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Mining extracts the Illustrated London News for 1858
Transcribed by Alan Vickers
The Lundhill Colliery
The damage caused by the terrible explosion at the Lundhill Colliery on the 19th July last, by which 189 lives were lost, has now been thoroughly repaired. A great improvement has been made in the workings by the introduction of a dumb-drift, which has been executed under the superintendence of Mr. Beaumont. The effects of this will be to carry the foul air away instead of it having to pass over the cupola furnace, as previously. The proprietors, having repaired all the damage, have now again fairly commenced operations.
January 9th, 1858.
Fatal Colliery Accident
At the Clay Cross collieries, Derbyshire, on Monday morning, as four men, named Edward Johnson, James Green, Joseph Vardy, and Edward Stones, were in process of being lowered by the cage, the wire-rope broke, and the four persons fell to the bottom, a distance of seventy yards, and were killed. - Another accident happened at the same works to a man named Robert Kane, who was employed in an ironstone pit. The man was cutting out some bind, when about 10 cwt. fell on him and killed him.
January 23rd, 1858.
The South Wales Strike
The colliers of the Aberdare district still hold out on strike in large numbers, although some have come in. The Monmouthshire colliers have followed the example of the Glamorganshire men, and are on strike in large numbers. The Aberdare colliers continue to meet together and talk very largely. The strike has caused disturbance of the coal shipping trade from the ports of Cardiff and Swansea.
January 23rd, 1858.
A Frightful Colliery Explosion occurred on Tuesday evening at the coalpit known as "The Diamond Pit," at Bardsley, a locality in the Knotts Lancs division of the parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, and about two miles north of that town. About two hundred men and boys are employed in the pit. The explosion occurred just as they were leaving the pit, and about one half the number had been drawn up. The force of the explosion was so great that, although the shaft is four hundred and seventy yards deep, the rope attached to one of the cradles was blown off the pulley at the "head-stocks," and the rope was at once taken off the drum. The conductors were also broken, and the utmost care became necessary in winding up and down with the remaining rope. As soon as it was possible to descend there was no lack of volunteers to go down and aid in bringing up the survivors. The confusion and the darkness prevented any regular muster or roll-call of the men and boys brought up before and after the explosion. It is feared that forty lives have been sacrificed. A great number of persons also have been severely burnt and otherwise injured.
February 6th, 1858.
Fatal Colliery Explosion
An explosion took place between three and four o'clock on Thursday morning, in Powell's colliery at Mountain Ash, Merthyr? thirty-two men were working in the colliery at the time, of whom nineteen were killed.
February 27th, 1858.
Fatal Accidents in Coal Pits
Four men were killed on Thursday week in a pit called the Lodge Colliery, near West Bromwich. The men were at work about eighty yards from the bottom, when a large piece of the work gave way, fell upon them, and buried them. The quantity of earth which fell weighed about fifty tons.
March 6th, 1858.
A disastrous explosion of firedamp occurred at about two o'clock on the same day at one of the Lower Duffryn Collieries, Cwm Pennan, near Mountain Ash, Aberdare, belonging to the firm of Messrs. Thomas Powell and Son. It was soon ascertained that, out of thirty-two hands who were in the colliery, as many as nineteen had been killed.
March 6th, 1858.
The Ulverstone Mining Company's water level has just been opened. The level is a mile and a half long, is 4 ft. 6 in. wide, and 6 ft. deep, the greater part of it being cut in solid rock, and it effects a drainage at the engine-shaft of 92 feet.
March 13th, 1858.
The mining works of the Victoria Mining Company, at Runswick, near Whitby, sunk by subterranean action on Monday morning. The damage is estimated at £15,000 but there is no personal injury.
March 27th, 1858.
Discovery of a Lead and Silver Mine Worked by the Romans. - Captain Reynolds, of Llanidloes, has discovered a valuable lead and silver mine, at Snowbrook, situate at the base of Plinlimmon, about eight miles north-east of Llanidloes. A sample of the ore has been assayed, and produced 80 per cent for lead, and 20 ounces of silver to the ton of lead. The mine is an old Roman working, and in all probability had not been opened for 1500 years before Captain Reynolds made the discovery.
