
• 18/6/1910, Nantgwyn Pit, D.L. Evans, aged 36, collier, roof fall.
• 24/6/1910, Nantgwyn Pit, John Morgan, aged 37, collier, roof fall.
• 6/7/1910, Pandy Pit, T.J. Dunn, aged 34, fireman, roof fall.
• 21/7/1910, Nantgwyn Pit, Richard Gibbs, aged 49, mason, fell of scaffolding.
• 10/8/1910, Ely Pit, Arthur Hadrell, aged 31, repairer, roof fall.
• 11/8/1910, Ely Pit, Hugh Jones, aged 33, haulier, run over by trams.
• 25/9/1911, Pandy Pit, John Morgan, aged 42, foreman ganger, haulage incident.
• 31/10/1911, Ely Pit, Henry Griffiths, aged 53, mechanic, crushed by trams.
• 10/11/1911, Nantgwyn Pit, Rees Rees, aged 43, fireman, shaft incident.
• 5/2/1912, Nantgwyn Pit, Frank Lewis, aged 42, rider, run over by trams.
• 20/5/1912, Nantgwyn Pit, Thomas Fisher, aged 40, collier, roof fall.
• 29/7/1912, Nantgwyn Pit, Edgar Sugar, aged 18, assistant collier, roof fall.
• 14/4/1913, Pandy Pit, Alfred Edward Harrison, aged 37, chargehand sinker, fell down pit.
• 11/5/1913, Anthony Pit, Eli Robert Welsh, aged 46, pitman, hit on head.
• 11/7/1913, Ely Pit, John Phillips, aged 52, collier, roof fall.
• 14/7/1913, Nantgwyn Pit, John Mullins, aged 46, collier, roof fall.
• 13/11/1913, Thomas Hellier, collier, blood poisoning.
• 15/8/1913, Nantgwyn Pit, David John Watts, aged 14, collier boy, shaft incident.
• 10/9/1913, Anthony Pit, Phillip John, aged 22, assistant hitcher, shaft incident.
• 6/12/1913, Anthony Pit, John Badham, aged 38, collier, crushed by trams.
• 12/2/1914, Anthony Pit, David Jones, aged 15, engine boy, haulage accident.
• 19/3/1914, Nantgwyn Pit, James Batten, aged 26, collier, roof fall.
• 27/3/1914, Nantgwyn Pit, Evan Williams, aged 30, collier, roof fall.
• 16/4/1914, Nantgwyn Pit, Edward Jones, aged 44, collier, roof fall.
• 3/7/1914, Nantgwyn Pit, Frederick Perry, aged 40, collier, roof fall.
• 16/9/1914, Nantgwyn Pit, Richard Jones, aged 25, trimmer, killed by machinery.
• 24/10/1914, Anthony Pit, Joseph Rigby, aged 45, haulier, roof fall.
• 20/9/1927, Pandy Pit, Obidiah Jenkins, aged 57, fireman, roof fall.
• 4/5/1928, Pandy Pit, Jethro Aston, aged 59, collier, roof fall.

Some statistics:

• 1880: Output: 76,078 tons.
• 1890: Manpower: 800. Output: 128,000 tons.
• 1899: Manpower: Ely: 278, Pandy: 831, Nantgwyn: 683.
• 1900: Manpower: Ely: 324, Pandy: 847, Nantgwyn: 792.
• 1901: Manpower: Ely: 341, Pandy: 962, Nantgwyn: 914.
• 1905: Manpower: Ely: 837, Pandy: 101, Nantgwyn: 868.
• 1908: Manpower: 2,640. Output: 595,000 tons.
• 1909: Manpower: Ely: 939, Pandy: 821, Nantgwyn: 172, Anthony: 168.
• 1910: Manpower: Ely: 924, Nantgwyn: 1,032, Anthony & Pandy: 687.
• 1911: Manpower: Ely: 977, Nantgwyn: 1,011, Anthony & Pandy: 702.
• 1912: Manpower: Ely: 789, Nantgwyn: 1,188, Anthony & Pandy: 997.
• 1913: Manpower: 2,650.
• 1916: Manpower: 2,700.
• 1919: Manpower: 2,493.
• 1920: Manpower: Ely: 13, Nantgwyn: 1,250, Anthony & Pandy: 1,150.
• 1922: Manpower: Ely: 310, Nantgwyn: 1,310, Anthony & Pandy: 850.
• 1923: Manpower: Ely: 533, Nantgwyn: 1,333, Anthony & Pandy: 1,151.
• 1924: Manpower: Ely: 540, Nantgwyn: 1,300, Anthony & Pandy: 1,150.
• 1927: Manpower: 1,413. Output:600,000 tons.
• 1928: Manpower: Ely: 360, Anthony: 400, Pandy & Nantgwyn: 700.
• 1930: Manpower: 2,138. Output: 600,000 tons.
• 1931: Manpower: 600.
• 1933: Manpower: 695.
• 1934: Manpower: 676.
• 1935: Manpower: 675. Output: 190,000 tons.
• 1937: Manpower: 693.
• 1938: Manpower: 505.
• 1940: Manpower: 632.
• 1941: Manpower: 772.
• 1942: Manpower: 772.
• 1947: Manpower: 808.
• 1948: Manpower: 810. Output: 154,000 tons.
• 1950: Manpower: 528.
• 1953: Manpower: 879. Output: 214,500 tons.
• 1954: Manpower: 714. Output: 127,000 tons.
• 1955: Manpower: 735. Output: 137,684 tons.
• 1956: Manpower: 717. Output: 122,417 tons.
• 1957: Manpower: 437. Output: 90,485 tons.

 

Information supplied by Ray Lawrence and used here with his permission.

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