Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	13th April 1896
Colliery:	Brancepeth, A Pit
Cause:	Explosion, coal dust, ignition caused by shot firing
Lives Lost:	20

Only one fatal explosion, viz., that at Brancepeth Colliery on the 13th of April, occurred. A special report having been made to you on this accident I do not propose to go into the details of it again. The explosion was undoubtedly caused by the firing of a shot on a main engine plane, and the management have now prohibited shot-firing on the main roads entirely, and are introducing the use of higher explosives in the canches and drawing roads, roburite being the explosive selected.

A considerable amount of gunpowder is still, however, being used in the coal and roadways of some of the seams connected with these collieries, but I hope to see the quantity again reduced before long.

Whatever his politics may be the average working miner is very conservative in matters which affect his work, and a change from gunpowder, to which he has been accustomed for years, to an explosive, which has somewhat different characteristics and to which he is a stranger, is sure to be met with a certain amount of disfavour.

A little difficulty is experienced at first starting before the relative proportions of the different explosives to be used to do the same amount of work is thoroughly understood, the tendency being to use more of the higher explosive than is necessary, but when this has been mastered the higher explosives do their work well, and it is only reasonable that both owners and men should yield something in exchange for the greater safety there undoubtedly is in the higher compounds than with gunpowder in mines which are dusty or which give off inflammable gas.

The text of the Report into the disaster is available online here.

Source:

1896 Mines Inspectors Report (C 8450), Durham District (No. 4) by R. D. Bain, H.M. Inspector of Mines, from a copy held in the Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange, Midlothian

Photograph(s) of the memorial for this disaster are shown in the Memorials section

	Brigham, Joseph, aged 22, Shifter, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine
	Carling, Thomas, aged 14, Driver, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine
	Cook, William, aged 52, Stoneman, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine, Buried: St. Stephen's Churchyard/Willington Cemetery
	Dowson, John R., aged 20, Stoneman, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine
	Forster, Joseph, aged 40, Shifter, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine, Buried: St. Stephen's Churchyard/Willington Cemetery
	Hodgson, Henry, aged 23, Stoneman, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine, Buried: St. Stephen's Churchyard/Willington Cemetery
	Jefferson, John, aged 58, Pumper, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine, Buried: St. Stephen's Churchyard/Willington Cemetery
	Laws, William, aged 21, Stoneman, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine, Buried: St. Stephen's Churchyard/Willington Cemetery
	Lawson, Ralph, aged 60, Shifter, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine
	Lawson, Thomas, aged 53, Stoneman, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine, Buried: St. Stephen's Churchyard/Willington Cemetery
	Lawther, George William, aged 39, Stoneman, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine, Buried: St. Stephen's Churchyard/Willington Cemetery
	Lintern, Charles, aged 34, Stoneman, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine, Buried: St. Stephen's Churchyard/Willington Cemetery
	Newell, Bartholomew (Bert), aged 15, Driver, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine, Buried: St. Stephen's Churchyard/Willington Cemetery
	Nicholson, Thomas Moses, aged 20, Stoneman, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine, Buried: St. Stephen's Churchyard/Willington Cemetery
	Ranson, Richard, aged 15, Pumper, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine, Buried: St. Stephen's Churchyard/Willington Cemetery
	Rawlings, William, aged 50, Stoneman, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine, Buried: St. Stephen's Churchyard/Willington Cemetery
	Rogerson, John, aged 66, Master Shifter, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine
	Spence, Tristram, aged 31, Stoneman, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine
	Turner, Michael, aged 50, Shifter, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine, Buried: St. Stephen's Churchyard/Willington Cemetery
	Wearmouth, John, aged 64, Waggonwayman, an explosion occurred on a main haulage road of the mine, Buried: St. Stephen's Churchyard/Willington Cemetery
	All names found
	Youngest: 14 years old ; Oldest: 66 ; Average: 37
	Those names marked with , have a web page providing individual details of the accident, the page may also include a photograph of the deceased. Click on the symbol next to the name to see the web page.

15 Apr 1896	Colliery Explosion (The Times)
16 Apr 1896	The Colliery Disaster In Durham (The Times)
17 Apr 1896	The Colliery Disaster In Durham (The Times)
18 Apr 1896	The Colliery Disaster In Durham (The Times)
21 Apr 1896	The Colliery Explosion In Durham (The Times)
14 May 1896	The Colliery Explosion In Durham (The Times)
15 May 1896	The Brancepeth Colliery Explosion (The Times)
16 May 1896	The Brancepeth Colliery Explosion (The Times)
14 Sep 1896	The Brancepeth Colliery Explosion (The Times)

• Mines Inspectors Report into the 1896 Disaster (C. 8174)

 

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