South Derwent Colliery

1933, 27 May - Shield Row, Five Quarter, Brass Thill, Hutton, Hutton Section, Main seams abandoned

Armstrong, James, 24 Nov 1880, aged 22, Deputy, killed by a fall of coal

Bainbridge, Joseph, 11 Aug 1888, aged 64, Screener, waggonman bringing two empty waggons to place under screens allowed them to get too much headway ; they came violently against those already under the screens, upon one of which the deceased was standing, casing them to fall amongst the wheels, and the waggons passed over them, Buried: St. Thomas the Apostle Churchyard, Harelaw [More information ...]

Bell, Frederick, 28 Aug 1895, 8:30 a.m., 3rd hour of shift, aged 17, Putter, deceased was sitting on the limmers driving out-bye, and at a place which was a little lower than other parts of the road, got his head crushed against the roof, Buried: Harelaw Cemetery (old)

Birtley, William, 25 Feb 1893, (accident: 25 Jan 1893), aged 16, was sliding down the hand rail of the steps leading to the pit bank, when he overbalanced himself, and falling to the ground, received injuries to which he succumbed

Brown, Nichol, 07 Dec 1910, aged 16, Driver, inrush of water from old workings

Brown, William, 14 Oct 1874, aged 16, Pony Putter, crushed between tub and crown tree, Chester Ward Coroner's Inquest, place: Annfield Plain, cause: crushed at South Derwent Colliery (DRO Ref: COR/C/2/107)

Calder, John, 19 Jul 1897, aged 52, Chock Drawer, The deceased and his marrow were drawing timber out of an old headways, and had safely got fifteen or sixteen yards drawn. At a point where a bord crossed the head ways, props and baulks were set in a square, with deals on the top and some lofting timber above, as the roof was soft and bad, and it was here where it is thought deceased was easing a prop when the roof came in [Inspection made & inquest attended]

Champney, Guy, 25 Apr 1899, aged 13, Assistant Onsetter, In attempting to turn a full tub, which he thought was empty, he was crushed between it and the guides at the shaft bottom [Inspected]

Davidson, Bartholomew, 17 Dec 1914, aged 18, Putter, Deceased was putting an empty tub round a right angle turn when it became derailed and knocked out one of the props set under the crossing baulk. The baulk, with six planks resting on it, and three planks outbye came down, followed by roof stone to a height of 9 feet. Assistance was obtained immediately, but he was dead when extricated three hours afterwards. A longer crossing baulk should have been used, and more care taken to set the props on the solid floor., Buried: Harelaw Cemetery (new)

Downs, T. J., 22 Nov 1867, Hewer, killed by a fall of stone

Foggan, John, 29 Aug 1887, aged 19, Labourer, explosion of a rusted cast-iron flange-cock

Greaves, Robert, 12 Jun 1915, aged 49, killed by a fall of stone; he was pulling out a prop when the roof fell and buried him completely, Buried: Harelaw Cemetery (new)

Hall, George, 11 Nov 1907, aged 13, Driver [More information ...]

Hall, Joseph, 29 May 1893, 10:00 p.m., 6th hour of shift, aged 30, Chock Drawer, He was engaged drawing out timber, and after drawing all the chocks but three, he foolishly went in to draw a prop, when the place came in [Inspection made & inquest attended]

Handcock, George, 26 Apr 1867, aged 11, Trapper, by pony (owners prosecuted in this case for employing boy without certificate)

Hetherington, John, 20 Oct 1882, aged 14, Driver, fall of stone from side

Hewitt, Thomas, 12 Aug 1865, Hewer, he was taking the top coal down in his workplace; he had got one side nicked and started doing the other, when he was cautioned by the deputy to be careful and put a prop in. In a hurry to get to a quoit match at Leadgate, he took no notice and a fall of coal broke his back, He died in the pit.