April 3rd, 1858.
The Burra Burra copper-mines in South Australia now give employment to 1013 miners, and support a population of nearly 5000 persons.
April 10th, 1858.
An Explosion took place on Friday morning (last week) in one of the coal-pits on the estate of Lord Vernon, at Poynton, Cheshire. There were 240 workmen in the pit at the time of the explosion. Three of them were killed - James Ridgeway, John Ridgeway, his father-in-law, and John Cooper. Within two hours all the other men were extricated in a state of stupefaction, but they have since recovered. The explosion is supposed to have arisen from the removal of the top of a Davy lamp by one of the workmen.
April 24th, 1858.
On Wednesday week an explosion of firedamp occurred at the Broughton Hall Colliery, near Wrexham, which resulted in serious injury to four men.
May 8th, 1858.
Fatal Colliery Explosion
An explosion of firedamp occurred at the Wingerworth ironstone-pits near Chesterfield, on Monday, and resulted in the death of four persons, one of them being the manager of the works. About 400 men are employed in the pit ; but at the time of the accident only the four men who were killed were engaged in it.
May 22nd, 1858.
The deepest coalpit in Great Britain, and probably in the world, has, after nearly twelve years' labour, just been completed and opened at Dukinfield, Cheshire. The shaft of this pit is 686½ yards deep, and the sinking of it cost £100,000.
August 21st, 1858.
New Coal-field
An important discovery of coal has recently been made in North Wales, by which it has been found that the Flintshire coal-bed extends into Denbighshire, as far as Denbigh in the Vale of Choyd, if not farther to the westward. The discovery of coal was made in the vale, where a seam a foot and a half in thickness was discovered close to the surface. The dip is not great, and it is probable that the bed could be worked to profit. An extraordinary stratum of coal has been discovered at the Llwyeunion works in Denbighshire.
September 25th, 1858.
A Riot took place on Friday week at Hoyle Mill, near Barnsley, where the men employed at the Oaks Colliery are still on strike. An attempt at a settlement between the masters and men having failed, a number of colliers from the Midland and Northern coal fields have been imported, and, to make way for these, many of the old hands have been ejected from the houses they held under the proprietors of the colliery, and have taken up their residence in tents, each receiving about 10s. a week from the Colliers' Association. On Friday evening a party of men, clearly strangers, made their appearance at the place, mustering at an inn which is much frequented by the "black sheep," as the strange workmen are called. A quarrel was soon got up, and the mob, after putting the "black sheep" to flight, broke all the windows of the inn, then marched into the village, and made a furious assault upon the houses of the newly-engaged men. The windows of sixty houses were entirely demolished. The next morning only three of the new hands presented themselves for work, the rest being afraid of further violence. The police, who were too weak to interfere with the rioters, have been reinforced.
October 2nd, 1858.
The Oaks Colliery Strike has come to an end, after lasting eighteen weeks, having caused an enormous expenditure by the masters, and also cost the Miners' Association upwards of £2000. On Friday week the proprietors received a deputation of the turn-outs at the request of the latter. The men having previously arranged with the "black sheep," about twenty of that body were present, and arrangements were drawn up which all parties signed. On Monday the pit resumed its former busy aspect. Several men have been sentenced to imprisonment for the recent attacks upon the "black sheep" in connection with the strike.
October 9th, 1858.
On Monday, at the Townhall, Little Bolton, two colliers were charged with working with naked candles, and another with taking off the top of his safety-lamp, in a pit at Kersley. They were fined - the two first 20s. and costs, and the other 10s. and costs.
October 9th 1858.
A slate quarry situated near Festiniogg, North Wales, belonging to Mr. Holland, is lighted with gas.
October 16th, 1858.
