Mining is one of the most dangerous and hazardous occupations that can be undertaken. Accidents, fires and explosions were commonplace (at least in the 19th and early 20th century).
The Mining Archive holds the official reports of many of these disasters starting from as early as 1866 (The Oaks Colliery Explosion, Barnsley, 12th December 1866) up until 1982 (Coventry Colliery and Cardowan Colliery).
Figure 1: Scan of the cover of the report into the Oakes Colliery Explosion
Of specific relevance to North Staffordshire, and taking place just one day after the Oaks explosion, was the Talk o’ the Hill Disaster of 13th December 1866 (note that the spelling of the village varies from publication to publication). Extracts are given below.
The Report, made by Mr THOMAS WYNNE, Inspector of Mines, on the Explosion at Talk O’ Th'’Hill with Evidence taken before the Coroner’s Inquest was presented to the Right Hon. S.H. Walpole MP, Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State. Mr Wynne prefaced the report in a letter saying “I have the honour to transmit to you my report of the proceedings which have taken place with respect to the sad calamity at Talk-o’-th’-Hill, by which 91 persons lost their lives ; and I do not think I can perform that melancholy duty in a better way than using the reports of the local press, giving the evidence as taken before the coroner’s inquest.”
Figure 2: Drawing of the Talk O’ Th'’Hill
Terrible Colliery explosion at Talk-O'-th’-Hill, near Tunstall - Eighty Lives Lost
"It is our melancholy duty to place on record this week the most frightful colliery catastrophe which has ever occurred [to date] in the North Staffordshire District – an explosion of fire-damp, resulting in the instantaneous death of eighty persons. The scene of the catastrophe was the colliery of the North Staffordshire Coal and Iron Company (Limited) at Talk-o’-the-Hill, about three miles from Tunstall and four from Newcastle-under-Lyme.
There are two main shafts – one upcast, to the north, where the Truro and other seams are worked, and one downcast, to the south, where the Banbury seams are worked. The Banbury coal is a notoriously dangerously coal to work, being highly charged with the fearful gas, the combustion of which, ever and anon, hurries scores and hundreds of our fellow creatures into eternity.
On Thursday morning last [13th December 1866] 180 men and boys descended the pit in pursuit of their ordinary calling; at all events that was the number of lamps issued…
....In the course of the morning nothing occurred to excite apprehension, but between eleven and twelve o’clock a terrible explosion took place, the effect of which, within a radius of half a mile, is described as resembling that of an earthquake. A dense volume of black smoke rushed up the shaft, with dust, pieces of coal, and timber."
There followed harrowing descriptions of the explosion and its effect on the miners, many too graphic to be reproduced here.
The inquest was held at the Swan Inn in Talke. The coroner, in opening the enquiry, said the jury had been summoned to investigate the cause of an accident more distressing in its results than any which had ever before happened in the whole of his experience as coroner for the district.
Over the following days many witnesses were called ranging from the colliery manager, officials, miners and various experts. They delved into the rules, processes and practices of the mine and the extent to which these were supervised and carried out. There are harrowing descriptions of the explosion and its effect on the miners, many too graphic to be reproduced here. Details of the arduous and dangerous work of the rescue workers is documented. The jury then retired and returned with the following verdict:
“We find that [91 miners] met their death by an explosion of gas in the [Banbury Mine]. No positive evidence has been brought before us to show how the accident occurred; but we are of the opinion that an accumulation of gas had taken place in some of the lower workings, in consequence of the upsetting of a train of coals in a doorway, and that the gas coming into contact with a naked light, unlawfully exposed by one of the miners, exploded. We find that if the rules and regulations made by the managers of the pit had been carried out as they ought to have been by their subordinates, the explosion might not have taken place. We regret to see the culpable negligence shown by [JB and CL] in violating the rules made for the protection of life and property in the pit. We should suggest that means be adopted by [Mr N], the underground bailiff of the mine, for carrying out more strictly the rules of the pit with regard to the men firing their own shots, brushing out the gas themselves, smoking pipes, and re-lighting their lamps in the return air. We cannot too strongly urge upon the Government the necessity of appointing additional inspectors of mines.”
The Coroner – “Then, irrespective of the observations you have it your duty to make, you find that the deceased persons came by their death in an accidental way by an explosion of fire-damp.”
The Foreman – “We do.”
The signatures of the jury having been obtained to the verdict, they were discharged by the Coroner, who in Her Majesty’s name thanked them for their valuable services.
Ann Goddard’s book “Goodbye Old Pick” (also in the Archive) is a commentary on her great grandfather’s memories of his life in the coalfields of North Staffordshire and Derbyshire. Charles Lawton (1839-1921) in his account “A Reminiscence of a Collier’s Life” describes his working life from pit-boy to colliery manager. Lawton was engaged as a Deputy at Talk-o’-th’-Hill Colliery ten weeks before the “great explosion”. He is very candid about conditions at the colliery stating “the pit was making large quantities of gas – no rules were enforced......every man, boy and horse worked under one only law, the place knew no other Get out more Coals”.
On the 13th December 1866 (the day of the explosion) Lawton left the pit at half past three in the morning after a night shift. Although not at the pit at the time of the explosion (about 11:30am) he describes in detail what would have been happening before and during the disaster. On re-opening the colliery Lawton was appointed the Underviewer. He says “We had lost 91 men and 36 horses all my colleagues as deputies were dead with the exception of two. It took us 5 days and nights to bring out the dead. The manager fell ill and the work of rescue was laid upon me. We got out 45 alive. Some died of their wounds afterwards. In doing this we had to face death on all sides...............For 5 days and 4 nights without rest or sleep I led exploring bands fighting death inch by inch carrying out the poor fellows as best we could”.
On one particular ‘exploration’ Lawton tells of an attempt to rescue a miner [CD]: “We made a rush to go through a column of Black smoke and afterdamp but had to fall back. While making this attempt Mr Wynn (sic) the Inspector came and made a brave effort to get at the lad but failed to get so far as we had been before he fell and had to be carried out of the pit and meantime poor [CD] died only a few yards in front of us.”
The report shows Thomas Wynne (Inspector of Mines) made several underground visits immediately after the explosion. The ‘exploring party’ included John Strick (ref: Strick Bequest). Strick at that time “had been for three and a half years mining engineer at Earl Granville’s colliery at Hanley. He gave an interesting account of several explorations which he made in company Mr Wynne, Mr Adie, Mr Coe and others…….”
Wynne paid tribute to those who had ventured underground in the aftermath: “As regards those brave men who assisted in the exploration of the mine, no words of mine can express the admiration I feel for their heroism; for I witnessed men with a full knowledge of their own danger groping in the dark over dead men, in the strong hope of rescuing a living one. And, what was most admirable of all, a sense of their own danger did not cause them to disobey a single order given,”