Jackson, Selby, 19 Dec 1911, aged 15, Driver, killed by a fall of coal and stone

Lawson, Robert, 06 Feb 1883, aged 66, Screener, run over by waggons on surface

McKenna, William, 19 Feb 1904, (accident: 23 Mar 1903), aged 67, Shifter, Deceased, a weakly man, was injured by a fall of band stone in the Hutton seam on 23rd March, 1903. The accident was not considered serious, and was not reported to me. He only worked one day, the 15th June, 1903, afterwards. An inquest was held after a postmortem examination, and medical evidence by two doctors ascribed death to chronic bronchitis and cardiac disease, but neither doctor could affirm positively that the accident had accelerated death. The Jury returned a verdict in accordance with medical evidence

Murray, Gordon, 08 Nov 1888, aged 13, Driver, crushed between tubs

Parker, William, 04 Jun 1877, aged 22, Hewer, horse back fell upon him ; hewing in a bord

Platten, Robert, 10 Dec 1891, 9:30 a.m., 3rd hour of shift, aged 14, Driver, deceased was going in with three empty tubs, and it is presumed that they got off the way, knocking a prop out from under a baulk, and letting down the roof in large quantities [Inspection made]

Richardson, Thomas, 13 Jul 1883, aged 19, Putter, crushed by tubs

Scorer, Ralph, 26 Dec 1919, (accident: 01 Apr 1919), disease of the spinal cord following injury of the spine caused on 1st April 1919 through being caught between the top of a stone tub and a baulk whilst improperly riding out bye on a full set in the Brass Thill seam (Inquest: 27 Dec 1919)

Scott, Timothy, 02 Oct 1893, 6:30 a.m., 1st hour of shift, aged 40, Onsetter, Deceased was leaning over the gate at an inset, talking to another onsetter at a seam below, when the descending cage caught his head. There is a proper and safe place for the onsetter to speak to the one below, if necessary [Inspection made]

Smith, Matthew, 11 Aug 1888, aged 55, Screener, waggonman bringing two empty waggons to place under screens allowed them to get too much headway ; they came violently against those already under the screens, upon one of which the deceased was standing, casing them to fall amongst the wheels, and the waggons passed over them [More information ...]

Stewart, Alexander, 08 Oct 1903, aged 54, Deputy, Deceased was drawing timber out of a place 7 yards wide that had been worked longwall in the Hutton seam when the roof suddenly fell over an area of 7 yards by 5 yards. A seam 3 feet thick lying above the Hutton seam, and separated from it by 2 feet of stone, had formerly been worked above the point, and the 2 feet of stone and about 2 feet of the upper part of the Hutton seam that was not worked formed the roof. A hitch of 2½ feet throw crossed the place at right angles, and helped to cause the fall. Deceased was using an axe to draw with, and had apparently no other appliance with him as he should have had. His son (George) was killed at the same colliery in 1884, Buried: Harelaw Cemetery (old)

Stewart, George, 14 Feb 1884, aged 14, Driver, head caught against roof while driving a set, his father (Alexander) was killed at the same colliery in 1903, Buried: Harelaw Cemetery (old)

Todd, Benjamin, 06 Oct 1902, aged 13, Endless-rope boy, deceased was employed to fork the rope into the jockeys on the tubs at a curve on an endless rope haulage road in the Hutton seam, about 14 yards from the Carmires shaft; 6 or 7 yards outbye from the curve, and the same distance from the shaft was a knock-off arrangement for disconnecting the rope from the jockeys on the full tubs ; deceased appears to have been riding on the rope and allowed his arm to be drawn in ; his arm was pulled out of the socket ; he was released in a few minutes, but died of shock ; the speed of the rope is from 1¼ to l½ miles per hour

Walters, Thomas, 09 Mar 1874, aged 27, Hewer, killed by a fall of stone

Wells, Joseph Ridley, 02 Nov 1914, aged 24, Boiler-fireman, deceased, with three other men, were joking, and they intended to give the horsekeeper an electric shock by connecting the donkey pump-house handle to a lighting switch; the horsekeeper, however, did not go near the pump-house, and deceased himself was caught; the current was 2-phase-220 volts; the men had played jokes on each other before in the same way, but on this occasion it was a very wet night; so the deceased made a good earth connection