The Primrose Colliery Disaster
The inquest on the bodies of the fourteen colliers who were suffocated in the Primrose Colliery, four miles from Neath, on the 13th inst., was held on Monday at Alltwen, near the colliery, before Mr. A. Cuthberton, coroner for this district of the County of Glamorgan. The jury found a verdict of "Accidental death."
October 30th, 1858.
On the afternoon of Thursday week the Cae Coalpit, near Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, was inundated by an inrush of waters from old adjoining workings. There were fifteen colliers in the pit, of whom ten were drowned.
November 13th, 1858.
Frightful Accident
The local papers record the occurrence of a dreadful accident at the works of the Thrybergh Coal Company, Kilnhurst, near Rotherham, on Friday week, by which the lives of two men were sacrificed, and that of a third terribly jeopardised. It appears that a new shaft is being sunk on the premises of the company, and that the nature of the strata to be excavated renders blasting operation necessary. On the day above mentioned three men, named Hurst, Dyson, and Jagger, were lowered into the aperture to make preparations for blasting : they laid the powder and lighted the fusee, and then signalled to be drawn up, at the same time getting into the bucket or cage by which they were to ascend. The signal not being responded to, Dyson got out of the cage to repeat it, as they were in immediate danger from the explosion of the blast. Just as he got out, however, the cage began to move up. Dyson, to save himself, clutched desperately at the receding machine, which caused it to oscillate violently, and soon afterwards it caught against some obstruction in the shaft and capsized. Dyson and Hurst fell to the bottom, but Jagger clung to the rope and succeeded in reaching the top, but before he did so the powder below exploded, and the two unfortunate men in the shaft were blown to pieces. Their remains, which were scattered in all directions, were recovered very shortly after the catastrophe by Jagger and a party of men who descended the shaft, and were removed to the Ship Inn, Kilnhurst, where an inquest was held by Mr. Badge on the following day, and a verdict of "Accidental death" returned.
November 20th, 1858.
An explosion took place in the Morfa Colliery, Tailbach, near Port Talbot, on Wednesday week, which was attended with the loss of four lives. It is supposed that the explosion arose from the incaution of one of the men in removing the top of his safety-lamp.
December 4th, 1858.
Dreadful Colliery Explosion
A coalpit explosion producing terrible consequences, occurred about noon on Saturday last, at Tyldesley Colliery. The firedamp exploded in a down-brow running south, and then taking a rectangular direction, and extending to beneath St. George's Church, Tyldesley. A few of the miners and drawers escaped before the crash came, having taken alarm at the unusually dense accumulation of foul gas which was perceptible. One sturdy collier took with him two boys to the pit's eye, which was for a considerable distance filled with the noxious atmosphere, but the two youths had become completely insensible, and the man himself exhausted. The remainder of the colliers and drawers, twenty-four in number, who were at work in the different bays and in the levels, were killed. A subscription is being made to provide funds for the widows and families of the deceased. The Rev. George Richards, the Incumbent of Tyldesley, is taking an active part in this benevolent object. [We shall engrave the scene of this calamity next week.]
December 18th, 1858.
Dreadful Colliery Explosion at Tyldesley
In our last week's Number we recorded a terrible disaster occasioned by an explosion of firedamp at Tyldesley Colliery, a few miles from Manchester, by which twenty-four lives were lost. We now engrave the scene of the calamity. The awful event took place on Saturday, the 11th inst., about noon. Four or five hours elapsed before the after-damp would allow a descent into the mine. Most of the bodies found first had the appearance of having died from suffocation ; one was much mutilated by the explosion, and , farther on, three or four were literally blown to pieces. Nothing certain is known of the cause of the explosion. In such a mutilated condition were some of the bodies that it was doubtful at first whether twenty-five or twenty-four had been killed. The larger proportion of the dead were married men, most of them having young families. A subscription is being made to provide funds for the widows and families of the deceased. The Rev. George Richards, the Incumbent of Tyldesley, is taking an active part in this benevolent object.
An engraving with the caption "Tyldesley Colliery. - Scene of the Late Explosion."
December 25th, 1858.
